There are many reasons why CBS' Cold Case was successful. The crime-drama series revolved around a fierce detective in the Philadelphia homicide unit who found her calling when she got assigned "cold cases" (older crimes) that had never been solved.

That fierce detective is Lilly Rush, played by the phenomenal actress Kathryn Morris. Released in September 2003, CBS saw a ratings increase as the show took off and drew in more viewers than other popular shows at the time. It's probably because Lilly Rush wasn't the regular fictional woman character.

According to Kathryn Morris, she was capable of breaking down barriers. "She's a very modern woman who's capable of breaking down walls but remains very much a part of the team," Morris said to The Miami Herald in a 2004 interview. "She can be feminine and powerful at the same time. She doesn't have to work the system or pile on the lip gloss to get ahead."

Those are common misconceptions many people have in real life regarding powerful, successful women. They're under the impression that women don't put in work to attain their success but instead take easier routes. Although Lilly Rush is a fictional character, viewers got to see that women can exist in powerful spaces without feeding into that negative image.

Morris continued, "Yet she's not perfect, and there are difficulties in her relationships. We're really doing two shows a once." The one-hour crime drama was filled with content, and it followed Rush and her team as they aimed to catch the offenders and solve the cases, but at the same time, viewers saw younger versions of the victims at different ages. It helped with telling the stories effectively.

For seven seasons, viewers nationwide got a dose of Morris as Rush and saw an example of a woman excelling in a male-dominated position.