Addressing Issues With Ray Langston

myfuturecsi said:
I find the Langston character has high-lighted the weaknesses of the writers in their character development. The last half of the season almost felt as if they were scrambling to try and make this character work. It hasn't, from what I see.
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Actually, I think the character that's highlighted the weakness of the writers in character development is Riley - basically because there's been NO character development for her. At least with Ray, they've actually GIVEN him development and advancement and I think he has developed quite nicely as a character.

myfuturecsi said:
Now the blame is certainly not with LF whose a fine actor, but with the writers and the set up at this point. There were a few great episodes when the TEAM worked together, but then suddenly it seemed to fall apart.
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I disagree -only in part- with that, because I don't think it is attributed to the loss of Grissom & the arrival of Ray. Even with Grissom still there in seasons 7 & 8 , when many of the episodes started focusing on individual characters and the writers lost focus of the 'team' concept is when it started to fall apart - way before the thoughts of Grissom leaving. After the first few Ray/non-Grissom episodes (which I didn't care for), I think the writers have done a great job in bringing light back to the 'team' again. They've surprisingly renewed my interest in the show, which had been seriously lacking in seasons 7 & 8.
 
There's been no development for Riley because the writers are focusing most if not all of their attention on developing Ray and leaving Riley (as well as others sometimes) out in the cold as far as character development goes. It almost feels like tptb have a one track mind (ie Ray centered) and cannot multi-task (ie write character development for more than one character at a time).

What they could do to improve things is assign certain writers for certain characters and only have those writers write on the assigned characters while other writers write on their own assigned characters. Every script could be collaberations from all writers so that things are more balanced. Having one writer (or sometimes even only two) writing for so many different characters every single week is not in my opinion a good idea when said writers have trouble (apparently) writing for anyone else other than one particular character that they tend to favor.
 
I actually enjoy the little bits of Riley. She has potential and TPTB are slowly showing it to us. I'm sure that if we got nothing but Riley, she would be getting the same complaints as Langston.

While LF is the new headliner for the show, I always felt that the best way to see a star shine is to see it next to the other stars. Example: when I watch 'House' I know that Hugh Laurie is the main dude. But what I really enjoy is seeing him play off of the other characters. Would the show be as enjoyable without Wilson or Cuddy? Watching Ray interact with Doc Robbins, Catherine, Nick, or Brass is very enjoyable. It not only fleshes out his character, but explores the other's as well. How do they react to this new face? Through these encounters, we see different pieces of our favorite characters we otherwise wouldn't have seen. The same principle applies to Riley. You get more out of her when she's with Greg or Nick. Basically, A General is only as good as the army he leads. That was the problem with 'Mascara'. All Langston, no one else.

But that's just me.
 
I actually like Langston. However, I don't like how he is shoved in our faces practically every episode. I have nothing against LF, he's a fine actor, but there are some things Ray does on the show that a Level 1 would just not be able to do. I liked it in the beginning, when he had to get Nicks help with fingerprinting. But now, he seems to have learned every trick in the book. If they ease up on him for a bit, maybe let him actually learn some stuff on screen, I'd feel better about him.
I still love CSI, and I hopefully always will, but it definitely has changed.
 
I'm put off completely by the fact that Catherine is his supervisor and the most qualified of the bunch, with at least a decade's more experience than everyone else, and yet Langston seems to tell her what to do. It's ridiculous. He's a CSI 1 - a newbie. In no realistic situation would he be allowed to order his boss around. He's a subordinate and should act like it. Catherine is in charge and more than qualified to run the show.

Marg has been on the show for 10 years and carried it hand in hand with Grissom. We don't need Langston calling the shots simply because Marg is missing parts of the male anatomy. It's completely sexist and beyond frustrating at this point.

If Langston has been brought in as a new character, that's okay with me. He's a talented actor, sure, but I don't believe it's right that he's basically running the show. As much as I disliked Grissom/Billy, his position made sense. He'd earned the right to run the show as he's been doing it since day one. Now that he's gone, Marg is talented enough to be the lead and the writers should start showing her a little respect, as well as the others who have been there from episode one. New characters are fine, but they shouldn't be forced down our throats - that's not suddenly going to make us see them as more entitled to being the top dog. The writers are really, really messing things up and it's sad because this show has been my love since I was eight. Criminology is my passion and I got so much joy out of this show. These past couple of seasons have been such a letdown save a few good episodes I could count on one hand.
 
I agree, he shouldn't be bossing anyone around. When was he bossy to Cath though? I can't remember that besides telling her she was going to the hospital to get checked for rabies (which I understood in that situation cause Cath is stubborn, God love her and wouldn't go without someone pushing her to lol).

It was so refreshing to see the new CSI struggling with how to do certain aspects of the job like the fingerprinting. To see Ray struggle with the powders was just interesting. They gave us one ep with that occurring and then bam... he's learned everything by the next episode. :yawn: It was so much more interesting when he didn't know everything.
 
He just always seems to take charge over everyone when it's not his place. He should be listening and learning from those who are way more experienced. He's NOT the boss or superior to anyone. Not Nick, not Greg, definitely not Cath, and heck, even Riley is a CSI 2.
 
I completely agree and I think that tptb are going to find out that there are more people opposed to this approach than there are in favor of it. I think they're going to end up getting a lot of angry fan mail over the summer. :lol:
 
Ha, I'm tempted to write some but alas, it wouldn't do any good. TPTB have been royally messing things up since about the end of season 6. I don't think they care what the viewer wants - just look at what they've shoved down our throats so far.
 
Well, the ratings have been suffering some this season. I don't know if they did after Season 6, but ... these days its more difficult for them cause of the economy issues. So, I'm hoping they'll listen to their viewers this time or else they may end up losing nearly all of them, then they'd all be out of jobs.
 
As stated in my OP, Langston seems to be a person who has a commanding persona, in the end though he obviously reports to Cath still. For instance, when doing the scene about the Holy Steven in the desert he is recording every observation, every thing he is going to do, and his postulate on possible scenarios. This is probably to cover his procedure in lieu of a superior being there, so if something goes wrong they have a record of what he did.

A lot of the CSI work people do in the show is very logical and methodical. It isn't a big stretch of the imagination to surmise that Ray already knows all the ropes, especially given his background. Also, his personality seems to be one of every seeking knowledge as evidenced in the Grave Shift when he researched the corn meal bomb using books from balistics.

Personally, there is something that bugs me so much more than LF being the star and all the old people not getting the top spot (it's the way TV works), and that is how Bobby Dawson has been only seen for 5 seconds this season and most of the last 3 seasons save for You Kill Me. Or how my friend remarked how in the hell Hodges was out in the field testing knives in Hog Heaven.
 
But something I think people are still overlooking, to some extent, is that Ray's prominent placement in the storylines may have little to do with the salary Laurence Fishburne is being paid and everything to do with circumstances within the longtime cast members. Marg is experiencing personal difficulties in her life, and George suffered a herniated spinal disc which appears to be causing not only acute pain, but also chronic pain. So the two primary cast members who would have been featured in Petersen's absence are experiencing life-changing circumstances.

So mightn't it be possible that Fishburne's arrival was greeted by everyone as a kind of life-saver, enabling Marg to take some much-needed downtime to focus on her private life, and George to not have to spend as much time on-set due to his back? I think this is highly possible.
 
Personally, there is something that bugs me so much more than LF being the star and all the old people not getting the top spot (it's the way TV works), and that is how Bobby Dawson has been only seen for 5 seconds this season and most of the last 3 seasons save for You Kill Me. Or how my friend remarked how in the hell Hodges was out in the field testing knives in Hog Heaven.
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Well, I do wonder about Bobby. BRING HIM BACK!!!! :lol:

As for Hodges being in the field, I still maintain that they are short a CSI (cause Sara and Grissom left and Warrick died, yet they only have two new members rather than three). They need to make Wendy a CSI (she obviously wants to). :lol: That would be better than them bringing in another totally new character.

But something I think people are still overlooking, to some extent, is that Ray's prominent placement in the storylines may have little to do with the salary Laurence Fishburne is being paid and everything to do with circumstances within the longtime cast members. Marg is experiencing personal difficulties in her life, and George suffered a herniated spinal disc which appears to be causing not only acute pain, but also chronic pain. So the two primary cast members who would have been featured in Petersen's absence are experiencing life-changing circumstances.
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Robert Hall (Doc) said in an interview with this site that George did NOT tell anyone about his back issues until it was almost too late. In other words, he didn't refuse to do any scenes that were written for him and he pushed through the pain. So, I don't believe that is why he's gotten some eps where he has such little screentime. While it may be true for Hog Heaven and possibly if he's not in the finale ep much, I do not believe that was true for earlier episodes. The way Mr. Hall talked, it sounded like George waited until they were filming or about to film "Hog Heaven" before he said a word about his back. If George had said something about his back early on, I might say yeah that could be why he has been getting smaller screentime, but according to Mr. Hall, that was NOT the case.

Mr. Hall pretty much said that George didn't get his surgery until they were through filming the season finale. The writers could have written scenes for Nick where he was sitting down (so George could rest his back) rather than only having him in a few scenes (in some eps) had George told them about his back problem. But, seeing as to how Mr. Hall said George stayed quiet about it for as long as possible, I just don't see that as the reason he has had smaller screentime in some episodes. Possibly for Hog Heaven, but any before that episode that took place after the 200th episode, he had decent amounts of screen time in. So that plus what Mr. Hall stated, leads me to believe that George did not say a word about his back problems until the filming of Hog Heaven.

Marg's personal issues, possibly could have caused her to ask for less screentime. But I've already stated about George's back, so I'll leave that alone for now. Lauren just got married, plus she's still a new cast member, so that's the reason for her. There is no known reason for Eric though. So, regardless of whether or not Marg and George had issues that took them off some screentime, tptb could have filled in SOME of the scenes with Greg rather than ALL with Ray. It could have been Greg going to crime scenes with Ray and interacting with Ray. There is no excuse for them giving Ray ALL that screentime and Greg none of it. He's been there since the beginning of the show and deserves more respect than that.

However, I do think maybe they panicked when Billy left and just went on overload on their new big star. Hopefully it'll be more balanced next season. :crosses fingers: :D

Like I've said before, I don't mind a Ray driven storyline as long as the others get decent screentime too like they did in the Cath driven episode "If I Had A Hammer".
 
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I agree with you, GregNickRyanFan. There is no reason Greg couldn't have been used more in some of those episodes. After all he is a Level 3 now and Ray is just Level 1. I still believe we are seeing so much Ray simply because he is being paid the big bucks to be the new Lead Actor for the show. I just wish TPTB hadn't seen the need to push him too much to the forefront of the show that a lot of us being to dislike him. I do not dislike him but I dislike all this screen presence and the way he does seem to boss others around who are higher ranked than him.
 
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