CSI

[insomnfreak]

I know there is still one more episode left of Season 10 but I'm excited about that simple fact. I feel like this season was like some required tour of duty, humping out each episode. There were a few twinkling light moments but they were few and far between in my opinion

Comments

[moonstarer7]

I agree with you on some points, although Sara being the last character added successfully is a massive overstatement - she arrived in the second episode - so Greg, Doc Robbins, Hodges and Wendy, to name just a few, all joined afterwards. While you may not like all of them, surely they haven't all been failures?
I agree that the loss of the ensemble was a mistake, but at least Fishburne's presence has been toned down a bit since last season, even if Paul Guilfoyle and Marg Helgenberger could still both be used much better.
We were all spoiled by William Petersen's presence, but it was his decision to leave and we need to stop blaming LF and TPTB for the fact that the show doesn't feel the same any more. Unless Billy has a complete change of heart (and I don't think he will), the 'good old days' are gone forever, except in the worlds of DVD and fan fics. When I watch the show now I try not to judge it against the Grissom era, instead I compare it to the other stuff currently available and as long as it comes out favourably I'll still watch, otherwise I'd be 'cutting off my nose to spite my face'. If first class isn't available, you don't turn your nose up at a seat in business class; it's still better than going economy.
Anyway, I'd like to say how glad I am that you are not one of those people who stopped writing CSI fan fic because Grissom is no longer in the show. Surely the more we miss him the more imortant it is to keep him alive in the fan fic universe, even if we have to time-travel to previous series or go AU? I hope to go back to making my own contributions in a month or so, once I've got an exam out of the way and I try and encourage others who write Grissom too. If TPTB can't or won't give us what we want we need to do it for ourselves.

Sorry to rant but I have strong feelings on this, as you may have noticed. ;)

[insomnfreak]

I think I've always thought of the "team" as the CSIs but still, after reading your comment, it is true that there have been additions to the cast that have worked out extremely well.

My objection to the Ray Langston character has nothing to do with Lawrence Fishburne and everything to do with the fact that I think his character is superfluous. WP could never be replaced so why go through the motions, just expand the screen time for the other cast members.

Maybe if they had used him as a recurring special guest star during the "Dr. Jeckyl" storyline, I think that would have been okay. Because the other thing that I find unbelievable about the character is that a medical doctor/college professor is going to give up his carrer and become a county employee on the bottom rung.

My gripes are pointed at the character not the actor. I guess if they just felt the need to add another character, I would've liked them to have recycled the scientist character from Eleventh Hour. He was a quirky genius, similar to Grissom and if they would have utilized the character as a go to specialist he could have been a try before you buy kinda guy.

Oh well, like you said, if TPTB can't/won't give us what we want we can do it for ourselves in fanfic.

Thanks for the comment. I enjoy a nice bit of discourse now and then. -San

[moonstarer7]

In general I agree with what you've just said, although I can't comment on the Eleventh Hour character because I haven't seen that show. I agree that 'try before you buy' would have been a better way to go than just throwing a new character into the middle of things and the only way to do that, if they were going with an actor with as high a profile as Fishburne would have been semi-regular guest appearances as a consultant. Where I disagree slightly is where you seem to be saying they shouldn't bring in anyone new at all.

So far we've lost Gary Dourdan, William Petersen and Jorja Fox (albeit temporarily for the latter) and Marg Helgenberger has thought about leaving at least once (I have my suspicions about who's 'down and out' in the series finale, but please don't tell me when you know because we're several weeks behind here in the UK and I avoid spoilers when I can). If there was no attempt to introduce anyone new (and I think that's a better way of saying it than 'replacing people', 'cos you're right, someone like Grissom just can't be),then the show would die slowly from natural wastage. It's just that, as we've seen from comparing with Greg and Langston, promotion from within works far better than parachuting in a stranger and instantly making him star of the show, you yourself have proved it by not noticing that Greg joined the team of CSIs quite some time after Sara. I don't necessarily mean having Wendy 'do a Greg' either, they've used extras to play CSIs in episodes before where a large area is being searched, for example, and someone could be introduced like that, gradually giving them the odd line until we hardly notice the join; something that happened with SuperDave and most of the current lab techs. Even Riley was introduced better than Langston, probably because the actress wasn't coming in with such a high profile. I thought her first episode worked well and I was disappointed that she was dropped, especially as it wasn't necessary to 'make room' for Jorja because numbers wise the team is still one down on it's pre-Goodbye and Good Luck strength.

Still, I think the general conclusion is we should ignore what's happening in the show right now and carry on revisiting the Grissom days in our fics - although I've sort of challenged myself to use Riley and Langston at least once each in a future story even if I have to go AU to do it with Grissom around too.

Thanks for the debate, I feel a lot more prepared for the 'discus giving evidence' questions in my upcoming exam now. ;)

Jem