Paramount+’s 7-Part Action Thriller Series Is Quietly One Of Its Best Military Shows

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There’s no shortage of police shows on television, but a little-known series on Paramount+ stands out as one of the best shows about the military. With so many cop shows available, viewers see new takes on the standard police story every year. These range from comedies like Brooklyn 99 to realistic and intense dramas like We Own This City and The Shield, and even more glamorous, action-packed shows like Blue Bloods or The Rookie.

While paranormal crime shows like The X-Files, Evil, and even Netflix’s Warrior Nun are common, focusing on law enforcement with a supernatural twist, military life on television isn’t often shown in the same way. We see miniseries like Netflix’s Boots that explore specific parts of military experience, but there aren’t many ongoing shows that follow a military ‘case-of-the-week’ format like traditional police procedurals.

While shows like Prime Video’s Jack Ryan and The Terminal List feel similar, they’re actually spy thrillers, not military procedurals. CBS’s SEAL Team, which ran from 2017 to 2024 and starred David Boreanaz, stands out as a successful series that uses the familiar ‘police procedural’ format, but focuses on the lives of Navy SEALs instead of police officers.

SEAL Team Is One of TV’s Longest-Lasting Military Shows

Emilio Boreanaz starred as Jason Hayes, the determined leader of a Navy SEAL team, who begins the series grieving a fallen teammate. The show featured a strong supporting cast, including AJ Buckley, Jessica Pare, and Max Thieriot, as the rest of the team. Each week, they tackled dangerous missions while also dealing with the complexities of their personal lives, careers, and relationships. Despite seeming like a natural fit for television, SEAL Team was surprisingly the first show to focus on the lives of Navy SEALs.

Like most police dramas, SEAL Team featured familiar character types: a love interest for the main character, a source of comic relief, a reckless team member, and a new recruit struggling to adapt. The show kept things interesting with a constant stream of high-stakes, classified missions. This approach, applying the structure of a police procedural to a military context, was reminiscent of The Unit, a CBS show from the mid-2000s that, despite being well-made, was unfortunately canceled after three seasons in 2009.

SEAL Team’s Military Drama Filled A Niche Few Other Shows Focused On

With the end of The Unit, there haven’t been many TV shows focusing on the details of military life, which gave SEAL Team a unique place on television for several years. While SEAL Team didn’t attract as large an audience as the classic anti-war comedy MASH, both shows centered on the lives of people in the military. However, transforming a realistic military drama into something resembling a police show often made SEAL Team more dramatic and nationalistic than the thoughtful and satirical MASH.

For viewers who enjoy police shows and have often wondered what a military equivalent of NCIS or FBI would look like, SEAL Team delivered. The show successfully combined the personal struggles of its characters with thrilling, action-packed missions, effectively bringing the familiar elements of police dramas to a military context. This unique approach allowed SEAL Team to stand out and consistently attract a dedicated audience over its seven seasons on Paramount+.

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2026-05-01 01:58