Csi

What you really want to watch

Since its debut in September 2000, CSI s fusion of cinematic spectacle, forensic pathology, high technology, action, mystery, and character drama has regularly drawn in tens of millions of viewers around the world.  This original new study explores CSI s cultural importance, both for the media industry and for the criminal justice system itself.  The book

Examines CSI as an important example of contemporary popular television, exploring its formal and narrative style, and its impact on media culture Provides a model for studying how genre, narrative, industry concerns, and the broad "public life" of a television series contribute to our understanding of the nature and function of contemporary popular television Probes the ways in which the series′ treatment of criminal investigation has affected the actual justice system Considers CSI from an industry perspective, tracing the genesis and impact of the three–series CSI franchise on network program development in the 2000s

List of Figures.

Acknowledgments.

Introduction: Why CSI Matters.

1. Science, Spectacle, and Storytelling.

2. What Happens in CSI′s Vegas.

3. Finding Balance: Professionalism in Serial Narrative.

4. CSI Effects.

Conclusion.

Appendix: CSI Episode Guide, 2000–9.

Notes.

References.

Index.

Derek Kompare is an Associate Professor in the Division of Cinema–Television in the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University, where he teaches courses on media and culture. He has published articles on television history and form in several anthologies and journals, and his first book, Rerun Nation: How Repeats Invented American Television (2005), was runner–up for the 2006 Society for Cinema and Media Studies Katherine Singer Kovacs Book Award.