‘R.J. Decker’ and ‘Young Sherlock’ offer distinctive tales of the prisoner-to-PI pipeline

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These days, you see a lot of police officers and their helpers on TV, but classic private detectives – the kind like Sam Spade or Jim Rockford, who people hire for help and pay a fee plus expenses – are rare. It’s interesting to think about what all the police shows versus detective shows say about how we feel as a country, or whether we trust organizations or individuals. But more importantly, a good show just needs to be engaging and worth watching.

Two new TV series are starting this week. “R.J. Decker” is a typical example of its kind, created with the style of Carl Hiaasen. The other, “Young Sherlock,” is based on the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle and expanded upon in novels by Andrew Lane. It shows a 19-year-old Sherlock Holmes, so it’s not a traditional detective show, but it explores the origins of the character who would become the famous detective.

The new ABC series, “R.J. Decker,” starring Scott Speedman (best known from “Felicity”), premieres Tuesday and will also be available on Hulu. Speedman plays the title character, a private investigator and former newspaper photographer in South Florida. The show is based on Carl Hiaasen’s 1987 novel “Double Whammy,” but is otherwise a new adaptation. Hiaasen’s novel “Bad Monkey” was previously adapted into a well-received series in 2024.

The show begins with Decker waiting outside a courthouse, explaining to a woman he doesn’t know that he’s about to find out if he’s going to jail. The trouble started when he got into a fight with someone stealing his camera gear – who turned out to be the son of a state senator and lied to the police. In a surprising turn, they end up having sex in his car, in an empty parking garage. Even more surprisingly, she’s revealed to be the last witness against him – Emi Ochoa (Jaina Lee Ortiz), the victim’s sister – and her emotional, dishonest testimony leads to a jump forward in time. Decker spent the next 18 months in prison. Now, two years later, he’s living in a trailer, working as a private investigator – much like Jim Rockford – and his style is reminiscent of Thomas Magnum. Like Rockford, he’s also prone to getting into physical altercations.

Detective Decker is surrounded by people from his past and present. His ex-wife, Catherine Delacroix, is a journalist he gets along with, though she’s now married to another detective, Mel Abreau, with whom Decker has a more strained relationship. Wish Aiken, a former cellmate Decker helped exonerate, was released from prison only a day before his sentence would have ended. Remarkably, he then won a million dollars playing the lottery and used the money to buy a bar – a place you’ll see frequently throughout the series.

Emi, described by one character as coming from a ruthlessly ambitious family, visits Decker at the bar to say she’s sorry for her role in getting him into trouble. She knew she would betray him, and now feels she owes him a debt, which suggests she’ll be a recurring character. While Decker initially scolds her, it’s clear they’re central to the show’s dynamic. Decker is remarkably upbeat, even about being in prison. He does want to see wrongs righted, but the show maintains a generally light and quirky tone, similar to other ABC dramas like “Will Trent” and “High Potential.” If you enjoy watching a network’s shows back-to-back in the evening, this series could be a good fit.

The new Prime Video series “Young Sherlock,” which premieres Wednesday and isn’t connected to the 1985 movie of the same name, begins with the young detective already in trouble with the law. He’s been arrested for practicing pickpocketing – a skill he wanted to develop! Luckily, his older, more established brother, Mycroft (played by Max Irons), who works for the government, gets him released. Instead of attending Oxford as a student, 19-year-old Sherlock (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) is enrolled as a servant, a role he handles surprisingly well. But, as he’ll soon say, things are about to change when the real detective work begins.

This story begins with a formative, traumatic experience that fuels a central mystery, but surprisingly doesn’t seem to affect his everyday behavior. He’s a pretty typical Holmes – warm, playful, and a bit reserved. While he’s said to be lonely, that’s mostly a setup for introducing his first friend: James Moriarty, played by Dónal Finn. Eventually, James will become Sherlock’s infamous enemy, known as the “Napoleon of crime,” but here, he’s a cheerful, mischievous Irish boy with a subtle dark side. Unlike Sherlock, who comes from wealth, James is attending school on a scholarship. The most clever part of “Young Sherlock” is portraying them as friends and partners, even though they compete for the attention of a new Chinese student, Princess Gulun Shou’an (Zine Tseng). The biggest source of suspense for me was whether their friendship would last – they’re an incredibly charming pair.

Since Arthur Conan Doyle revealed very little about Sherlock Holmes’s childhood or personal life, authors who create stories based on his world have a lot of freedom. The series “Young Sherlock” introduces a mother, Cordelia, who is an artistic patient in an institution, a father, Silas, who is initially absent but later reappears, and a deceased sister whose death haunts Sherlock and fuels his self-doubt and bad dreams. But this is just the beginning of the story they tell.

Written by Matthew Parkhill, with Guy Ritchie — who directed Robert Downey Jr. in two steroidal Holmes films — helming some episodes, it’s pulpy and nutty and preposterous, mostly in a good way. There’s fighting and running and shooting, with the Damned and Black Sabbath on the soundtrack and, of course, oodles of deduction, from Sherlock and James alike. There’s so much going on, it’s as if three or four films had been mashed into one. (It can be confusing.) There’s the Mystery of the Missing Scroll, and the Case of the Dying Dons, with a kind of domestic drama in the middle, and an “Indiana Jones” finale, set in exotic locations, including a spin through the Paris Commune. Colin Firth plays Sir Bucephalus Hodge, a bigwig whose exact credentials escape me, but who’s giving the university a new science building. Lestrade (Scott Reid), not yet a Scotland Yard inspector, appears as a blustery constable, and there’s a Det. Fitget (Simon Delaney) who arrives in a deerstalker cap, smoking a pipe.

All eight episodes were released simultaneously, making it perfect for binge-watching. And after staying up until 2 a.m. to watch them all, I can confidently say it’s incredibly easy – and tempting – to do so.

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2026-03-03 14:33