After hearing about CSI and its fictional take on crime scene investigating I wasn’t looking forward to doing this review. I have a fascination with criminal investigating. I even studied Criminal Justice (profiling and criminal investigation, in particular) at one point during my college career because I was so enthralled with the entire criminal investigation process. I wanted to hate CSI NY because I didn’t feel that any show could truly capture the essence of crime scene investigating, but I ended up liking the show and the inventive ways that they brought realism to the show, despite my initial misgivings.

CSI NY follows the story of a crime scene investigator in New York. The main character of the show is Detective Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise). Taylor, a former Marine, is dedicated to his job, so much so that it is his life. He puts his entire being into every investigation. He believes everything is connected and each victim as well as each crime scene has a story just waiting to be told. It was a little confusing, during the first few episodes, when I was trying to figure out who was who, but once I understood a little bit about each of the characters, their personalities and quirks, and how they relate to both the story and Detective Taylor, I really enjoyed the show.

Taylor’s partner is Stella Bonasera (Melina Kanakaredes). From what I’ve read on what we know of the characters of CSI NY (in trying to catch up), Stella is an orphan with a questionable past. She has a lot of questions about who she is and where she comes from, which allows her to pour more angst into each and every case. This version of CSI is a spin-off of the original hit CSI. It is also portrayed in a darker, dimmer New York, hit hard by terrorism and unwilling to forget the past.

Mac and Stella lead a crew of interesting Detectives in crime scene investigating. The rest of the cast includes the snarky and smart-mouthed Detective, Danny Messer (Carmine Giovinazzo), the crew’s man of steel, Mr. Tough himself, Don Flack (Eddie Cahill), one tough chick with exceptional street smarts, Aiden Burn (Vanessa Ferlito), and aloof yet efficient NYC coroner, Dr. Sheldon Hawkes (Hill Harper). The cast, especially Sinise, really shine in their roles. As Detective Taylor, Sinise buries himself in his work to cut off the pain he has felt when he lost his wife in the Twin Towers on September 11. Sinise makes CSI NY and I couldn’t imagine the show without him. Of course, with an amazing supporting cast, it is just another reason why I like this show, despite wanting to hate it in the beginning.

There are many great episodes in Season Three of CSI NY. I really liked the storyline of the very first episode. I know that I was struggling to figure out who everyone was at this point, but the storyline was really interesting for this episode. Episode #3.1 was entitled “People with Money”. In it, there is a dead body found on the Brooklyn Bridge. The man has an engagement ring. When the investigators try to find out who the ring was to go to, they discover there are more then one possibilities. Since the episodes typically have two crimes happening per show, the second murder is that of a supermodel. She was found in her penthouse. The interesting part is that the blood on her body is from another person, a man. Also, she is covered in bruises and her system is filled with LSD.

I also liked episode #3.14. In this episode a drag queen is murdered. This crime is linked to all sorts of interesting past events and individuals including politics and a congressman who was once tied to a rape case. The second murder/homicide involves a pair of lovebirds having an affair. The duo went to great lengths to conceal their romance, though unfortunately they did not do a good enough job of hiding their affair. Of course, I find it hard to complain about any of the episodes. They were all entertaining and equally as engaging as the two I have mentioned.

CSI NY is going to be released on October 9, 2007 by Paramount Home Videos. The Box Set includes six discs. On these discs are 24 CSI NY episodes. The visual aspect of the television show is absolutely perfect. It’s available in anamorphic widescreen and the transfer was done beautifully to DVD. The Dolby Digital 5.1 Stereo Surround audio is also of excellent quality with very few problems understanding the action going on, if any at all. The discs have Closed Captioning available and are available for Region 1 with English and Spanish (dubbed) audio.

CSI NY has some bonus features contained in this 6-disc box set in the form of multiple featurettes. You can expect to see the following featurettes when you purchase this DVD, “Breaking the Killer Code”, “Suicide Girls do CSI NY”, “Silent Night”, and “The Body Farm”.

Bottom Line: CSI NY is an entertaining and fun show to watch. It is much better than I expected. The actors really make this show and provide those who love crime scene investigating with an outlet to test out their amateur sleuth skills. If you love crime dramas then you will love CSI NY. I highly recommend you purchase this box set.

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