5 TV crime shows to watch this week (August 14-20, 2023)

Are you struggling to find some TV crime shows to check out? When you look at the different streamers and broadcast networks, there is something for all interests.

As the ongoing Hollywood strikes continue to wreak havoc on the fall TV season, at least streaming and cable offer plenty of shows and films for crime fans to enjoy. There can be a good selection from some international offerings to docuseries to spark up August a bit.

Here are five crime TV shows to check out this week and keep crime fans intrigued until network fare can finally return.

5 TV crime shows to watch this week

Harlan Coben’s Shelter

The popular mystery writer’s novel gets a TV treatment in this new Prime Video series. Forced to live with relatives in New Jersey after his dad’s death, a teen is soon drawn into a mystery of a missing classmate. Aided by his two friends, he investigates only to discover a dark web of intrigue, murder, and mystery surrounding his seemingly quiet town.

Expect plenty of twists and turns as only Coben can provide for what could be another Prime Video mystery hit.

Shelter Season 1 premieres on Friday, Aug. 18 on Prime Video.

Telemarketers

Josh and Benny Safdie produce this three-part HBO docuseries looking at a unique real-life crime. In the early 2000s, two men video themselves part of a company they believed was soliciting donations for a charity for firefighters. It took a federal raid for them to discover the company was a massive scam.

The pair decided to form their own enterprise to expose fraudulent telemarketers and beat them at their own game. The series shows how they go after these companies, emphasizing it’s not the workers they target but their corrupt bosses and how telemarketing can be a crime in its own way.

New episodes of Telemarketers air Sundays at 10/9c on HBO and stream on MAX.

Cold Case Files: DNA Speaks

The spin-off of the long-running reality TV franchise puts a unique focus on the cold case concept. Normally, cases are cracked by the dedication of the detectives involved.

This new series highlights how advancements in DNA tracking can crack cases long unsolved for decades. Bill Kurtis narrates as we see the detectives and scientists working together and how these DNA tests can put any CSI show to shame.

Cold Case Files: DNA Speaks premieres on Thursday, Aug. 17 on Hulu.

New Bandits

This new Brazilian crime drama has a lot of wild action to offer crime-buff fans. It follows a young bank clerk trying to earn money to help his ailing adoptive father. He’s rocked to discover he’s the biological son of a ruthless cartel leader. Now, he has to handle this wild world of murders and double-crosses while hoping to keep himself alive.

Expect some crazy action with some light comedy and a classic tale of a normal man thrust into an insane new world.

New Bandits premieres on Thursday, Aug. 17 on Prime Video.

Text Me When You Get Home

Season 2 of this Lifetime docuseries just got underway to keep up the amazing, shocking true tales. Each one focuses on a young woman who sent a text to her family just before she vanished.

While some were abducted, others were murdered, with the series talking to family members, police, and even some of the victims to detail their ordeal. It’s a harrowing series for the tales and the realization that someone’s text message might be the last one they send.

Text Me When You Get Home Season 2 airs Mondays at 8/7c on Lifetime and streams on Lifetime.com

Which TV crime shows are you watching this week? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter.