CSI: Miami - 4.1

Clearly stung by previous critical appraisal saying that the commentary tracks were to heavy on banter and light on detail, there is some effort to redress the balance on the four contained on this DVD set.

Director Scott Lautanen and writer Corey Miller freely admit their upset at the drubbing they received for earlier outings and promise to "amp it up" with a "different approach". It certainly pays off, since their guide to Prey is particularly informative, offering lots of information about their techniques and ideologies. From The Grave also has an entertaining commentary track - particularly the input from make-up artist Cheri Montesanto-Medcalf, who offers up a host of gems, including the fact that they give everyone the same tone of tan to help with colour correction in the editing suite and that they use "menthol in the eyes" of actors to help them cry in emotional scenes.

Despite producer Don Tardino and director Matt Earl Beesly's attempts to turn the commentary on Urban Hellraisers into little more than a love in, director of photography Eagle Egilsson manages to find room to reveal some things of interest. Scott Lautanen's determination to steer clear of the luvvie fest, meanwhile, is severly weakened on the commentary track to Felony Flight by the presence of producers Elizabeth Devine and Anthony E Zuiker, who persist in referring to things as "awesome". That said, there are a few interesting snippets to be hand, including the act that they use moveable blood pools made from latex.

All in all, this is definitely a better set of commentary tracks than many contained on CSI discs, although we're all still waiting for the day when they persuade David Caruso to come along and talk about the development of Caine.