Couch Potato Report

The rumors are official: there will be a crossover between all three CSI series this fall.   CSI’s Dr. Raymond Langston (Laurence Fishburne)  will appear on each of the three CSIs in a single week,  wrapping up on November 12th.  I stopped reading the article in the Chicago Tribune after learning this information because I don’t want to spoil the episodes for myself.

I think when shows like the CSI franchise, or the Law & Order franchise, do a crossover it can be pretty neat.  It can be even wilder when two shows you enjoy do a crossover, such as Law & Order and Homicide back in the day.  It can also be kind of a bummer when two shows crossover, one of which you don’t watch.  (For me that was CSI and Without A Trace.)

We just started watching the original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation again this season.  In fact, we spent a lot of time catching up on last season’s episodes during a Spike marathon last weekend.  I like Langston, and he certainly fills Grissom’s shoes very well, but there’s still part of me that thinks Catherine and/or Nick should get to grace the shores of Miami and New York in lieu of “the new guy.”  Of course, the point of the crossover might be to get skeptical fans that checked out with Grissom to check back in.

I think skeptical fans will be pleasantly surprised. Langston is as cerebral as Grissom, but very different. He’s certainly not a cloned character.  On the whole, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation has done a nice job of evolving their characters, introducing new characters and retaining a familiarity that makes me want to watch it.

When Dick Wolf decided the world needed more than one Law and Order,  I was fairly skeptical that a spin off that closely related to another cop show would work.  I was still a skeptic when the folks at CSI decided to branch out with CSI:Miami and CSI: NY.   For the most part with these series I’ve found myself pleasantly surprised.  The producers took the formula, and in some cases key characters, and created a distinctly different world for these spinoffs to play in.

We watch Law and Order SVU and this season all 3 of the CSI shows, although I think my wife is more committed to viewing SVU and CSI: Miami than I am.  Plus, this season we’ve decided to start watching the original Law and Order and CSI after not viewing them for a few years.   I can’t speak for my wife, but I’m not fully convinced I want to commit to these shows, although I’m not ready to give up on them and go upstairs and play on the computer. ..yet.

So I think a Criminal Minds spinoff has a lot of potential.  Especially if you can get a marquee actor involved like Joe Mantegna.  I’m looking forward to seeing it.

Read the Hollywood Reporter story on the spinoff here.

Go to the Criminal Minds page on on CBS.com here.