CSI Files visits the set of CSI: New York as the series films scenes for this week’s episode, “The Ripple Effect.” Plus: check out a sneak peek featuring Gary Sinise and Megan Dodds.

The date is December 6, 2012 and CSI: New York is approaching the end of production on Episode Thirteen, titled “The Ripple Effect.” And while the show is set in New York, here in Los Angeles on the CBS Radford Studios lot where the show is filmed, frigid temperatures make it seem like the show is right at home. Let me reiterate: it is cold.

"The Ripple Effect"-- Det. Jo Danville (Sela Ward, left) and Det. Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise, right) investigate two seemingly unrelated deaths where separate trails of evidence lead to a surprisingly connected conclusion, on CSI: NY, Friday, Feb. 10 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Photo: Cliff Lipson/CBS ©2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

CSI: New York occupies two sound stages on the Radford lot–one that houses the New York Crime Lab and autopsy, the other being the New York Police Department. On this particular day of production, CBS gave CSI Files the opportunity to witness filming in the New York Crime Lab where a pivotal scene is taking place. ”It’s an interesting investigation into two completely, apparently, separate deaths only to realize that they are very unexpectedly connected via a third crime,” Co-Executive Producer and writer Trey Callaway explains about the episode’s premise. ”It’s one of those situations where a simple criminal act as simple as stealing a bicycle has ramifications that no one anticipated.” Gary Sinise (Mac Taylor) says that this is an episode that features Sela Ward (Jo Danville) “a lot.” “She is really focused on solving this crime.”

Across from the “War Room,” where our interviews are taking place, a large screen features several different video feeds, eerily similar to a scene out of The Dark Knight. “We’re playing with some technology that was just recently featured on 60 Minutes,” Callaway shares. “There’s a new level of surveillance capability that the NYPD boasts. In addition to their claims that they can take aircraft out of the sky, they also have a new system of cameras in place that not only cover virtually every block of New York City, but literally give them the ability to, for example, isolate colors.” Carmine Giovinazzo (Danny Messer) quips: “It’s crazy.”

Danny and Lindsay (Anna Belknap) will have some exciting moments to play in this particular installment. “They’ll have a little bit of fun over the city boy/country girl status that they individually occupy,” Callaway teases. “Let’s just say it’s not Danny’s idea of a walk in the park to take a walk in the park.”

You can check out a sneak preview of the episode featuring Mac Taylor and Christine Whitney (Dodds) below. CSI Files would like to thank Gary Sinise, Sela Ward, Eddie Cahill, Carmine Giovinazzo, Anna Belknap, Hill Harper, Pam Veasey, Zachary Reiter and Trey Callaway for taking time out of their schedule to chat; and Cindy Marshall and Lauren Santiago at CBS for their hard work and help in arranging the visit!

Shane Saunders is a freelance writer and reviewer. His work can be seen on EDGE Network and ShaneSSaunders.com. Twitter: @ShaneSSaunders.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation starts out the week with a hair-raising mystery in “Tressed to Kill” on Wednesday at 10:00pm ET/PT:

When a woman is found dead and her hair is done up ’70s style complete with vintage clothes, the CSI team discovers clues that point to a killer with a hair fetish.

Co-Producer Brad Tannenbaum has directed 12 previous episodes of CSI, most recently “Brain Doe” from earlier this season. Ed Whitmore wrote this episode, which is his second credit for the series; he previously penned last season’s “Unleashed”.

The episode will feature the following guest stars:

• Larry Mitchell as Officer Mitchell
• Barbara Eve Harris as Sheriff Sherry Liston
• William Ragsdale as Dr. Bill Ryan
• Roger Bart as Jeffrey Fitzgerald
• Jill Larson as Lucinda Kemp
• David Gallagher as Adam Kemp
• Sasha Jackson as Eva Byron
• Rose McIver as Bridget Byron
• Brianna Brown as Paula Bingham
• Brittany Beaudette Dunn as Joyce Debernardi
• Ericka Clevenger as Hooker

Larry Mitchell and Barbara Eve Harris are reprising established recurring roles. Brianna Brown has been on CSI (“Stalker”) as well as CSI: Miami (“Big Brother”) and CSI: New York (“The Ride In”). Roger Bart appeared in the Miami episodes “All Fall Down” and “Fallen” at the end of season eight and start of season nine, and William Ragsdale was in the season nine episode “Manhunt”. David Gallagher guest-starred in the New York episode “Clean Sweep” last month, and he was in “Dangerous Son” during Miami’s sixth season. The other actors are new to the franchise.

On Friday, CSI: New York will air “The Ripple Effect” at 9:00pm ET/PT, which marks the show’s final episode before a six-week hiatus that will end March 30:

When the CSIs investigate two seemingly unrelated deaths, their separate trails of evidence lead to a surprisingly connected conclusion.

Director Oz Scott has nine previous credits for New York, including last season’s “Food for Thought”. This is the sixteenth writing credit for Co-Executive Producer Trey Callaway, who previously penned “Get Me Out of Here!” earlier this season.

The following actors and actresses will appear in guest-starring roles:

• Megan Dodds as Christine Whitney
• Alex Weed as Scott Perfito
• Tim Barraco as Greg Barbera
• Connor Barrett as Toby Delafont
• Bill Zasadil as Nicholas Bristow
• Dale Gibson as Jimmy Philbrook

Megan Dodds is back as Christine Whitney, who first appeared in last week’s “Brooklyn ‘Til I Die”. The other actors are new to the franchise.

CSI: Miami will not air on Sunday. Instead, CBS will air the Grammy Awards live starting at 8:00pm ET.

“Tressed to Kill” and “The Ripple Effect” begin airing February 8 on CBS.

Source: TV by the Numbers

The first book that will be released by Harper & Wells is The Wiley Boys by Harper. The middle-grade novel centers around a trio of adopted brothers who love sports and become junior agents for the Sports Bureau of Investigations.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation starts out the week with a repeat of this season’s “Maid Man” on Wednesday at 10:00pm ET/PT. Someone shot the former mayor of Las Vegas at the grand opening of the Mob Museum, and the team had to delve into the past to discover who pulled the trigger.

On Friday, CSI: New York investigates a killer game in “Brooklyn ‘Til I Die” at 9:00pm ET/PT:

The CSIs investigate when a role-playing game turns lethal, with one player falling victim to a bona fide killer and the other kidnapped and held for ransom.

Eric Laneuville has four previous directing credits for CSI: NY, including last season’s “Nothing for Something”. Supervising Producer Aaron Rahsaan Thomas penned this episode, which marks his eighth credit for the series; he previously wrote “Air Apparent” from earlier this season.

The following guest stars will appear in the episode:

• Megan Dodds as Christine Whitney
• Ben Bledsoe as Preston Seville Jr
• Jerry Kernion as Lonnie Tucci
• Jamie Hill as Michelle Lewis
• Richard Portnow as Preston Seville, Sr
• Gene Farber as Jake Williams
• Matt McKane as George Williams
• Patrick St. Esprit as Gerald Branson
• James Logan as Thin Man
• Frankie Shaw as Kelly Rose
• James Ellis Lane as Ray Nelson
• Jaret Sacrey as Stan Whitney

Megan Dodds makes her debut as Mac’s new potential love interest Christine. Ben Bledsoe appeared in “Young Man With a Horn” during the ninth season of CSI, and Gene Farber was in season ten’s “Sin City Blue”. Patrick St. Esprit guest-starred in the CSI: Miami episode “Prey” during the show’s fourth season. The other actors are new to the franchise.

CSI: Miami will re-air “Look Who’s Taunting” from earlier this season on Sunday at 10:00pm ET/PT. The team was on the hunt for a twisted new serial killer, and the race was on to find a missing young woman before she could become his next victim.

The repeat of “Maid Man”, “Brooklyn ‘Til I Die” and the repeat of “Look Who’s Taunting” begin airing February 1 on CBS.

Anthony E. Zuiker‘s reputation as a creative genius has long been established thanks to his work on the most-watched franchise in television history CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, and CSI: New York; and with his new deal at ABC, his résumé is soon to become even more impressive. One of the top innovators in the movement to introduce new platforms for consuming entertainment, Zuiker is hard at work creating groundbreaking projects for his new venture at Google while working concurrently on television development at ABC. The executive producer discusses his upcoming development slate and the future of the CSI franchise with CSI Files’ Shane Saunders.

CSI Files: It’s a new year, new projects. How is 2012 looking so far for Dare to Pass?

Anthony E. Zuiker: It’s looking great. We’re very excited to be at ABC and working on our development for the year, and also Chameleon. We’re off to a great start. I can’t believe that it’s almost February.

CSI Files: What’s in development at ABC that you can talk about?

Zuiker: I’m writing the script for Chameleon. It’s basically an undercover show about a female agent who does different costume changes to take down the bad guy, so I’m writing that as we speak. We have other shows I can’t quite get into for next season that we’re developing. We have a roster of five-to-seven projects for next season that we’re just starting to get into now.

CSI Files: Your memoir Mr. CSI has been out for a couple months. What kind of feedback are you getting?

Zuiker: Pretty good feedback. I think people are happy to read an autostory to kind of get some perspective on a person behind a show. It’s a human rags-to-riches story and a real story that I think people can relate to. I’m very proud of those efforts and I’m very proud of that being left behind for people to read and enjoy. A lot of people ask me, “How do you do what I did?” and I think the great metaphor about the book is one great idea and a little bit of luck can turn into something fantastic. Everybody can have the same opportunity I had.

CSI Files: The way you came into the business is a rather interesting story and you touch on it in the book. Do you think it’s harder to get into the entertainment industry today than it was in 2000? What advice do you have for those trying to break in now?

Zuiker: I don’t think it’s necessarily harder, I just think it’s different. The advice I have for young people or whoever wants to get into the business is it all comes down to the same core principles: talent, perserverance, networking, luck, and opportunity. I think those are the five things that matter whether you’re a producer or a director or a writer. The great thing about being a writer is it’s relatively inexpensive to write a piece of intellectual property that can be shopped around town. Hollywood is a beast that needs to be fed in terms of material and as long as that’s the case, everybody has a ticket to play it.

CSI Files: Your background is in writing, but you also directed the first two installments of the Level 26 series. Are you planning on getting more involved in directing?

Zuiker: Sure. Primarily I’m a writer, so we have a lot of work to do in that area. Eventually, as things open up, I think I’ll direct more. I do enjoy it. But my primary focus right now really is writing.

CSI Files: The final installment of the Level 26 series came out last month. The digi-novel concept was quite a success, but is there anything you would change about the next series?

Zuiker: I think we probably would putforth more efforts to make sure that the app version of the book topped the last one. I believe that Dark Prophecy pretty much is a blueprint for the future of publishing. If we did more books, we would want to progressively make that app better and better. I’m not sure there’s anything we can do much more on the novel side; you try to write the best novel you can and direct the best videos you can. It’s in the app space that things get very interesting. We would focus more on making sure that we kept topping ourselves in the app space.

CSI Files: There isn’t an app for Dark Revelations–are you planning on developing one?

Zuiker: Not at this time. We really put all of our efforts inside Dark Prophecy. If we do embark upon a new venture for the digi-novel, we’ll probably hit the ground running and make one for the book launch.

CSI Files: Your new company BlackBoxTV will be making its way to YouTube later this year. What genres are you looking to tackle?

Zuiker: We’re doing horror, thriller, and Sci-Fi. We’re very excited. As we begin to embark on a new level of storytelling under the Google umbrella and YouTube, they’ll allow us to do more original content as a company and dabble in the interactive space. It’s very exciting and could lead to what the future is in our business.

CSI Files: Is there talent booked for any of the projects that you can reveal?

Zuiker: I’ll tell you we have A-list talent that we’re about to close. We’re definitely going out for top-level talent going forward.

CSI Files: I want to segue a bit over to CSI. How do you think the franchise is doing? Is it looking like one of the series may be in its final season?

Zuiker: I don’t think so, I think the franchise has never been stronger. I feel like all the shows are having banner years. Ted Danson [DB Russell] has done a remarkable job stepping in for CSI and we’re looking forward to Elisabeth Shue [Julie Finlay] going forward. The episode the other night was fantastic and I just feel like to have this kind of staying power in Season Twelve, Ten, and Eight for all three shows is remarkable. This could be, arguably, one of our strongest franchise seasons yet.

CSI Files: Have you discussed doing another project with Marg Helgenberger (Catherine Willows)?

Zuiker: I have not talked to her personally about that. I mean, obviously, she’s someone that we always keep on the tip of our tongues, so if she’s willing to do something else for television, it definitely has my interest.

CSI Files: Were you involved at all with the casting of Elisabeth Shue?

Zuiker: We talked about it. I think that is a phenomenal choice. Elisabeth Shue is a very special actress. I’m a fan, obviously, of Cocktail and Leaving Las Vegas. She’s very selective in what she chooses to do. She’s someone that I think is hard to get for television, but to be able to say ‘yes’ to this franchise and work along Ted Danson is something I’m looking forward to watching. To me there is no better choice than Elisabeth Shue. I just think she’s that type of special actress.

CSI Files: In Season Nine the show went through several transitions as well: William Petersen (Gil Grissom) left, Laurence Fishburne (Ray Langston) and Lauren Lee Smith (Riley Adams) came in; do you think the show will approach the changes more smoothly than it did a few years ago?

Zuiker: Look, the thing is the fabric of a TV show has changed. Sometimes the change is abrupt and sometimes change is slow going, but I think the way things rolled out this year is the appropriate way to roll it out. We introduced Ted Danson and he had about ten-to-fifteen episodes under his belt before we introduced the exit of Marg Helgenberger and the ease of Elisabeth Shue. I think the audience is tolerant of change when they understand why there’s a change. The writers have done a great job of making sure character-wise, it makes sense why characters are exiting and joining the show. As you can see from Ted Danson we’ve never missed a beat, and it’ll be the same way with Elisabeth Shue. Marg Helgenberger can never be replaced or forgotten, and we believe Elisabeth Shue can help evolve the show.

Follow Anthony E. Zuiker on Twitter: @zuiker

Shane Saunders is a freelance writer and reviewer. His work can be seen on EDGE Network and ShaneSSaunders.com. Twitter: @ShaneSSaunders.

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"The Ripple Effect"-- Det. Jo Danville (Sela Ward, left) and Det. Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise, right) investigate two seemingly unrelated deaths where separate trails of evidence lead to a surprisingly connected conclusion, on CSI: NY, Friday, Feb. 10 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Tim Barraco is the unfortunate victim. Photo: Cliff Lipson/CBS ©2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

"The Ripple Effect"-- Det. Jo Danville (Sela Ward, left) and Det. Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise, right) investigate two seemingly unrelated deaths where separate trails of evidence lead to a surprisingly connected conclusion, on CSI: NY, Friday, Feb. 10 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Photo: Cliff Lipson/CBS ©2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

"The Ripple Effect"-- Det. Don Flack (Eddie Cahill, left), Det. Jo Danville (Sela Ward, center) and Det. Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise, right) investigate two seemingly unrelated deaths where separate trails of evidence lead to a surprisingly connected conclusion, onCSI: NY, Friday, Feb. 10 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Tim Barraco is the unfortunate victim. Photo: Cliff Lipson/CBS ©2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.