CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | |
|---|---|
 The Cast of C.S.I. | |
| Created by | Anthony E. Zuiker |
| Starring | William Petersen Marg Helgenberger Gary Dourdan George Eads Jorja Fox Eric Szmanda Robert David Hall Paul Guilfoyle Wallace Langham |
| Country of origin | USA |
| No. of episodes | 116 (to date) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 45 Minutes (1 Hour with commercials) |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | October 6, 2000 – present |
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (usually referred to as CSI:) is a popular Alliance Atlantis/CBS police procedural television series, running since October 2000, about a team of forensic scientists. It is set in Las Vegas, Nevada in the present. (The choice of Las Vegas is not just for show: the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's crime lab is the second most active in the nation, trailing only the FBI's lab in Quantico, Virginia.)
The team investigates mysterious, unusual, and sometimes gruesome deaths to determine the circumstances of a murder. They also investigate other serious crimes, but death by foul play is a staple of the series.
The main characters include:
- Gilbert (Gil) Arthur Grissom (played by William Petersen) is the nightshift supervisor of the Las Vegas CSI team, and a forensic entomologist with a degree in biology from UCLA. Nicknamed "The Bug Man", Grissom knows sign language and has inherited his mother's otosclerosis, a disease which was causing him to slowly go deaf but was corrected with surgery. His hobbies include his work, cockroach racing, reading and roller coasters. His team is made up of four main investigators, with assistance from a team of technicians. During the first four season, his team included Catherine Willows, Nick Stokes, Warrick Brown and Sara Sidle. With the creation of the swing team in the middle of the fifth season, his team now consists of Sara Sidle, Greg Sanders and Sofia Curtis.
- Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger) is second in responsibility for the nightshift, assuming command when Grissom is out of town or otherwise on leave. Willows, a blood spatter analyst from Bozeman, Montana first worked as a stripper, in order to pay her way through college at UNLV where she studied medical technology. She has a young daughter, Lindsey. Tragically, after her ex-husband's murder, she was unable to find evidence convicting his killer. She recently became head of the swing shift.
- Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox) is a materials and element analyst. A physics major at Harvard University, Sidle previously worked for the San Francisco coroner and crime lab. She was recruited by Grissom, a man she sees as more than just a boss. Sidle sometimes takes her assignments a bit too personally, especially if the victim is a woman. She was raised in a violent abusive family, and lived in foster care after her mother killed her father.
- Warrick Brown (Gary Dourdan), a Las Vegas native and a chemistry major from UNLV, is an audio/visual analyst and recovered gambling addict. He was part of Grissom's team for the first four seasons, but recently he was transfered to the swing shift under Willows.
- Nick Stokes (George Eads), an easygoing and friendly ex-fraternity brother with a degree in criminal justice, is a hair and fiber analyst from Dallas, Texas. When he was 9 years old, he was sexually abused by a female last-minute babysitter. He was part of Grissom's team for the first four seasons, but recently he was transfered to the swing shift under Willows.
- Jim Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) was the head of the CSI until he was kicked back to homicide in the pilot episode. He's now Captain in homicide and works usually with the CSI team. He's divorced with a daughter named Ellie who is not biologically his.
- Greg Sanders (Eric Szmanda) is a young lab technician who idolizes Grissom and became a CSI in the fifth season.
- Al Robbins M.D. (Robert David Hall) is the coroner. Married with three children, he's often the only one who understands Grissom. He has two prosthetic legs and likes playing in rock bands for fun.
The series' recurring characters include Archie Johnson (Archie Kao), a computer and technical expert; Assistant Coroner David Phillips (David Berman); Assistant Director of the Crime Lab Conrad Ecklie (Marc Vann) and lab tech David Hodges (Wallace Langham).
The series is known for its unusual camera angles, high-tech gadgets, detailed technical discussion, and graphic portrayal of bullet trajectories, blood spray patterns, organ damage, methods of evidence recovery (e.g. fingerprints from the inside of latex gloves), and crime reconstructions.
Although real-life criminal science investigators hardly leave the lab other than to conduct field tests and rarely (if ever) interview criminal subjects, CSI was acclaimed for portraying a little-known aspect of police procedures. Without dramatic embellishment, in showing the responsibilities of the investigators, the show might not be as great a success.
However, real forensic experts have complained about those embellishments. For instance, they have noted that the forensic examinations are unrealistically swift in coming to conclusions with equally fanciful tools. One example is the fictional computer databases the characters use to examine trace evidence like fingerprints against records in seconds when the actual analysis is a long and meticulous process. That in turn has led to real police detectives making unrealistic demands on the experts.
The show's characteristic gadgetry and occasional use of yet-to-be-invented technology has moved the show nominally into the genre of science fiction and garnered it with a 2004 Saturn Award nomination for best science fiction, fantasy, or horror television series.
A spinoff series, CSI: Miami, began in 2002; this stars David Caruso. A second spinoff, CSI: NY, starring Gary Sinise, premiered in fall 2004. Meanwhile, similar shows, such as Navy NCIS (now called NCIS, eliminating redundancy), Crossing Jordan, and Medical Investigation have appeared on both the CBS and NBC networks.
As of the 2003–2004 season, the series was the #1 popular show in the United States according to the Nielsen Ratings. It has also been credited for a large increase in college applications to forensic science programs. It has been speculated that the show's popularity, especially after 9/11, is partly due to its underlying theme of skilled experts solving problems. The show's storylines reiterate that there are people working to expose both criminals and conspiracies, seeking justice no matter how these threats elude pursuit.
In July 2004, George Eads and Jorja Fox were briefly fired by CBS, allegedly over contract disputes. Eads had been hours late for work on the first day of filming for the fifth season, and Fox had allegedly not submitted a letter demanded by CBS confirming that she would be on-time for shooting. The disputes were resolved in just over one week, and the two were rehired by CBS.
Although the show is set in Las Vegas, the production is actually based in Santa Clarita, California, and most scenes are filmed in or around Santa Clarita. The cast and crew do occasionally travel to Las Vegas to film on location.
History of the show
Originally, the show was to be broadcast on ABC. At the time, ABC was the number two network, behind NBC, and CBS was on a decline which was becoming difficult to reverse. However, when previewed to ABC reviewers in 1999, the show was rejected as being too confusing for the average person. CBS quickly picked up the show for its Friday slot, and the show and the network shot to the top - CSI regularly averages 25 million viewers for new episodes and a remarkable 15 million for reruns. ABC fell in the ratings so far that it is in competition with Fox for number three.
The show was moved to Thursdays in 2000, in a successful attempt by CBS to challenge NBC - a line-up which included Friends, Will & Grace, and ER. CSI maintained its ratings in its new timeslot, and when Friends came to an end in 2004, CSI's ratings continued to strengthen, putting pressure on NBC's new Thursday shows.
CSI is sometimes credited with the resurgence of American crime dramas, although earlier shows like Law & Order had been strong for years and had already spun off a successful series before CSI premiered. Along with spin-offs CSI: Miami (2002-, CBS) and CSI: NY (2004-, CBS), the show is credited with reviving the genre. Shows launched to try and siphon off some of CSI's ratings included Crossing Jordan, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, and Medical Investigation. Also, in an effort to increase ratings further, CBS has introduced other shows in the same genre, including Cold Case and Without a Trace.
Notably prevalent among most of them is a focus on the forensic aspect of criminal investigations. Physical clues are intensely scrutinized, and nearly invisible evidence is often emphasized, such as a tiny piece of thread or a dandruff flake.
Awards
- 2005 Screen Actors Guild Award - Best Ensemble Cast in a TV Drama
- 2005 People's Choice Awards - Choice TV Drama
- 2005 People's Choice Awards - Choice TV Actress - Marg Helgenberger
Trivia
- Episode 223: The Hunger Artist - Title (and plot somewhat) taken from a short story by Franz Kafka called A Hunger Artist.
- Episode 508: Ch-Ch-Changes - The outlaw doctor who performs "benevolent" sex reassignment surgery goes by the name "Dr. Carl Benway." Dr. Benway is the name of "an amoral physician" in much of the writing of William S. Burroughs. "Ch-Ch-Changes" is a variation on the song "Changes" from the David Bowie album Hunky Dory. (The lyrics[1] to "Changes" could be interpreted as Bowie's mediation on physical and emotional metamorphosis in a time of questioning one's true gender.)