I
had originally planned on this being a blog about the whole CSI franchise in
general before deciding just to do a blog about CSI: Cyber. Yes, I actually do
like this show. I wonder why others don’t. But, I would do blogs about other
shows that are part of the CSI franchise. That is, I would do that if there is
ever more to the franchise. But, is the franchise going to last? There are
warning signs believing that it won’t. I mentioned this before in my TV blog http://adamdeckertv.blogspot.com/
that the future of the
franchise looks pretty bleak. (Check for the post labeled CSI franchise
speculation) It might not have a future. Since it all rests in just this show,
you have to wonder what the options are.
Why
does the future of the franchise look bleak? How does it all rest on this show?
Well, if this show were doing well in the ratings, then there wouldn’t be a
problem. But it’s not. The bad reception is another huge problem. One of the
biggest problems with it right now is its terrible time slot. Every show on CBS
at 10/9 Central on Sundays gets cancelled. New shows are almost never put
there. They normally put some type of older there where it slowly dies. I have
a list of shows that aired at that time slot. Here they are: Without a Trace,
Cold Case, Three Rivers, The Unit, CSI: Miami, NYC 22, The Mentalist, CSI, and Battle
Creek. Those are all that I can remember airing then, at least.
Now
last season it seemed like since CSI and CSI: Cyber were connected in enough of
a way that only one of them would get cancelled. CSI was, after coming back
this season for a mere two episodes. I’ll never get over how strange that was.
Who brings a show back for two episodes? Anyways, the fact that those two
episodes aired this season makes it possible that CSI: Cyber won’t get
cancelled this season. Since the shows are so linked, you wouldn’t think that
they’d both get cancelled the same season. That’s why CSI: Miami got cancelled
and CSI: New York lasted at least one more season a while ago. That’s why when
it comes time to cancelled part of the NCIS franchise, that if multiple ones
get low ratings, only one of them would end in a single season. You can contest
this logic if you want to, but I believe that it would always lead to a choice
between them and not both of them ending at once. The thing is, CSI was
technically over last season so that doesn’t help this show prevent itself from
getting cancelled this season. But, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t other
possibilities.
One
of the things that I wonder about at times is whether or not a cancelled show
will get picked up by another network. I wonder that about the CSI franchise
due to a dumb decision made by not one, but three different networks. That
decision related to the original pilot for CSI. It wasn’t originally pitched to
CBS. It was rejected by ABC, FOX, and NBC. All three of those networks rejected
the CSI pilot before CBS picked it up. That’s why I think that CBS was so quick
to make CSI: Miami and CSI: New York. Three networks rejected the pilot and now
there would be three CSIs on TV. Those three all ran their course by the time
that they ended. But CSI: Cyber hasn’t. Would any of those three networks be
interested in making more CSI: Cyber should CBS cancel it? FOX might not since
it relies on a demographic of younger viewers that this show doesn’t have.
Meanwhile, NBC now has the Chicago franchise and still has some of the Law and
Order franchise. Do they need more? ABC might be the best bet of the three. Of
course, it could be none of them as yet another network picks it up or it might
just end when it gets cancelled. That’s what happens to most shows anyways.
Here
are the options going forward: 1- Despite the low ratings, CSI: Cyber could get
renewed for next season. They could try to milk out at least syndication from
this before tossing it aside. However, they could just pair this with the Ted
Denson episodes of CSI. I mean, they did move him here for a reason. 2- This
show ends and so does the franchise. Since they’ve had it for sixteen years,
they could want to keep it lasting longer, so this might not be as likely a
choice as some might think. 3- The CSI franchise continues in movie forms. CBS
Films has to do something good in the future, right? 4- After this show’s
cancelation, within two year’s time, a new show in the franchise is launched.
Starting fresh could work, even if there isn’t a direct case to link them. 5-
Another network picks up this show after it is cancelled. That option is
possibly, but it might not be too likely since that would mean giving part of
the franchise to someone else. 6- Something else happens that I can’t predict.
I do promise that if there is more to the CSI franchise in the future, I will
create a blog about it.
It
is possible that a new CSI spin-off will happen if this show is cancelled.
Anthony Zuiker, the creator of the whole CSI franchise, pretty much said so
himself. So the question then becomes whether or not this show will get
cancelled and for CBS to do anything else with its ratings wouldn’t make any
sense. Not that networks haven’t done that before…
Today’s
episode is brought to you by now delay. We begin with tea being poured. I guess
this is some type of asshole since tea is involved. You know TV/movies and
their symbolism. You also have the classical music playing while this guy is
murdered on a chair and another guy looks at it. Too many people are having
problems calling 911. They think that a cyber intrusion is happening. They
mention who uses a landline anymore, but pay phones would probably be used less
than that. Plus, I do wonder if phones where you can just hang up by closing
the phone would be able to by-pass the problems that people have. They find the
wi-fi on a bus to be infecting other wi-fi routers.
The
second part brings us the focus of this episode: default password. I would have
more information about what that is, but I’m live blogging this episode today
and thus wasn’t able to pause it to write it down like I normally would. A new
agent here is after Brody and wants money that Brody stole back. But, Brody is
working the case despite this man’s wishes because Avery wants him to. Brody
finds out that the message is a recording that is tricking people into thinking
that they got through to 911. They look into a possible person in the case.
The
third part has the team finding dead bodies of the 911 caller from earlier. She
called about the break-in of her house. This leads to more investigation into
the main hacking case. Now is the murder case that important to the main
hacking case? It looks like he might be reenacting old 911 calls. Interesting,
right? The third call is the next planned attack.
The
fourth part has the link between the three 911 calls. It turns out he was
responsible for the deaths of those three callers. Avery has to convince the bureaucrat
that Brody can be trusted using Amber Alert. But Finch gets it and reports
false sightings of himself. But they are able to outsmart him as usual (it’s
usual that any group of heroes would outsmart the villains).
The
fifth part has a stand-off between the suspect and the team. He truly is a
warped mind, which is what to be expected of pretty much anyone on a crime
show. They do catch the suspect. Brody says that the ATM stuff that he is
blamed for wasn’t actually his. I do wish that there were more character
development on the show. The text that D B got earlier is brought up and he
ends up talking to a person even though she didn’t send the text. There are no
scenes from next time, so I’ll be back with new episodes whenever that is. For
now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.
