CSI" to end 15 - year run with a " satisfying " two- hour finale
There was scant evidence suggesting it would be
a hit.
"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" was a last-
minute pickup by CBS, plugged into a Friday
lineup whose widely forecast surefire hit would
be a reboot of "The Fugitive," not a quirky little
drama dwelling on hair fibers and blood spatter.
"I thought it was never going to succeed," says
Jorja Fox. At the time she had a recurring role
on "The West Wing" as a Secret Service agent,
"but I thought, 'How fun would it be just to take
this ride for a little while!' By Christmas, I
figured I would be back on `The West Wing.'"
"I figured there would be an audience for it,"
says William Petersen, "among those people
who do crossword puzzles. I never thought the
audience would also be everyone who's NEVER
done a crossword puzzle!"
Series creator Anthony Zuiker told CBS News
earlier this year that he still pinches himself
over the success of "CSI." He always loved
writing, but never thought he'd make a living
out of it. He helped write papers for students at
the University of Nevada, Las Vegas -- to "help
put them through college" -- and spent time
writing poems for guys "to help them get their
girlfriends back." That was until the idea for
"CSI" came along.
Though set in Las Vegas, "CSI" occupies the
world of forensic investigators who solve
criminal cases not in the streets or an
interrogation room, but in the lab, where the
truth reveals itself in the evidence they probe.
Premiering in October 2000, "CSI" was an out-of-
nowhere smash. ("The Fugitive" flopped.) But
that was just for starters. It would spawn two
long-running spinoffs, set in Miami and New
York, and recently gave birth to a third, "CSI:
Cyber," which now will survive it as the 15-
season run of the original "CSI" comes to an end
Sunday at 9 p.m. ET.
The two-hour farewell brings back bygone stars
including Marg Helgenberger (who played
exotic-dancer-turned-investigator Catherine
Willows until departing three seasons ago) and
Petersen (who headlined for eight-plus seasons
as lab boss Gil Grissom).
Petersen recalled that in 2000 he was looking for
a TV series, "but I didn't want to play a lawyer,
a cop or a divorced dad. 'CSI' was something
different, and while we didn't know what it was
going to be, we wanted a chance to figure it
out."
He got his chance and loved the experience, he
says, then moved on in 2008 to pursue theater
work. (Now he is joining another series, WGN
America's "Manhattan," for its second season
starting Oct. 13.)
Being back on the "CSI" set for the finale "was
like no time had passed," he says. "It felt like
yesterday."
"It was a delight to be back with Billy," says
Helgenberger. "We always had great chemistry.
He's a funny guy, and I laugh at all his jokes."
But as the series marks the end -- something
viewers thought they'd never see -- the
inevitable question arises: Why was "CSI" so
big, for so long?
Petersen observes that just weeks after "CSI"
premiered, a much-disputed presidential
election left many Americans confused and
disillusioned. The terrorist attacks the following
September traumatized millions.
This all cemented a period of what Petersen
calls "postmodern vagueness," with people
doubting themselves and their world and
wondering, "What does it mean? What does it
matter? Where is the truth?"
"What our show did was give you the truth," he
declares. "You can be confused about many
things, but this little piece of lint that we found
on the floor, you can count on that. Granted, it
was just one small truth about one particular
case, but it was something you could touch and
see and trust in."
"The show had a new way of coming at crime
and murder and mayhem," says Ted Danson,
who joined the series in season 12 as "D.B."
Russell and now is a star of the "Cyber" spinoff.
"Taking a scientific point of view on a crime
show was new back then, and allowed viewers
into the darker side of life in a way that wasn't
just cops-and-robbers."
"On pretty much every show we got the guy,
thanks to irrefutable science," says
Helgenberger. "We made science fun and
interesting."
Even now, when science has fallen into disfavor
among many -- people for whom what you
believe overrules what science proves -- "CSI"
still champions the scientific method in the face
of its cultural assault.
As Grissom told his colleagues on an early
episode: Forget personalities, ambitions and
assumptions. "Concentrate on what cannot lie:
the evidence," he said. Ever since, hard evidence
with its glorious certitude paved the way to
enlightenment on "CSI."
The trip ends Sunday, "by offering the fans
who've been loyal so long with an opportunity
to say goodbye to the people they fell in love
with at the start," says Danson, who vows: "It
will be very satisfying."
"I still feel a little delirious," says Fox, speaking
only a couple of days after wrapping the finale.
"Right now, I really feel maniacally happy about
it," she says, having spent most of 15 seasons as
forensics scientist Sara Sidle. "I feel like, wow,
look at this amazing run we were able to have!
And now we've gotten a chance to close the
book. That's a very comforting feeling."
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