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CSI Files - CBS To Air 90-Minute 'Miami' Tomorrow

CBS To Air 90-Minute 'Miami' Tomorrow

By Christian
February 20, 2005 - 3:32 PM

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:

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:"

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.

This episode was directed by Bill Eagles, who after joining CSI this season already brought "Formalities" and "Nesting Dolls" to your screen. "Big Middle" is based on a story by story editor Dustin Lee Abrahams, although the final teleplay was written by Naren Shankar ("Down the Drain," "Swap Meet," "Formalities") and Judith McCreary ("Harvest," "No Humans Involved").

The following guest actors will be making an appearance in "Big Middle:"

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.

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