TV Noir: Dark Drama on the Small Screen

Noir—as a style, movement, or sensibility—has its roots in hard-boiled detective fiction by writers like Chandler and Hammett, and films adapted from their novels were among the first called “film noir” by French cinéastes. But film isn’t the only medium with a taste for a dark story.

Hundreds of noir dramas have been produced for television, featuring detectives and femmes fatales, gangsters, and dark deeds, continu...