What is Cold Case's IQ Score?

Cold Case has an IQ Score of 108/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient framework, placing it in the Competent tier. The score breaks down to 31/50 Cognitive Stimulation, 8/50 Educational Value, and 47/50 Craft & Quality.

Is Cold Case educational?

Cold Case is low on educational value, 8/50 on TVI's rubric. Watch for entertainment, not for learning.

How does TV Intelligentsia calculate IQ Score?

TV Intelligentsia's IQ Score is calculated as round((Cognitive Stimulation × 0.4 + Educational Value × 0.35 + Craft & Quality × 0.25) × 4), scoring titles from 0 to 200 across five tiers: Masterclass (≥160), Stimulating (≥130), Competent (≥100), Passive (≥70), and Numbing (<70). The framework is published at tvintelligentsia.com/methodology/.

Cold Case , IQ Score 108/200

Cold Case has an IQ Score of 108/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient rubric, placing it in the Competent tier.

By Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH·Updated 2026-06-17·Methodology

crime proceduraldrama

108/ 200

Competent

Engages without demanding much, watchable and reasonably crafted

Score Breakdown

Cognitive Stimulation/50

Educational Value/50

Craft & Quality/50

IQ = round((Cognitive × 0.4 + Educational × 0.35 + Craft × 0.25) × 4) · How we score →

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Why you should trust this score

Scored under Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH

Physician and founding editor. Maintains the adult catalog against the published rubric and reviews the rubric application.

Methodology

Published rubric, v1.2

Formula

round(C × 0.40 + E × 0.35 + Q × 0.25) × 4

Database scale

2,338 titles, version-controlled

How we stay independent. We accept no studio money. We pay for our own streaming subscriptions. Our reviewers see no sponsor data, no affiliate revenue, and no screener access in exchange for coverage. More about how we work →

The TVI Take

Meredith Stiehm's CBS procedural anchored by Kathryn Morris as Lilly Rush, a Philadelphia homicide detective working unsolved cases. The structural commitment to letting period-specific decade specificity (1960s civil rights, 1980s AIDS crisis, 1990s gang violence) be the actual subject of each case, rendered through period-accurate music supervision and visual register, is the property's distinctive innovation.

Where to Watch

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