Ratings Rampage

A new episode of CSI: Miami failed to win its timeslot, but Taylor Swift's appearance on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation beat the competition.

On Monday, CSI: Miami came in second behind the first part of The Bachelor: After the Final Rose, which pulled in 17.47 million viewers and a 6.7 rating/16 share in the prized 18-49 demographic. Miami had 13.31 million viewers and 3.8/9. Medium came in third with 7.28 million viewers and 2.5/6 in the key demo.

CSI: New York aired a repeat on Wednesday, but it earned the top spot with 11.39 million viewers and 2.7/8 in the 18-49 demo. A repeat of Law and Order shared second-place honors with Life on Mars. Law had higher viewers with 5.78 million to Mars' 5.65 million. In the 18-49 demographic, Mars pulled in 2.1/6, which was enough to beat Law's 1.6/5.

Swift's episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation earned 20.80 million viewers on Thursday, taking the top spot at 9:00pm. Hell's Kitchen was second with an approximate 10.64 million viewers (the numbers are approximate because American Idol ran over a few minutes).

NBC had the third place in overall viewers with its combination of The Office (8.63 million) and 30 Rock (7.35 million). A repeat of Grey's Anatomy came in fourth with 5.68 million viewers, and a repeat of Supernatural rounded out the hour with 1.93 million.

In the 18-49 demo, CSI dominated with 5.3/13, followed by Kitchen (4.6/12), the combo of Office (4.5/11) and Rock (3.8/9), Grey's (1.6/4) and Supernatural (0.7/2).

Fishburne to Join CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in the Show's 9th Season

Laurence Fishburne, most notable in his role of Morpheus in The Matrix, will be joining the show as a new character to the series. He will be playing the role of Dr. Raymond Langston.

Langston will be portrayed as " a guy who is brilliant to the world" and the show will dwell on his past as a research pathologist and a professor of criminology. Of note, he will be a character permanently and will be portrayed as a rookie to the show.

Fishburn had the following to say about the role and how it is different from movies in not knowing where the character will go:

"The fact that I don't know where Langston is headed isn't a problem. Sometimes I feel I have a handle on him, sometimes I feel like I don't know what the (heck) I'm doing. But that's like life, isn't it? If I start looking for the last page, I'll make myself craaazy!" (http://www.csifiles.com/)

CSI is once again pulling out more stops in order to add new flair and diversity to the show. With the loss of William Petersen in the early going of the season, they have added a completely different chacacter instead of replacing Gil Grissom. The addition of Fishburne as Dr. Raymond Langston will be a chance for renewed interest and continued success for the already popular show. In a way, this is a huge appointment as Laurence Fishburne is a much bigger star than people on the cast now. He may add that next dimension or a new era for the show. Will it be successful and should we expect more turnover and additions? I don't think so. If there any Matrix fans, this will give them a great opportunity to see Fishburne in what I'm sure will be an award-style role.

Zuiker Takes CSI-Esque Style Theme to the Bookshelves

Last summer, CSI Files reported that CSI franchise creator Anthony Zuiker was going to produce crime novels with a twist. These "digi-novels" combine traditional reading with multimedia elements. Every five chapters, readers will be given a code to access online content. It has been announced that Zuiker is partnering with the social entertainment company EQAL to create http://www.darkchronicles.com/.


Dark Chronicles, the first of Zuiker's digi-novels, will be published September 8, 2009. The book will consist of 100 chapters, prompting readers to view a total of 20 online "cyber bridges". The cyber bridges include videos, audio files and pictures that can be viewed once a reader registers and enters the code provided. All of the cyber bridges were written, produced and directed by Zuiker. EQAL will run http://www.darkchronicles.com/ and update the site daily with novel information, behind-the-scenes footage and bonus material for Dark Chronicles. The social network on the site will allow fans to interact with one another.


"We're very excited about our partnership with Anthony," EQAL CEO and co-founder Miles Beckett said in a press release. "A Web site dedicated to Dark Chronicles is a great way to further engage readers by offering additional content and an interactive experience. EQAL is thrilled to be working with Anthony to expand his fan base online." Zuiker said, "EQAL is the ideal partner for the debut of the 'digi-novel'. Our collective passion to tell stories on multiple platforms will honor the authenticity of community while at the same time appeal to the commercial masses."


The original press release is from PR Newswire. The website http://www.darkchronicles.com/ will launch in July, and the cyber bridges will go live September 8, when Dark Chronicles is released.





My Thoughts....



One would suggest that the CSI franchise advertising, marketing, and financial teams have been brainstorming together. The already popular series, especially its flagship of the original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, seems to think that it needs just a little more, which is never a bad thing. As we saw, for sweeps, the emergence of news that P. Diddy would make an appearance on CSI: Miami, Katharine McPhee on CSI: NY, and even though sweep shas passed, Taylor Swift will live out what she is calling a "dream come true" as she makes her debut appearance on CSI this week. The show obviously knows how to attract viewership as numbers have gone even higher due to these announcements and I'm sure CSI will jump spots tonight because o fthe popularity of country rock star Taylor Swift. Now, we see Anthony Zuiker coming out with The Dark Chronicles series on-line which was spawned from a CSI type of idea. All I can say is kudos to this very active production team, show staff, and marketers. Oh, did I mention, you can't go 15 minutes on CBS or A&E without seeing a commerical for a CSI show. Talk about a long grip on your market and station, eh!?!?

Taylor Swift Living Out Dream; To Appear on CSI this Week

Some dreams never die--and some dreams do.

As CSI Files previously reported, this week's episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation will include a guest appearance by Taylor Swift. "My dream is to die on CSI," the young singer said recently in an interview with Katie Couric from CBS. In "Turn, Turn, Turn", Swift's dream becomes reality.

"I've always wanted to be one of the characters on there, that they're trying to figure out what happened to," she explained.

In her first primetime acting gig, Swift plays Haley Jones, a young girl whose parents own a seedy motel. Nick Stokes (George Eads) investigated several cases there over the course of the year leading up to Haley's death.

"It's his storyline," Swift said, "basically, he's the one investigating my murder."

The episode starts on Nick's birthday, according to Ausiello, and flashes back to the previous cases.

"I'm obsessed with crime shows. I love them so much. CSI Las Vegas is my favorite," Swift shared. "It kind of pairs up all of the things that I'm obsessed with other than music. I love video editing, so when I see really cool editing and really cool effects, I admire it, and I go back and watch it again."

She then added, "But I also love the whole crime scene aspect of it, of figuring things out and analyzing."

Parts of Swift's interview with Couric can be seen below, along with clips from "Turn, Turn, Turn". Other information is courtesy of Ausiello.

For a look at an interview with Taylor Swift, visit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1J226jHAXU

Great Rating All Around

The CSI family of showsn earned the top spot in overall viewers this past week.

A repeat of CSI: Miami came in first place in overall viewers with 10.06 million, edging out Medium (8.43 million) and the season finale of True Beauty (7.43 million). In the 18-49 demographic prized by advertisers, True Beauty came out on top with a 3.2 rating/9 share, followed by Medium (2.6/7) and CSI: Miami (2.3/6).

CSI: New York won it's timeslot on Wednesday with 12.56 million overall viewers and 3.1/8 in the key demo. A repeat of Law and Order (5.77 million, 1.7/5) and Life on Mars (4.88 million, 1.7/5) rounded out the hour.

On Thursday, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation won the hour with 17.72 million viewers and 4.3/11 in the 18-49 demographic. Hell's Kitchen came in second with 9.85 million and 4.3/11. A repeat of Grey's Anatomy (6.80 million, 2.2/6) beat out NBC's repeat of The Office (5.29 million, 2.4/6) combined with a new episode of 30 Rock (6.36 million, 2.9/7) in overall viewers, but not in the key demo. A Supernatural repeat came in fifth with 1.94 million viewers and 0.8/2 in the 18-49 demo.

Katharine McPhee Books a Guest Spot on CSI:NY

According to TV Guide,

"American Idol runner-up-turned-actress Katharine McPhee won't have to stretch too much in her TV acting debut: She'll play... wait for it... a singer.

McPhee, who co-starred in the Anna Faris comedy The House Bunny, has been tapped for a visit to the recently guest star-happy CSI: NY, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Her first appearance on a scripted series came in 2007, when the singer appeared as herself on ABC's Ugly Betty. She also recently signed on for the romantic comedy Wedlocked opposite Brothers & Sisters star Dave Annable.

Do you think McPhee will hit the right notes on the CBS cop drama?"

Thanks to TV Guide for keeping us posted to another stunting attempt by the CSI family to help its shows. Besides this news, P. Diddy will make a guest appearance on CSI: Miami later in the season.

RATINGS BACK UP FOR CSI; down for Miami

Vieweres must have simply been confused the week of Feb. 2nd. CSI returned fo rthe wek of Feb. 9 to the No. 5 spot for the week in its Broadcast TV Ratings. It finished in a sound No. 5 ahead of its 9:00pm Thursday, ABC counterpart Greys Anatomy and just behind the very popular NCIS. Of note, CSI:Miami took a slight tumble that week, maybe because people found out that P. Diddy wasn't on that night, who knows. But no worry, CBS, your beloved CSI returned.

An interesting tidbit I picked up on is whether or not CSI will be back for a tenth season. When I went to the main CSI homepage, and viewed the characters, they all had their dates of being in the show end with the number 2009.

This is big because as of two weeks ago, everyone was listed as 200?-Present. Is this the end of making shows and on to syndication or repeats? Or is this just CBS uncertainty of the shows future. Who knows, but I hope it is just because they are leading us on!

I WANT YOU...

. . . to watch CSI tonight at 9:00pm on CBS!!!

Ratings Way Down

In the beginning of this blog, we focused on the affects of the loss of Gil Grissom (William Petersen). While there is no direct correlation, it is interesting to note that regular CSI is down 15% and 12% in respective weeks. An argument could be made that many shows with a sci-fi approach are currently on the market, as discovered in previous blogs.

The interesting fact is CSI: Miami and there continued rise in the rankings as they moved up to the No. 5 slot. It leaves many questioning if CSI: Miami is airing a better season? Could it be that viewers have become confused with the announcement of P. Diddy making an appearance and the show, with no specific date announced unpurposely to boost ratings and viewership, especially during sweeps?

Only time will tell during this sweeps month and the rating for last week and this week come out. It may just have bene a common fluke. If not, the long running, successful, and original CSI may have seen its last day at the top, which would be a sad day especially with how well it has been competing with shows like The Officeand trying to stay vibrant amongst many sci-fi shows.

I will be keeping up with this and looking for any announcements from CBS on the show as well as tracking what shows or stations may be taking its steam.

Stay tuned to watch CSI Thursday at 9:00pm.

I PITY THE FOOL WHO DON'T WATCH CSI:NY TONIGHT @ 10:00pm!!

JUST DO IT!

P. Diddy is to appear in hit US TV show ‘CSI: Miami’.

The rapper will play a federal prosecutor in two episodes of the crime drama, which focuses on Miami-Dade - Florida police department's Crime Scene Investigations unit – it has been confirmed.

‘Entertainment Tonight’, who broke the news of the music mogul’s appearance on the show, revealed P. Diddy’s character will have a conflict with David Caruso’s character Horatio and his team “not only on a case, but also in their personal lives” in the episodes, to be aired in early 2009.

The musician, real name Sean Combs, is no stranger to acting and recently appeared in a theatre production of ‘A Raisin in the Sun’.

He has also had roles in movies ‘Monster’s Ball’, ‘Made’ and ‘Death of a Dynasty’.

P. Diddy, 39, recently revealed he is currently penning a romantic comedy and is keen for Sienna Miller – who he was romantically linked to - to play the lead role.

He said: "I'm writing a film, a comedy. For actresses, I want Angelina Jolie and Sienna Miller."

When asked who would play the male characters, P. Diddy replied: "For actors, Eddie Murphy."

Citation:

http://www.azcentral.com/ent/celeb/articles/2008/11/13/20081113diddy.html

CSI: Fiction or Reality?

An interesting topic to note yet a short one. Is CSI: and all its versions reality or fiction?

There is some contradiction but a clear cut answer. Before most shows about crime (take Law and Order for example), a disclaimer is displayed claiming that "all events portrayed in this episode are not real and in no way reflect upon any persons or places."

It goes something like above. Did you ever notice that the disclaimer is never used in the beginning of the CSI: series. There is a plausible answer I believe. The fact of the matter is, the shows have to be based on something (reality) so to say they aren't in some way based off of certain cases would be false. However, it doesn't mean it happened in that city or to a person with a specific name.

It has long been argued as well that the distinct sci-fiction nature of the show does not depict real crime solving, crime labs, or detective protocol. It strays far from the truth. The makers of CSI: do not deny this and have no qualms with the argument.

So, to wrap it all together, the show does depict some real issues (with some embellishment) and is not an exact replica of crime solving tactics.

CSI: NY...No Slouch but not a "top dog"

CSI: NY, the third piece of the CSI family of shows is also the least popular.  However, it is still a very good show that holds its own since airing in 2004.  It airs on Wednesdays at 10:00pm.  Before the show, you have a very popular Criminal Minds (9:00pm EST) and it is followed by local newscasts  Now, you would think that they have a large carry-over audience, and I believe they do based off of ratings and shares.  My big question is:

Why is a show that is so good not leading the scene on Wednesdays, not even at its 10:00pm time-slot?

It's not competing with much.  The only true competition I see is Law and Order on NBC.  The though could also be that it is a transition time after many 'crime' shows on at 9 and more at 10.  Also, for local viewers in Cincinnati, many choose to turn to Fox 19 for the 10 o'clock newscast instead of waiting at 11.  Would CSI:NY be better off at a different time-slot?  Or even a different night?  One would have to wonder why a show that follows the ever-popular Criminal Minds couldn't survive?  I really don't believe in the argument of "too much drama" as each one is different.  It could also be said that people have very spread out tastes and are watching many mediums.  To have an average 14.3 rating is fairly optimistic, but it is only the 14th highest rated on Wednesdays.

Attached, hopefully in this post, is a graph to explain CSI: NY rating and share for it's existence, each season.

A jump up this week..

..with no NFL contests to compete with, CSI jumped up a spot to No. 3 thi sweek in the weekly broadcast television ratings. As was the case last week, CSI helped CBS have control of the broadcast television market with the network taking 6 of the top 10 in this weeks ratings. New to the list this week is CSI: Miami, the highly popular second coming of the CSI series. It made it in at the No.6 spot.

In my last blog I didn't get to talk much about the other CSI shows: CSI:Miami and CSI:NY. The gist is the same as the orginal but it gives a different flavor consumed by these unique and cultured locales. Miami has seen great reviews and at times has been a heavy match for the original, CSI. New York has been the center of criticism. While it is another quality product, it never seemed to have lifted itself to the status of the other two. It has been criticized with overused show concepts and plots an dhas been hevaily scrutinizd for lack-luster casting.

Interesting to Note

While two weeks old, Nielsen is reporting that CSI is fifth in TV Ratings for Broadcast Television for the week of January 12-January 18, 2009.  It finished behind the AFC Championship game and Post-Game in the National Football League and American Idol on Tuesday and Wednesday.  CSI pulled in a 14.4 rating

This stat is quite interesting because CSI airs at 9:00pm on Thursdays, a hefty spot to be in as it competes with shows such as NBC's The Office which makes it have a more spread out audience.  However, that time is irrelevant as it encompasses the entire week, including re-runs I am assuming.

Even more interesting is CBS dominance in the week.  They pulled in most of the country as the filled 8 of the top 10 spots for Broadcast TV in the week.  The only other station to crack the top ten was FOX with American Idol.

With it being CBS season, with FOX pulling in some of late, it brings me back to the origin of the this blog.  How will CSI survive without Gil Grissom, the lead character in CSI.  Is the show strong enough without him?

The answers, how I see them, are yes and yes.  CSI is simply too good of a series and too well written and produced to totally fall off.  It is a strong cast of individuals who each make the show a little better.  Also, with CSI bring such a unique show as one of the original "crime investigating" show, it has a loyal following.  I also feel though that they get a lot of help from show before and after it with Criminal Minds at 8:00pm and Eleventh Hour, another Jerry Bruckheimer creation, at 10:00pm.  Two of three shows are mainstays on CBS and bring in lots of viewers with Eleventh Hour picking up some steam, especially with this night crime shows back to back to back.

Only time will tell what us going to happen with CSI!

History of the Original CSI

CSI is a fast-paced drama about a team of forensic investigators trained to solve crimes by examining the evidence.  They are on the case 24/7, scouring the scene, collecting the irrefutable evidence and finding pieces that will solve the mystery.  Gil Grissom, shift supervisor, heads the team of investigators at the Crime Lab in Las Vegas.  The team includes Catherine Willows, a hard-working single parent with a checkered past and a teenage daughter she's raising on her own; Warrick Brown, a top analyst with insider knowledge of the gambling world; Nick Stokes, a true-blue stand up guy who empathizes with victims via his own experiences; and Greg Sanders, the wacky tech analyst turned field investigator.  The CSI team members also work closely with Captain Jim Brass, the former chief, now assigned to Homicide, Dr. Albert Robbins, the ever-professional medical examiner, and David Hodges, a lab technician with a specialty in trace and foreign substance analysis.

Summary courtesy of: www.cbs.com/primetime/csi/about.

A New Age for CSI

In a stunning report, longtime CSI:Crime Scene Investigation actor William Petersen, known on the show as Gil Grissom, will be leaving the show for good.

Seeing as he is a huge part in the show's prestige, I have now decided to track the ratings and overall impressions of the show as it carries on without him  Stay tuned as I'm sure there will be much to report in the future!