There was a time in TV history when genius detectives needed to possess some quirk or defect. In one show our hero was in a wheelchair. In another he was blind.
Yet another show had a genius detective notable for being overweight, another for being well past retirement age. A more recent example was Monk, who was seriously OCD.
I am imagining an executive memo at the studio seeking ideas for quirky genius detectives, looking for that next hit show.
Some of these ideas would be accepted without hesitation, others met with indignation, perhaps in need of correction. I imagine, for example, that the idea for Dexter — a very effective sleuth who happened to be a sociopath — might have been met with some resistance.
You might say it was a case of defective effective detective directive selective corrective invective.