CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, also referred to as CSI and CSI: Las Vegas, is an American procedural forensics crime drama television series that ran on CBS from October 6, 2000, to September 27, 2015, spanning 15 seasons. It is the first series in the CSI franchise. The series originally starred William Petersen, Marg Helgenberger, Gary Dourdan, George Eads, Jorja Fox and Paul Guilfoyle. Other cast members included Eric Szmanda, Robert David Hall, Louise Lombard, Wallace Langham, Lauren Lee Smith, Ted Danson, Laurence Fishburne, and Elisabeth Shue. The series concluded with a feature-length finale, "Immortality".
This article is about the 2000–2015 CSI franchise TV show. For the TV show franchise, see CSI (franchise). For other uses, see crime scene investigation (disambiguation) and CSI (disambiguation).CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
"Who Are You"
by the Who
United States
15
337 (list of episodes)
40–64 minutes
- Jerry Bruckheimer Films
(2000–2001)
(seasons 1–2) - Jerry Bruckheimer Television
(2001–2015)
(seasons 2–16) - Alliance Atlantis (2000–08)
(seasons 1-8) - CBS Productions
(2000-06)
(seasons 1–6) - CBS Paramount Network Television
(2006–09)
(seasons 7–9) - CBS Television Studios
(2009-2015)
(seasons 10-15)
October 6, 2000 –
September 27, 2015
During its original broadcast, CSI became one of the biggest phenomena in television history, and was CBS' most successful series at the time with the highest ratings. It received positive reviews from television critics, and won six Primetime Emmys Awards, although it received criticism from public officials and law enforcement for its depiction of crimes, graphic content, and other mature content.
A follow-up series, CSI: Vegas, premiered in 2021.
Premise[edit]
Mixing deduction and character-driven drama, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation follows a team of crime-scene investigators employed by the Las Vegas Police Department as they use physical evidence to solve murders.
The team is originally led by Dr. Gil Grissom (Petersen), a socially awkward forensic entomologist and career criminalist who is promoted to CSI supervisor following the death of a trainee investigator. Grissom's second-in-command, Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger), is a single mother with a cop's instinct. Born and raised in Las Vegas, Catherine was a stripper before being recruited into law enforcement and trained as a blood-spatter specialist.
Following Grissom's departure during the ninth season of the series, Catherine is promoted to supervisor. After overseeing the training of new investigator Raymond Langston (Fishburne), Willows is replaced by D.B. Russell (Danson) and recruited to the FBI shortly thereafter. Russell is a family man, a keen forensic botanist, and a veteran of the Seattle Crime Lab.
In the series' twelfth season, Russell is reunited with his former partner Julie Finlay (Elisabeth Shue), who, like Catherine, is a blood-spatter expert with an extensive knowledge of criminal psychology. With the rest of the team, they work to tackle Las Vegas's growing crime rate and are on the job 24/7, scouring the scene, collecting the evidence, and finding the missing pieces that will solve the mystery.
Creation[edit]
Concept and development[edit]
During the 1990s, Anthony Zuiker caught producer Jerry Bruckheimer's attention after writing his first movie script. Zuiker was convinced that a series was in the concept; Bruckheimer agreed and began developing the series with Touchstone Television. 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, they decided to include it in their 2000 schedule immediately, airing on Fridays after The Fugitive.
After CBS picked up the show, the Disney-owned Touchstone decided to pull out of the project, as they didn't want to spend so much money producing a show for another network (ABC is also owned by Disney). Instead of the intended effect of making CBS cancel the show (since it no longer had a producer), Bruckheimer was able to convince Alliance Atlantis to step in as a producer, saving the show and adding CBS as another producer.[1]
Initially, CSI was thought to benefit from The Fugitive (a remake of the 1960s series), which was expected to be a hit, but by the end of 2000, CSI had a much larger audience.[2]
The show began on Friday at 9:00 following The Fugitive, premiering on October 6, 2000, with an impressive 5.4 in the 18-49 demo and 17 million viewers. The show hovered around that mark for the next 10 episodes. The final Friday episode, "I-15 Murders" aired on January 12, 2001. The show moved to Thursday at 9:00 following Survivor on February 1, 2001, episode "Fahrenheit 932" and remained in that time slot until Season 11.
Production[edit]
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer Television and CBS Productions, which became CBS Paramount Television in the fall of 2006 and CBS Television Studios three years later. Formerly a co-production with the now-defunct Alliance Atlantis Communications, that company's interest was later bought by the investment firm GS Capital Partners, an affiliate of Goldman Sachs.[3] CBS acquired AAC's international distribution rights to the program, though the non-US DVD distribution rights did not change (for example, Momentum Pictures continues to own UK DVD rights). The series is currently in syndication, and reruns are broadcast in the US on Oxygen, Syfy, and the USA Network on cable, with Court TV Mystery holding the broadcast syndication rights. The show has aired in reruns on the USA Network since January 14, 2011.[4] The CSI catalog has been exclusive to the whole NBC Universal portfolio since September 2014, after several years with Viacom Media Networks' Spike and TV Land.[4]
Reception[edit]
Critical and commercial reception[edit]
During its 15 years in production, CSI secured an estimated world audience of over 73.8 million viewers (in 2009),[34] commanded, as of the fall of 2008, an average cost of $262,600 for a 30-second commercial,[35] and reached milestone episodes including the 100th ("Ch-Ch-Changes"), the 200th ("Mascara") and the 300th ("Frame by Frame"). CSI spawned three spin-off series, a book series, several video games, and an exhibit at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. At the time of its cancellation, CSI was the seventh-longest-running scripted US primetime TV series overall and had been recognized as the most popular dramatic series internationally by the Festival de Télévision de Monte-Carlo, which awarded the series the International Television Audience Award (Best Television Drama Series) seven times.[36][34][37] CSI became the second-most watched show on American television by 2002,[38] finally taking the top position for the 2002–2003 season. It was later named the most watched show in the world for the sixth time in 2016, making it the most watched show for more years than any other show.[39]
Critical reception to the show has been positive. Early reviews of the opening season were mixed. The Hollywood Reporter noted of the pilot "...the charismatic William Petersen and the exquisite Marg Helgenberger, lend credibility to the portrayals that might be indistinct in lesser hands. There's also a compelling, pulsating edge at the outset of CSI that commands instant attention, thanks in part to dynamic work from director Danny Cannon."[40] Entertainment Weekly gave the opening two seasons "B+" and "A−" ratings, respectively, noting: "The reason for CSI's success is that it combines a few time-tested TV elements in a fresh way. Each episode presents a murder case and a group of lovable heroes armed with cool, high-tech gadgets who do the sleuthing and wrap things up in an hour."[41][42] The CSI TV series has won six Primetime Emmy awards (out of 39 nominations) and four People's Choice awards (out of six nominations) and was nominated for six Golden Globe Awards, among other awards.
According to TV media critic Liv Hausken, crime drama TV shows like CSI normalize surveillance. "The absence of any critical distance to technology on CSI involves a lack of reflection on the security of information (that is, the constant risk of losing sensitive data) and the potential use and misuse of information. This can be contrasted with a whole range of crime series that may rely heavily on surveillance technologies but nevertheless allow critical reflection as part of the plot as such (showing misinterpretation of data or misuse of surveillance techniques)...This trust in technologies on CSI is important for understanding the status of surveillance in this fictional universe. It is also an indicator of the show's presentation of power, a third component for consideration in this discussion about how CSI lends a certain normalization of surveillance to everyday life...The series ignores the fact that everyone is a cultural being, that each person sees something as something, that they understand things from particular perspectives in everyday life as well as in science."[43]
The use of forensic science in the investigation of crime has been the central theme of several other TV mystery-suspense dramas, including: