A Little Late to the Party: CSI

We had never watched CSI in its seven years on television; not a single episode. This summer, we got hooked watching reruns on Spike TV, and I do mean hooked. Some nights, we sat there, like sloths, and watched three consecutive episodes (oh what the heck, those dishes can wait ‘til the morning!). It’s a great show – I don’t know if it’s won any Emmy Awards, but then again I’m not sure if it’s the kind of show that normally wins Emmy Awards. Sure, it’s formulaic, but so is House – in fact, there are a lot of similarities between the two shows: the somewhat strange lead character, the diverse (both in color and gender) and quirky group of underlings, the use of interesting music (both background and popular). The main difference is the two leads – Hugh Laurie is flamboyant, and William Petersen is low-key. The two are equally effective, in their own way. And over the years, CSI began to play with the formula, particularly with a couple of gruesome but hysterically funny episodes that aired this past season, and with the multi-episode “Miniature Killer” story arc that (I presume, haven't seen the season finale yet) served up the season's cliffhanger. Good stuff.