What is Ballard's IQ Score?

Ballard has an IQ Score of 126/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient framework, placing it in the Competent tier. The score breaks down to 31/50 Cognitive Stimulation, 27/50 Educational Value, and 39/50 Craft & Quality.

Is Ballard educational?

Ballard is moderate on educational value, 27/50 on TVI's rubric. Some learning happens, but it isn't the show's primary work.

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/.

Ballard , IQ Score 126/200

Ballard has an IQ Score of 126/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient rubric, placing it in the Competent tier.

By Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH·Updated 2026-07-15·Methodology

crimedrama

126/ 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 →

What these dimensions mean

Cognitive Stimulation: how much the title demands of your mind, its structural complexity, ideas, and sustained intellectual engagement.
Educational Value: what you take away, across academic content, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, life skills, and knowledge transfer.
Craft & Quality: production excellence in service of the work, its direction, writing, performance, and aesthetic intent.

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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, v1.3

Formula

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

Database scale

2,365 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

The Bosch spinoff hands the cold-case unit to Maggie Q's Renee Ballard and builds a procedural that is tighter and less nostalgic than its parent. The cognitive work is investigative: the season tracks how a starved, sidelined department actually clears cases, and the writing respects the paperwork and the politics as much as the shootouts.

It is genre television executed with real discipline, which is what lands it comfortably in Competent.

Where to Watch

We don't have live streaming data for this title yet. Find where to watch on JustWatch →

Streaming availability data via JustWatch + TMDB.

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