Watched the second half of the two-part CSI season opener last night -- although really it was two completely different episodes; they just couldn't come up with a decent ending for the first half, so they decided to make it an ultimately pointless prelude to the second half -- and I can't say I'm very impressed with the show's apparent new direction.
For no apparent reason, CSI suddenly seems to be taking itself all seriously. They're playing up a burgeoning interdepartmental conflict between the CSIs and the police, completely missing the point that people watch the show to see the investigative process slowly uncover the mystery, not to see a bunch of heavy-handed politics and background crap. And every damned scene, even those set in the previously fluorescent tube-lit crime lab, now looks dark and claustrophobic like an outtake from a Dario Argento giallo flick. Has CSI: Miami somehow infected the mother show with its ponderous ambience?
And when the CSI writers are cribbing story ideas from rotten.com, you know the show is probably in deep trouble. (NOTE: Do not follow this link unless you have burning desire to see an actual picture of a human corpse turned to stew after two weeks boiling in a bathtub.)
