CSI-at-a-Glance
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and
CSI: Miami / CSI: New York
What can happen when you enjoy watching the Discovery Channel? If you're Anthony Zuiker, you might just strike gold!
Zuiker, employed as a bellboy at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, was watching a show on forensics on the Discovery Channel. Fascinated by the show's presentation on how forensic investigators had used a single hair to solve a murder, Zuiker created a new breed of television shows focusing on behind-the-scenes forensic science. The result of his inspiration was CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
Zuiker pitched his CSI script to Jerry Bruckheimer, 'Mr. Blockbuster'. With a string of film hits ranging from Beverly Hills Cop to Pirates of the Caribbean, Bruckheimer proved that he could take his big screen savvy to the small screen for another mega hit. Bruckheimer scored another notch on his belt by taking on CSI as the co-executive producer with Zuiker who wears dual caps as creator and co-producer of the CSI stable of shows.
Debuting in 2000, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (a.k.a. CSI: Las Vegas) was worlds away from other television shows that had focused on forensic medicine. The neon of Glitter Gulch and the sexy characters on CSI certainly outranked an old curmudgeon like Jack Klugman on Quincy, M.E.!
Gadgetry, special effects, gruesome murders with overtones of sexual deviancy, and hard-driving rock music set CSI apart from other shows and fascinated viewers with tension-filled scripts built on quasi-science mixed into a high tech whodunit cocktail.
