10 Shows Like ‘Poker Face’ That Are Worth Watching
Rian Johnson didn’t invent the offbeat murder mystery genre, but he certainly gave it a fresh coat of paint and a modern shot in the arm with 2019’s Knives Out , in which Daniel Craig’s private detective Benoit Blanc searches for clues to a murder among a wealthy family in a chilly Massachusetts estate. It referenced, first, the many star-studded Agatha Christie adaptations of the 1970s, but also the great TV detective dramas of the past. Knives Out paved the way for something like Only Murders in the Building (which we’ll come back to), as well as a number of offbeat crime shows of greater and lesser quality.
It’s no surprise that Poker Face , created (and occasionally directed and/or written) by Rian Johnson, plays in a similar sandbox. While it’s largely an unapologetically homage to some of TV’s great detective shows, most notably Columbo (which we’ll also return to), it revisits that show’s signature format without feeling overdone. Now that Poker Face is over (at least for the season), here are a few other shows that might bring a little mystery back into your life.
Colombo (1968 – 2003)
This is pretty obvious if you’re familiar with it, as it was the one that had the biggest influence on Poker Face .
Ragged, unassuming homicide detective Frank Columbo solves crimes in a completely new format: As in Poker Face , we see the crime laid out for us in the first act. We almost always know who did it, we just don’t know how Columbo is going to figure it out, or how he’s going to prove it. What would be the denouement for a typical crime show becomes the whole point – and there’s a lot of tension in watching Columbo seemingly stumble through the investigation before he brings the curtain down, very often on a famous guest star, with just one last question .
The show was essentially a series of mini-movies over the course of its many years, so it even predates modern television with its irregular schedule—over three decades, Columbo has only released a manageable 69 episodes. You can stream Columbo on Tubi, Prime Video, and Peacock .
Only Murders in the Building (2021 – )
While Charlie Kale travels a lot, often out of necessity, the Only Murders gang focuses on, you know: murders in the Building. That’s not to say they don’t spend time in greater Manhattan and, in the most recent season, Los Angeles. Still, the comedy-drama tone is just right, and we get not one but three amateur detectives: lonely, retired actor Charles-Hayden Savage (Steve Martin); struggling Broadway director Oliver Putnam (Martin Short); and young artist Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez). At first, they have nothing in common except a shared love of true crime, but a murder in the first episode sets the three of them on a course of hunting (and avoiding) killers over several season arcs. You can stream Only Murders in the Building on Hulu .
Kolchak: Night Hunter (1974 – 1975)
And now another low-key, brilliant, but completely messy protagonist who unravels strange mysteries. Darren McGavin ( A Christmas Carol ) stars here as reporter Carl Kolchak, who spends his nights mostly tracking down supernatural threats and trying to bring them to the attention of the non-believing world.
The short-lived cult classic still had a huge impact, especially in regards to The X-Files , but there’s definitely some shared DNA that runs through TV’s great battered detectives (regardless of their day job), and given the weirdness of many of Poker Face’s setups, it wouldn’t be so outlandish if Charlie Kale accidentally ran into a ghost, demon, or ethnically coded mythological creature (Kolchak’s specialty). You can stream Kolchak: The Night Stalker on Peacock or buy episodes on Prime Video .
Matryoshka (2019 – 2022)
There are no murder mysteries here, though there are plenty of mysteries — we’re here mainly for the Natasha Lyonne of it all. Here, she plays software engineer Nadia Vulvokova, who, while preparing to celebrate her 36th birthday, finds herself caught in a time loop in which she dies over and over again on the same night, never able to move forward despite her best (and worst) intentions. Funny, intelligent, and genuinely existential, it’s not quite like anything else on streaming. You can stream Russian Doll onNetflix .
Murder, She Wrote (1984 – 1996)
Angela Lansbury’s Jessica Fletcher isn’t particularly dirty — in fact, she’s often the calm center in a long line of chaotic scenarios. But like Charlie, she loves to travel and encounters murder almost everywhere she goes. Her unassuming, down-to-earth presence often gives way to the reality that she’s usually the smartest person in almost any room — a room that’s almost always filled with TV and movie stars past and present. You can stream Murder, She Wrote on Prime Video .
Dust cover (2025 – )
Poker Face is so deeply rooted in the crime shows of yesteryear that its period feel is impeccable, even if it’s set in a slightly fuzzy present: Charlie’s 1969 Plymouth Barracuda, like her near-total lack of cell phones, is straight out of the golden age of TV detective dramas.
Duster is from J.J. Abrams, Hollywood’s preeminent excavator of faded genres (for better and for worse), and it’s set in the gritty 1970s, starring Josh Holloway as Jim Ellis, a getaway driver with a sweet cherry-red Plymouth. Just as he’s growing increasingly disillusioned with his crime syndicate boss (Keith David), he’s approached by Nina Hayes (Rachel Hilson), the FBI’s first black female agent (it is 1972, after all), who recruits him into her plan to take down the mob. It’s a fast-paced thriller that generally doesn’t take itself too seriously, and it’s set in a world Charlie would feel right at home in. You can stream Duster on HBO Max .
Psychology (2006 – 2014)
Much like our human lie detector in Poker Face , Psych’s protagonist Shawn Spencer (James Roday) has a similar superpower: He has a near-perfect eidetic memory, which got him into trouble at a young age when he started calling the local police. To deflect suspicion that he was actually involved in crimes, he convinced people that he was actually psychic, and the reputation stuck. In the series, he solves crimes alongside his equally smart but much more serious partner Gus (Dulé Hill). The popular comedy-drama ran for eight seasons and continues with a series of TV movies, so there’s plenty to watch if you get into the swing of things. You can stream Psych on Peacock and Prime Video .
Deadlock (2023–)
It’s not 100% tonal in line with Poker Face , but it’s a similar playing field in the way it takes classic crime drama tropes and turns them on their heads. It’s also an excellent detective/crime procedural that also works as a very funny parody of genre tropes — in this case, we’re talking about the gritty, dangerous world of shows like Broadchurch and its many imitators.
Australian import Kate Box plays Dulcie Collins, a cantankerous senior police sergeant in a fictional town who, when a dead body is found on the beach, is joined by Eddie Radcliffe (Madeleine Sami), a gruff, loud and overly obnoxious detective brought in to help solve the case. The web of secrets and mysteries in the tiny Tasmanian town makes everything suitably addictive, with the added bonus of being, often, boo-boo. You can stream Deadloch on Prime Video .
Jessica Jones (2015–2019)
Just as Charlie Kale’s lie-detecting “superpower” gets her into at least as much trouble as it gets her out of, Jessica Jones’s more literal superpower (she’s incredibly strong) doesn’t solve all of her problems. Or any of them. At the start of the series, the alcoholic former superhero is mostly delivering subpoenas; she’s suffering from severe PTSD after spending time under the control of David Tennant’s devastatingly creepy predator, Kilgrave. Complex and struggling, Jessica isn’t exactly cut out for the business, but she nonetheless tries to run her own Alias investigations to get her life back. You can stream Jessica Jones on Disney+ .
Residence (2025)
Uzo Aduba plays Cordelia Kapp, a Sherlock Holmes-style consulting detective: brilliant and quirky, with no patience for fools. She’s brought in to help solve a very unusual murder: White House chief usher E.B. Winter (Giancarlo Esposito) is found dead in the middle of a state dinner for the Australian prime minister, and there’s political pressure to close the books on the event as quickly as possible. Too bad there’s such an unusually complex set of circumstances and personalities surrounding the event, and the list of possible suspects includes almost everyone in the building, including Kylie Minogue, playing herself.
It’s funny and fast-paced, with a supremely capable lead character who isn’t interested in anyone but herself and does what she needs to do to solve the case. The Residence was canceled after one season, but don’t hold it against it: That’s the fate of pretty much every Netflix show from now until forever. You can stream The Residence onNetflix .