CSI: NY - Season 1, Part 1

The Science Behind The Scenes is a tribute to Bill Haymes, who is responsible for making sure that the technical and medical details are correct. This is such a massive undertaking in a show like this that you would expect a nervous wreck, a man in the final stages of mental collapse. In fact, is jolly, fresh faced and too young to play Santa Claus. One of the writers says that she could "see the excitement in his eyes," when faced with some new challenge and Gary Sinise confesses that without technical advisors, there would be no show, because the actors need to know what they are supposed to be doing and, of course, they don't.

As the equivalent of a Behind The Scenes featurette, this is quite frustrating, because you want to see how it's done, actors being put through their paces, the techniques of the technical, and all you get is people talking to camera, being positive. Bill says science is always advancing and his job is to keep up with it and make sure the new stuff finds its way onto the show. The phrase "cutting edge" is loosely scattered.

The audio commentaries by directors and writers are well worth listening to, especially Anthony Zuiker, one of the creators of CSI, as well as a regular writer. He's good because he wanders off the subject and lets things slip, like Gary Sinise is a great fan of Ronald Reagan and Hill Harper, the black actor who plays the pathologist is "phenomenal and will be a big star." Personally, my money is on Vanessa Ferlito, whom Zuiker calls "our Angelina Jolie." If I was her, I wouldn't like that. Her character, Aiden Burn, would pout disdainfully and ask, "Is she from Brooklyn?"