Sep 11 - Review: 'The Conversation' 'CSI: NY' star Hill Harper delves into relationships between Black men and women and takes a good, hard look at his own relationships in this groundbreaking new book.
Sep 8 - Review: 'Level 26: Dark Origins' CSI Files reviews Anthony E Zuiker's new Digi-Novel 'Level 26: Dark Origins', which centers on an elite unit tracking a one-of-a-kind serial killer called Sqweegel.
Sep 1 - Interview: Bill Haynes The 'CSI: NY' writer talks about his transition from being a real-life CSI to the writers' office, how cases from his career have inspired storylines and his upcoming sixth season episode. Very light spoilers inside!
Sep 2 - Zuiker 'Tiptoes' Away From 'CSI' The 'CSI' creator gives new projects his attention but keeps an eye on the franchise. Contains minor spoilers.
With only a week left of the February sweeps, CBS is pulling out all the stops: not only is the network showing new episodes of all three CSI series, but the first of those will be the 90-minute Miami event "Nothing to Lose."
This will be the second extra-long Miami episode to air this year, following this November's "Crime Wave," in which the CSIs dealt with the chaos caused by an approaching tsunami. In "Nothing To Lose," Horatio and his team again have to cope with a natural disaster:
Evidence leads the CSIs to believe that someone started a massive fire in the Everglades in order to cover up a murder. Local prisoners are brought in as free manpower to help fight the wild fire in the Everglades; however, when a serial killer escapes the scene, Horatio must track him down before he strikes again. Meanwhile, the body of a local college student is found shot to death and the fire has destroyed the crime scene and the evidence. However, when the team uncovers an illegal moonshine operation and homemade ammunitions in the vicinity, the CSIs uncover the real reason why the boy was out there.
"Nothing To Lose" was directed by Karen Gaviola, who also took the helm for "Crime Wave." The episode was written by showrunner Ann Donahue, who this year also worked on "Lost Son," and last week's "Identity," and Marc Dube, the writer of episodes such as "Under the Influence,""Speed Kills" and "After the Fall."
As could be expected for an extra long episode, "Nothing to Lose" features even more guest actors than usual:
Michael Cudlitz as 'Mac' MacKern
Eric Pierpoint as Fire Chief Kyle Donaldson
Lochlyn Munro as Rick Adams
Hector Atreyu Ruiz as Rico Garza
Jennifer Gatti as Claire Bushnell
Rex Linn as Det. Frank Tripp
Christopher Cousins as Cyrus Templeton
Judson Mills as Ty Radcliffe
Jesse Burch as Mort Shapiro
Azura Skye as Suzie Barnum
Logan Bartholomew as Dalton Travers
Arielle Kebbel as Pam Carter
Armando Valdes as Aaron Price
Brian Howe as Dale Buford
Tyler Kain as Patty James
John Terlesky as Larry VanOwen
Shelli Bergh as Paula Muro
David Paetkau as Swat Officer Jeff McGill
Don Swayze as Norm Buford
Miles Heizer as Johnny Templeton
Jeffrey Donovan as Todd Kendrick
Kyndell Rose Crowell as Madison Keaton
Cate Cohen as Nurse
Jacques C. Smith as Watch Sergeant
Alex Buck as Raymond Caine Jr,
Rex Linn, Azura Skye, Armando Valdes, Shelli Bergh and Kyndell Rose Crowell are all regularly recurring actors on CSI: Miami, and will be joined in that capacity by Alex Buck, whose character Raymond Caine Jr. with this episode officially turns into a recurring role, following his first appearance in "Hell Night." Three of the above actors have previously appeared on the original CSI: Michael Cudlitz, who played Officer Spencer in the second-season "And Then There Were None," Lochlyn Munro, who was Officer Hal Watson in last season's "Invisible Evidence," and finally Jennifer Gatti, who portrayed the character of Patricia Fielding in season four's "Dead Ringer."
"Nothing to Lose" will air at the special time of 9:30pm tomorrow on CBS, directly after Two and a Half Men. The network has pre-empted Everybody Loves Raymond this week to make room for the Miami special.
After the spectacle of Miami, things get a lot quieter on Wednesday at 10:00pm, when CBS airs CSI: New York's"Hush." Here's how the network describes the episode:
Mac and Stella are called to a crime scene for a truck jacking and instead discover the crushed lower half of a body. The team must stop operations on the busy dock to find the other half among the containers. In a rare occurrence, the reclusive Dr. Hawkes leaves the medical examiner's office to help with the retrieval.
Deran Sarafian directed this episode, after also taking on "Blink,""Officer Blue" and "Night, Mother" earlier this season. The first two of those episodes were written by CSI: New York creator Anthony E. Zuiker, who also penned the script for "Hush," together with Matthew Lau. This appears to be Lau's first television writing credit.
Below is a list of the guest actors appearing in "Hush:"
Sonya Walger as Jane Parsons
Ed O'Ross as Paul
Kim Coates as Detective Vicaro
Bumper Robinson as Mike Prineman
Mark Sheppard as Kevin Hannigan
Chad Lindberg as Chad Willingham
Matthew Porretta as Ron Bogda
Laura Leigh Hughes as Jennifer Stupaine
Tory Kittles as Sean Bally
Carlos Sanchez as Manny Moraga
Albie Selznick as John Stupaine
Ted Raimi as Garage Joe/Joe Strahil
Kevin Kearns as Paddy Dolan
Tauvia Dawn as Debbie Bogda
Martin Bright as Jeeves the Slave
Jared Poe as Jimmy Prineman
Dermott Downs as Bartender
Besides Walger, who we've seen several times now as Jane Parsons, four of the above actors have previously appeared in episodes of either the original CSI or Miami. Kim Coates played Drake Snow in last season's original CSI episode "Early Rollout," while a season earlier Chad Lindberg was Brody Jones in "Recipe for Murder." On Miami, Laura Leigh Hughes was Lisa Tupper in the first season's "Breathless," while only a week later Albie Selznick had a role as Jason Caplin in "Slaughterhouse." Selznick also appeared as Hugh Young in the episode "Justice is Served" of the original CSI's first season.
Dermott Downs, who appears as a bartender in this episode, is actually one of the cinematographers of CSI: New York - he has previously worked in that capacity on CSI: Miami. Another interesting name on the guest actor list is Ted Raimi; he is the brother of Spider-Man director Sam Raimi, and previously had a regular role on Xena: Warrior Princess.
Finally, on Thursday at 9:00pm, CBS will be showing the original CSI's"Big Middle" - the final new CSI episode before CBS again begins a period of mostly reruns. This is what you'll be able to expect from the episode:
Grissom and his team search for a murderer at a convention for plus-sized people. When the evidence suggests the victim died from asphyxia due to a large object on his chest, Grissom and his team track the killer to an APAPSP convention, "Association to Promote Acceptance of Plus-Sized People." Meanwhile, a large sum of cash and betting slips are found near a dead body on the outskirts of Vegas, leading Catherine's team into the world of high-stakes gambling.
The following guest actors will be making an appearance in "Big Middle:"
David Berman as David Phillips
Wallace Langham as David Hodges
Alex Carter as Detective Vartan
Joseph Patrick Kelly as Officer Metcalf
John Furey as Councilman Gabe Miller
Steve Lawrence as Mitch Urbana
Craig Saslow as Scott Varney
Lee Burns as Kelvin Russell
Melora Hardin as Sports Book Manager
Claude Shires as Lou Barnes
Patrick Kilpatrick as Cesar Dabo
Kinna McInroe as Brenda Morgan
Tara Karsian as Jill Paisley
Debra Christofferson as Regina Kern
Lisa Brounstein as Chair Dancer #1
Michael Edwin as Oddsmaker #1
Jon Cellini as Oddsmaker #2
Patricia Heller as ER Surgeon
Several of these actors are seen regularly on CSI: Wallace Langham will soon be promoted to regular cast member (story), and Berman, Carter and Kelly all have recurring roles. Of the other actors, only Claude Shires has previously appeared on the show: as a strip club bouncer in "No Humans Involved," only a few episodes ago.
The original CBS press releases for all three episodes can be found at the Futon Critic.
