Tom Selleck is famous for a lot of things -- Three Men and a Baby, his role on Friends, his timeless mustache -- but in general, he's known for playing two types of characters: cowboys and detectives. Ironically, he doesn't seem to have ever played a sheriff, but in the new fall TV series Blue Bloods, he plays an NYPD police chief with three children who are also in law enforcement. It seems like the natural fit for the gruff authority figure, who's also played King Ferdinand and President Eisenhower, but mostly, it's a great next step in his career of playing crime-fighters, whether government-sponsored or independently licensed. Here are some of his best cop and detective roles.

On the surface, it seems unlikely that a show centered around two grown slacker men has anything in common with a charming series about a spirited high school student, but upon closer observation, the current Terriers and the dearly departed Veronica Mars actually have quite a bit alike. I got a chance to preview several upcoming episodes of the gritty new FX series and while it doesn't have a perky blonde acting as a private investigator and taking down criminals, Donal Logue's dirty blonde Hank is a complex character with a quick wit and the show is on its way to filling at least part of the void that the cancellation of Veronica Mars left in my life. Here's why: