Criminal Minds

Today, I’m going to look at three more of CBS procedurals - Cold Case, CSI:Miami, and NCIS.

I like Cold Case. Why Cold Case and not CSI:NY? I don’t know. The really pale detective kind of intrigues me. Kathryn Morris plays Detective Lily Rush, who works in the cold case department. I don’t watch this all the time but more frequently than any other crime show besides Criminal Minds and CSI. I like how they use flashbacks in the show, as well as music from the time period the crime occured in. It’s kind of interesting that when they’re speaking to witnesses, they show them older, and then show them as they were when they were younger. The crimes in this show are not particularly different than any other show but since they are all cold cases, it makes it a bit more original. On the season premiere Sunday, the team investigates the 1998 murder of a fifteen year old girl. She was known to be promisicuous in high school and so joined as club called Heart Wait, which was an abstinence club. The show was pretty interesting. At the end of last season, the main character, Lily, was shot. They barely mentioned it in the new episode - it came up very briefly twice, so I think it may become a bigger issue later on. Cold Case also depicts the detective’s personal lives, which makes it more interesting.

CSI:Miami was spawned after the incredible success of the original CSI. Starring David Caruso as Horatio Caine, the Miami team also uses amazing technology to track down criminals, but they tend to focus on one crime per episode, instead of the typical two on the other CSI’s. Miami is the most watched U.S. series in the world. It’s Monday night’s highest rated show, and one of the most watched in America. Wikipedia has a run-down of the characters. I like this one better than NY but not as much as Vegas. I don’t know why! I love David Caruso, so that might be it. Emily Proctor is also a good actress and was a cutie on West Wing.
I just read in a blog on a hockey website (not sure what that has to do with CSI but whatever), “I watch CSI and CSI:NY but i can’t stand Miami. i think it’s David Caruso… i’m not sure. i think i heard it has the best ratings of the 3, though. ”
David Caruso must be a love him or hate him type of guy. The season opens with some suprising news for Horatio - he’s a father. Surprise - you have a teenager! And he is a suspect in the murder of a parole officer. CSI Files has a good synopsis of the episode. I’m behind on the back stories of the characters, but I could be persuaded to be a Miami fan.

NCIS(Navel Criminal Investigative Service)follows a team who investigates criminal activity in the Navy or Marine Corps. I’ve seen this once or twice. Like CSI:NY, not bad, but I have no urge to watch it really. Mark Harmon plays NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, who leads the team and seems kind of grouchy. I do have to say that I don’t know the characters or their stories so I don’t care about this show at all, regardless of the quality.
I watched the new episode on Tuesday. It was pretty good. I liked the story, but the characters made me lose interest half way through the show. Mark Harmon is the alpha dog, and the other two male team members constantly try to one-up each other. It doesn’t seem like friendly competition - it’s just mean. The quirky weird lab girl, Abbie, seems a little forced - like she really has to act for it, and the female team member, Ziva, is a former Moussad agent (sort of Israel’s version of the CIA). Her accent is a bit inconsistent. They all treat Mark Harmon - Gibbs - as a god and try to impress him, fearing his disapproval and glowing when they win his approval. That was kind of strange to me. Anyway, the story was interesting. I just didn’t like how the characters interacted - but that could be because I don’t really know them.

Characters for me are so important to the show. If I don’t like them, I won’t watch it, no matter how interesting the cases they investigate are. In the crowded field of crime procedurals, they have to have strong people to carry the story.

Do Numb3rs and Without a Trace have these strong people? I’ll talk about them next time.
One of the best procedurals is on tonight. Catch CSI at nine on CBS.