Clark Johnson

The Underground Railroad is hardly an obscure subject-books, dissertations, novels and even TV miniseries have been devoted to it. But many of the details remain mysterious-and for good reason: "Nobody wanted to write it down," we're reminded during "Underground Railroad: The Secret History," a series about new technology being used to make a near-mythic episode in American history more concrete.

The show follows four senators who live together in a rented house in Washington DC.

Set in Baltimore, this show centers around the city's inner-city drug scene. It starts as mid-level drug dealer, D'Angelo Barksdale beats a murder rap. After a conversation with a judge, Det. James McNulty has been assigned to lead a joint homicide and narcotics team, in order to bring down drug kingpin Avon Barksdale.

One of the most critically acclaimed shows in TV history, Homicide: Life on the Street reinvigorated a tired genre by focusing on the grueling work of solving murders instead of an endless succession of bloody crimes and car chases. Inspired by David Simon's Edgar Award-winning account of Baltimore homicide detectives and brought to television by writer Paul Attanasio and director Barry Levinson, Homicide boasted a powerhouse ensemble cast featuring Ned Beatty, Yaphet Kotto, Richard Belzer, and breakout star Andre Braugher.