CSI

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (also known as CSI: Las Vegas) is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. It is filmed primarily at Universal Studios in Universal City, California.

The Finder-Spyder search site is seen in episodes including “Time of Your Death” and “Meet Market.”

The series follows Las Vegas criminologists as they use physical evidence to solve grisly murders in this unusually graphic (and hugely popular) drama, which has inspired a host of other cop-show ‘procedurals.’ An immediate ratings smash for CBS, the series mixes deduction, gritty subject matter and popular characters. The network quickly capitalized on its megahit with spin-offs CSI: Miami and CSI: NY.

The tenth season of CSI premiered on September 24, 2009 at 9 pm EST.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation 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. CBS Paramount acquired AAC’s international distribution rights to the program. The show currently airs Thursdays at 9PM ET/PT on CBS.

The series has been heavily criticized—almost since its debut—by police and district attorneys, who feel CSI portrays an inaccurate image of how police solve crimes, and by the Parents Television Council, who note the level and gratuitousness of graphic violence, images and adult content seen on the show. Nevertheless, CSI became the most-watched show on American television by 2002. The success of the show encouraged CBS to produce a franchise, starting in May 2002 with the spin-off CSI: Miami and then again in 2004 with CSI: NY.

The series is now in syndication and reruns are currently broadcast in the US on the Spike and TV Land cable networks.

As of the fall of 2008, CSI commands an average cost of $262,600 for a 30-second commercial, according to an Advertising Age survey of media-buying firms.

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 did not 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). 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 spec script and presented it to ABC, NBC and Fox 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 that 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.

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.

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. Occasionally, when required, the cast will also shoot on location in Las Vegas, although more often the locations will be substituted by California locations. Santa Clarita was originally chosen for its similarity to the outskirts of Las Vegas. Some of the California locations include the Verdugo Hills High School, UCLA’s Royce Hall, the Pasadena City Hall and the California State University. While shooting is filmed primarily at Universal Studios in Universal City, California, Santa Clarita’s surroundings have proven so versatile that CSI still shoots some of its outdoor scenes there.

Stylistically, the show has drawn favorable comparisons to Quincy and The X-Files. 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 steps 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”. 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

There was an instrumental theme song in the first season, which has been replaced in syndication. CSI’s theme song is Who Are You, written by Pete Townshend with vocals by Roger Daltrey, both of The Who, 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, which also contained many musical references such as the words “Who’s Next” on a dry erase board in the episode’s opening sequence.

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 are Radiohead and Cocteau Twins, but several other artists have lent their music to CSI including Rammstein—used heavily in Lady Heather’s story arc. Sigur Rós can be heard playing in the background in Season 2 episode “Slaves of Las Vegas”, The Turtles in “Grave Danger”, and Marilyn Manson in Suckers. Industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails have also been featured multiple times throughout the three series’. In the Season 9 episode “For Warrick”, The Martin Brothers’ “Stoopit” is heard from the club when Grissom discovers Warrick’s body and their “Dirtybird Records” label mate Claude Vonstroke’s “Chimps” is played from the club while Grissom, Catherine and Nick attempt to recreate the crime scene.

The series follows Las Vegas criminologists as they use scientific methods to solve grisly murders in this unusually graphic (and hugely popular) drama, which inspired a host of other cop-show ‘procedurals.’ An immediate ratings smash for CBS, the series adroitly mixes painstaking deduction, gritty subject matter and intriguing characters. The network quickly capitalized on its megahit with spin-offs CSI: Miami and CSI: NY.

* CSI Level 2: Dr. Raymond “Ray” Langston (Laurence Fishburne) comes into contact with the CSI team in the course of a murder investigation and joins the Las Vegas Crime Lab as a Level-1 CSI. Langston is a medical doctor who used to work in a hospital. A co-worker murdered 27 patients, and all the evidence showed up before him, but he never put the evidence together. In the episode “The Grave Shift,” his first day on the job was most troubling for him. In the episode “No Way Out,” he was held hostage in the aftermath of a shootout in a neighborhood. In the episode “Mascara,” one of Ray’s former students was murdered, and in the end of “All In,” Langston has to shoot and kill a murderer in self defense, the first time he takes a life in the line of duty. Ray graduated to CSI 2 in the tenth season opener and was explained that he spent his time off taking every class and seminar he could to really become the CSI that Gil Grissom saw in him. Ray also revealed in the tenth season that he was raised in Korea and his father, a soldier and a veteran of the Korean War, was a violent man, often getting into brawls off the battlefield and this is something which disturbs Langston considerably. Also in the tenth season, Ray travels to Miami and New York, involving a case that crosses over into three CSI shows for the first time.

* CSI Level 3 Night Shift Supervisor: Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger) is in command of the night shift Las Vegas CSI unit. This character is loosely based on real life CSI Yolanda McCleary. She was promoted with the resignation of Gil Grissom in the episode, “One to Go.” Catherine was raised by her single mother, a cocktail waitress and showgirl. Catherine failed to excel to her full potential in school, despite her intelligence and sharp mind. Catherine left school and began work as an exotic dancer in order to support her boyfriend’s career. She became interested in crime solving when she befriended a regular at the dance club, who encouraged her to return to school. She attended West Las Vegas University where she graduated with a degree in Medical Science. Catherine joined the CSI team as a lab technician, after which she worked her way up to the role of supervisor under Gil Grissom. Catherine has one daughter, Lindsey Willows (Kay Panabaker), and had a stormy relationship with ex-husband Eddie Willows (Timothy Carhart) until his murder in episode, “Lady Heather’s Box.” The relationship with her father, Sam Braun (Scott Wilson), also occasionally created conflicts in cases. In the episode, “Built to Kill,” Braun is shot and dies in Catherine’s arms.

* CSI Level 3 Night Shift Assistant Supervisor: Nicholas “Nick” Stokes (George Eads) is second in command of the night shift Las Vegas CSI unit. He was promoted in episode “Family Affair,” by Catherine Willows. Nick is an easygoing and friendly former college baseball player and fraternity member from Dallas, Texas, with a degree in criminal justice from Texas A&M University and speaks fluent Spanish. Nick has shown to be an emotional person through the series: He nearly cried when being held at gunpoint in the episode “Who Are You?.” In the episode “Gum Drops,” he got very emotional searching for a missing little girl who was thought to be dead. In the episode “Grave Danger,” he broke down and was on the verge of committing suicide when buried alive in a glass coffin and broke down once again in the episode “Turn, Turn, Turn,” when discussing the death of the victim with Dr. Ray Langston, and how he should have seen the danger signs over the year and done something to prevent it. He was also stalked in the episode “Stalker,” when a repairman named Nigel Crane (Doug Hutchison) thought that Nick was his friend. Because of being molested at a young age, his character is portrayed as more empathic than his co-workers, which has drawn several rebukes from others.

* CSI Level 3: Greg Sanders (Eric Szmanda) was formerly the lab’s DNA technician. Greg entered field training in the episode “Who Shot Sherlock?,” and he became a full-fledged CSI. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of DNA and trace analysis. In the episode “Play with Fire” he was involved in a lab explosion, which he survived and in the episode “Fannysmackin’,” Greg is brutally beaten by a gang of youths while rescuing a victim. Greg is also an Eagle Scout. He also wrote a book about the history of Las Vegas, and often becomes intrigued with cases that date back to “old Las Vegas” when it was run by the mob. Greg is promoted to CSI level 3 in the episode “19 Down.” Executive producer, Naren Shankar, says that in the tenth season, Greg will get to gripe about his role on the team when Sara (Jorja Fox) comes to visit. Shankar says his complaining will pay off and he’ll get a new job.

* Chief Medical Examiner: Dr. Albert “Al” Robbins (Robert David Hall) is the head county coroner of the Las Vegas Police Department. Robbins’ first appearance was in the episode “Who Are You?” and became a series regular from season three onwards. He is married with three children. Robbins was close friends with CSI, Gil Grissom, and since Grissom’s departure, Robbins has been shown to be developing a similar sort of friendship with new CSI, Ray Langston, and he is also close friends with David Phillips, the assistant coroner. He has two prosthetic legs, and it has been implied that he lost them in an accident while trying to dig up a floor at a crime scene; this disability is drawn from actor Robert David Hall himself, who lost his legs in a road traffic accident.

* Trace Technician: David Hodges (Wallace Langham) is a lab technician who transferred to the Las Vegas crime lab from Los Angeles. Hodges’ appearances provide some comic relief, though most of the team finds him obnoxious and irritating. Hodges’ first appearance was in the episode “Recipe for Murder,” and he became a regular cast member starting with the episode “Dead Doll.” He has a crush on fellow lab technician Wendy Simms. He once got all the other lab techs to collaborate and try to solve The Miniature Killer case, discovering a key clue. It is also noted that Hodges has an uncanny sense of smell, and is able to identify many key chemical compounds by their scent alone, such as cyanide, which to those who possess the gene like Hodges does, smells like bitter almonds, but Hodge’s sense of smell for this chemical, however, is more acute than that of the average person. While at a sci-fi convention in the episode “A Space Oddity,” Hodges and Wendy had to solve the murder of one of the stars.

* DNA Technician: Wendy Simms (Liz Vassey) worked in San Francisco, California for a time before moving to Las Vegas to take the DNA tech position in “Secrets and Flies.” In the episode “Lab Rats,” she helps David Hodges investigate the case of The Miniature Killer. The two characters have an ongoing rivalry which obscures a strong mutual attraction. Hodges complains that Simms tries to take over everything and thinks she’s “too cool” for the lab. Simms insults Hodges by calling him “freakboy” and “loser” but appreciates his investigative thoroughness. Wendy is apparently something of a klutz and has a reputation for being clumsy around work. Wendy and Dr. Robbins have a big disagreement over tainted blood evidence in the episode “Let It Bleed.” Wendy also had a role in an independent horror flick playing a girl who is cut in half by a guy with a chainsaw. Hodges feels the mutual attraction to her as well but fears the effect on his work that a relationship would produce, since he finds her distracting enough as it is. Actress Liz Vassey is added to main cast in the tenth season premiere.

* Assistant Medical Examiner: David Phillips (David Berman) (nicknamed “Super Dave”) is the assistant coroner to Chief Medical Examiner Al Robbins. He received his self ascribed nickname after saving the life of a victim during an autopsy. Due to his line of work, he is not fazed by much. Though earlier in the series, the main characters tease him about his supposed lack of social experience. David marries at some point early in the seventh season. He reveals his wife enjoys hearing all the grotesque details of his job in the episode “Leapin’ Lizards.” During the eighth season, signs show his wife is attempting to change his look. In the ninth season, David performs his first solo autopsy, indicating his advancement in the lab hierarchy. Actor David Berman is added to the main cast in the tenth season premiere.

* LVPD Homicide Detective: Captain James “Jim” Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) was the head of the Las Vegas CSI, who is originally from New Jersey. He was moved back to the police homicide division in the episode, “Cool Change” and remains captain in the homicide division and works with the CSI team. His daughter, Ellie (Nicki Aycox), has problems in season two, who is a drug addict and a prostitute in Los Angeles. It was discovered in the episode, “Ellie,” that he is not Ellie’s biological father. In the episode “Bang Bang,” Brass was shot twice by Willy Cutler (Currie Graham), after convincing him to release his female hostage (Kandiss Edmundson). At the end of the episode, “Built To Kill,” Brass is seen in a tattoo parlor, having the date of his shooting (May 11, 2006) tattooed just below the bullet scar. Brass has never been accused of being a “soft cop” and has shown regard for the rules throughout the years. In the episode “Who and What,” after the FBI’s Jack Malone slams a suspect’s head on the table, Brass rushes in and pulls him off, saying “If you want to rendition him to Gitmo, be my guest. But in this house, we play by the rules.” In the episode “You Kill Me,” after David Hodges creates a fictional story in which Brass uses his night stick on Bobby Dawson (Gerald McCullouch), Wendy Simms comments “Captain Brass isn’t the type of cop that smacks suspects around.”

* CSI Level 2: Riley Adams (Lauren Lee Smith) was a former St. Louis police officer who became a CSI. She made her debut in “Art Imitates Life and came in as a second-level CSI to the understaffed Las Vegas unit, a few weeks after the death of Warrick Brown. In episode, “No Way Out,” she and fellow CSI Ray Langston were held hostage in the aftermath of a shootout in a neighborhood, but Riley was successfully able to disarm the suspect. Actress Lauren Lee Smith will not be back for the tenth season of CSI, said executive producer Naren Shankar, on July 27, 2009 and says the decision to let Smith and her character go was “an issue of how we were feeling the ensemble was working.”

* CSI Level 3 Night Shift Supervisor: Dr. Gilbert “Gil” Grissom (William Petersen) was the night shift team supervisor for the Las Vegas CSI unit, and a forensic entomologist with a degree in biology from UCLA. He is known for being a very thorough and methodical scientist, as well as a bit of a quirky introvert. It was revealed in the episode “Way To Go” that he has been in a relationship with fellow CSI Sara Sidle. He successfully proposed marriage to her in the episode, “The Case of the Cross-Dressing Carp.” The Grissom character is loosely based on real life criminalist Daniel Holstein. Actor William Petersen was originally reported to have renewed his contract for the show’s ninth season, but the Associated Press reported on July 15, 2008, that Petersen was leaving the show as a regular in the ninth season’s tenth episode in order to pursue more stage acting opportunities. He will return for guest spots during the show’s run, as needed. In his final scene as a regular in “One to Go,” he is shown meeting his fiancée, Sara Sidle, in the rain forest of Costa Rica and they kiss. It was revealed in, “Family Affair,” that Grissom and Sara are now married.

* CSI Level 3: Warrick Brown (Gary Dourdan) was an audio-video analyst. Warrick was a Las Vegas native and chemistry major from UNLV. A major facet of Warrick’s character portrayed in the show is that he was a recovering gambling addict, his recovery hindered by the fact that he worked in Las Vegas. New CSI Holly Gribbs was killed at a scene in the episode, “Pilot,” while Warrick was out laying a bet. He almost lost his job for not being with her at the time. Grissom’s friendship and support had helped him a great deal in overcoming his addiction, but his compulsion was one of the reasons used by Conrad Ecklie to investigate and then split up the team in season five. Warrick was married in season six, but divorced by season eight. Warrick’s character did not return for the ninth season, since actor Gary Dourdan and CBS could not come to terms on a contract. In the episode “For Gedda,” Warrick Brown was shot and left to die; it was confirmed in the season nine premiere, “For Warrick,” that Dourdan’s character was killed off by the gun shot of the Undersheriff Jeff McKeen. In the opening moments of the premiere, Warrick dies in Gil Grissom’s arms and it was also revealed that he had a son.

* CSI Level 3: Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox) was a materials and element analyst. She was physics major at Harvard University, and previously worked for the San Francisco coroner and crime lab. She replaced Holly Gribbs after helping investigate her death. She is devoted to her job and will go to almost any lengths to make sure that justice is served. She is often socially awkward, but brilliant at her work. Sara also has emotional difficulties when dealing with abuse cases in her job. Sara accepted a marriage proposal from co-worker Gil Grissom in “The Case of the Cross-Dressing Carp.” A few episodes later, in, “Goodbye and Good Luck,” Sara leaves the team following a difficult case. She leaves Grissom a note, stating that she had to go face the ghosts of her past, something that she could not do in Las Vegas. She made guest appearances in season nine episodes 901, 902, and 905, and she meets Gil Grissom in episode 910 in the Costa Rican jungle. Actress Jorja Fox returned as Sara for the tenth season premiere and was scheduled to return for five more episodes; executive producer Carol Mendolsohn has since reported that the length of Fox’s stay remains unknown, but it will definitely be more than the five episodes she was originally scheduled for. It was revealed in “Family Affair” that Grissom and Sara are now married.

* LVPD Homicide Detective: Sofia Curtis (Louise Lombard) was 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 that she had been demoted from acting day shift supervisor. In the sixth season, Sofia makes a career shift from CSI to detective. Sofia was a recurring character in the fifth season, and became a main character in the seventh season. Actress Louise Lombard made her final appearance in the episode “Dead Doll,” as a special guest star.

Special Guests :

* Chad Michael Murray, in The Accused Is Entitled, Season 3 Episode 2
* Dakota Fanning, in one of her earliest roles, played an abuse victim in Season 1’s episode “Blood Drops.”
* Misha Collins appeared in Season 5’s episode “Nesting Dolls”, as Vlad.
* Marcia Cross, most notable for portraying Bree Hodge on Desperate Housewives, appeared in the episode “Organ Grinder” from Season 2.
* Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice star Kate Walsh appeared in the 100th episode “Ch-Ch-Changes”.
* Clueless star Stacey Dash played a “newbie” lab tech who flirted with Warrick in “Slaves of Las Vegas” from Season 2.
* Kelly Rowan (Melinda Clarke’s co-star on The O.C.) also appeared in “Slaves of Las Vegas” as Eileen Nelson, the wife of a man who hated her. He made a girl from an underground fetish club act like her, and his violence resulted in him killing her. Coincidentally, Clarke and Rowan appeared in the same episode prior to working together in ‘The O.C.’, though they did not appear in scenes together.
* Tippi Hedren, most notable for her roles in two Alfred Hitchcock films The Birds and Marnie, appared in the episode “Young Man with a Horn” from Season 9.
* The Usual Suspects star Stephen Baldwin appeared as Jesse Acheson, who was investigated in Season 5’s “Compulsion.”
* 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 Season 7’s episode “Living Legend.”
* Ugly Betty and Disney Channel star America Ferrera had a guest starring role in the Season 5 episode “Harvest.”
* Frank Gorshin made his last ever TV appearance in “Grave Danger”, the season 5 finale.
* Faye Dunaway played a prominent ex-showgirl and mob mogul’s former flame in the episode “Kiss-Kiss, Bye-Bye” in Season 6.
* Danny Bonaduce appeared as Izzy Delancy, the Miniature Killer’s first victim, in the two-part Season 7 opener “Built to Kill” as well as “Loco Motives”.
* Kevin Federline made his guest appearance in the Season 7 episode “Fannysmackin’”, starring as a street hoodlum ‘Pig.’
* Ned Beatty made a guest appearance in the episode “Sweet Jane” in Season 7, playing a serial killing dentist.
* Lost stars Ian Somerhalder, Josh Holloway, Emilie De Ravin, Elizabeth Mitchell, M.C. Gainey, Harold Perrineau and William Mapother have all guest starred. Somerhalder portrayed a murder suspect name Tony Del Nagro in Season 3’s “Revenge Is Best Served Cold.” In Season 4, Holloway played Kenny Richmond in “Assume Nothing,” a casino valet who was Nick’s college baseball teammate. Both episodes were the third and fourth season premieres respectively. Mitchell appeared as Melissa Winters, a wheelchair-using prosecutor and friend of Sara’s with a deadly secret in Season 3’s “One Hit Wonder.” M.C. Gainey was a deceased bounty hunter in the 4th season episode Homebodies. Perrineau played a reverend with a sordid past and an exorcism patient who is missing in “Go To Hell” in Season 8. Mapother played a snuff film maker in the aptly named Season 3 episode “Snuff.”
* Before becoming a regular on CSI: NY, Carmine Giovinazzo made a guest appearance in “Revenge Is Best Served Cold”, making him one of the several actors to be in all three CSI shows.
* Summer Glau of Firefly & Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles played Mandy Cooper in the Season 5 episode “What’s Eating Gilbert Grissom?”.
* Juliette Goglia played Hannah West in two episodes, a child prodigy who muddied the waters in two murder cases her half-brother was involved in. Her cold, calculating actions made Sara Sidle rethink her career choice and she left at the end of the Season 8 episode “Goodbye and Good Luck.” Sara left her duty vest for new CSI Ronnie Lake, after removing her name tag and throwing it into the garbage. The first appearance was in the episode “The Unusual Suspect” from Season 6.
* Constance Marie played detective Carolina Flores in “Two and a Half Deaths” from Season 8.
* Guest appearances have been made by no less than four of The Shield cast members, namely: Catherine Dent (Danny) in “Who Shot Sherlock?” in Season 5 as Kay Marquette. Kenny Johnson (Lem) in “Time of Your Death” in Season 6 as Randy Bolen. Walton Goggins (Shane) in “Empty Eyes” in Season 7 as Marlon Frost. Jay Karnes (Dutch) in “For Gedda” in Season 8 as IA Detective Dutch Wagenbach.
* Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage of MythBusters appeared as scientists-observers in the Season 8 episode “The Theory of Everything.”
* Pauley Perrette acts as an aspiring singer who befriends Catherine Willows’ husband in “Lady Heather’s Box.”
* Ally Sheedy as Sharon Turner in Season 7 episode “Leapin’ Lizards”.
* Method Man, as Drops, appeared in the episodes “Poppin’ Tags”, “Big Shots” & “Drops Out”.
* Travis Barker played a rapper also in the Season 6 episode “Poppin’ Tags.”
* Shanna Moakler, Former Miss USA, appeared in the same episode as now ex-husband Travis Barker.
* Taylor Swift as Haley Jones in the Season 9 episode “Turn, Turn, Turn.”
* Holt McCallany was in the Season 9 episode “Young Man with a Horn.” He previously played Det. John Hagen on CSI: Miami.
* Heroes star Milo Ventimiglia played Bobby in the Season 1 episode “Friends & Lovers.” Star Zachary Quinto, the villain Sylar, appears in the second season episode “Anatomy of a Lye” as Mitchell Sullivan, a greasy chop-shop attendant. Stephen Tobolowsky, Heroes’ Bob Bishop, appears in the episode Two and a Half Deaths.
* The Office co-stars John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson,and Melora Hardin have all made guest appearances. Krasinski in the Season 5 episode “Who Shot Sherlock.” Wilson appeared as a purse snatching thief in the Season 1 finale “Strip Strangler.” And Hardin appeared as the sports book manager in season 5’s “Big Middle.”
* Carlos Alazraqui as a Reno cop in Season 9’s “Let it Bleed” (a nod to his role in Reno 911!).
* Allison Scagliotti-Smith, known for her role in Drake & Josh, played fast food restaurant employee Mindy Crenshaw in the Season 9 episode “Deep Fried and Minty Fresh.”
* Wil Wheaton guest-starred as homeless murder suspect Walter in Season 5 episode “Compulsion.”
* Battlestar Galactica producer Ronald D. Moore along with Galactica actors Grace Park and Rekha Sharma, make cameo appearances in the 2009 episode “A Space Oddity”. (The three appear in a science fiction convention scene, with Moore shouting angrily at a man while Park and Sharma play audience members). Another Galactica alumnus, Kate Vernon, is a major guest star in the same episode. Tricia Helfer also appears as dead model “Ashleigh James” in the final episode of Season 2 “The Hunger Artist.”
* Kellan Lutz played Chris Mullins in “Empty Eyes”.
* Willie Garson plays the “kitty” in season 4’s “Fur and Loathing.”
* D.B. Woodside from Buffy and the second President Palmer from 24 appears in the season 5 episode “Harvest.”
* Nana Visitor who plays Kira Nerys from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine appears as a wrongly convicted murderers’ ex-wife in the fifth season episode “Mea Culpa”
* Robia LaMorte, Buffy’s Jenny Calendar played murder victim Joan Marks in season 2’s “You’ve Got Male”
* Courtney Jines from Spy Kids 3-D guest starred as Jessica Rachel Trent, the sister of Jennette McCurdy, who killed an elderly woman for a cat. The episode was “Cat’s Cradle”, from season 2.
* Jennette McCurdy from Nickelodeon’s show iCarly guest starred as Jackie Trent, the sister of Courtney Jines who killed an elderly woman for a cat. The episode was “Cat’s Cradle”, from season 2.
* Cory Hardrict guest starred as Ross Davis, a character in whose bike is stolen. The episode was “Early Rollout” from season 4.
* Dawson’s Creek actress Meredith Monroe appears as a nun in the seventh season episode “Double-Cross.” Sean Patrick Flanery from Boondock Saints also appears in this episode as a used car salesman.
* Alan Tudyk, (Wash) from Firefly plays Carl Fisher in the seventh season episode “Burn Out.”
* Peter Stormare, the Cosmonaut from Armageddon, John Abruzzi from Prison Break, etc. Appears as “Binky” the brothel owner in the seventh season episode “Ending Happy.”
* Megan Hilty, Broadway actress most notably recognized for her portrayal of Glinda the Good in the Broadway musical “Wicked” and Doralee Rhodes in the new musical “9to5″ appears as Kiwi Long, fast food manager at Choozy’s Chicken in the Season 9 episode “Deep Fried and Minty Fresh.”
* D.B. Sweeney guest starred as Kyle Goode in the Season 4 episode “Early Rollout.”
* Former Married…with Children and Futurama actress Katey Sagal guest starred as Annabelle Bundt in the season 8 episode “Two and a Half Deaths.”
* Tim Blake Nelson of Oh Brother, Where Art Thou plays a mild mannered employee who kills one of his co-workers in Season 10’s “Working Stiffs.”
* Wayne Knight of the same episode plays Tim Blake Nelson’s not-so-friendly boss.
* Liev Schreiber, portrays Michael Keppler from Trenton, who replaces Grissom during his sabbatical leave in Episodes 12, 13, 14 and 15 of season 7.
* Evan Rachel Wood of True Blood guest starred as Nora Easton in the episode “Got Murder?”

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 with CSI’s numbers per 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, and the most-watched scripted show for five consecutive seasons, from the 2002–2003 season through the 2006–2007 season.

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.

Reception of the show is good with ratings making it the number one show on the CBS network several times in its history, although it has been criticized for its inaccurate portrayal of how police investigations are performed and for its often extremely violent depictions of the crime. CSI has been nominated numerous times for industry awards and has won nine awards during its history. The program has spawned several media projects including an exhibit at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, a series of books, several video games, and two additional TV shows. It has reached milestone episodes, such as the 100th, “Ch-Ch-Changes”, the 150th, “Living Legend”, which starred Roger Daltrey from The Who and the 200th, “Mascara”, airing on April 2, 2009.

A criticism of the show is the depiction of police procedure, which some consider to be decidedly lacking in realism. For instance, the show’s characters not only investigate crime scenes (”process”, as their real-world counterparts do), but they also conduct raids, engage in suspect pursuit and arrest, interrogate suspects, and solve cases, which falls under the responsibility of uniformed officers and detectives, not CSI personnel. Although some detectives are also registered CSIs, this is exceedingly rare in actual life. It is considered an inappropriate and improbable practice to let CSI personnel to be involved in detective work as it would compromise the impartiality of scientific evidence and would be impracticably time-consuming. CSI shares this characteristic with similar British drama series, Silent Witness.

The cities of North Las Vegas and Henderson, and other surrounding townships and counties, will not allow Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department or companies contracted for work under them to come into their jurisdictions, unless the crime occurred on a border of the cities and/or townships. Furthermore, CSIs contracted to LVMPD don’t travel to other counties, such as Nye County, or Pahrump, or any other places in Nevada, due to each county having different laws in regards to what is considered law enforcement within that particular county.

Some police and district attorneys have criticized the show for giving members of the public an inaccurate perception of how police solve crimes. Victims and their families are coming to expect instant answers from showcased techniques such as DNA analysis and fingerprinting, when in real life processing such evidence can take days or even weeks. 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.

However, not all law-enforcement agencies have been as critical; many CSIs have responded positively to the show’s influence and enjoy their new reputation. In the UK, Scene Of Crime Officers (SOCO) now commonly refer to themselves as CSIs. Some constabularies, such as Norfolk, have even gone so far as to change the name of the unit to Crime Scene Investigation. Also, recruitment and training programs have seen a massive increase in applicants, with a far wider range of people now interested in something previously regarded as a scientific backwater.

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. 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.

This article uses material from the “CSI” article at Wikipedia.org and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.

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CSI

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