I like the actors and the slick toys they play with on these shows, but while the first several shows were quite good on CSI and L&ACI, lately the plots seem to getting stupider and more contrived to the point of absolute absurdity as the season goes by, while the detectives seem to have acquired powers of omniscience that God himself would envy in solving their crimes.
Some plots have gotten so cram packed and mechanistic you can see the hastily assembled deus ex machina gears desperately working themselves to death in the last 15 minutes of the show so every show can have a nice little twist .
Is anyone else seeing this trend of style over substance?
CSI is so slick you can watch it for months before you realize no one on the show has a personality. I swear on some episodes the characters are so interchangeable they could hand out the scripts at random.
I’d agree. I’m a huge fan of the original Law and Order, but I find all these new cop shows unwatchable. Part of the reason I love law and order is for the little glimpses of the characters we get every episode. They never tried to beat us over the head with any characters’ forced angstiness: they just slowly developed a set of complex people around a few lines of dialog here and there. The new ones seem to have lost any subtlety the franchise ever had.
I find CSI and Crossing Jordan dumb for the same reason: the medical examiner characters are WAY too involved in the actual criminal investigation, even to the point of interviewing witnesses and arresting suspects. The detective on CSI is there for one reason only: to have forensic factoids explained to him (and the audience). You never see him actually doing any cop-type stuff on his own. Jerry O’Connell’s character on Jordan is similar, though with more goofy comic relief and sexual tension. In both cases, the cops are surprisingly helpless when it comes to keeping the lab geeks from interefering with an ongoing investigation. Of course, the lab geeks never actually hurt the investigation; they always end up being correct at the end. It’s always the cops who would screw it all up if the lab guys weren’t there to hold their hands.
The original Law & Order could at least be counted on to have a decent twist or two along the way. CSI and Law & Order: CI play constant games of “suspect, suspect, who’s got the suspect” and red herring clues come like clockwork. The evidence points to the butler! No, wait, the maid! No, wait, the husband! No, wait, the pool boy! Eh, forget it, she committed suicide.
Yeah, most character development has been the bash-you-over-the-head variety. Though there have been some odd moments between Grissom and Sara, which they later ruined by bashing us over the head with them.
I can explain why I still watch in two words: Bullet. Cam. Or is it one word? Bulletcam?
Anyway, it gets grosser and more creative every week.
I love Vincent D’Onofrio’s character on Criminal Intent. Watch the way he looks at his “suspects” when he talks to them. I like the L & O shows except for SVU. That one has cases that hit me to much emotionally. I haven’t watched any of the CSI shows.
