See Also: 'Ch-Ch-Changes' Episode Guide

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation executive producer and showrunner Carol Mendelsohn summed up the feelings of the cast and crew when they gathered in Los Angeles recently to celebrate the show's one hundredth episode.

"Five years, the number one show in the world, one hundred episodes, it doesn't get better than this," Mendelsohn told assembled guests at the event, according to a CBS News report by Bob Windsor. Also addressing the audience, CBS chairman Les Moonves acclaimed CSI as the "best buy we have ever made in the history of this network."

The cast and crew posed for photos with a special cake, decorated in the show's signature colours, green and black, with a yellow crime scene tape around the sides. After helping themselves to slices, they either danced the night away or indulged in that quintessential Las Vegas pastime: gambling.

But there was still time to reflect on how far the show had come, after it was rejected by NBC, ABC and Fox and only just scraped onto CBS' fall line-up in 2000. Creator Anthony Zuiker confessed he was "hoping just to get six episodes on the air, not a hundred." He described the milestone, reached with last week's "Ch-Ch-Changes", as "the best dream a man can accomplish with a great cast and crew." As for how long the series can continue, Zuiker said he has no intention of calling it quits any time soon: "Another ten years, hopefully."

Star Marg Helgenberger (Catherine Willows) paid tribute to all everyone who had a hand in making the show a success. "I want to thank and acknowledge everybody who spends hours and hour to make this show happen," said Helgenberger. Executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer echoed her feelings: "It takes an enormous amount of hard work and persperation to get to this place, and it's really thanks to all of you that we're here."

Other cast members said they felt blessed just to be part of the CSI phenomenon. "What a treat to be on the best show in television," said Robert David Hall (Al Robbins). Jorja Fox (Sara Sidle) said she didn't think CSI would find an audience, let alone 29 million viewers each week: "I thought that nobody in America would want to show about death, especially on a Friday night."

The complete report can be watched in streaming Real Media format at the CBS web site.

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