CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION: NY: THE COMPLETE 1ST SEASON - DVD review

Les Moonves, President and CEO of CBS Television, certainly knows a golden goose when he sees one. And he's not afraid to strike while the iron is hot and make the goose lay as many golden eggs as possible. After the original "CSI" series (now in its 6th season) became a surprise smash hit by storming to the top of the Nielsen ratings for weeks on end, Moonves persuaded the creative team behind the show to immediately create a spin-off series. This came as "CSI" was only into its second season and the network wanted the spin-off show to premiere the following season. The speed in which the eventual show, "CSI: Miami" was conceived, cast and filmed was unheard of in network television. The fact that "Miami" quickly became another dependable hit show for CBS further emboldened Mr. Moonves to roll the "CSI" dice one more time. Like clockwork, talk of yet another new "CSI" series came onto the radar as "Miami" was airing its second season episodes and by the fall of 2004, we saw the debut of the second "CSI" series spin-off, this time set in the Big Apple.

Now, I can already hear a collective groan as soon as I mentioned the words "Big Apple". Another police procedural drama set in New York City? Come on! Haven't we seen too many of those already (think "Law & Order" and "NYPD Blue")? Can't people at least show some originality anymore? Well, the way I see it, Los Angeles is too similar to Miami in some ways, Washington DC is too political and frankly, not many other U.S. cities can boast of a more culturally diverse and character-driven city than NYC. Many of you I'm sure have plenty of other ideas on how the people in charge could have chosen a more desirable location for this new show ("CSI: Akron" perhaps?) but in my best put-on Brooklyn accent, let me tell you this: It is what it is, alright? Case closed!

The first thing that you notice about "CSI" NY" is its lead actor, Gary Sinise. This is certainly not the first time that a legitimate movie star has crossed over to the small screen but what is surprising to me is that Sinise would agree to a long-term commitment typical for a TV series while his movie career is nowhere near winding down. Whatever the reason, I'm glad Sinise took the job as he's one of my favorite actors and the "CSI" shows are on top of my weekly TV must-watch list. Put them both together and you would be sure that I would be in front of my TV each week rooting for Detective Mac Taylor, Sinise's character on "CSI: NY".

So, how different is "CSI: NY" from its other brethren, other than it is set in a different city? The one important thing that series creators Anthony E. Zuiker, Carol Mendelsohn and Ann Donohue try to inject into each of the three "CSI" shows is a sense of individuality and identity, especially in each of the shows' lead actors. The underlying principle for all the "CSI" shows is still the same--the use of forensic science to solve crimes--but each of the three teams, firmly guided by its own pragmatic leader, takes a slightly different approach to nab the bad guys. While the original "CSI" introduced us to Gil Grissom (William L. Petersen), a bookish and sometimes socially inept forensic expert who has more of a passion for bugs than people, "CSI: Miami" is led by Lt. Horatio Caine (David Caruso), a brooding and sometimes overly dramatic do-gooder, whose dark disposition contrasts jarringly with the bright tropical look of the Florida setting. In the case of Detective Mac Taylor, an ex-Marine who lost his wife on 9/11, the intense sense of purpose in bringing criminals to justice trumps everything else, including his own personal life.

Taylor does his job based on a central principle and that is, everything is connected. Every piece of evidence, no matter how miniscule or ordinary will eventually connect back to the perpetrator. Helping him out in the field and in the forensic lab are CSIs Stella Bonasera (Melina Kanakaredes, "Providence"), Danny Messer (Carmine Giovinazzo) and Aiden Burn (Vanessa Ferlito, "24"), coroner Dr. Sheldon Hawkes (Hill Harper) and police detective Donald Flack (Eddie Cahill, "Miracle"). Surprisingly, I found that this cast gels very well together, even if the show is just in its first season. These talented actors make it seem as if they've been working together for years. Each of the characters on the show has an interesting background story and a little bit of it at a time is revealed throughout the season.

The strong-willed Stella, whose knack for speaking her mind and her unflinching desire to bring justice to the victims, suitably matches Mac's own intense focus on his work. Danny, on the other hand, is himself a pretty competent and highly independent criminologist but has had numerous run-ins with his boss for disobeying orders, which is a definite no-no in how the military-trained Mac runs the lab. The only letdown among the cast is Vanessa Ferlito's character Aiden, who has yet to develop in any interesting way in the span of the first season. This may probably be one of the reasons why Ferlito has chosen to bow out early in the current second season of the show. Apart from Sinise, the one standout in the cast has to be Hill Harper. As the Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Sheldon Hawkes, Harper brings an infectious enthusiasm to his character and the natural ease with which he spouts and explains complicated medical terms is a joy to watch. Like "CSI"'s own medical examiner Dr. Robbins (played by Robert David Hall), Dr. Hawkes is also very capable of injecting his own original brand of dark humor to his thankless and morbid job.

No show is perfect and mistakes are common, even for an established and proven franchise like "CSI". "CSI: NY" started off somewhat on the wrong footing by trying too hard to distinguish itself from "CSI: Miami". As a result, the look of the show was purposely made to be much, much darker than "Miami" and the tone, grittier. The color palette for "NY" consists mainly of dark blues and dirty browns, making it look like "Se7en – The Series". This was a nice change of pace for a "CSI" show but after a couple of episodes, it seemed as if New York City was constantly shrouded in shadows and gripped by a heinous crime wave. NYC quickly became a grim Gotham City with Batman nowhere in sight. Thankfully, halfway through the season, a course correction was initiated and "CSI: NY" significantly brightened up, from its look and its characters to its stories. This was an important turning point for the show as it slowly picked up more viewers and its ratings improved. On this DVD set, you can see how pronounced these changes are by watching an episode from early in the season and then comparing it to one of the later ones.

As expected, the stories on "CSI: NY" are very New York City-centric as it tries to capture the city's unique character in the crimes that are committed in the midst of the city's various landmarks. Although the majority of the show is shot in Los Angeles, the remarkable set designers are able to fake it out and make it seem as if the actors are really in New York. For this first season, stories run the gamut from normal crimes like serial killings, gangland violence, internal NYPD corruption and a bank heist to the more bizarre ones like murders at a competitive dog show, sexual fetishes and even one episode that involves circus performers.

This first season DVD set of "CSI: NY" features a total of 24 episodes, which includes the crossover "CSI: Miami" episode, "MIA/NYC – Nonstop", that first introduced the "CSI: NY" team to fans. All 24 episodes are spread out evenly throughout the following six DVDs:

Disc 1: "MIA/NYC – Nonstop", "Blink", "Creatures of the Night", "American Dreamers"
Disc 2: "Grand Master", "A Man A Mile", "Outside Man", "Rain"
Disc 3: "Three Generations Are Enough", "Officer Blue", "Night, Mother", "Tri-Borough"
Disc 4: "Recycling", "Tanglewood", "Blood, Sweat & Tears", "Til Death Do We Part"
Disc 5: "Hush", "The Fall", "The Dove Commission", "Crime and Misdemeanor"
Disc 6: "Supply and Demand", "On the Job", "The Closer", "What You See Is What You See"

Video:
Most, if not all, of the primetime shows on network television today are now broadcast in high definition. That kind of high-resolution images simply cannot be beat by current DVD technology. Even so, past DVD releases for "CSI" and "CSI: Miami" have demonstrated how good a high bit-rate video transfer could be. This quality is again apparent on this "CSI: NY" DVD set. The almost-flawless transfer coupled with images that reflect beautifully reproduced colors and natural skin tones are nicely projected in an anamorphically enhanced widescreen image measuring 1.85:1. No subtitles are offered on this DVD set.

Audio:
Making full use of the English language Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track, "CSI: NY" offers an energetic front sound field while giving the surround channels a subtle but effective workout at the same time. The LFE is strong when appropriate and adds to the overall listening enjoyment. Like the other two "CSI" shows, "CSI: NY" also sports a theme song, titled "Baba O'Reilly", that is performed by The Who. The only other audio track on this DVD set is Spanish in Dolby Surround 2.0.

Extras:
Apart from the audio commentaries, all the other bonus material for this DVD set is housed on the 7th disc. First, let me start by listing the seven audio commentaries:

"MIA/NYC – Nonstop" commentary by Ann Donahue
"Blink" commentary by Anthony E. Zuiker
"Creatures of the Night" commentary by writer Pam Veasey
"Outside Man" commentary by writer Timothy J. Lea
"Officer Blue" commentary by Zuiker
"Recycling" commentary by Zuiker and writer Zachary Reiter
"Tanglewood" commentary by Zuiker

As far as TV show commentaries go, these ones are a little dry in some parts but overall, they offer some interesting nuggets of information about the episodes.

The features on Disc 7 starts off with "The Cast Examines The Characters" in which the main cast members talk at length about the characters that they play. It is mildly interesting but you do get a better grasp of the show's characters and what their personal motivations are in doing their job. Next is "The Science Behind the Scenes" where technical advisor Bill Haynes talks about bringing his expertise in forensic science to the show in order to keep the accuracy of the various scientific facts that are used. In "CSI: NY – Set Tour", production designer Carey Meyer brings us on a guided tour of the various sets built specifically for the show. The next feature, "The World's Largest Crime Scene" discusses how and why New York City was chosen as the site for the third "CSI" show with interviews with the creators of the show and the various cast members and also the writers. Finally, "The Zoo Year" touches upon the use of animals in some of the episodes including dogs, rats, horses and even an elephant.

Packaging:
Keeping with the "CSI" DVD tradition, a plastic slipcase encases a custom DVD package that houses all the seven discs on trays that can be flipped over like the pages of a book. A familiar yellow slip-off ring fashioned like a police "Do Not Cross" tape tops off this rather attractive packaging.

Film Value:
Although I had my early doubts, "CSI: NY" has turned out to be yet another great addition to the expanded "CSI" line-up. The initial hiccup of making the show too dark hurt it a little but it eventually picked up again after changes were made to address that shortcoming. Gary Sinise heads up a strong cast that just might come to rival the original "CSI" show in terms of colorful personality and even humor. I've yet been able to fully embrace the characters from "CSI" Miami" in the three seasons that the show has been on the air but I've so far had no such problem with "CSI: NY". This pretty much tells you that the new kid on the block has leapfrogged "CSI: Miami" to be my second favorite "CSI" series.