Character Development/Screentime Discussion

Does anyone thinks that Sara and Grissom are still together? Two or three episodes ago she got a phone call and instead of answering it, she hung up. That was a little strange, don't you think?
 
But Catherine has her own romance going on now, but she's also more calm and relaxed with his presence, they also work together great. Back when she was always mad at someone and seems to have lightned up and I think it's because he does bring tranquility and peace with his own persona, and it shrouds the whole team in a calmer atmosphere. And that's a beautiful thing. Hope it stays this way, it's really nice to see them all working so harmonious together:angel:

Not really sure what Catherine being in a relationship has to do with her being the supervisor and the one to set the tone of the workplace is . . . but anywho . . .

I admit I don't watch the show on a regular basis, but I think as a more causual viewer I can provide a different perspective. I don't see any major changes in how they get along as a team since Ray joined. They've always worked well as a team. Yeah, they've had conflicts. All teams do. They'll continue to have conflicts with Ray as part of the team. That's part of what makes the show interesting. Ray is hardly some bearer of peace and tranquility who came in and fixed all their horrible problems. And if that's what they intend for his character I'm afraid the show is going to go downhill pretty damn fast. People who get along all the time and are all happy, happy, joy, joy make for boring TV.
 
These incidents did in fact occur, I meant through the whole 9 seasons, mostly dismay and disturbed team angst, But the whole team backed Ray in the "Meat Jekyll" with Nick going over to his house and saying "were a team" & the rest Greg and Sara even going so far as to go to his home with food. And by the locker Greg said "I like Ray", this was a awful ep. where no one knew what was happening , but they all supported him, well maybe except Ecklie. But Cath defended him. And when did the team ever take food over to Grissom's house when he was upset or disturbed.. to my recollection..never. And after all was said and done they all went for drinks.. and he got the dreaded phone call from Haskell:scream:

The team always had Grissom's back. So Sara and Greg brought food to Ray, the whole team WALKED OFF THE JOB and risked LOSING THEIR JOB for Grissom. They wouldn't do that with Ray.

Everyone sees things different, you're right. But there's a difference between what really has happened and what you fantasized happened.

Catherine was not always mad, arguements didn't always happen. They were the most cohesive team there is. Conflicts happen and as much as you want to fantasize, that hasn't changed since Ray has been there.

You love Ray and think he's perfect, that's great. That just skews your view and prevents you from seeing things objectively.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I respect that. However, that opinion is wrong and hard to accept when others do not believe you are looking at it objectively and the show shows that isn't true.

Yes, the team is cohesive with Ray there, just as they were cohesive with Grissom there. Ray has made no difference in how the team works together.

However, you remain positive while the rest of don't always do.
 
I would think if the team is getting along better (and I'm not necessarily saying they are) and working better as a team (again, YMMV) it would be attributed to Grissom's replacement and that is Catherine. Ray came in at an entry level position so I hardly think he would be responsible for creating harmony amongst team members like their supervisor would.

I agree. Bosses, supervisors, etc. do usually set the tenor of the work environment. This can be a good or a bad thing, depending upon the supervisor.

But the last time Catherine was contented was when she was with Warrick, he brought her to a more calm level. she was happy and soft-spoken. The enviroment is key to a happy workplace and to me with all this character Ray, baggage, & with his dad, [we still don't know what happened with him] his wife etc. But he doesn't bring this into the workplace. He comes in with a great attitude, and that has penetrated to the whole team even her. In fact I love the whole CSI cast issues and all. But he brings his charm, his expertise and his always up-beat, yet calm gentle aura. Like a ray [pun intended] of sunshine. I wished everyone like the whole cast, it would be so refreshing. And like one said I'm not "skewed" and haven't lost my objectivity at all by any one character, nor do I fanatasize, that's someones elses opinion. I just see how the show has risen to a higher level, with his presence. My opinion:bolian:
 
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Personally i don't think the show has risen to a higher level, if anything it's plateaud and people have had to adjust they're expectations, the fact that the ratings have plummeted since Grissom/WP left are evidence of this.

I actually think the team are more fractured now, on the one side you have nick/ray and on the other you have greg, sara, catherine etc. Hopefully the way catherine has come to the foreground as supervisor this season will mend that. Everytime i watch an episode i get this weird sense of tension between the characters, as if noones completly comfortable anymore (maybe that's just me).

I have to say DW that 'up-beat calm' seems a bit of an oxymoron to me, i think ray operates at just one level with rare glimpses of the wild-eyed child persona of his early season 9 episodes.
 
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I respect that. However, that opinion is wrong and hard to accept when others do not believe you are looking at it objectively and the show shows that isn't true.
I think objectivity is a matter of perspective. The fact that everyone has his or her own opinion, by its very nature, renders that subjective, not objective. So I don't think Desertgoblin is guilty of being any less objective than the next fan. We all have perceptions that skew our respective views of the show.

Personally i don't think the show has risen to a higher level, if anything it's plateaud and people have had to adjust they're expectations, the fact that the ratings have plummeted since Grissom/WP left are evidence of this.
I don't think the ratings are necessarily indicative of anything other than fewer people are watching; those numbers don't tell us why fewer people are watching. If you look at the cross-network competition ("Grey's Anatomy"), their total numbers are down, too. In fact, viewership is down across the board for scripted network shows. The reality is that with cable competition, downloads, etc., we're never going back to the days when 90 million people tuned in to find out "Who shot J.R.?" Or, for that matter, when over 30 million people were tuning in during Season 5 of "CSI" (which, oddly enough, is one of my least-favorite seasons).
 
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30 Million viewers use to watch CSI! :eek: That's alot people.
Where did all them viewers go. I have to say after hearing that, you know the writers are asking themselves what happened.

When you go from 30 million to like 10 to 12 million a week. That is a big drop.

I am still and always will be a avid CSI fan and although I am still upset with what has happened in recent months (letting Liz Vassey go) I still feel like this is a great show and the characters are developing and growing as they should be. I am anxious to see what happens after Marg Helgenberger leaves. That will be a huge loss.
 
Yes this is true, but when Anthony Zuiker came back to the writers table he stated [and it's on our news files] that world wide, the show brought in 78.6 million per week. That's not just here in America but all over the world. That's alot of fans. What other show can top that figure? Here in the U.S., fans are fickle and that's sad, but I still think for being on 11 years CSI is still rockin':thumbsup: and thank's byline for you positive comments much appreciated;)
 
30 Million viewers use to watch CSI! :eek: That's alot people.
Where did all them viewers go. I have to say after hearing that, you know the writers are asking themselves what happened.

When you go from 30 million to like 10 to 12 million a week. That is a big drop.

I am still and always will be a avid CSI fan and although I am still upset with what has happened in recent months (letting Liz Vassey go) I still feel like this is a great show and the characters are developing and growing as they should be. I am anxious to see what happens after Marg Helgenberger leaves. That will be a huge loss.

Well, it was 30 million if you round up. It was actually 26.3 Million, which isn't all that much less. But you have to take into account it didn't drop from almost 30 million to around 13 million in one season. It took five seasons for the show to decline to 13 million, which considering it had already been on for five seasons when it reached its high point isn't too surprising. A show that has been on as long as this one has is going to start declining at some point and keep declining.

It's also hard to keep the character development fresh and new after 10 seasons with the same core characters. I think that's why Ray is getting the lion's share of attention. Well I think that's the reason beyond being the lead character. IMO it's a shame they didn't continue on the path with learning about the other characters from the viewpoint of the team newbie the way they started out making the procedural part of the show fresh and new seeing it from the eyes of a newbie. Instead they jumped right into Ray being the know all be all of the show and that was a mistake IMO.
 
I do not think it's that bad for the team to have conflicts.Catherine and Grissom had arguments but at the end,they understood each other really well.Same as Warrick and Nick.Even Sara and Catherine and Ecklie with almost everyone.A little of that would be good now.
 
A very large part of the 78,6 million worldwide viewers must include numbers for repeats of old seasons. Remember that most of the world is lagging behind North America and are up to 1 year behind with current episodes. German TV only started showing season 10 last month and Austrian TV hasn't even started airing them. Over the last months stations for both countries have been airing episodes from seasons 1-3. It will be interesting to see what the worldwide numbers will be when the rest of the world has caught up and if they will be this high a year from now.
 
Well, it was 30 million if you round up. It was actually 26.3 Million, which isn't all that much less.
I assume you're talking about the average for the entire season. However, for specific Season 5 episodes ("King Baby" and "Ch-Ch-Changes"), according to the Nielsen ratings, 30.7 million and 31.5 million tuned in, respectively.
 
A very large part of the 78,6 million worldwide viewers must include numbers for repeats of old seasons. Remember that most of the world is lagging behind North America and are up to 1 year behind with current episodes. German TV only started showing season 10 last month and Austrian TV hasn't even started airing them. Over the last months stations for both countries have been airing episodes from seasons 1-3. It will be interesting to see what the worldwide numbers will be when the rest of the world has caught up and if they will be this high a year from now.
I forgot about worldwide ratings, Frosch. I didn't even know they factored those into the ratings for the show.:lol:
I am anxious to see what happens after Marg Helgenberger leaves. That will be a huge loss.
I feel the same way, margarita_salt. I still can't fully believe she's really going to be gone. I'm hoping maybe Marg is just going to take a break and come back next season and everything will be the same as always. But...change never stops as they say. :(

About ratings though, I think overall CSI is still doing alright compared to the competition. I could see if Grey's was pulling in like 16+mil per week and CSI was pulling like 12mil but Grey's is going through the same thing.
 
It's also hard to keep the character development fresh and new after 10 seasons with the same core characters. I think that's why Ray is getting the lion's share of attention. Well I think that's the reason beyond being the lead character. IMO it's a shame they didn't continue on the path with learning about the other characters from the viewpoint of the team newbie the way they started out making the procedural part of the show fresh and new seeing it from the eyes of a newbie. Instead they jumped right into Ray being the know all be all of the show and that was a mistake IMO.

I agree with this, very much. I know they seemed to flip-flop on Ray's level of expertise from the get-go and sent mixed messages. One minute he's this preeminent criminalist, the next it's like he's so wet behind the ears about what goes on in a crime lab. Then he gives commanding speeches. Now I really love Ray's character and Fishburne's portrayal, I just wish they had taken it slower too (and had been perhaps a bit more consistent).

Also, I agree that the series is so old now, it was probably hard to give Ray 'informational speeches' that are something new. The viewers that have been with this show for all eleven seasons already know the stuff he's saying, we've seen the characters he's teamed up with DOING the things he's talking about already, so it does tend to feel awkward and out of sync sometimes.

I haven't looked it up, but I'm wondering just how many writers they've got working on episodes now. This has happened in so many series that have stretched past a Season Five mark. They get too many writers who don't have enough intimate knowledge of the previous seasons, it goes through too many hands and rewrites, repetitive stuff floats past the radar, and it waters down the overall quality.

I've personally been so dissatisfied with the writing the past few seasons, I kind of wish they had quit while they were ahead rather than push it this far. I prefer it when a series willingly wraps up in a good place rather than pushing until the series just crashes, burns, and leaves a cruddy ending. They've been doing way too much stunt casting toward distraction, and now Zuiker comes in with a character from one of his books while openly admitting he considered featuring Sqweegel on CSI to be a great marketing tool. It just detracts for me in a big way, y'know?
 
What's great about this character Dr. Langston is his varied mysterious background. He's got mega experience and now even more. I can't wait to see his wife, and who will play her. She will be revealed this season. And we'll find out why and where she's been. He's got a medical degree..is a pathologist..an author and a surgeon. He's learned so much from the team and they accept him as one of their own:bolian:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Langston
 
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