And so the Great CSI Crossover Experiment That William Petersen Never Would Have Agreed To ended last night, with Laurence Fishburne’s “Dr. Ray,” as Horatio Caine insisted on calling him (really, are they writing that character to intentionally be a condescending irritant?), coming back to CSI and Las Vegas.
He’d been to Miami and New York, where they play other Who tunes for their theme songs, trying to solve the disappearance of a young woman, Madeline Briggs. She’d been a victim of an interstate human-traficking ring, in which women are forced into prostitutes and then their organs are harvested.
That’s a very nasty multiple crime, the sort that would inspire Fishburne’s Ray Langston to go the extra miles. As I wrote Monday, CSI: Miami’s hour was a hardboiled fizzle as drama. CSI: NY benefitted from Langston’s visit: It scored its highest ratings since that series’ premiere. As far as the episode itself, well, it had a prettily-shot climactic scene at Citi Field to prove its geographical genuineness, and Gary Sinise impressed me once again as one of the least-showy of prime-time leading men. But his part of the franchise was just a bridge to the reward at the end.
Last night’s CSI demonstrated the way these stories should be told. Instead of the cornball tough-guy dialogue that typified the other two editions (“It’s not gonna end in Miami, is it?”; “Let’s go get this guy, Mac”), there were long periods of blessed silence on the mothership CSI. Storytelling was done through action — watching Langston, Willows, Stokes, and the gang conduct lab experiments on evidence, and share it in urgent murmurs.
As far as anchoring this trilogy sweeps-stunt, Fishburne’s Langston continues to lack any hint of humor (even dour Gil Grissom was wry). And for as much as the writers made this case “personal” for Langston (he’d made a promise to Madeline’s mother that he’d find her), he remains a closed-off, rather shut-down character.
If the idea was to boost viewership, the CSI crossover can probably be deemed a success. As far as deepening our connection to Langston, it probably made many viewers admire the good doctor, but I’m not sure if anyone felt much increased warmth toward him.
Agree? Disagree?
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1) Will not EVER watch CSI Miami, so I missed part one. (David Caruso had potential before he just became irritating)
2) Gary Sinese is one of THE best actors in any medium, even if he does seem a bit wooden at times. Part two was good.
3) I’m seriously divided on the question of Lanston/Fishburne. Is it the writers/directors/producers that are making Ray insipid and boring, or is it a choice Fishburne made about his character?
If it’s the latter, someone needs to smack him upside the head, or the writers need to give Marg Helgenberger a lot more priority.
As a whole, parts two and three weren’t all that bad. But I don’t have any great desire to watch them again.
So let me get this straight, Fishburne should be slapped if it was his choice to play his character as insipid/boring, but if the writers are the reason, they should play up Helgengerger’s character more??????? Who in the heck wants to see that mega b**** more than we have to??????
I had recently started watching CSI through OnDemand last year – the fact that they were basing one episode on a sci-fi convention with BSG crossover got me. And I kept watching. I was back.
So when I saw that there was a all three CSI story I thought why not.
Okay – Miami was just horrible – the dialogue was laughable – never again.
New York – tolerable but I just couldn’t get into the story or characters. Sinise is a very good actor – easy to watch.
Las Vegas – what I was used to and I was back into the story.
I for one enjoy Fishburne’s character and I am waiting patiently to learn more about his backstory. He’s the new guy and his humor will emerge once he is comfortable.
I too am a “sort of late comer” to the CSI franchise a couple of seasons ago, and I ranked them then like I did the 3 trilogy eps: LV – familiar, understated, and wayyy more satisfying. The yardstick for good reasons.
NY – pretty good, not as engaging (perhaps constant watching might flip that switch.
Miami – cheesy dialogue and weak acting- reaffirmed the reason why I only watched a couple eps before but wont again.
Overall, I feel that the storyline was decent but I didn’t find it particulary riveting and don’t have any real desire to watch it again.
Like Pixxie, I too enjoy Fishburne’s Ray character so far, but I feel that they still haven’t told us enough about him yet, but I like the gravitas he brings, just waiting for the depth. I guess that’s to the writers…
It should come as no surprise that the mothership’s episode was the best one since this is still the best incarnation of CSI. Miami has been unwatchable for years. Sinise is quite capable, but as someone who was born and raised in New York, I find the show and some of the character’s accent too extreme. As for Fisburne, I think that people are too hard on him. He’s not Grissom and he’s not supposed to be. I like the character and I’m glad that he’s not all happy all the time. Look at what he does for a living. How could anyone be happy about that?
i agree with your comments. Nothing beats the original CSI.
i also think that there something about Fishburne’s character that hasn’t been told yet, maybe they are saving it for a future episode. i guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Thank you! I think everyone forgets Fishburne did not join the cast to fill Peterson’s void, thats Helgenberger’s job
I felt bad for Laurence Fishburne when he had to do scenes with David Caruso and mostly just stood there looking embarrassed while Caruso portrayed the cartoon character known as Horatio Caine. The only thing in that episode worth watching was Eva La Rue. I watched the first couple of CSI: NY episodes and, frankly, that was enough for me. Not even Laurence Fishburne could lure me into watching that mess. The original CSI episode was fine mostly because of the cast. That group is always fun to watch. I miss Grissom but the show is still better than most.
“while Caruso portrayed the cartoon character known as Horatio Caine”
- Absolutely agree! If you didn’t catch the spoof that was done on “Supernatural” last week, I felt that they perfectly captured the essence of Carusi’s character in that spoof!
Miami — Made me cringe. Overall, I believe it’s time for the morgue for this series.
New York — I actually liked this segment the best. This was the meat in the sandwich, with lots of action.
Vegas — Pretty good. But I expected a far more climactic, dramatic rescue scene of Madeline. As far as Langston goes, I personally like the character. Still waters run deep.
Gil Grissom was and is CSI no matter what ‘big shot’ or stupid crossover they try to sell us. Yes, it was Petersen’s choice to leave, but he might as well took the show with him. Langston is a newbie,but they treat him like he’s a god. I am offended by him. I’m offended by the leadership role his character has taken. They ask him questions instead of the supervisor, Catherine. None of it makes sense. My only solution is this: Get William Petersen back long enough to end the show on a great note. Jorja Fox coming back has helped, but we need our bugman. Hurry!
Agreed! I stoped watching CSI when Grissom left even though i was an avid fan. I do miss it but i miss grissom more.
There is no “I” in team and they welcoming Ray;making him feel part of the team, but trust I read between the lines of your comment, still stuck in the past eh?
NY was by far the best. It honestly wasnt even close. Vegas comes in 2nd.
The NY episode was borderline movie quality.
Really? Borderline movie quality? What movies do you watch?
personally I thought the 3 show cross over was a mass shark jump!
I don’t mind that Langston doesn’t seem to have any sense of humour, as demonstrated when he just stared at Stokes after his quip about GPS in the the cell phones. The reason I don’t mind is that there are people like that in real life, which to me is what made that instance humourous to begin with.
LOL, you said “I don’t mind” as if it matters, 2 funny
I don’t understand the comment about William Peterson not “agreeing” to this crossover. Isn’t he an executive producer on the show now? Wouldn’t that mean he would have been involved with this?
It was in reference that he never wanted to do it himself. He hated the idea of the spin-offs and never wanted anything to do with it.
I tend to like the New York episode the best but I do enjoy that show the best of the three. Me and my wife only recently started watching Miami again with Delko leaving and the new cast is better than what was their before. I actually think there is less of the annoying stuff from Horatio but he is still a bit of a cartoon and we laugh every time he does something. Las Vegas sort of ended in a what the heck just happened moment. One of the biggest parts of the first two parts was the mention of the Zetas but they got zip in the way of mention in the last part. Dr Ray, as H called him, is starting to grow on me though. He is still a bit of a stone wall at times in the ways of emotion but I no longer think of him as replacing Grissom. All in all, was a good three episodes but left me wandering what might have been if they stories would have been just a bit tighter.
I too expected more about the Zetas – I guess we’re just not supposed to talk about them
. That was an open plot point that was not resolved.
They did mention that the Russian pimps testimony lead to the arrest of several people involved in the human trafficking ring in both New York and Miami.
I had Miami on my lowest volume setting whilst I played Mah Jong, enjoyed New York as I always do, and conclusion-wise Vegas was quite good. I have no problem with Langston’s character, just that we see too much of him. He’s the new guy, they seem to forget that.
I didn’t see the crossover as jumping the shark (a phrase that needs to eat itself), as these three shows are truly connected, states do interact like this. Just don’t make a habit if it.
I really have warmed to “Dr. Ray” Fishborne is an exceptional actor, and with the serious nature of the crimes they investigate, I think it is necessary for his serious nature. Kind of like what ‘Fargo’ posted. Besides, Grissom would have never hugged anyone like Langston did at the end. Loved it, and him!
I like CSI:NY and think that Gary Sinise works perfectly. He has the right amount of Sensitivity and toughness necessary. I like Ray Langston (Lawrence Fishbourne). I got worried when they made an accomplished actor and a character with brains (physician and professor) a lackey in his beginning run. He knows more so he can answer more questiosn. He needs to be a leader. As to CSI:Miami, kill it already. I watched hoping that Ray would bring life to it. NO, it’s dead and Caruso is a cartoonish buffoon.
I’m a faithful watcher of the mothership, but I’d never seen Miami or NY before. Now I know why. Miami was pure crap. NY was written better, but I didn’t find the characters charismatic or engaging. I won’t be tuning in to them again.
I know the purpose of this crossover (from the suits’ perspective) was to try to hook viewers like me on the rest of the franchise, but it kind of did the opposite: seeing the formula enacted by other characters made the…well…formulaic nature of Vegas all that much more apparent. More artfully executed than the other two, but still…
Actually, the characters of CSI NY are usually very good and there is a real sense of family. It really got lost in this crossover, so you might want to give it another chance.
Are you kidding yourself? CSI: New York has a terrible cast of characters! I watched several episodes and the only good character is Flack! All the other characters are ether too extreme, annoying, immature, unrealistic, unlikeable or absolutely useless.