Well if you mean GSR fans, they were only in it for the GSR and it still didn't hold up against Grey's Anatomy when it became canon in season six. The same season Grey's was moved to Thursday night. It was almost like the Writers went, "Oh my god, all character development of the others is out the door, we must put Sara and Grissom together to save our show.." It didn't work, did it. Grey's kicked CSI's butt big time that season, not so much in the ratings but in the demographics.
As you point out later, CSI was a show in its sixth season, with mostly stand-alone episodes, while Grey's was the younger drama show (directed at a younger audience) everyone was talking about, and you had to watch all the episodes if you didn't want to lose track. CSI held up really really well, Season 7 was one of the best and it eventually kicked Grey's butt. They were basically putting oranges vs. apples in the competition.
And yes, ratings have dropped this season. I think they expected that after Grissom left because frankly, they wrote the show around his character-which was a mistake in my opinion but that's said and done and nothing will change history..perhaps future writers will learn from this and make sure if they write a show centred around a main character, they will not call itself an 'ensemble' cast. I mean The Mentalist (the most awesome show on TV right now besides CSI) centres around one character, they don't call themselves an 'ensemble' cast, and House is centred around one character, House. If both actors left their shows they would have to be cancelled.
If The Mentalist left The Mentalist or House left House, those shows would be cancelled right away, or the ratings would plummet right away. If any other member of those shows left, there would probably not be much of a difference. Now with an "ensemble" cast such as CSI, if any member of that ensemble leaves, ratings will suffer. When Sara left, ratings did suffer (then again, GSR fans can't be held accountable for that), in a lesser extent with Warrick, moreso with Grissom.
Now, I think for a show that is nine years old, 14+ million viewers is pretty good. There are younger shows on TV that would kill for these kinds of ratings.
Pretty good indeed, if it wasn't because a few episodes ago, it had 6 million more viewers (more or less). Again, it wasn't a sudden ratings plummet. People are giving Grissom-less CSI a chance, and are slowly being dissapointed by it and disengaged from it, so something is indeed missing. It didn't become a bad show, not even a regular show, just the forgettable kind of good show. Before, you just "had to" watch CSI, now you watch it when you can and if you forgot to for some reason, it's no biggie.
Do I miss Grissom? When I watch the old shows, I do, but his character became boring in the last few seasons, and then there's the relationship he had with a subordinate, for me that was the end of Grissom.
Whenever I watch Evaluation Day and see Grissom's holier than thou attitude towards Nick for sleeping with a hooker, I find myself laughing because this is the same guy who went and did the horizontal mombo with a subordinate. So Grissom left for me at the end of season five right after Grave Danger.
First of all, the Nick fiasco (I call it fiasco because a woman died) happened in Season 1. Grissom and Sara got together somewhere around season 5-6. How much can a person's life and mind change in 5-6 years? Two or three weeks ago we didn't know such a thing as the "pig flu" (or whatever it's name in english is) existed, today I snoozed in public and everyone looked me as if I was Osama Bin Laden :shifty:.
Second, a one-night stand with a random girl (occupation aside) who ends up
dead! beside you! doesn't compare to finally getting in a stable, commited relationship to the love of your life. And Grissom was a robot with no feelings (or at least a robot who didn't know he had any feelings whatsoever) in Season 1.
And that "Grissom's a (
put derogatory description of your preference here) for doing the horizontal m
ambo with a subordinate" argument is tiring and sickening. It happens that the lab rules aren't the life's rules, and there are moments in life when you have to choose between the "right" thing to do and the Right! thing to do. Grissom and Sara did the wrong thing according to the lab's rules (and Ecklie was totally right when he took measures about it), but they did the right thing in the overall scheme of their lives. It wasn't job vs. a booty call, it was a rule at work vs. their happiness and love for the rest of their lives.
