• Kelly Hu, who's made several appearances on CSI: New York as Detective Maka, spent her Christmas in north-central Iraq, as part of a two-week morale visit with the soldiers of Forward Operating Base Warrior. A full report of Hu's trip can be found at BlackAnthem Military News.

• TV Squad recently praised the CSI shows for not falling for the cop show trend of endless celebrity guest appearances.

• The Asian Pacific American Media Coalition recently praised CSI: New York for adding Ron Yuan to its cast, even though his character Dr. Evan Zao hasn't been seen since this season's fourth episode. The group's report noted that otherwise, CBS still has only a C- grade, as the network's full set of shows includes only one regular and five recurring Asian actors.

• Divine Providence notes that Melina Kanakaredes (Stella Bonasera) will be making an appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show today.

• Scans of Emily Procter (Calleigh Duquesne) appearing in the German edition of InStyle Magazine are available at Emily Procter Online.

• CSI creator Anthony Zuiker will be part of a New York Times panel examining how TV crime solving matches up to real-life investigations. Tickets for the event, which will take place this Sunday, can be obtained here.

• Overall, though, CBS is doing great. In its mid-season report, showbiz paper Variety said that "pretty much everything" on the network's fall schedule had success this year, with the exception of science-fiction show Threshold. Variety called the Eye network the "strongest and most balanced of the broadcast webs."

• On New Year's Day, ABC premiered In Justice, a new legal drama starring Kyle MacLachlan that drew a lot of comparisons to CSI by critics. One such critic was Mike Duffy at the Detroit Free Press, who described the show as not being "nearly as fresh or original" as MacLachlan's previous television efforts, Twin Peaks and Sex and the City.

• On January 14, Gary Sinise (Mac Taylor) will be a featured guest at the American Film Renaissance Festival, a film festival organised in California by an organisation "presenting patriotic and pro-America alternatives to typical movie fare." More information can be found at WorldNetDaily.

• This Saturday, Gary Dourdan (Warrick Brown) will appear on a televised special honoring singer Stevie Wonder. All the details are available at HipHopRnbSoul.com.

• In MediaWeek's 2006 TV Production Predictions, the trade magazine said it expected procedurals like CSI to remain popular over the next year.

• The Education Cooperative in Massachussets will soon organise a five-week Forensics 101 course, introducing adult students to "hands-on forensics basics such as fingerprinting, crime scene analysis, DNA evidence, and evaluation of other physical evidence."

• Most people would say that ABC's Night Stalker was killed by strong competition from CSI and The Apprentice. But the Miami Herald recently raised the possibility the success of the show on iTunes may have been another factor contributing to its failure.

• The official CBS site now has video previews of three of its new midseason shows, including Love Monkey, Courting Alex and The Unit.

• Variety recently examined the surprising turnaround in the fortunes of Touchstone Television. Only a few years ago, the network backed out of a commitment to co-produce CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, thereby giving up untold backend profits, but ove rthe past two seasons the studio has rebounded with shows such as Desperate Housewives, Lost and the CBS hit Criminal Minds.

• On CSI, DNA testing is seen as a surefire way to catch criminals. But the Globe and Mail recently looked at the downsides of being able to decode someone's DNA.

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