Reviewing the CSI Franchise as a Whole

Since I have this blog about a show in this franchise, I figure that I might as well do a review of the whole CSI franchise in this one post. What is the best way of reviewing this show and the CSI effect? I guess that I will delve into this here.

What the franchise is like: Some crime shows run the risk of being generic. Before this franchise was made, I don’t know if it was copying anything or not. But it would seem that a lot of other shows that were made after these shows aired were copying it in some way. In it, you would often see all sorts of different crimes being investigated by the main team, with changes in the team as needed. You often would not see the victim’s perspective on anything unless it was via flashback relating to some other character. A bad thing is that you often couldn’t tell shows apart from each other outside of their casts as they all seemed similar in different ways. But let’s get to actual pros and cons.

Why it is good: In my mind, all of the four main shows in this franchise were quality entertainment all at some point in their tenure on TV, if not the whole time. They brought us villains that were believable in some way most of the time. The main characters were established well enough that we knew who they were beyond the people who always solved the crimes.

Why it is bad: As stated before, there was a sameness with all the shows except, maybe, CSI: Cyber. The shows were often more gruesome than they had to be and wasn’t always believable. You could also tell in the later seasons that they were running out of good ideas on at least the first two shows. While there was always something notable about the main characters, they were often only related to the crimes on the show and you didn’t see much character development as you wanted. What I mean is, they were not as good making us interested in the characters themselves, just the crimes that they were going to solve in each episode. Plus, there were negative real world implications of the CSI effect where shows in this franchise wanted juries to be more exposed to crime scene evidence in order to convict.

What make some different than others: There actually were differences between the shows that were hard to tell sometimes. But it is believed that the original would be focused on the evidence while the others focused more on criminal profiling or computer science. I think that CSI: Miami was more likely to use flashbacks than the other ones were.

My overall thoughts: I found it hard, originally, to get into the franchise. I was too young for it when it had first started and wasn’t as interested in it as I could be. Then, I was only into CSI: Miami before I got into the rest of the shows in the franchise as well. This became the only one that I ever blogged about in the end, although I might have missed out on it if things had gone differently.

That’s it for this blog post. I wish that I knew for sure when the regular updates would be and when all the random updates would be as well. I would review the other seasons of shows in this franchise, but I might not be able to do any outside of the first season of Without a Trace. Know that for now, updates of this that are regular will be linked to my Good Wife blog in some way. I will keep updates in this blog once a month no matter what until Elementary returns. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Cast Update 1-5-2019

There are a lot of changes coming to the schedule for CBS in the future. Celebrity Big Brother is coming back and it will be airing in place of Survivor, God Friended Me, Magnum P.I., and MacGyver. Other changes are scheduled for now, but I’ll get to them later, when they happen. Meanwhile, on the CW, Legends of Tomorrow is going on hiatus and will be replaced by Roswell, New Mexico.

Now for an update about Elementary: If you are here in this blog because you normally read the other blog like I suggested, then you will understand why I’m telling you about this update here. You see, the upcoming season of Elementary will be the last one. You can read more about it in the link provided. I’m not too surprised by this news and am amazed that it has lasted as long as it has. I’ll keep track of the two former actors of that show here in the meantime. Unless I don’t like how Elementary ends, it is certain to have cast updates like in this blog in the future. But I do plan on replacing them when they start.

Link: https://deadline.com/2018/12/elementary-to-end-7-seasons-cbs-canceled-1202521292/

Patricia Arquette: The main star of CSI: Cyber has future projects mentioned on imdb right now. There is a pretty notable sequel in the work that she is doing. While we don’t know what role she might have in the movie, it looks like she will be lending her voice talent to that of Toy Story 4. Another role that I found her in is a project called High Life. If that wasn’t enough, there will be yet another project she’ll be in called The Bell Jar. I see another new project of hers called Escape at Dannamora. She is in something new called Otherhood. I wonder what that’s about. There’s also a project she’s doing called The Act. She does a lot.

Toy Story 4: I still don’t know what to make of this movie. Most of us probably found the idea of Toy Story 3 to be ridiculous, but loved the movie when we saw it in the end. Fourth installments of movies tend to get intense hatred from critics and fans. I’ll let you know my thoughts eventually when I’m able to see it. But its release date is a long ways off. It is set for release on June 21^st, 2019. It has a teaser. I will also talk about the official trailer once it is out.

Link to teaser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDXYRzerjzU

Thoughts on it: I’m going to have to wait until an official trailer is out because this just does not have much valuable in here except for what appears to be a new character that the subtitles called forky. I like the song in some cases, although I’m not sure that this is one of them. We’ll see why they are united like they are in the future.

High Life: This movie is listed as in the preproduction stage on imdb. It appears to be about a woman and her father who are isolated and living in deep space. Whatever this is has already come out and doesn’t appear to have Patricia Arquette in it so I’ll be taking it out of future updates as a result.

The Bell Jar: This movie is about a person dealing with mental illness. It says that it is both comedy and drama so it might be like 50 First Dates. I’ll let you know when/if it has an actual release date or trailer. It no longer has a year of release mentioned. It was going to be out in 2018, but now is an unknown year. We’ll see what all changes in the future.

Escape at Dannamora: This is a TV show that is out now on television. It is airing on the Showtime network. It is about a romance that an employee gains for two inmates that she then want to help escape. I don’t know how I feel about that. I also don’t know how or if I could see it.

Trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVbOjP1Ziec

Thoughts on trailer: I had no idea that this was based off of a true story. Now I want to look up what happened. It could be interesting and seems good enough looking, although I cannot tell for sure what it could be like. When is the timeframe of the story? Will this jump back and forth for a lot? I guess that I might not know for sure.

Otherhood: It seems like it will be a Netflix movie so I doubt that I’ll be able to see it in the long run. It is a comedy about mothers going to visit their sons. If there is a trailer, I’ll put it in here. Otherwise, you’ll see it in these updated until it has a score on imdb. Its year of release is 2019.

The Act: This has a release year of 2019. In it, a girl has a toxic relationship with her mother. The girl is trying to escape from it. This will be a Hulu TV series so I’m probably not going to be able to watch it at any point.

Peter MacNicol: I can’t find much ever, if anything, for this actor. I hope that I can avoid saying things about him in a paragraph that could easily wind up outdated forever as I’ve been known for doing. So I came up with this one until the next project he’s in.

James Van Der Beek: A new project in the future for this actor is something called What Would Diplo Do? You can read more about that in the next paragraph. I see a new project for him called Vampirina. I see him in a new TV show called Pose that I’ll get to. I won’t know for sure about how long some of his shows will last so I hope that I’m not always talking about them when or if they aren’t on anymore. I don’t know what else to say about that. He’s also doing something called Belvedere: Destiny, which might be a video game of some sort, but I can’t find out more information about it right now.

What Would Diplo Do?: This is currently out now as of this update. It will be based off of the life of DJ Diplo, whoever that is. It is air on Viceland, whatever network that is. I don’t know or care much about it. It has a trailer now. I have no idea if this is still on or will be coming back at some point. Does anyone know if this is still around?

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMc37-cffbY

Thoughts on trailer: This is kind of what I was expecting from the trailer: a bunch of random, meaningless scenes that are somehow going to promote the show. This doesn’t make me more interested in it and seems to only make me glad that I won’t be able to watch it anyways. That’s not to say that it was that bad a trailer, but they should have tried harder than they did.

This would be the point where I would do a review of the show, but I can’t as I’m not able to see it. I don’t think that I’ll be interested in it anyways. I don’t know if I’ll care and I don’t know when it will air on Viceland. If you care about it, then please watch and if not, then just ignore it.

Vampirina: This is a show about a young vampire girl who has to adjust after a move. It is an animated Disney Junior show as vampires are a thing that kids should be educated about in some way. It is out now. I would review if I could see cable so if you want to review it, just comment on this post and I’ll use what you say as a review.

Pose: This is airing now on FX yet could be ending its first season already. I don’t know for sure what might be happening. The plot for it mentioned on imdb sounds really confusing and I believe that it relates to transgender issues in some way. It actually has a trailer now. I doubt that I will ever be able to watch it. I don’t think that I’d want to anyways.

Trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Jg6fiC1VpY

Thoughts on trailer: This doesn’t seem any good or interesting to me. It just seems like it is another lame attempt to get people interested in the fashion industry. I don’t even know for sure if the transgender stuff that might be in here is in here. But I don’t care about the fashion industry and this looks lame and vague. Why do people care who wears what when?

Belvedere: Destiny: This is set for release sometime in 2018. I don’t have a plot for it yet and it only mentions one person in the cast right now. I don’t think that I know the format that this will be. It says video on imdb, making me think it will be a video game. But I do not yet know what this is until more details are revealed. It could be out now, but I don’t know yet for sure.

Shad Moss: After all this time I’ve been doing updates, I was beginning to be concerned that I’d never find something for him. Well, he finally has a project in the works. It is called Superstition: The Rule of 3’s. That’s the only new project that I see him in right now, although I’m more than glad that he’s finally doing something.

Superstition: The Rule of 3’s: This is a thriller movie on the belief that death occurs in threes. I have no idea what role Shad will end up playing in the film. The status of the film is listed as filming. It has no release date or trailer just yet.

Charley Koontz: It appears that he, for sure, is appearing in Captain Black. I’m not sure what else he is doing and this could wind up with a random rating on imdb by the posting of this update or the next update. In fact, when the new year starts, I may have to amend any shows or movies with no known release date even if they were set to be released in 2016. I’ll never understand what happens with some of those films. He is also going to be in a TV movie called Work Mom. A new thing that I see him mentioned in is Hollywood Fringe, a movie of some sort.

Captain Black: It does not have a release date or trailer just yet. It is about a man who has an interest in a comic character and gets in some sort of relationship he shouldn’t have. Also, I need to work on writing my own original taglines for movies so that I’m not just copying what someone else has written (although I don’t think that I’m doing that). It has an unknown release date at this time. This could actually be out already as it is mentioning a release date of August 23, 2017.

Work Mom: I have no idea what network this might air on. There is not a trailer for it, although I wouldn’t expect there to be one. It has an unknown release date at the moment. At least I know that the plot relates to a person hiring their unemployed mother at a place of some sort. It could be good or strange. At least it sounds like a nice attempt at a comedy. I don’t see this on imdb anymore so this might not be moving forward as a project anymore.

Hollywood Fringe: This movie doesn’t have a release date or trailer yet, but it is set to be out sometime in 2020. The plot is about married actors putting on a play about their own lack of success in Hollywood. The plot sounds like it could use some work on. But I guess that I hope to see whatever becomes of it, if anything.

Hayley Kiyoko: With her not having much to talk about for a while, I might as well just talk about her music videos. I won’t know how old each of these are, but I will say one in every new post until she can find some long term project to mention instead.

Sleepover link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6jxPFtIAnw

Thoughts on video: Again, I have no idea why they have to show women in states of undress in so many different music videos. I find it especially weird that a woman singer would be part of this trend. But I do think that this song is good enough and part of what makes Hayley sound so sweet as a singer. But I’m a bit confused as I thought that experimenting was done at sleepovers and that she was past that stage.

Ted Danson: He is appearing on The Good Place on NBC. Surely his time off of TV means that he could be doing movies in the meantime, but we’ll see if that happens soon or not. It looks like he is doing more now that I can finally see. He is appearing in the upcoming ninth season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. It seems like he might be in every new episode of it too.

The Good Place: This is an NBC comedy. It is an afterlife based comedy. Ted appears on it in a supporting role. He plays a person who designed the section of the good place for the main characters, although it is possible he made mistakes.

Update: https://www.tvguide.com/news/the-good-place-renewed-season-4/

Review: The Good Place: Status- Currently on NBC at 9:30/8:30 Central on Thursdays. Why I’ve seen it- In order to review this for this blog, I watched it. Description- A comedy, a woman finds out that she is dead, but in the good place. The main problem: she’s not supposed to be there. Notable People- Ted Danson, who was in many shows in the past, among them Cheers, CSI, and CSI: Cyber, is a character on the show. Kristen Bell, who did many movies and Veronica Mars, is the main character. Pros- The show is different and interesting. It tries to keep religion out of it so as to not offend anyone. Cons- The idea of things going wrong with the good place in death is a bit hard to believe. It lacks a certain amount of charm that you would want it to have. It doesn’t seem as funny as it could be. Note to Parents- This is borderline is terms of what is acceptable to let your kids watch or not. Recommendation- I say that you should watch this if you can because it is pretty good. Prediction- It might last a while, but I’m not sure yet if it will last long. Reception: positive. Grade: B.

Curb Your Enthusiasm: This show has been rebooted and is back with new episodes. It is on right now on HBO. I don’t know the timeslot and don’t know if I can watch it. Hopefully I can get someone to do a guest review for it, but that seems unlikely since that hasn’t happened before with other shows. Of course, if I could borrow a copy that someone that I know has, then I could just watch it on my own. But I don’t think that will happen without doing more research.

Anthony E Zuiker: It would appear that for now there are no future projects in the work for this franchise creator. He might be working on some sort of project that we don’t know of just yet. But there is nothing known to the public yet. There is nothing new to report.

Carol Mendelsohn: There is a new project in store for this writer as of this update. I’m not sure where it is in terms of happening versus not happening. I will tell you about anything she is a producer of since I want to see something in these updates for her. She has a project in the works called Witchblade. We’ll have to see what happens regarding that. She also has a new project called Chiefs which could be a TV movie or show.

Witchblade: This is based off of a comic book. From what I can tell, it is in the magical girls genre, although it might have only one girl whose power comes from an object. I should hopefully have a plot description of it in the future. The release date is unknown at this particular time.

Chiefs: I hope that this becomes a show because it sounds interesting. Even if it is just a movie, I’d still like to see it. There are three female police officers who are hunting a serial killer. Just as long as they could be good and not sexy (sexy wouldn’t hurt, just don’t make them sex obsessed), this should be what I look for in a good show. Now it doesn’t have a release date yet. This sounds like the best of her potential projects thus far.

Ann Donahue: There’s no new information about this writer. I’m sure that she’ll probably find something, but I’m not sure when. As of this month, there are still no new updates regarding this writer. I hope that she does something. There is nothing new to report.

Bebe Neuwirth: She’s had a recurring bit on Blue Bloods and may show up on it from time to time. There are other minor things that she has done. It appears that she will be in a new movie called Modern Persuasion.

Modern Persuasion: This movie has an unknown release date at this time. The plot is about a woman’s ex-boyfriend hiring her company which forces her to deal with various things in her life. I don’t know yet what role Bebe will play in this.

John Noble: I don’t yet know if I’ll review some of what he does in my Elementary blog when the show is on hiatus like I did with True to the Game. But he has a lot of projects in the work, so I might as well get to mentioning all of them. One is called Silencio. Another is called Nameless. A different one is called Stream. Yet another is called Guardians of Luna. I wonder if they’ll all get made.

Silencio: This looks like it will be Mexican and might not be in American theaters. It has a plot mentioned of someone looking for a powerful stone. It has a DVD release time frame of February 2019. I hope to review it when it is out on DVD.

Nameless: This could be interesting. It has no release date or trailer just yet. The plot relates to lost souls facing struggles with their past. It seems like it could be a good film, but it is hard to tell or know yet for sure. It seems like it could be good.

Stream: In this movie, telepathy is made possible, but it could have unforeseen outcomes. This seems like a possible basic premise for Downsizing with a different element of sci-fi used instead. There is not yet a trailer and there’s no release date yet. It only lists his role as rumored, so the movie could wind up happening, but not have him in it.

Guardians of Luna: This plot might be hard to keep track of. So there are werewolves that are part of a cursed town and there’s a war on humans potentially. It has no release date yet nor a trailer. But it does sound pretty interesting.

Desmond Harrington: Here’s another actor from Elementary that I’m putting in this blog now. What is he doing now in life? Well, he is set to appear in a movie called Butterfly in the Typewriter, which I’ll explain in the next paragraph.

Butterfly in the Typewriter: I can’t tell yet if this is based off of a true story or not. I do know that it is about the struggles of an author to bring a comedy story to life. It has an unknown release date at this time. I guess we’ll see what comes of it later.

Schedule

Out now- Curb Your Enthusiasm, Vampirina (on DVD), Pose (on FX), High Life, What Would Diplo Do?

On TV- The Good Place (Thursdays at 9:30/8:30 Central on NBC), Escape at Dannemora (on Showtime, unknown timeslot)

Possibly out somehow- Belvedere: Destiny

Unknown February 2019- Silencio (DVD release date)

June 21, 2019- Toy Story 4

Unknown 2019- Otherhood, Elementary season 7 (final season)

Unknown 2020- Hollywood Fringe

Unknown year- Superstition: The Rule of 3’s, Witchblade, Captain Black, Chiefs, The Bell Jar, Work Mom, Nameless, Stream, Guardians of Luna, Butterfly in the Typewriter, The Act, Modern Persuasion