Review: CSI: New York--'Second Chances'
- Thread starter CSI Files
- Start date
Great review as always. 
I also felt the stunt casting and the heavy-handed charity message bogged down the episode. Having Pat Monahan in the episode, including the two songs, would have been enough stunt casting for one episode. To have a singer, a reality star and two MTV VJs in one episode is way too much - it's like they were aiming for a star-studded celebrity event and ended up with not-quite-A-list guests. A musician from a famous group, a woman famous for being famous and two VJs might be a pretty good lineup for an event on MTV itself, but this is CBS. Although I suppose maybe they thought that sort of lineup would draw in the MTV-viewing younger viewers. (I wouldn't know, I haven't watched MTV in years.)
Emphasizing ways to give back to the community is not a bad thing in and of itself - but the dialogue felt clunky, and as with stunt casting, a single example would have perhaps been more effective. When the audience feels like they're being preached to, they might be less likely to actually listen. I don't want to feel like Gary Sinise is telling me to do something - I want to watch the show and feel like the characters are acting organically. It doesn't have to be a sales pitch to get viewers thinking, "Hey, that sounds like something I'd like to do for my community." But your mileage may vary.
The episode itself felt flat and boring aside from the stunt casting dragging it down under the added weight of the Message of the Week. Several characters were missing, which is not unusual, especially this season - but it didn't feel like the others were really featured in their absence. Most of them were just there. (If one or more characters are missing, I would at least like the show to take full advantage of the smaller core cast for the episode - seeing Hawkes or Flack featured more prominently, for example, can lessen the sting of not having any Sid that week. But Lindsay doing 800 processing scenes and telling Mac about her findings is hardly featuring her in Adam and/or Sid's absence, you know?)
I also felt the stunt casting and the heavy-handed charity message bogged down the episode. Having Pat Monahan in the episode, including the two songs, would have been enough stunt casting for one episode. To have a singer, a reality star and two MTV VJs in one episode is way too much - it's like they were aiming for a star-studded celebrity event and ended up with not-quite-A-list guests. A musician from a famous group, a woman famous for being famous and two VJs might be a pretty good lineup for an event on MTV itself, but this is CBS. Although I suppose maybe they thought that sort of lineup would draw in the MTV-viewing younger viewers. (I wouldn't know, I haven't watched MTV in years.)
Emphasizing ways to give back to the community is not a bad thing in and of itself - but the dialogue felt clunky, and as with stunt casting, a single example would have perhaps been more effective. When the audience feels like they're being preached to, they might be less likely to actually listen. I don't want to feel like Gary Sinise is telling me to do something - I want to watch the show and feel like the characters are acting organically. It doesn't have to be a sales pitch to get viewers thinking, "Hey, that sounds like something I'd like to do for my community." But your mileage may vary.
The episode itself felt flat and boring aside from the stunt casting dragging it down under the added weight of the Message of the Week. Several characters were missing, which is not unusual, especially this season - but it didn't feel like the others were really featured in their absence. Most of them were just there. (If one or more characters are missing, I would at least like the show to take full advantage of the smaller core cast for the episode - seeing Hawkes or Flack featured more prominently, for example, can lessen the sting of not having any Sid that week.
But Lindsay doing 800 processing scenes and telling Mac about her findings is hardly featuring her in Adam and/or Sid's absence, you know?)