What do you get when you transplant CBS's successful franchise to the Big Apple? Cases involving sewer rats as witnesses, a victim whose head was slammed in a pizzeria oven, and murders of commodities traders, and--of course--a Red Sox fan. Fun as that may sound, CSI: NY is a bleaker, grimmer version of its Las Vegas and Miami cousins. The team is made up of a pleasantly New Yawk but indistinct cast of characters: Detective Stella Bonasera (Melina Kanakaredes), Detective Don Flack (Eddie Cahill), medical examiner Sheldon Hawkes (Hill Harper) and younger CSIs Danny Messer (Carmine Giovinazzo) and Aiden Burn (Vanessa Ferlito, who has since left the show). Their leader, Detective Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise), fares better as one of the few characters in the CSI franchise to have a back story (he lost his wife in the 9/11 attacks). But the formula has always worked best by avoiding personal storylines, thus any mention of this became nearly nonexistent. Sinise may be less intense than Miami's David Caruso, but lacks the wink-wink humor of the original's William Petersen. You kinda wish the whole crew would lighten up a bit, maybe go on a company retreat or something. Nonetheless, the franchise continues its trademark zooming cameras, gruesome crimes and way-cool forensic gadgets. New York makes an intriguing backdrop, but a message for producer Jerry Bruckheimer: We're saturated now. Please don't give us CSI: Omaha next. -- Ellen A. Kim
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