Can the new writers and bring CSI back to what it was

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tvienti

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*Spoilers for Thanksgiving episode below*

I just got done watching the new episode that aired today, Thanksgiving, and that's what I have to say about it. CSI is not the same show it was last season and it's worse for it. I know not all will agree with me but I'd like to see a discussion on it.

Before, the viewer rarely knew more than the CSIs did. We saw only what the CSIs saw, except for maybe a brief introduction that usually left more questions than answers. Now, we get to see plenty that the CSIs don't. Tonight's episode is a perfect example. We saw Dunn kill three of his four victims. The CSIs never saw it happen, they just showed up at the scene afterwards. We knew more than the CSIs did!

Along those same lines, it used to be that the story was told through forensics. Since we knew only what the CSIs did, we would find out what really happened as the forensics told the story. Sometimes we would see a CSIs vision of what happened which may or may not have been true, but we'd rarely (if ever) have it handed to us prior to the CSIs finding out. In fact, if you look back on this episode, think about what forensics you actually saw? There were some forensics that I would call negligible at best. There was no 2-minute scene where was saw all the CSIs dissecting a scene, or performing experiments in a lab. A skeleton was reconstructed (which led absolutely nowhere), a photograph was recovered, and at the end AFTER the truth was revealed, we heard the CSIs explain how they found out that the skeleton belonged to Sanchez. But here it wasn't forensics telling a story, it was forensics providing the bridge the CSIs took to found out what we, the viewers, already knew.

Finally, the weak plot deserves mention. My first thought when I saw the singer was "Whoa what is up with his face?" and within a minute I had decided he was wearing a latex mask. I thought it was supposed to be obvious, and maybe was done to throw us off. But no. That was the big "Grissom revelation" that we saw 45 minutes into the show when Gil finally figured out what I thought was obvious all along. About 10 minutes into the movie I had already ruled out that the mask-wearing killer was Dunn or Sanchez because either would've been too obvious. I was wrong.

Don't get me wrong -- I don't put much stock in my powers of observation. I'm usually the last person to guess the truth behind a mystery, or a surprise ending. This episode was just that guessable.

These new writers need to go.
 
I disgaree with you, I Tivoed tonight's episode and haven't watched it yet. I think that so far this season the Plots of the episodes have been more engrossing. I thought that seasons 4,5, and 6 were God awful. I actually hope these new writers stay.
 
if this thread was only intended to talk about last nights episode, there is already one open in the csi las vegas forum. but, if you would like to talk about the quality (or lack there of) in writing of all three shows it can stay open here. ill wait for input from everyone as well as Fay before we decide to do something with this thread.
sound good?
 
I'll be the first to say that CSI:LV has lost its touch. My opinion is that after s5, things just went downhill. There were some things that the writers could have done with the show, but they didn't and its cost them viewers.

One example: Remember in the earlier seasons where Grissom would hand out assignments, or halfway through a case, the team would stop and have a GROUP discussion. In recent eps, I have seen nothing of the team dynamics and chemistry that is oh so crucial.

Another, Grissom, the lead CSI, one of the most crucial characters used to be egimatic and humourous, while still being the geeky scientist. In short, he had personality. Now, it seems as though he has suffered through a frontal lobotomy. He's become a flat character.

The problem I have with new writers is that they no very little about the shows dynamics and what makes an episode a hit. Only the older writers know that, but since they've all branched out to the other CSI franchises, I doubt CSI will ever be the same.

Another problem with new writers is that they've all watched the show and have all become shippers. Think of the situation now with Sara and Grissom. A portion of viewers have developed their favorite characters over the years and have always thought of them with another character. The creation of this "cannon ship" seems to steal from the imagination of viewers. The mystery of who will get with who is gone, and being a shipper myself, I thrived on figuring out hints leading into the personal lives of the CSIs would result in a ship. It was fun trying to piece the evidence together. Even some of my GSR friends say there is something anti-climatic about this season. No offense to anyone. Personally, I think CSI was better when their was no ship.

And as per evidence goes, the so called main aspect: the evidence, is getting very little screen time. Anyone remember the pilot and how we learned about striation? Or the blood spatter in Blood Drops? We got information from the evidence. We learned from the evidence.

Now this post is kind of long, but I hope this thread continues so I can discuss this further.
 
To echo what allmaple said, if this thread is meant to relate to just the Vegas show, it belongs in the Vegas forum. If, however, it is meant for discussing the writing of all three shows, it can remain in this forum. :) We will keep an eye on the discussion to see where it goes...
 
i think CSI is doing way better this season that the last. i loved a whole bunch of eps in S6 but there were a couple that a lot of people complained about. this season though, is so far truly remarkable. i'd say the best yet.

and as much as i practically love every season for something different, each episode in S7 seem like a movie.
 
I know there are a lot of people who want to see it go back to the old days where Grissom had all the answers, but I think that in order for the show to stay fresh it's high time we saw more of all the characters solving crime scenes instead of a 'big Grissom' revelation.

We know so much about Catherine and her life, but we know s little of the others. I know Marg is second billed to Petersen, but the ARE other characters in that show and so far this season, we've seen so little of them other then a line here or there.

One of the highest rated shows this season was Fannysmackin'. We got to know more about Greg Sanders. We got to see the team surrounding him.

One of the best episodes of last season was Gum Drops which focussed heavily on Nick, Sara, Warrick and Greg. And this episode was praised to no ends and it didn't even have Billy or Marg in it-well Marg--but for a few seconds.

The writers have boxed themselves into a corner; they are completely myopic, and they seem to lack any story lines for the other characters.
 
Okay, there is some good discussion going on in here, but it seems to be centering around the Vegas CSI. So I'll move the thread over to that forum. :)
 
Okay we have an episode thread discussion for "Living Legend" and we have discussion threads on the actors/Characters.

If this is centered around the writing past to present that is fine, discussion review of the "LL" ep or the actors/characters in general should go into their own threads. Also not that Ratings have their own thread as well.

So Shall the topic of this thread be something like "The writing of CSI LV Past Vs Present? If so go for it.
 
I think this is an excellent topic. I'd agree with changing the name, though. Saying the current writing is sub-par in the title might scare off some posters who would otherwise have excellent points to make.

Personally, I hate this season. I think the writing is nothing compared to what it was at the beginning of last season. Throughout the first three quarters of season 6 (plus Rashomama), the SCIENCE was still the main character of the show; however, the writers were obviously taking the time to adda little more personality to the characters, and that was much appreciated on my part. The show finally seemed to be balanced. Also, the mystery was still there. Every time I watch an episode this season, I've solved the crime long before the CSIs do, and there is no fun in that at all. CSI is supposed to be a procedural drama, and the procedure seems to be lacking this season.

Instead, the writers seem to be trying to make the show into nothing but drama. Do I care about a priest and his ex? No. Her murder was hardly mysterious, and the end result of the case was disappointing to say the least. Do I care about a bunch of talking corpses? No. And it doesn't help that all of their deaths are rolled into a single ep. Not a single case was fleshed out.

I also agree that the "canonization" of GSR has taken a major aspect of the show away. It takes all the fun of the analysis away. Now the show is just flat because you know there is absolutely nothing going on behind the scenes. There wasn't anything going on before either, but at least there was something left to the imagination.

Basically, I am not at all impressed with this season, and I hope the focus gets moved AWAY from Grissom for a while because the writers are obviously playing favorites more than the ever have before.
 
tvienti said:
Before, the viewer rarely knew more than the CSIs did. We saw only what the CSIs saw, except for maybe a brief introduction that usually left more questions than answers. Now, we get to see plenty that the CSIs don't. Tonight's episode is a perfect example. We saw Dunn kill three of his four victims. The CSIs never saw it happen, they just showed up at the scene afterwards. We knew more than the CSIs did!
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That is a very, very good point. I mean, granted, I am a fairly new CSI watcher, but thanks to Spike, I have seen just about every episode, although I haven't seen much of Season 6. And I have been trying to think of an episode where they showed the killer commiting murder before the CSIs figured out and haven't had any luck. That was the fun part of it- guessing who the killer could be. It's no fun if you already know who it is. That's just my opinion.

The only thing I like out of this season is the MCSK. Everything else I could care less for. I thought "Toe Tags" was kind of silly. Forgive me fellow Greg fans, but I did not care for "Fannysmackin". I thought it was a horrible episode. Not horrible as in bad, but horrible as in disturbing. His storyline with DJ's family I have already made clear I dislike. There is just too much drama this season. One of the main reasons I started watching CSI was because it was pretty much strictly science. I understand people's points when they say that the same thing gets boring after a while, but why change something that has apparently been working this long?
 
Basically, I am not at all impressed with this season, and I hope the focus gets moved AWAY from Grissom for a while because the writers are obviously playing favorites more than the ever have before.
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I couldn't have said it better myself.

This season is all Grissom all the time. I've almost forgotten the name of the other charactes with the exception of Catherine..who could forget her? :rolleyes:

I also think that we need to bring back some of the old writers. The ones who were poached when TPTB decided in their infinite wisom :rolleyes:to do spinoffs.
 
I think the shows have been great so far this season. I think the reason Grissom is getting so much play early in the season is because he's going to be gone soon. How many episodes is he going to be absent? I know he's going to be in December's episodes, but how many shows will he actually miss? I love the fact that he and Sara have a relationship. I just hope these writers don't have them decide to break off the relationship and see other people while he is gone. That would be bad IMO.
 
I think S/7 is fantastic ;) better than S/6 for me.. I liked 1-2-3 they were treading new waters.. and by S/4 they had it fined tuned.. that would be my all time favorite ;) and than followed by S/5.. and someone asked about "new writers" :eek: what new writers.. as far as I see it's the same ones.. as always with Carol Mendohlsohn (head writer} Sarah Goldfinger.. and Antony Zuiker, Richard Lewis, David Rambo etc, still on top.. if their are new writers.. who are they? I'm always a bit baffeled by fans who whine and complain about "how the show's "changed" and isn't as good as it used to be.. yes it is.. {my opinion} I think it gets better and better. :cool:

gsr-ensemble.jpg
 
Personally, I think that season 7 is the best ever because I do enjoy seeing a little into the other characters lives. There's plenty of room for the science, but I like a little personal character history interjected into the episode too.

Here's a question. Do we know for sure that there are new writers or are we just guessing there are different writers because we don't like the direction the series has taken? When I say "we" I don't mean literally all of us. I just don't want to turn this into a "you" and "us" thing.
 
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