by Nicole Cook

Created on: February 02, 2009   Last Updated: February 07, 2009

Now in its ninth season, the crime drama television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation airs Thursday nights at nine o' clock on CBS. After premiering in October of 2000, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation continues to run at full speed. With a top notch cast, crew of writers and producers, its no wonder that the shows two spin offs; CSI: Miami, and CSI: New York have been equally successful. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and using all the right ingredients three times over to provide us science/crime buffs with a continued supply of mind blowers each week.

The show follows a team of investigators from the Crime Scene Investigation division of the Las Vegas Police Department or as it is reffered to more often on the show, the Las Vegas Crime Lab. Over the last nine years the original series has lost a few of its key players. With the departure of Sara Sidle played by Jorja Fox, Warrick Brown played by Gary Dourdan, and most recently, Gil Grissom, played by William L. Peterson, I think most of CSI fans will agree with me when I say the show is not the same.

With the addition of Laurence Fishburne as Dr. Raymond Langston, only time will tell if the show will continue to remain the networks number one show after losing so many key characters. The remaining original cast members are fan favorites in their own rights including Catherine Willows played by Marg HelgenBerger, Nick Stokes played by George Eads, Greg Sanders played by Eric Szmanda, Doc Robbins played by Robert David Hall, Captain Jim Brass played by Paul Guilfoyle and David Hodges played by Wallace Langham.

Though often criticized by law enforcement for its portrayal of police procedure and the impression the show leaves in the minds of potential jurors, interest in the forensic science field has dramatically increased making it one of the more popular career choices at the moment. The shows popularity with fans has spawned the creation of numerous internet fan sites, blogs, online discussion forums, and is ranked second with the amount of fan fiction of a television show with fanfiction.net, Buffy the vampire slayer is number one.

"CBS became the most-watched network on American television, with CSI being the most-watched program on television for the 2002/2003 TV season, and the most-watched scripted show for five consecutive seasons, from the 2002/2003 season through the 2006/2007 season. Since 2003, it is also the top-rated drama series in America and in 2007 remains among the top five programs every season"

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSI:_ Crime_Scene_Investigation

http://www.imdb.com/

http:// www.tv.com/csi/show/19/summary.html

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