Re: CSI Ratings versus Grey's Anatomy
Well, and I'm not going to say that the very boring Season 6 didn't turn a lot of people off, but to say that it's the direction Season 7 has taken is a little ridiculous. Only because the ratings prove that as the episodes get better, more people are coming back.
Not in droves by a LONG shot, but at least CSI sees a rise in its numbers from week to week. Grey's on the other hand pretty much went down the plot hole of no return (the Dawson-Joey effect where after a while no one cares if they get together or not) and despite the fact that they WERE the number one show, they couldn't even hold on to that for half a season.
CSI was the number one show for a very long time. Grey's and Desperate Housewives have never had the regular, top-of-the-Nielsen ratings that CSI enjoyed.
Did this season lack character interaction? Not really - it was more just longer moments with one character rather than what we used to get - which was a LOT of mixed interaction. But Happenstance pretty much put an end to that.
I think the fact that they focused on so many personal tragedies is part of the reason that interaction was so limited - a few people had their big scenes with Greg, Grissom and Sara had their own private moments with Catherine.
I would've liked more, and I'm glad that last night Sara wasn't automatically on the same case as Grissom and that they had a breather from that interaction trhough most of the episode (after all, you can OD on anything).
I think, again, that saying that Grey's isn't that big a factor is silly. It's a huge show, up against another huge show, and now their ratings are pretty much dead even. Which proves that they've both hurt each other in the long run.
And FYI - CSI's episode rating average was about 25 million last season.