Tuesday, March 23, 2004
CSI Overkill
"Disputing recent statements by CSI star William Petersen, Zuiker says CSI spin-offs won't dilute the franchise. In fact, his dream is a different CSI every night. Like Dick Wolf's Law & Order empire, CSI 'has a formula that works.' 'We're just beginning to tap different avenues. As long as 50 percent feels fresh and 50 percent feels like where we came from, we're always going to be successful.'"
Too much of anything is a bad idea. There is a point where a show premise reaches overkill and the show no longer has entertainment purpose - rather, it becomes a brand merchandising label. Look at Star Trek. I stopped watching Law and Order on a regular basis because it became too much. I also never found CSI: Miami to be very engaging - David Caruso makes a second rate Steve McGarett, but his hair comes really close.
Perhaps if a CSI spinoff went for something more than tame it could work. But CSI: New York? With three L & O franchises set in the Big Apple, IMO New Orleans would have been a far more exotic and exciting choice and would have fit in better with Miami and Las Vegas.
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