Question: So, we were looking forward to the season premiere of
CSI: Miami. We actually do like it. Never thought the acting was God-awful, though the Caruso sunglass removal is a bit much sometimes. But last Monday's broadcast has me wondering if we were watching a totally different show. It seemed almost cobbled together, and I am not sure what was worse: the script or the players' attempt to interpret it. My husband was in and out of sleep and even commented on the lack of acting skill. Also, I believe David Caruso set a new personal record for the sunglass removal. Emily Proctor was a beautiful woman, until she discovered either collagen or Botox. Anyway, it would appear the shark has been jumped. I feel better now. — Laurie O.
Matt Roush: Shark-jump spotting is not my favorite pastime, to put it mildly, but for me, this show effectively ended a few seasons back when Horatio rode a tsunami wave into town. There are times I can appreciate a show like
CSI: Miami as fun, formulaic escapism, but the season opener went to a new level of ineffective incoherence. And yet it continues to bring in huge ratings. It's a lousy show lots that lots of people like, nothing new about that. And it generated quite a bit of colorful mail in the wake of recent complaints. Like this from Dewey: "What I find interesting is that the people who write in to complain continue to watch even though they claim to dislike the programs in question. They don't like the program but they can tell you in detail about each episode. Have you ever asked them why they continue to watch programs they don't like?"
I don't ask them, because there's no good answer. We watch what we watch because we enjoy it. For most of us, our favorite TV shows are a great escape, and
CSI: Miami is the latest in a long line of shows about crime-fighting in a relatively exotic locale. (No wonder CBS is cooking up a remake of
Hawaii Five-O.) No one's really expecting Emmy-caliber work here. But from the critical fence on which I sit and contemplate the current crime-drama glut, I have to set the quality bar somewhere. And this show no longer clears it.
Lori F. writes: "Reading
your column, what strikes me as weird is that everyone gripes about David Caruso and his acting. The majority of the people hate him and his acting ability. I begin to wonder why
CSI: Miami is consistently one of the top-rated shows each week. Is the reason the rest of the cast, or is it because of the hammed-up Caruso performance, which I dub the 'Shatner effect.' William Shatner is not the greatest actor in the world, but in general people love to watch him. Your thoughts? (P.S. I happen to love
CSI: Miami, Caruso and all. I wish Eva LaRue's character and the actress would go away. I didn't like her on
All My Children and like her even less on
CSI: Miami.)"
It's always something. Look, for as many people who write in to gripe about Caruso, there are clearly millions of others who keep quiet and just enjoy the stylized nature of this character, which David Caruso appears to be trying to elevate to some sort of iconic status with his mannerisms. The Shatner analogy isn't a bad one, especially at this stage in his career, where he's made a quite amazing comeback by basically poking fun at his own image. Think of how washed-up Caruso was considered before
CSI: Miami came along. The fact we're even arguing about him means something's going right.
And finally, this from Michael T: "Your opinion is your opinion, but do you think that some of us enjoy the show and don't want to hear you bash it? Some will find the setup ridiculous, yet others will find it intriguing. Was this constructive criticism or just the voice of someone that might not understand enough of the show and characters to comment? Whether we like David Caruso or not, we like the show enough to watch."
I would never deny the popularity of a show like
CSI: Miami. But I also won't let its popularity cow me into keeping quiet about its flaws. You do realize this is a column written by a critic, right? Nothing I say should inhibit anyone from enjoying what they enjoy. At the same time, I do feel I have an obligation to speak out against shows that I might feel unworthy of said popularity, and to occasionally urge TV consumers to perhaps expect more and better, even from their favorite shows.