Graphic crime

New PBS show Vienna Blood, rated TV-14, offers psychological thrills set in Austria a century ago. Police detective Oskar Reinhardt (Jürgen Maurer), a calm but driven professional, clashes initially with the deceptively young Dr. Max Liebermann (Matthew Beard), a student of Freud who seeks to understand the criminal mind—but it’s clear they need each other.

The BBC-produced show boasts lavish sets, immaculate costumes, and strong similarities to Sherlock.

But graphic content shows how much PBS has changed in recent years.

Viewers see glimpses of a topless woman. An unmarried couple have intercourse. We see an attempted rape. Other visuals include depictions of electroshock therapy and sadistic murder scenes.

Reinhardt and Liebermann navigate the evidence to not-quite-believable conclusions. Both men display integrity and an ironclad commitment to truth, no matter how underprivileged the victims or how powerful the offenders.