Character Development/Screentime Discussion

Actually he's been wrong many times and coped to that, on the fingerprinting the door, he was clumsy, and Nick had to show him the right way to do it. He's been off the mark many many times and has admitted as much. He works well & is willing to things on his own time to learn everything that he doesn't know. I feel that he asks the team for their input and they for his. He's even stayed after hours to learn on his own. Cath "you're off the clock " he goes "I know" she goes "see ya' tomorrow and smiled. He was totally unprepared on the "trilogy" and off the mark about Mattie, and Nick helped him through that transition with the rest of the team as well. On Dr. Jekyll, he tore up the photos on his wall, because he was wrong and frustrated with the whole case. He's smart and is a quick study and has caught up with them and now is pretty much an expert like they are. But still in the learning process. I love his character and feel this is one of his best roles in his career ~What's also amazing he made two movies and a one man play while still filming CSI.. when does this guy sleep?
 
I liked it back in the earlier seasons, when any character from Catherine to Archie would sometimes chuck out a comment about their love/personal life. CSI was unique in that it was a crime drama, but still gave out the occasional tidbit to flesh out the characters so that they weren't completely two dimensional.

Nowadays it's just Ray solving the case, Nick kicking down a door or flashing his gun around (don't get me wrong, I do like the guy :lol: ) and apparently everyone else is in the break room playing cards, popping their head out now and again to aid the case somewhat. Oh, and now only two techs and an officer are needed to work any case with the CSI's, the rest packed their bags and migrated to character limbo ages ago :shifty:

Giving the newest guy even more storylines, romantic or otherwise, isn't helping the situation either. Wonder how long it'll take tptb to realise that? :rolleyes:
 
You misunderstood DW. I'm not talking about being wrong. There's nothing wrong with being wrong. I'm talking about character interaction. Apart from Riley, has Ray ever rubbed somebody the wrong way? Robbins is his bestest buddy. Cath, Nick, Brass and Hodges adore him. Greg and Sara have had very little interaction with him, yet both seem to think he's great.

Compare with the other characters. Sara clashed on more than one occasion with Warrick, Sofia and Catherine. Greg, during his lab rat days, annoyed Grissom constantly. Nick and Cath have argued. Greg and Cath have argued (and I'm not talking about season 10). Brass and Warrick weren't the best of buddies. There were disputes between Grissom and Cath and Grissom and Nick. Hodges got on everyone's nerves. See my point?

And to repeat, this isn't about LF or his interaction with the cast. This is about Langston. He's too perfect and that really stretches my ability to buy into the show.
 
I agree totally Praetor your right, but for me I think "going in a new direction" "family" so to speak, & it's exactly that. BTW he has worked with Sara exclusively in "Better Off Dead", anyway that's the beauty of S/9-10. The old seasons everyone was always ticked off or mad at somebody, and always disagreeing with one another.. Grissom didn't have a clue on the social skills he needed, and turned a blind eye to such issues. This guy does, on the team. This is what I like better, for Ray has brought calm and relaxation and coolness to the team. They all work better with his presence , more in tune more connected with one another, and that to me is a beautiful thing. But when he was ticked off, it was Nick who came by and calmed him down. Then the others dropped by and soothed him and his nerves. He's anything but perfect, but the smoothness with which he operates and espcially with the team, has brought the show to a higher level.. my opinion~
 
Praetor, I believe that DW's post was in response to mine. I was expressing the same sentiment, but worded it differently.

It's hard for me to explain, but it just seems to me that even when he's "wrong" he's still, as Praetor says, "perfect." It's hard to explain, and I don't want to get into debating the minute details. He just comes off as unrealistically good at everything he does (including learning fast).

I liked Grissom's social awkwardness - very realistic for a scientist, and always good for a snicker when watching. :)
 
I suppose you're right, DW, in regards to the difference between Grissom and Langston. Many of the issues between Griss and his team derived from his lack of social understanding. That's something that Langston probably has a better grasp on.

I think a little more... conflict (not sure if that's the word I want), between Ray and the others would make things more believable though. No coworkers, no matter how great they get along, would ever work as amicably as we are led to believe from the episodes shown. And before you mention his blow up with Wendy, it was a one-sided affair. Wendy never got mad.

And sorry, Raynn and DW if I responded to something that wasn't mine to respond to. :)
 
I agree with Raynn and Praetor, Grissom's social ineptness is exactly why he was such a compelling character. What makes a good show is the different dynamics between characters - such as Catherine and Sara being fairly good friends, but still getting passionate and butting heads, or Brass getting riled at Cath for bringing in Jekyll. Now it seems that tptb have been watching too much 'Everybody Loves Raymond' - even Ecklie and Hodges like him in the space of an episode, despite being jerks to everyone else (not that I'm complaining about their attitudes ;) )

I'm just waiting for resident Trekkie Archie to slip up and start calling him the new Wesley :lol:
 
NP, Praetor. Just didn't want you to think someone was saying you said something you didn't. :)

I agree, a bit more friction between people keeps things interesting. It doesn't have to be as nasty as Sara and Catherine were to each other in season 1, but just a little something to show that they're all different personalities and don't always see things the same way.
 
Friction amongst the characters do keep things interesting and like you said Raynn, it don't necessarily have to be nasty. They all have strong personalities, so there is bound to be conflict on some level at some point. They can't see eye to eye on everything all of the time!
 
"Everybody Loves Raymond" had me laughing so hard DragonFriend95 :D

Agree with Raynn how a character's awkwardness is more realistic than perfection. Regardless, Grissom still maintained some sort of control as Langston is now. They just have a different way of handling it.

There needs to be some "friendly bickering" otherwise the show wouldn't be as entertaining :)
 
I don't see Dr. Langston as perfect at all and on his learnng processes, he didn't just walk in off the street. he's got mega background of his own which he brought to the table . He does seem calm and keeps his cool even with Wendy. And Riley who's to only one who really ever go in his face and on his case, and he walked away. Although he did tell Cath "She's trigger happy":wtf: The reason he gets along with eveyone, even Hodges and Ecklie, is Grissom was always insulting one of them in one way or another, especially Hodges, who adored him and he [poor guy] never did catch on.. Ray never insults them. I see now that WP was smart on leaving when he did "how he couldn't take the character any furthur" It was time to go. And in "19 down" you could see how burnt out he was. Thus offering the job on the team to Ray. I don't see how he could have continued with his bugs and the cat and mouse game he was playing with GSR & [he thought] close to the cuff, when in fact everyone knew anyway, maybe except Ecklie. It was the perfect time. I didn't think that at the time, but now in retrospect do. They all do have strong personalties but that doesn't mean that in the work place they can't have a more happy atmosphere. Another for me that I admire is the way he dresses like he just walked off a fashion runway, so spiffy and clean cut. His changing traits also are interesting. He does get angry when the perp. like in "Mascara" that Oingo Boingo [whatever his name was] freak kept saying "he made me do it" and Ray jumped him, "He didn't make you do it, you murdered her" and Brass pulled him off. And when the guy in the hospital was slamming and belittling and ridiculing him & his book, he slammed him against the wall. He also when attacked in the parking lot in "Doctor Who" he was protecting and defending him self. That certainly is not "perfect" showing his vulnerable side.:shifty:

WP ON LEAVING
 
KAiLUxO said:
"Everybody Loves Raymond" had me laughing so hard DragonFriend95 :D
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I was laughing at that too. Good one.

And yes, LF is the new lead but that does not mean they cannot spare one episode on a character like Greg, who has been around since the first episode. I still believe overall, people who have been watching the show since the beginning rather see at least one episode on a character who's been around a lot longer than Ray. I mean since Ray has been on he has had a ton of episodes where he is the big cheese. Let the little guy have a chance, that's all I say.
 
So how about Sara's character development? How long can fans deal with this "Cockamamie" story about her and her husband? I understood her needing to help out last season, but what's the excuse now? And how long does it take to get this "grant" in Paris? Is she living in the condo they shared, and where's Hank? This needs to have some conclusion, maybe some fans do care and maybe some fans don't, but lets just hear something about her and where she's headed:confused:
 
I guess I should put in my two cents now. First of all I love Raymond. He is an amazing character, who came under bad circumstances. Grissom has been the icon of CSI for almost a decade and I can see how people might not like it when this young upstart comes in. I can understand this but I think we need to look past the fact that he is new and different and give him and the new people that are coming in (like the new bomb tech) a far shake. I can also see why some people believe that he is getting too much air time, so if giving the other member of the team more air would make people happy and more accepting of him, I say why not. People are also saying he came in with no experience and is a super CSI all of a sudden, well he was a formore Pathologist, so he would already have a basic understanding of forensics. Such as how not to contaminate evidence and chain of cousday. He skills would of course need to be fine tuned, as you saw with the fingerprint incident and his tie ending up on the body (both of which were very funny to watch). He learned his trade very quickly and has moved past the rookie status to become a great CSI and a nice guy who shows respect to his team mates and is learning to be more open with them.



Now about Sara, I love how much she has grown in a short space of time. She came on the team kind of sad and untrusting (Giving her past I am not surprised), but now she is much happier. Now I must agree with the fans that say she needs to be with her husband. I can understand an eppy or three but this is getting just silly. We need some GSR to keep us happy, although not to much so as to keep the non-GSR fans happy. I want to know what happened to Hank. I love her back but she needs Grissom :(

Well thats my two cents, although now it is more like a dollar :)
 
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Heh, I was wondering if anyone would get the 'Raymond' quip :p

Gsriscool - For me, the problem has never been that he was the newbie- hell, I'm all up for having some new blood in an aging show, especially if they're played by Sienna ;) - but Ray was brought on as a rookie, yet got the priviliges of a fully fledged CSI (like going solo on cases when Greg had to wait two years to earn that right.) Then, instead of showing us a realistic learning arc he fumbled for two episodes and then suddenly became Mr Super CSI. After that, it became the Ray Show for pretty much the rest of Season 9.

I do wish he had been brought on in a more realistic manner: I still probably wouldn't like him (the character doesn't appeal to me at all, nor the actor for that matter) but I could still bear him and enjoy the show. Instead he's the man who can do no wrong, is friends with everybody, and generally has a Marty Stu-ish vibe.
 
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