Shows Like Power That Crime Drama Fans Need To Watch

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Starz's "Power," starring Omari Hardwick, follows James "Ghost" St. Patrick and his conquest of New York's drug trade. The show sees Ghost, a big-time New York City drug kingpin, try to go straight by buying a nightclub and slowly shifting into more legitimate forms of business. Unfortunately, destiny has other plans, and Ghost finds himself drawn back into the fray, only to realize that he prefers being a criminal. The series ran for six seasons and 63 episodes, finally ending its run in 2020.

In an unprecedented move, the Starz network created three spin-offs that will expand the world of the original show. "Power Book II: Ghost" follows Michael Rainey Jr.'s Tariq after the events of the original series finale, while "Power Book III: Raising Kanan" is a prequel about the childhood of the character played by 50 Cent in the parent show. "Power Book IV: Force" will launch in 2022 and follow fan-favorite Tommy (Joseph Sikora) as he enters the drug racket in Chicago.

Thanks to these spin-offs, fans of "Power" will have no shortage of adventures to watch on Starz, but there's always room for more stories about suit-wearing criminals and their empires of sin. Here are 15 shows about hard drugs, glamorous nightclubs, crooked lawmen, and wannabe kingpins who want more from this world and don't care how many people they have to hurt in order to get what they want.

"Power" doesn't dwell too much on the impact of Ghost's drug empire on his community, since the story mostly follows characters who deal drugs, not the people who use them. For context on America's War on Drugs, "Snowfall" on FX offers an intimate look at Los Angeles in the early 1980s during the first crack epidemic. Created by the late John Singleton, "Snowfall" follows various characters, including teenage drug dealer Franklin (Damson Idris) and a CIA agent, Teddy (Carter Hudson), who is using drug profits to fuel Cold War proxy conflicts in South America.

The 1980s War on Drugs and its relationship to the CIA, foreign wars, and racism in the inner cities is a tremendously complex topic, but "Snowfall" navigates it with a light-handed and stylized touch, telling a thrilling and entertaining story while touching on core truths about the harsh realities of the American Dream. Like Ghost in "Power," Franklin becomes a ruthless drug lord, but due to his youth and desperation, he comes across as a much different character from other protagonists who "break bad" during their story arcs.

The show also examines the hypocrisy and injustice of the era and its legacy. Traditionally, cocaine is snorted as a powder, but it's easy to turn that powder into a crystalline rock; when smoked, the drug instantly takes effect, much faster than snorting cocaine. Aside from that, however, there's no real difference between cocaine and crack... Except for the amount of crack needed to trigger a mandatory minimum jail sentence being significantly lower than for cocaine.

Forest Whitaker stars as real-life gangster Bumpy Johnson in EPIX's "Godfather of Harlem." Recently released from a 10-year stint in prison, Bumpy returns to his Manhattan neighborhood to find it ruled by the Italian mob. He aims to seize control of the heroin trade and take Harlem back, but don't mistake Bumpy Johnson for some kind of hometown folk hero. He's a gangster and a drug dealer just like the men he fights. In addition to his fight against the Italian Mafia, "Godfather of Harlem" also examines Bumpy's relationship with his family and his attempts to somehow be a normal family man despite his atypical career choices.

"Godfather of Harlem" examines the role of criminals in shaping history alongside their more legitimate counterparts, with much of the story informed by events like the JFK assassination and Malcolm X's rise to prominence in the 1960s. In fact, Malcolm is played by Nigél Thatch, who previously played the controversial civil rights activist in 2014's "Selma." The series also stars Vincent D'Onofrio as Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, the local Mafia boss standing in Bumpy's path. The show is also notable for using original songs written specifically for the series, featuring rappers like French Montana, Rick Ross, and the late DMX.

One of the most famous criminals of all time, Pablo Escobar and his Medellín cartel had an iron grip on the cocaine trade from Colombia to the United States. His story, and particularly his 1980s heyday, is documented in "Narcos," a Netflix original series starring "Elite Squad's" Wagner Moura. The series pulls no punches in its depictions of the global geopolitics that enabled Escobar's rise to power, as well as the polarizing reputation of Escobar himself, who is seen by some as a folk hero, and an outright monster by others.

After Season 3, which wrapped up the "Colombia" storyline of the series, it was retooled into "Narcos: Mexico," starring Michael Peña and Diego Luna, which follows the international drug trade in 1980s Mexico. Several actors reprise their roles from the original "Narcos," to which "Mexico" can be seen as a companion piece, spin-off, or even an outright continuation. Based heavily on real-life facts, both "Narcos" series take some creative liberties here and there, but are generally praised for their accuracy regarding the heroes and villains of the illegal drug trade in Latin America, an industry that influences the whole world. In particular, the Mexico seasons do a tremendous job of showing how such a beautiful country became ravaged by cartel drug wars. To this day, many areas of Mexico are governed by the cartels that effectively own the local government and police.

"Power" is set against the backdrop of New York City's bustling nightlife, but NYC is not the city it once was. Back in the 1970s, it was a different place, "something like a circus or a sewer," simultaneously terrifying and inviting. This dangerously exciting locale marks the setting for HBO's "The Deuce," starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Franco, and Dominique Fishback. Created by David Chase ("The Wire"), "The Deuce" was named for its setting in the Times Square area. Far from today's tourist-friendly, sanitized haven of chain restaurants and big-box stores, the old 42nd St. was a haven for peepshows, drugs, and every other vice under the sun. It was also a place where people with nothing could "make it big," if they worked hard and got lucky. In this fantasy playground of glorious debauchery, the disparate protagonists, who all hail from different walks of life, try to chase their version of The American Dream.

Like life itself, "The Deuce" is grim, but optimistic. The characters are surprisingly inspiring when they muster up the grit to keep on going despite their crippling adversity, and heartbreaking when they learn that sometimes, grit is not enough. "The Deuce" only ran for three seasons, a total of 25 episodes, but it's enough to tell a complete story, a poetic encapsulation of how New York City earned its hard-edged reputation.  

Unlike Ghost, Lucious and Cookie Lyon of the hit FOX series "Empire" got out of the drug trade and went legitimate, starting Empire Entertainment. That doesn't mean they're able to keep themselves completely clean. Nobody can escape their past, and, as they say, the bill always comes due. Terence Howard plays Lucious, and Taraji P. Henson is perfect as Cookie, even earning two Emmy nominations for her performance. Their back-and-forth banter and constant soap opera scheming helped make "Empire" a breakout success.

While certainly full of drama, "Empire" is a bit closer to something like the classic 1980s series "Dallas" than the dark and gritty crime drama of "Power," though the body count on "Empire" is higher than one might expect. With that in mind, "Empire" is a great example of how attempts to "go straight" after a lifetime of crime rarely go as planned. Even if Ghost hadn't dived headfirst back into being a criminal kingpin, his past would have never allowed him any measure of peace. It was only ever a matter of time before something, and then everything else, went wrong.

Shows like "Power" and "Empire" prove there's a fine line between a criminal and a businessman. The premise of the Hulu original, "Dopesick," explores the opioid crisis and how legal prescription drugs were proliferated by big pharmaceutical companies who put profits ahead of the Hippocratic Oath to "do no harm." Based on the nonfiction book, "Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America" by Beth Macy, "Dopesick" examines all angles of the opioid epidemic, from the big businesses who market their drugs to the working-class victims who become addicted to "hillbilly heroin," as it is called. The show features an ensemble cast including Michael Keaton, Will Poulter, and Rosario Dawson.

"Dopesick" is a fictionalized drama, but it plays out very much like a snapshot of Americana's latest drug crisis. Michael Keaton, in particular, has earned rave reviews for his performance as a doctor who prescribes Oxy to his patients at the insistence of Purdue Pharma, whose reps lie through their teeth about the addictive nature of their painkiller. Eventually, Keaton's character, Dr. Samuel Finnix, gets addicted himself, after having turned a number of hardworking people into unwitting junkies. 

After striking gold with "Miami Vice," producer Michael Mann created "Crime Story," starring Dennis Farina and Anthony Denison. They play a cop and a criminal, respectively, and unlike more episodic shows that dominated the era, "Crime Story" focuses squarely on the war between these two men in the early 1960s, one chapter at a time. The ambitious crime drama adopts a form of serialized storytelling that wouldn't become the norm for another 30 years, and as such, is easy to binge-watch today. While the content might seem relatively tame by today's standards, Dennis Farina's performance as Mike Torello has a Gene Hackman-like intensity, in that the viewer truly believes he could snap at any moment. The threat he delivers to a criminal in the pre-titles sequence of the pilot has such righteous hatred behind it, it's enough to solidify Farina's status as an acting legend.

In addition to its innovative storytelling and fully realized 1960s setting, "Crime Story" is also notable for its theme song, a re-recorded version of Del Shannon's 1961 hit, "Runaway." The new version, by the original artist, contains altered lyrics that reflect the dark themes of the series. Sadly, "Crime Story" was canceled after only two seasons, leaving its story unfinished. Nevertheless, the show remains a cult favorite for its deconstruction of the toxic masculinity that defined tough guys of the era, as well as its gripping storytelling and behind-the-scenes kinship with "Miami Vice."