Real Detective isn't just another true crime show with catchy name. In this case the show differentiates itself and the name is accurate. Each episode is told from interviewing a detective who actually worked the case. The interviews are filled in by well written re-enactments often with actors normally seen in higher profile TV productions. The story of the detective who is highly invested in the case comes to life with that law officer's very real personal feelings. Some of the cases are ones you've heard of, perhaps even seeing in other productions, and there's others that remain mostly regional and little known. It's a good mix with a common thread of the cases requiring excellent police work for their resolutions. The viewer isn't left hanging either as the cases reach resolution. A added plus which is hard not to appreciate is the absence of the seemingly de riguer time wasting (if you've watched from the beginning) recap. This is a business like re-telling of crime with high production values. I'd call it a very involving crime series with more very interesting episodes. I won't go into the ultimate 100% accuracy as I can't vouch for that. I've read a review that questions this so use that information guardedly. I think it attempts to tell it straight with the personal slant of the detective involved as best I can tell. I recommend this show as a markedly better re-enactment type within the genre.

I've tried to make it through several of these episodes but it becomes a frustrating exercise. As others have pointed out, the editing becomes confusing and difficult to follow, especially when vacillating between interviews with the actual detectives and recreations. But it is the sound mixing that really destroys it all for me. The music is loud and never stops. Worst, especially in season one, the music often overwhelms the detectives' narration so I have to keep rewinding to try to decipher the words. This abuse of the subjects to keep up a flashy presentation takes away from becoming involved in the story line. Saying that, season 2 is much better sound wise as the voices are clear and out-front. But that crappy, omnipresent music is still a distraction, taking away from the impact of the acting and story line. The makers of this series don't seem to understand the power of background music is in its sparing use. Pity, because this really is a decent series full of interesting cases, told in interesting ways. Just too bad about the overactive editing and gratuitous music. Because of these serious drawbacks, I can't recommend this series. Each episode starts off with great promise only to drive the viewer away within 20 minutes.

While watching the show, it can be quite entertaining. Blending actual descriptions by the investigating detectives with acted out footage of the events sounds like a great recipe for an amazing show. I thoroughly enjoyed the show until I started actually reading up on the cases involved and was quite disappointed for a number of reasons, but let's skip to the main one.The facts from the investigations and the arrests themselves do not match what is portrayed in the documentary. Sometimes this is through omission, watch nearly any episode then look up the case (especially the finale ep1-08), and you will find tons of details ignores or almost falsified through their depiction. At least it doesn't come from the homicide detective mouth, almost always from what they decide to depict in the acted out footage. I'd love to hear what the detectives that poured their heart out into this thing have to hear from the final cut, but I have a feeling it is isn't great. That being said, just watch it and don't do research and it is a top 90% pseudo crime documentary show.

Good production value, I also liked that they got some solid and recognizable actors on board, but overall I couldn't stand the depressing tone of it for too long. Watched the first episode to the end because of the intriguing case, watched the second one because I recognized Tahmoh Penikett from a number of sci-fi shows, then skipped to #7 to see Zoie Palmer and that was enough for me.It's good that they tried to keep you aware throughout that these were real stories from real detectives, by having them narrated by the detectives themselves, but they went too far when they decided to visually flash back and forth between the detective and the dramatization. That fragmented the experience and made it much harder to absorb. They should've shown the detective maybe at the beginning and at the end, but not so many times throughout the story. And then the scripts could've been much better - they're too simplistic, like someone was trying to make drama out of a list of facts from a police report, it just left a lot to be desired.It's impressive for what it is, I've never seen reenactments or docu-dramas made quite this well before, but the constantly ominous and depressing tone just wasn't something I could put up with for 8 full episodes.