CSI
CSI arrives back on Channel 5 tonight and looks to take back its crown at the top of the crime tree, but thirteen seasons in, it’s easy to forget how much the Las Vegas based forensics drama has changed TV in America.
While CSI quickly became the by-word in forensic drama, it can’t take credit for the change in focus from the detectives to the people in the lab. That honour must go to the BBC and its drama Silent Witness. Despite the similar setup and focus, Silent Witness and CSI couldn’t be further apart.
While Silent Witness was concerned about the realities of pathology, CSI decided to go for a more entertainment based angle, complete with glossy visuals and gun toting agents.
Throughout the next few years, every other network in America quickly started trying to replicate the rating magic that CSI had stumbled on to, with shows like Cold Case, Without A Trace, Criminal Minds, Numb3rs, NCIS and Bones all starting to show more than just a little influence from CSI manifesto.
CSI’s massive success not only guaranteed it a prime time slot that other channels tried to avoid. It turned the show not only into the byword for modern TV crime drama, but became a brand in of itself. Spawning two spin-off shows, it was almost impossible to escape the CSI umbrella on American TV.
All of this made show runners and creatives think outside of the box when it came to crafting their new crime serial. Each show needed a new hook, it couldn't just be a CSI clone. It made for some nicely original shows like Lie To Me and Numb3rs, shows that might not have gotten their network breaks had it not been for the release and success of CSI.
Not all that CSI brought to TV was great though. The show's often played fast and loose with scientific fact, a deliberate choice of entertainment over strict reality, and this is something its peers were keen to pick up on. it no longer mattered if what was happening on screen was truly accurate, it just needed to be accurate enough for the audience to buy it.
Also, ask any forensic pathologist how many times they go out into the field wielding a sidearm and chasing down bad guys and the answer's likely to be quite a low amount of times.
Despite the criticisms though, CSI and it's acolytes have been incredibly popular, attracting massive ratings figures in America and quickly becoming the linchpin in any major network's programming. The forensics procedural became the same as the sitcom had been in the eighties, a good one good be a pillar to build everything else on.
While the bleak world of Nordic Noir might now be becoming the biggest influence on the world of TV drama, with people now striving after the darker tones that The Killing and Wallander have made their trademark, CSI has left an indelible mark on the world of crime drama on TV on both sides of the Atlantic.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation begins again tonight on Channel 5 and make sure to read our exclusive Jorja Fox interview.
Tagged in Crime Scene Investigation