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This article is about the original TV series. For its two spin-offs, see CSI franchise. For the computer game, see CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (computer game).
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | |
|---|---|
 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation intertitle | |
| Format | Crime Drama - Police procedural |
| Created by | Anthony E. Zuiker |
| Starring | William Petersen Marg Helgenberger Gary Dourdan George Eads Eric Szmanda Robert David Hall Wallace Langham Paul Guilfoyle |
| Opening theme | The Who: "Who Are You" |
| Country of origin | United States Canada |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 176 (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 | |
| Common rating | |
|---|---|
| Australia | MA |
| Germany | 12 |
| Singapore | NC-16 |
| United States | TV-14-V |
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (commonly referred to as CSI) is a popular, Emmy Award-winning CBS 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.
CSI is produced in partnership with the Canadian media company Alliance Atlantis. On May 16, 2007, CBS renewed the show for an eighth season. Season 8 began production in July and began airing on Thursday September 27, 2007.
Besides its produced partnership with Alliance Atlantis, CSI is also produced by Jerry Bruckheimer Television and CBS Productions, which became CBS Paramount Television (Fall 2006-present). There are two spin-offs to this show, CSI: Miami and CSI: NY.
Due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike ending, CBS has announced that the show will return April 3 2008 with six episodes. CBS Sets Series Return Dates. Retrieved on 2008-02-13.
Contents |
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).CSI (which has an acronym Computer Science Investigators) cast and Anthony Zuiker at the Paley Center (2001) Part1.Retrieved on 2007-November 12. Zuiker started spending time with real-life LVPD 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, plus 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, a remake of the sixties show. 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: Crime Scene Investigation - A Television Heaven Review Retrieved on 2007-November 28.
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.Rye Canyon Office Park Retrieved on 2007-November 28.
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.Elyse\'s CSI: Filming/Locations Retrieved on 2007-November 28.CSI-Fan.cjb.net Retrieved on 2007-November 28. 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.IMDB CSI\'s locations Retrieved on 2007-November 28.Elyse\'s CSI: Filming/Locations Retrieved on 2007-November 28.
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 if there\'s no more indoor shooting in Santa Clarita, the city and the surroundings have proven so versatile that CSI still shoots some of its outdoor scenes there.CSI Files - "CSI" Moves To Universal Retrieved on 2007-November 28.CSI Files - "The Unit" Takes Over CSI\'s Old Studio Retrieved on 2007-November 28.
CSI\'s current theme song used in the United States since inception in 2000, is "Who Are You", written by Pete Townshend with vocals by Roger Daltrey of The WhoA real reality show. USA Weekend. Retrieved on 2006-09-16. 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.
All throughout the series music plays an important role, artists like The Wallflowers, John Mayer and Akon (with Obie Trice) have even performed in the show ("The Accused is Entitled", "Built To Kill, Part 1" and "Poppin\' Tags" respectively). The Wallflowers\' "Everybody out of the water" can even be found on the CSI soundtrack. Mogwai is often heard during the \'science bits\' as is Radiohead, but many other artists have lent their music to CSI such as Rammstein, KMFDM, Kasabian, Madonna, Celldweller, Sigur Rós, Rob Zombie, Avril Lavigne, Bonobo, Zero 7, IAMX, Mobb Deep, Eminem, New Order, The Black Eyed Peas, The Turtles, Depeche Mode, Evanescence, Nine Inch Nails, The Game, The Stone Roses, Electronic, Peter Gabriel, Kaila Yu, Prodigy, Gwen Stefani, Kate Bush, Placebo, The Decemberists, Pantera, Gratitude, Einstürzende Neubauten and CSI actor Eric Szmanda\'s friend Marilyn Manson.
Other artists have been mentioned in CSI though not played. Catherine once said of a murder that happened in a meat-packing plant "this is like that Morrissey album, Meat Is Murder" (this album is actually by The Smiths). Another example is when in a later episode Jim Brass asked a murder suspect, that started singing, if he "looked like Paula Abdul" to her.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Soundtrack was released on january 25, 2002.
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 episode—that city\'s crime lab is the second most active in the United States, after the Federal Bureau of Investigation lab in Quantico, Virginia.CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - trivia. IMDb. Amazon. Retrieved on 2006-09-28. The division solves crimes almost entirely through the means of forensics evidence, which may or may not come to the conclusion of a murder or accidental death. The bizarre conclusions of these cases often force one to question morals and beliefs and possibly human nature in general.
Stylistically, the show has drawn favorable comparisons to Quincy and The X-Files.Slashdot - The Rise of CSI Retrieved on 2007-November 28. 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." 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 filmCSI:Crime Scene Investigation Season 3 Part 2 DVD bonus feature "The CSI Shot: Making It Real".
Aisha Tyler, Liz Vassey and Liev Schreiber have all had roles in the series. Tyler played Mia Dickerson, a DNA analyst for two seasons, Vassey plays Wendy Simms, also a DNA analyst, and Schreiber appeared as Grissom\'s short term replacement, Michael Keppler. Another popular recurring actress is Melinda Clarke, who plays Lady Heather, a diabetic who is also a brilliant and beautiful sexual-dominatrix who delved into cyber sex and owned her own brothel, all while capturing the infatuation of Grissom. The two went so far as to go to dinner together, 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.
Some of the show\'s more prominent guest stars include rapper Method Man, who has appeared twice 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 "payback" his would be killers. Frank Gorshin made his last ever TV appearance in season 5 episode 24 (Grave Danger).
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 Seasons five and twenty four in Seasons six and seven. The total number of aired episodes to date is 176.
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.A CSI Without a Trace Crossover. CSIfanatic.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-31.
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 couldn\'t 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"US crime drama tops Friends", BBC. Retrieved on 2006-09-16. 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).CSI:Crime Scene Investigation - A Television Heaven Review Retrieved on 2007-November 28.
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.CSI Files - "CSI: Miami" & Original CSI Break Ratings Records Retrieved on 2007-November 28..
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.NY Post - \'GREY\' MATTERS Retrieved on 2007-November 28. 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.Chicago Tribune - The Gil and Sara show on \'CSI\' Retrieved on 2007-November 28.Chicago Tribune - A \'terrifying\' romance on \'CSI\' Retrieved on 2007-November 28. 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.Entertainment Weekly - Kiss and Tell Retrieved on 2007-November 28. 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.Zap2it - \'CSI\' Outdraws \'Grey\'s\' Thursday Retrieved on 2007-November 28.
According to TV.com, Living Doll from the seventh season and Grave Danger from the fifth season are the highest rated episode, which are rated in 9.6. Monster in the Box from the seventh season is 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.
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 17 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.Watching CSI Retrieved on 2007-November 28.CBS CSI Gil Grissom’s rare office replica TV prop Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
On August 2007, upon rumors of Jorja Fox leaving the show, a grassroots campaign started.TVGuide.com - Is CSI On the Hunt for a New Jorja Fox? Retrieved on 2007-11-06. 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.Campaign Updates Retrieved on 2007-11-06.Flyover pictures and videos Retrieved on 2007-11-06. Another side of the campaign 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.TVguide - CSI Boss Vows Jorja Fox is "Coming Back" Retrieved on 2007-11-06.\'CSI\' fan says losing Sara would be a crime Retrieved on 2007-11-06.EW.com \'CSI\' Fans Launch Save Jorja Fox Campaign Retrieved on 2007-11-06. 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.CSI Files - Fans donate to charity Retrieved on 2008-January 15. This campaign was reminiscent to CBS\'s Jericho fans reaction over the show being cancelled. On that occasion, fans sent over 20 tons of nuts to CBS headquarters.
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.
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.N. J. Schweitzer and Michael J. Saks The CSI Effect: Popular Fiction About Forensic Science Affects Public Expectations About Real Forensic Science. Jurimetrics, Spring 2007 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.Mann, Michael D.. "The \'CSI Effect\': Better Jurors through Television and Science?", Buffalo Public Interest Law Journal, 2006. Donald E. Sheldon, Young S. Kim and Gregg Barak A Study of Juror Expectations and Demands Concerning Scientific Evidence: Does the \'CSI Effect\' Exist? Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law
Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry opened an exhibit in CSI\'s honor on May 25, 2007 called: "CSI: The Experience".CSI Stars Spend a Night at the Museum. TVGuide.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-24. 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.
In a high profile product placement deal,GMC Partners With CSI Crime Scene Investigation to CSI. Retrieved on 2007-11-03. 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.The Yukon XL Denali Joins the Cast of CSI. CSIFiles.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-26.IMCDB.org "CSI: Crime Scene Ivestigaion, 2000-2007" Retrieved on 2007-11-06.
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.
Emmy:
Emmy:
| DVD Name | Release Date |
|---|---|
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 1 | March 25 2003 |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 2 | September 2 2003 |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 3 | March 30 2004 |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 4 | October 12 2004 |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 | November 29 2005 |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 6 | November 14 2006 |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 7 | November 20 2007 |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 8 | TBA |
The US box sets are distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment, while the Canadian box sets are distributed by Alliance Atlantis.
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 being almost 12 months behind the region 2 releases for a while now, the region 4 releases are speeding up, with distributors foregoing the usual release pattern of "Part 1, Part 2, Complete Series" for season 5 and simply releasing it as a complete box set.
| DVD Name | Release dates | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full season | Part 1 | Part 2 | |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 1 | December 8, 2003 | July 1, 2002 | October 7, 2002 |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 2 | March 15, 2004 | July 28, 2003 | October 6, 2003 |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 3 | July 26, 2004 | April 5, 2004 | July 5, 2004 |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Seasons 1–3 | August 23, 2004 | ||
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 4 | November 21, 2005 | May 9, 2005 | July 11, 2005 |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Seasons 1–4 | December 12, 2005 | ||
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 | June 26, 2006 | April 24, 2006 | June 14, 2006 |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Seasons 1–5 | October 2, 2006 | ||
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Grave Danger - Tarantino Episodes | October 10, 2005 | ||
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 6 | June 4, 2007 | February 26, 2007 | June 4, 2007 |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 7 | February 25 2008 | September 3 2007 | February 25 2008 |
| DVD Name | Release dates | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full season | Part 1 | Part 2 | |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 1 | November 27 2003 | October 21 2002 | April 9 2003 |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 2 | October 28 2004 | October 27 2003 | March 30 2004 |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 3 | October 4 2005 | March 18 2005 | September 13 2005 |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 4 | November 8 2006 | May 12 2006 | August 17 2006 |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 | January 24 2007 | Not released | Not released |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Grave Danger - Tarantino Episodes | June 6 2007 | ||
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 6 | December 5 2007 | Not released | Not released |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 7 | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| Country | Store | Available Season |
|---|---|---|
 United States | iTunes Store | 6, 7 and 8 (after episode airs on TV). You can purchase the "season pass" which allows you to download each episode after it airs on television. |
| United States | Amazon Unbox | 6 |
| United States | Xbox Live | 6 and 7 (About a week turnaround from air to download) |
 United Kingdom | Five Download | 6, 7 and 8 |
 Germany | RTL now | 6 and 7 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
| CSI franchise | |
|---|---|
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation · CSI: Miami · CSI: NY | |
| Creators | Anthony E. Zuiker · Carol Mendelsohn · Ann Donahue · Jerry Bruckheimer |
| CSI Universe | CSI Effect · Novels · Comics · Video games · Exhibition |
| Crossovers | Without a Trace · Cold Case |
