CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American police procedural drama television series that aired 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, David Berman, Louise Lombard, Wallace Langham, Lauren Lee Smith, Ted Danson, Laurence Fishburne, and Elisabeth Shue. The series concluded with a feature-length finale, Immortality.
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 Emmy 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 and ended in 2024 after 3 seasons.
Premise Mixing deduction and character-driven drama, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation follows a team of crime scene investigators (CSIs) employed by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVPD for short) as they use physical evidence to solve murders.
The team is originally led by Dr. Gil Grissom (William 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 was promoted to supervisor. After overseeing the training of new investigator Raymond Langston (Lawrence Fishburne), Willows is replaced by D.B. Russell (Ted 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' 12th 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 help solve the mystery.
Creation
Concept and development 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 CBS had a pay-or-play contract with actor William Petersen, who said he wanted to do the CSI pilot. CBS 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 Television (which was going to co-produce the series with CBS Productions) decided to pull out of the project, as they did not want to spend so much money producing a show for another network (ABC is also owned by Disney).
With Touchstone Television out of the picture, CBS approached Canadian media giant Alliance Atlantis to step in as a co-producer, saving the show. CBS previously had had a number of business relationships with Alliance Atlantis and its predecessor companies before they had merged in 1998, including airing Due South (the first Canadian-produced series to air on an American network in primetime), many of the shows in the pre-1993 CBS Late Night block (including Night Heat), first-run syndicated series distributed by CBS-owned distributor Eyemark such as Psi Factor, and various TV movies and miniseries. Alliance also served as the Canadian subdistributor for CBS's program library.
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. 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 demographic 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 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 Goldman Sachs Alternatives.Through "Entertainment AB Funding LLC" CBS acquired AAC's international distribution rights to the program, though the non-American 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 United States on Heroes & Icons.
Filming locations
CSI was originally shot at Rye Canyon, a corporate campus owned by Lockheed Martin situated in the Valencia area of Santa Clarita, California, due to the Santa Clarita Valley's strong similarity to the outskirts of Las Vegas; after episode 11 "The 1-15 Murders", filming shifted to the nearby Santa Clarita Studios. Occasionally, the cast still shot on location in Las Vegas during 2000 and 2001's season one (the season-four DVD set revealed that the episode "Suckers" was mostly shot during December 2003 in Las Vegas, where they filmed a Gothic club scene on location for rent, and in January 2004, some scenes were filmed at Caesars Palace), although Las Vegas was primarily used for second unit photography such as exterior shots of streets. Other California locations include Verdugo Hills High School, UCLA's Royce Hall, Pasadena City Hall, and California State University, Los Angeles. After season five, CSI episodes were primarily filmed at Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City, California, but since Santa Clarita's surroundings had proven so versatile, CSI continued to shoot some outdoor scenes there.
Music CSI's theme song was "Who Are You", by The Who, written by Pete Townshend with vocals by lead singer Roger Daltrey. Daltrey made a special appearance in the season-seven episode "Living Legend" as Mickey Dunn, which also contained many musical references such as the words "who's next" on a dry-erase board in the episode's opening sequence. In certain countries, a unique theme was used instead to avoid music licensing fees.
Throughout the series, music played an important role; artists such as Ozzy Osbourne, The Wallflowers, John Mayer, and Akon (with Obie Trice) performed onscreen in the episodes "Skin in the Game", "The Accused Is Entitled", "Built to Kill, Part 1", and "Poppin' Tags", respectively. Mogwai was often heard during scenes showing forensic tests in progress, as were Radiohead and Cocteau Twins. Other artists lent their music to CSI, including Rammstein and Linkin Park—used heavily in Lady Heather (Melinda Clarke)'s story arc. Sigur Rós can be heard playing in the background in the episode "Slaves of Las Vegas", The Turtles in "Grave Danger", and Marilyn Manson in "Suckers". A cover of the Tears for Fears song "Mad World", arranged by Michael Andrews and featuring vocals by Gary Jules and originally recorded for the 2001 film Donnie Darko, was used in the pilot episode and during three episodes of season six ("Room Service", "Killer", and "Way to Go"). Industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails was also featured multiple times throughout the various CSI franchise series. One episode started with The Velvet Underground's excited rendition of "Sweet Jane" and ended with the downbeat version of Cowboy Junkies' revision of the song. Character David Hodges (Wallace Langham)'s good luck has, on occasion, been accompanied by Electric Light Orchestra's "Mr. Blue Sky". This song was first used in the season-seven episode "Lab Rats" and last used during season-ten's "Field Mice".
Several songs by band New Order were used in separate seasons of the show. Their hit "Crystal" even appears as the third track on the official CSI: The Soundtrack, promoted in the special features DVD of season one. "Someone Like You", which appears on the same album, Get Ready, as "Crystal", appears in a season-eight episode. Several songs from Home Video appeared in the show, as well. "Blimp Mason", "We", and "Melon" all appeared in various episodes.
Cast and characters
William Petersen as Gil Grissom, the graveyard shift CSI supervisor (regular: seasons 1–9 (until episode 10, "One to Go"); guest star: seasons 9, 11, 13, "Immortality") Grissom is a highly respected forensic entomologist with a doctoral degree in biology from the University of California. When testifying in court he is often addressed as "Doctor Grissom". He became a CSI around 1985 and departed the Las Vegas Crime Lab in 2009. After a short stint as a researcher, Grissom becomes a sea-life advocate and reunites with his ex-wife Sara. The series ends with the two sailing off together from the Port of San Diego. Marg Helgenberger as Catherine Willows, the graveyard shift CSI assistant supervisor (regular: seasons 1–12 (until episode 12, "Willows in the Wind"); guest star: season 14, "Immortality") Catherine is a blood-spatter analyst who joined the CSI team as a lab technician and worked her way up to assistant supervisor, later succeeding Grissom. After a stint as the graveyard shift CSI supervisor, Catherine is demoted following a departmental scandal, and later leaves Las Vegas to join the FBI as a special agent. During the series finale, a recently returned Willows is granted the directorship of the crime lab when Sidle leaves Las Vegas. Gary Dourdan as Warrick Brown, a CSI level III (regular: seasons 1–9 (until episode 1, "For Warrick")) Warrick is an audio-video analyst and a native of Las Vegas with a major in chemistry from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. A recovering gambling addict, Warrick is nonetheless skilled at his job. After being falsely accused, and acquitted, of murder, Brown is assassinated in his car by a corrupt high ranking policeman, Undersheriff Jeffrey McKeen. He dies in Grissom's arms. George Eads as Nick Stokes, a CSI level III (regular: seasons 1–15)Stokes graduated from Texas A&M and joined the Dallas Police prior to moving to Las Vegas. He was promoted to CSI level III in the pilot episode of the series and later became assistant night supervisor under Catherine Willows. Stokes was later demoted, and after remaining in Las Vegas a CSI III, he transfers to San Diego when he is granted the directorship of the SDPD Crime Lab. Jorja Fox as Sara Sidle, a CSI level III (regular: seasons 1 (from episode 2 "Cool Change")–8 (until episode 7, "Goodbye & Good Luck"), 11–15, "Immortality"; recurring: seasons 9 (occasionally), 10 (regularly as Special Guest Star)) Sara is a materials and element analyst who majored in physics at Harvard University. Sara transferred from San Francisco at the behest of Grissom, whom she later marries. After a turbulent relationship and a divorce, Sara is promoted to director of the Las Vegas Crime Lab, though she relinquishes this position to reunite with her ex-husband, Grissom. Catherine then succeeds her as lab director.