CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation intertitle
Format	Crime Drama - Police procedural
Created by	Anthony E. Zuiker
Starring	William Petersen Marg Helgenberger George Eads Eric Szmanda Lauren Lee Smith Robert David Hall Wallace Langham and Paul Guilfoyle
Opening theme	The Who: "Who Are You"
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	8
No. of episodes	182 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	40–45 Minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS CTV (Canada)
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV)
Original run	October 6, 2000 – present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series that trails the investigations of a team of Las Vegas forensic scientists as they unveil the circumstances behind mysterious and unusual deaths and other crimes. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and is filmed primarily on the Universal Studios at Universal City, California. The pilot episode was first broadcast on October 6, 2000, since then eight seasons have been aired.

CSI is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer Television and CBS Productions, which became CBS Paramount Television in the fall of 2006. Formerly a co-production with the now-defunct Alliance Atlantis Communications, that company's interest in the series is now owned by investment firm GS Capital Partners, an affiliate of Goldman Sachs.^[1] CBS Paramount acquired AAC's international distribution rights to the program. There are two spin-offs to this show, CSI: Miami and CSI: NY.

On May 14, 2008, CBS renewed the show for a ninth season. Season 9 will begin airing in the fall of 2008.

Production

Conception and development

During the 1990s, Anthony Zuiker caught producer Jerry Bruckheimer's attention after writing his first movie script. Bruckheimer wanted an idea for a television series. Zuiker didn't have one, but his wife told him about a Discovery Channel show she liked about forensic detectives who used DNA and other evidence to solve cold cases (The New Detectives).^[2] Zuiker started spending time with real-life LVMPD crime investigators and was convinced that there was a series in the concept, Bruckheimer agreed and arranged a meeting with the head of Touchstone Pictures. The studio’s head at the time liked the script and presented it to ABC network executives, who decided to pass. The head of drama development at CBS saw potential in the script, and the network had a pay or play contract with actor William Petersen who said he wanted to do the CSI pilot. The network's executives liked the pilot so much, they decided to include it in their 2000 schedule immediately, airing on Fridays after The Fugitive. Initially it was thought that CSI would benefit from The Fugitive, which was expected to be a hit, but by the end of the year 2000 CSI had a much larger audience.^[3]

Filming

CSI was initially shot at Rye Canyon, a corporate campus owned by Lockheed Corporations situated in the Valencia area of Santa Clarita, California. Other shows such as The Unit and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers have also been shot there.^[4]

After the eleventh episode, filming shifted to the Santa Clarita Studios and only second unit photography, such as the shots of the Las Vegas streets are done on location in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Occasionally, when required the cast will also shoot on location in Las Vegas, but more often the locations will be substituted by California locations. Santa Clarita was originally chosen for its similarity to the outskirts of Las Vegas.^[5] Some of the California locations include the Verdugo Hills High School, UCLA's Royce Hall, the Pasadena City Hall and, as of October 2007, the California State University, Northridge campus.^[6]

In 2005, for CSI's sixth season, location again changed, and the entire soundstage was moved into the Universal Studios in Universal City, California. But even though the indoor shooting has moved away from Santa Clarita, the city and the surroundings have proven so versatile that CSI still shoots some of its outdoor scenes there.^[7][8]

Style

Stylistically, the show has drawn favorable comparisons to Quincy and The X-Files.^[9] The show's gadgets and occasional usage of yet-to-be-invented technology have moved the show nominally into the genre of science fiction and garnered it a 2004 Saturn Award nomination for best network television series. The series also occasionally lapses into the realm of fantasy, such as a 2006 episode, "Toe Tags" which is told from the point of view of several corpses in the CSI lab who reanimate and discuss their deaths with each other.

The series is known for its unusual camera angles, percussive editing techniques, hi-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. This technique of shooting extreme close-ups, normally with explanatory commentary from one of the characters is referred to in the media as the "CSI shot."^[10] Many episodes feature lengthy scenes in which experiments, tests, or other technical work is portrayed in detail, usually with minimal sounds effects and accompanying music – a technique reminiscent of Mission: Impossible. Often the lighting, composition, and mise-en-scene elements are heavily influenced by avant-garde film^[10]

Music

CSI's theme tune is "Who Are You", written by Pete Townshend with vocals by Roger Daltrey both of The Who^[11] as the title track of their 1978 album. The show's spinoffs also use The Who songs as their theme songs: "Won't Get Fooled Again" for CSI: Miami and "Baba O'Riley" for CSI: NY, both recorded by The Who in 1971 for their album Who's Next. This was parodied in an episode of Two and a Half Men, where a CSI parody used "Squeeze Box" as its theme. The Who's Roger Daltrey made a special appearance in a season seven episode, Living Legend.

Throughout the series music plays an important role; artists like The Wallflowers, John Mayer, Method Man and Akon (with Obie Trice) have performed onscreen in the episodes "The Accused is Entitled", "Built To Kill, Part 1" and "Poppin' Tags" respectively. The Wallflowers' "Everybody out of the water" can be found on the CSI soundtrack CD. Mogwai is often heard during scenes showing forensic tests in progress (see Style, above) as is Radiohead, but several other artists have lent their music to CSI including Rammstein - used heavily in Lady Heather's story arc - The Turtles (Grave Danger) and Marilyn Manson (Suckers), a friend of CSI actor Eric Szmanda.

Plot

The show follows the cases of the Crime Scene Investigation division of the Las Vegas Police Department, usually referred to by officers as the "Las Vegas Crime Lab". Anthony E. Zuiker chose to set the series in Las Vegas because—as mentioned in the pilot —that city's crime lab is the second most active in the United States, after the Federal Bureau of Investigation lab in Quantico, Virginia.^[12] The division solves crimes almost entirely through forensics evidence, which may or may not come to conclusion of a murder or accidental death. The bizarre conclusions of these cases often force one to question morals, beliefs and human nature in general.

Characters

Main article: List of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation characters

See also: Minor characters in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Main characters

First season cast of CSI. Starring Paul Guilfoyle as Jim Brass, Robert David Hall as Al Robbins, Gary Dourdan as Warrick Brown, William Petersen as Gil Grissom, Jorja Fox as Sara Sidle, Marg Helgenberger as Catherine Willows, George Eads as Nick Stokes, Eric Szmanda as Greg Sanders

• Dr. Gilbert Arthur "Gil" Grissom, Ph.D. (William Petersen): The night shift team supervisor for the Las Vegas CSI unit, and a forensic entomologist with a degree in biology from UCLA. Grissom was born August 17, 1956.^[13] He is known for being a very thorough and methodical scientist, as well as a bit of a quirky introvert. Grissom was raised Catholic and is now lapsed (as seen in "Alter Boys"), and although he stops short of denying the existence of a Creator, he is devoted to his beliefs that religion is of little use in today's society and has had theological/philosophical debates with more than one member of the cloth. Gil is proficient in sign language and used to have otosclerosis (inherited from his mother) but he underwent corrective surgery.^[14] It has been confirmed he has a relationship with Sara Sidle to the viewers on the sixth season finale "Way To Go" and to the rest of the lab on the seventh season finale "Living Doll", when Sara was kidnapped. He proposed marriage to Sara in the season eight episode, "The Case of the Cross-Dressing Carp", to which she accepts. This character is loosely based on real life criminalist Daniel Holstein.^[15]

• Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger): Blood spatter analyst. She was second-in-command of the night shift for the first four seasons, taking charge when Grissom was out of town or otherwise on leave, and has often quarreled with Grissom and Ecklie when she feels her authority compromised. An early subplot involved Catherine constantly requesting promotions or ways to spend more time with her daughter Lindsey. Catherine expressed romantic interest for fellow CSI Warrick Brown when she stated the "joy of fantasies is the fact that they might come true" after learning Warrick was married in season seven. Catherine's ex-husband Eddie and her father Sam Braun were both murdered on episodes of the program. She supported herself through college by working as an exotic dancer. This character is loosely based on real life CSI Yolanda McCleary.^[15]

• Nicholas "Nick" Stokes (George Eads): Hair and fiber analyst. An easygoing and friendly former college baseball player and fraternity member with a degree in criminal justice from Texas A&M University, Stokes is from Dallas, Texas. The character is portrayed as more empathetic than his co-workers, which has drawn several rebukes from others, and tends to get more emotional about cases. He also speaks fluent Spanish, and becomes more personally involved in cases involving Latin Americans, such as in the episode "Snakes".

• Det. Capt. James "Jim" Brass (Paul Guilfoyle): Brass was the head of the CSI unit in Las Vegas until he was moved back to the police homicide division in the second episode. He was originally from New Jersey. He continues to work with CSI despite problems in season two with his daughter, Ellie, who is a drug addict and later a prostitute in Los Angeles. It was discovered in the season 2 episode "Ellie" he is not Ellie's biological father. From the second episode onwards, Brass remains a captain in the homicide division and works closely with the CSI team. He very often conducts witness and suspect interviews, and his sarcastic attitude makes these questionings darkly humorous, keeping in step with the show's feel. In the season 6 episode "Bang Bang", Brass was shot twice by William Cutler after convincing him to release his hostage. In the season 7 episode "Built To Kill, Part 1", he has the date of his shooting tattooed just below the bullet wound.

• Gregory "Greg" Sanders (Season 3– ; Recurring in Seasons 1–2) (Eric Szmanda): Formerly the lab's DNA technician, Greg entered field training and in the season five episode "Who Shot Sherlock?" became a full-fledged CSI. Greg idolizes Grissom, once had a crush on Sara Sidle and is known for "wacky" behavior, such as pulling a latex glove over his head and air-drumming when he is supposed to be working. Despite an encyclopedic knowledge of DNA and trace analysis, he is still fairly "raw" in terms of field experience and often assists the senior CSIs. He is known to listen to heavy metal music and punk rock while working, supposedly to help his concentration. Despite his rebellious image, he did not challenge Sara's assertion he was a virgin upon entering college. He has hinted at romantic interest in numerous women, both in and out of the lab, during his tenure on the program, including a bit of a "crush-war" with Hodges over Mia Dickerson. In the season 7 episode "Fannysmackin'", Greg is brutally beaten by a gang of youths (responsible for attacks earlier in the episode) while rescuing a victim. Greg is an Eagle Scout. He also wrote a book about the history of Las Vegas, and often becomes intrigued with cases that connect to the days when it was "mobbed up".

• Dr. Albert "Al" Robbins (Season 3– ; Recurring in Seasons 1–2) (Robert David Hall): The head county coroner. Married with three children, he is close friends with Grissom, who is often the only one who understands him, and vice versa. He has two prosthetic legs, and it has been implied he lost them in an accident while trying to dig up a floor at a crime scene; this disability is drawn from Hall himself, who lost his legs in a road traffic accident with a truck.

• David Hodges (Season 8– ; Recurring in Seasons 3–7) (Wallace Langham): A lab technician who transferred to the Las Vegas crime lab from the Los Angeles crime lab. Hodges' appearances provide some comic relief, though most of the team find him obnoxious and irritating. He always tries to ingratiate himself to Grissom, who occasionally does acknowledge Hodges' expertise, albeit grudgingly. Hodges' first appearance was in the third season episode "Recipe for Murder", and he became billed as a regular cast member starting with the season 8 episode "Dead Doll". He had a crush on fellow lab technician Mia Dickerson, and once got all the other lab workers to collaborate (behind Grissom's back) and try to solve the miniature killer case, coming up with a theory which Grissom unhappily admitted was likely quite accurate.

Past main characters

• Detective Sofia Curtis (Season 7; Recurring in Seasons 5–6) (Louise Lombard): A CSI who became part of Grissom's team after the mid–season five split, decided by the Assistant Director of the crime lab, Conrad Ecklie. She soon considered resignation, upset at the fact she had been demoted from acting day shift supervisor. In season six, Curtis makes a career shift from CSI to detective. When considering a case or crime scene, she thinks out loud, and explains to Grissom this is the best way for her to concentrate, to notice, to understand, and to remember everything. A recurring character in season five, Sofia became a regular character in season seven, and Louise Lombard was billed in the opening credits. Sofia appeared in the season eight premiere, "Dead Doll", where Louise Lombard was billed as a "Special Guest Appearance". In the opening credits for the season eight third episode, "Go to Hell", Lombard was once again billed as a main cast member. Lombard was removed from the opening credits in episode four of the eighth season and has not been listed as a main character since.

• Sara Sidle (Season 1-8) (Jorja Fox): A materials and element analyst. A physics major at Harvard University, Sidle previously worked for the San Francisco coroner and crime lab and replaced Holly Gribbs after helping investigate her death. She is completely devoted to her job and will go to almost any lengths to make sure justice is served, for both victims and criminals. Sara's alcoholic father used to beat her and her mother Laura, until one day Laura snapped and stabbed him to death; as a result Sara has difficulties with dealing with abuse cases against women and children in her job and has obvious emotional problems. Following her father's death and her mother's subsequent institutionalization, she was placed into foster care. She was engaged to co-worker Gil Grissom, which was shown in the season 8 episode "The Case of the Cross-Dressing Carp". In the episode "Goodbye and Good Luck", Sara leaves the team following a case in which she was forced to tell a fourteen-year-old girl her brother had killed himself after the girl had framed him for a murder. She did not say good bye to her fellow CSIs nor Grissom, for whom she only left a note stating she had to go face the ghosts of her past and she could not do it there. She left a note to Ronnie Lake (played by actress Jessica Lucas) wishing her good luck with the CSI Las Vegas team. She will return for a guest appearance in the season 9 premiere.^[16]

• Warrick Brown (Seasons 1–8) (Gary Dourdan): Audio-video analyst. A Las Vegas native and a chemistry major from UNLV, Brown is an audio/visual analyst. A major facet of Warrick's character portrayed in the show is that he is a recovering gambling addict, his recovery hindered by the fact he works in Las Vegas. When new CSI Holly Gribbs was killed at a scene in CSI's first episode, Warrick was out laying a bet and almost lost his job for not being with her at the time. Grissom's friendship and support has helped him a great deal in overcoming his addiction, but his compulsion is one of the reasons used by Conrad Ecklie to investigate and then split up the night shift team in season five. Warrick has a deep affection for his hometown and uses his experience as a former gambler and casino runner in his investigations. Warrick was married in season six, but divorced by season eight. Warrick Brown's character will not return in Season 9, since Gary Dourdan and CBS could not come to terms on a contract. As a result, in the Season 8 finale, the undersheriff shoots Warrick in the neck and chest while he is sitting in his car, and then leaves him to die from his wounds. It is unknown as of yet whether Warrick will actually die, but Carol Mendelsohn has said Warrick will be back in the fall and "not just in flashbacks."^[16]

Future main characters

• Riley Adams (Season 9– ) (Lauren Lee Smith): On May 15, 2008, a press release was issued by CBS confirming that Lauren Lee Smith will join the cast of CSI in the ninth season as Riley Adams, a role expected to fill the void left by the departure the previous season of Sara Sidle. According to the press release, Adams will be a non-conformist who joined law enforcement to rebel against her father who is a psychiatrist.^[17]

Guest stars

Aisha Tyler played Mia Dickerson, a DNA analyst for two seasons and Liev Schreiber appeared as Grissom's short term replacement, Michael Keppler. Summer Glau also made a special role in the series. Another popular recurring actress is Melinda Clarke, who plays Lady Heather, a diabetic dominatrix and love interest for Gil Grissom. The two went to dinner together in season 3, a date which Gil ended early when he thought Lady Heather may be involved in a crime. Archie Kao has played Archie Johnson, an Audio-Video expert, since 2001 but is nonetheless credited as a guest star. Ned Beatty also made a guest appearance in the episode Sweet Jane in season seven, playing a serial killer.

Some of the show's more prominent guest stars include rapper Method Man, who has appeared three times as troublemaker "Drops" (whom Brass strongly dislikes); and child actress Dakota Fanning, in one of her earliest roles, as a molestation victim in the seventh episode of season one. Stacy Dash played a "newbie" lab tech who flirted with Warrick and The Who frontman Roger Daltrey guest starred as a missing mob boss who comes back to Las Vegas to pay back his would be killers in Living Legend. America Ferrera had a guest starring role in the season five episode "Harvest." Frank Gorshin made his last ever TV appearance in Grave Danger, the season five finale. Faye Dunaway played a prominent ex-showgirl and mob mogul's former flame in the episode Kiss Kiss, Bye Bye in season six. Danny Bonaduce appeared as Izzy Delancy, the Miniature Killer's first victim, in the two-part season 7 opener "Built to Kill".

Episodes

Main article: List of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episodes

There were twenty-three episodes in the first season, including the two part pilot episode written by Anthony Zuiker, the series' creator. There were twenty-three episodes each of the three following (Seasons two to four). There were twenty-five episodes in Season five and twenty-four in Seasons six and seven. There were only 17 episodes in Season 8, due to the WGA strike. The total number of aired episodes to date is 182.

A two-part crossover episode with "Without a Trace" aired on November 8, 2007. The first hour was on CSI and the second hour was on Without a Trace.^[18]

On May 8, 2008 the episode "Two And a Half Deaths", written by Two and a Half Men writers Chuck Lorre and Lee Aronsohn, was aired. The episode focused on the death of a sitcom star of a show based on Cybill, which Lorre wrote some of the episodes. A number of writers of CSI will write an episode for Two and a Half Men, where Charlie's house is being investigated for a hidden dead body. George Eads (Nick Stokes) will be the only actor to appear on both CSI and Two and a Half Men, but portraying different characters. The stars of Two and a Half Men also appear in part of the new CSI episode. They are seen outside of the dressing trailer, dressed in the tuxedos (possibly the ones seen in the opening credits of Two and a Half Men)—all three appear to be smoking, but they do not talk.

The last episode of the eighth season aired in the U.S. on May 15, 2008. Gary Dourdan's character Warrick Brown was shot and left to die, his status for next season remains questionable.^[19]

Reception

For the 2001 season CBS decided to move CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, along with the hit franchise Survivor, to Thursday night, ending NBC’s long dominance of these television hours, because even though they had a long-standing and popular Must See TV lineup (such as Friends and Will & Grace) they could not compete to CSI's 30 to 40 million viewers a week. CBS became the most-watched network on American television, with CSI being the most-watched program on television for the 2002–2003 TV season^[20] and the most-watched scripted show for five consecutive seasons, from the 2002–2003 season through the 2006–2007 season. Since 2003, it is also the top-rated drama series in America and in 2007 remains among the top five programs every season (usually behind American Idol).^[3]

The 2004–2005 season finale, directed by Quentin Tarantino and entitled "Grave Danger", was watched by over 35 million viewers on May 19, 2005, twice that of the nearest competition.^[21].

It the fall of 2006 ABC began airing the third season of Grey's Anatomy at the same time as CSI, prompting a TV ratings battle between the two popular shows. Grey had over 3 million more viewers than CSI in that season's premiere. Since then it has been a constant fight between the two shows, because even when CSI beats Grey in the ratings, CSI always had lower ratings among the younger viewers, the category most wanted by advertisers.^[22] Some critics have said that CSI is now taking the characters into more romantic paths so as to compete with Grey, although this has been denied by Carol Mendelsohn.^[23][24] Also, the fact that for the first time ever CSI ended a season with a cliffhanger (Sara Sidle trapped under a car) has been compared to Grey's Anatomy, that has ended every season with cliffhangers.^[25] The cliffhanger resolution gave CBS its fruits since season eight premiered with over 4 million viewers more than Grey, also winning in the young people category.^[26]

According to TV.com, "Living Doll" from the seventh season and "Grave Danger" from the fifth season are the highest rated episodes, which are rated in 9.6. "Monster in the Box" from Season 7 and "For Gedda" from Season 8 are rated 9.5. "Goodbye and Good Luck" from the eighth season, and also Jorja Fox's last episode is rated 9.4, together with "Rashomama" from the sixth season, "Law of Gravity" from the seventh season, "Gum Drops" from the sixth season, "Bloodlines" from the fourth season, "Play With Fire" from the third season and "Stalker" from the second season.

Public reaction

CSI's popularity has led to websites, online discussion forums and a large amount of fan-made art to be made—they are second in amount of fan fiction (of a TV show) in FanFiction.Net, with over 19 thousand stories, Buffy the Vampire Slayer being the first, with over 30 thousand. On September 27, 2007, after CSI's season eight premiered, a miniature model of character Gil Grissom's office (which he was seen building during season seven) was put up on eBay. The auction ended October 7th, with the prop being sold for $15,600; CBS donated the proceeds to the National CASA Association.^[27]

On August 2007, upon rumors of Jorja Fox leaving the show, a grassroots campaign started.^[28] Organized by the online forum Your Tax Dollars At Work, many of its nineteen thousand members donated to the cause, collecting over $8,000 for gifts and stunts targeted at CBS executives and CSI's producers and writers. Some of the stunts included a wedding cake delivery to Carol Mendelsohn, 192 chocolate-covered insects with the message "CSI Without Sara Bugs Us." to Naren Shankar and a plane flying several times over the Universal Studios of Los Angeles with a "Follow the evidence keep Jorja Fox on CSI" banner.^[29][30] Other protests included mailing the show's producers a dollar, so as to save Fox's contract "one dollar at a time". By October 16, 2007 according to the site's tally, more than 20,000 letters with money or flyers had been mailed to the Universal Studios and to CBS headquarters in New York from forty-nine different countries since the campaign started on September 29, 2007.^[31][32][33] Fox and Mendelsohn chose to donate the money to CASA, a national association that supports and promotes court-appointed advocates for abused or neglected children.^[34] This campaign was reminiscent to CBS's Jericho fans' reaction over the show being canceled. On that occasion, fans sent over 20 tons of nuts to CBS headquarters.

Criticism

CSI has often been criticized for the level and gratuitousness of graphic violence, images, and sexual content. The CSI series (along with its spin-off shows) have pushed the boundary of what is considered acceptable viewing for primetime network television.^[35] The series had numerous episodes on sexual fetishism and other forms of sexual pleasure (see especially the recurring character of Lady Heather, a professional dominatrix). CSI has been ranked as among the worst prime-time shows for family viewing by the Parents Television Council nearly every season since its second,^{[36][37][38][39]} being ranked the worst show for family prime-time viewing after the 2002–2003^[40] and 2005–2006^[41] seasons. The PTC has also targeted certain CSI episodes for its weekly "Worst TV Show of the Week" feature.^{[42][43][44][45][46][47]} In addition, the episode "King Baby" aired in February 2005, which the PTC named the most offensive TV show of the week,^[47] also led the PTC to start a campaign to file complaints with the FCC with the episode;^[48] to date, nearly 13,000 PTC members complained to the Federal Communications Commission about the episode.^[49] The PTC has also asked Clorox to pull their advertisements from CSI and CSI: Miami because of the graphically violent content on those programs.^{[50][dead link]}

Another criticism of the show is the depiction of police procedure, which some consider to be decidedly lacking in realism.^[51] For instance, the show's characters not only investigate crime scenes (as their real-world counterparts would), but they also solve cases, which falls under the responsibility of detectives, not CSI personnel. However, some detectives are also registered CSIs, although this is exceedingly rare in actual life. CSI shares this characteristic with its UK equivalent, Silent Witness.

Some police and district attorneys have criticized the show for giving members of the public an inaccurate perception of how police solve crimes. District attorneys state that the conviction rate in cases with little physical evidence has decreased, largely due to the influence of CSI on jury members.^[52] For more information, see the article CSI Effect.

The LGBT community has criticized the show for its negative representation of LGBT characters.^[53] However, as the majority of the non-regular characters in the show are—by the show's very nature—criminals, suspects or victims, it is only natural that all of the aforementioned guest characters are portrayed in a less than positive light. Despite the general overall displeasure, the fifth season episode "Ch-Ch-Changes" was received positively by the transgender community in particular.^[54] Furthermore, the season 5 episode "Iced" featured one of very few openly gay characters on the show who were not victims or criminals, as the victim's neighbor.^[54]

Franchise

Main article: CSI franchise

Like NBC’s Law & Order franchise, CBS went on to produce their own franchise starting in September 2002 with the spin-off CSI: Miami, set in Miami, Florida. Another spin-off debuted September 2004 with CSI: NY, set in New York City. Also, a number of comic books, video games and novels based on the series have been made. The series was found to be in the same "universe" as fellow CBS police-drama Without a Trace during a crossover episodes airing in early November 2007. It is also within the same universe with Cold Case because of the series' crossover with CSI: NY.

CSI Effect

Main article: CSI Effect

The "CSI Effect" (sometimes referred to as the "CSI syndrome") is a reference to the phenomenon of popular television shows such as the CSI franchise, Law & Order, Silent Witness, Crossing Jordan and Waking the Dead raising crime victims' and jury members' real-world expectations of forensic science, especially crime scene investigation and DNA testing.^[55] This is said to have changed the way many trials are presented today, in that prosecutors are pressured to deliver more forensic evidence in court. ^[56]

CSI: The Experience

Main article: CSI: The Experience

Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry opened an exhibit in CSI's honor on May 25, 2007 called: "CSI: The Experience".^[57] There is also a supporting Web site designed for the benefit of people who cannot visit the exhibit at CSI: The Experience Web Adventure, designed by Rice University’s Center for Technology in Teaching & Learning.

The Mobile Analysis Unit

2007 GMC Yukon Denali

In a high profile product placement deal,^[58] General Motors donated two GMC Yukon XL Denalis to the Los Angeles and Las Vegas police departments. The same model vehicles were modified and used on the show as the "Mobile Analysis Unit", or MAU, in the same episode directed by Tarantino, the season five finale "Grave Danger". The vehicles were given a six-inch height difference from stock models, allowing the trunk lid to be used by the characters as a rain shield, and the rear bay and third-row area as a mobile lab, complete with notebook computers, equipment drawers and storage. In 8x12, Warrick is seen driving a black hybrid Yukon XL/Denali.^[59][60]

U.S. television ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on CBS.

Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.

Awards and nominations

Awards

Emmy:

• Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series - 2007
• Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-camera Series - 2006
• Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series - 2003
• Outstanding Makeup For A Series (Non-Prosthetic) - 2002

Nominations

Emmy:

• Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score) - 2007
• Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup For A Series, Miniseries Or Special - 2007
• Outstanding Makeup For A Series (non-prosthetic) - 2007
• Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series - 2007
• Outstanding Single-camera Sound Mixing For A Series - 2006
• Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series - 2006
• Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series - 2005: Quentin Tarantino
• Outstanding Makeup For A Series (non-prosthetic) - 2005
• Outstanding Single-camera Sound Mixing For A Series - 2005
• Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series - 2005
• Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series - 2004
• Outstanding Drama Series - 2004
• Outstanding Makeup For A Series (Non-Prosthetic) - 2004
• Outstanding Single-Camera Sound Mixing For A Series - 2004
• Outstanding Drama Series - 2003
• Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series - 2003: Marg Helgenberger
• Outstanding Makeup For A Series (Non-Prosthetic) - 2003
• Outstanding Makeup For A Series (Prosthetic) - 2003
• Outstanding Single-Camera Sound Mixing For A Series - 2003
• Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series - 2002
• Outstanding Drama Series - 2002
• Outstanding Makeup For A Series (Prosthetic) - 2002
• Outstanding Single-Camera Sound Mixing For A Series - 2002
• Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series - 2002
• Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-Camera Series - 2001
• Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series - 2001
• Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Series - 2001
• Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series - 2001

DVD releases

Region 1 DVD releases

The US box sets are distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment, while the Canadian box sets are distributed by Alliance Atlantis.

Region 2/4 DVD releases

Region 2 and 4 DVD releases have followed a pattern whereby each season is progressively released in two parts (each of 11 or 12 episodes, with special features split up) before finally being sold as a single box set. After having been almost 12 months behind region 2 releases after the first four series, region 4 releases are speeding up, with distributors simply releasing season five as a complete box set.

Region 2

Region 4

Online sales

Country	Store	Available Season
United States	iTunes Store	6, 7 and 8 (after episode airs on TV)
United States	Amazon Unbox	6
United States	Xbox Live	6 and 7 (approximately one week after airing)
United Kingdom	Five Download	6, 7 and 8 (immediately after airing)
Germany	RTL now	6 and 7

See also

• CSI franchise
• CSI: Miami
• CSI: NY
• The Collaborators - a similar Canadian television series from the 1970s
• Forensic Heroes - a Chinese television series set in Hong Kong

References