After 15 years on the air and multiple hit spinoffs for CBS, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is preparing to say goodbye.
This Sunday, CBS will air CSI’s final episode, a two-hour special event welcoming back a few actors from the show’s past for one big last case.
The series has been a mainstay on CBS’ schedule for many years, with spinoff series CSI: Miami, CSI: New York and CSI: Cyber adding to the franchise along the way. But prior to its premiere, CSI was far from a surefire hit.
According to a story by the Associated Press, CSI was picked up as a last-minute addition to its Friday night lineup. Its actors thought it would be a fun experiment and they’d be looking for work again the following year. It was among the first crime procedural shows that turned its attention to the forensics lab, making evidence the primary focus.
But when CSI first hit the air in October 2000, it quickly became a hit, a shock to several of the people involved in the show. And since then, it’s grown with its several spinoffs, crossover episodes and syndication deals.
Stars of the say that some of the success of CSI is because of when it premiered, explaining that with the election of 2000 and the events of 9/11 the year after, people wanted solid answers to things instead of more vague questions. CSI, and the shows it inspired, delivered that on TV every week.
The series finale of CSI welcomes back William Petersen and Marg Helgenberger as Gil Grissom and Catherine Willows, the eight-season leader of the lab and his second-command investigator.
CSI will end its 15-season run on Sunday, Sept. 27 at 9 p.m.
Read more at U.S. News & World Report.
Brief Take: Like many successful franchises on TV, CSI came at precisely the right time for an audience to latch on it its ideals
[Image courtesy of CBS]
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