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Reviews
CSI: NY: Silent Night (2006)
0k folks, l'm outta here
0n the 10th anniversary of the premiere of this episode, I popped in the DVD to see it again. This is it, this is the end of the line for Anthony Zuiker giving a damn about CSI:NEW YORK. This is the last time Zuiker wrote for this show. Although he would maintain the title of Showrunner until Season 5 ended in 2009, he no longer cared enough for this show to put in the work. Until he officially stepped down, Zuiker ate the steaks his WORKING writers slaughtered. I should be watching the last episode of 2016 tomorrow but I'm not because this scumbag checked out and never once stepped up to protect the show in 2010 when CBS went about sabotaging it. CSI:NEW YORK paid the price for Zuiker's indifference. This show was headed for an early grave mostly in part because Zuiker no longer had any loyalty to the show. A large part of the blame for why the DVD sets are sickeningly lacking in content on his shoulders. This is the season where Joey Lawrence as Clay Dobson was the season's main villain and there are no interviews/no commentary. This episode is evidence of how viewers of the CSI Franchise will always remain the least served audience of any TV series.
CSI: NY: Redemption (2010)
Lying in wait, ready to pounce.
The last episode with writing from Peter Lenkov. 0nce Lenkov was no longer involved in the day to day on this show, it was ripe for the plucking. CBS knew they were unable to carry out their sabotage while he was still around. Pam Veasey was a wuss, she had no spine, no steel in combating CBS when they made Melina Kanakaredes the victim of their corporate gang-rape. Lenkov was the sheriff, the law and the only stopgap the show had. That covers the network politics, but onto the episode Itself.
A mini-Bruckheimer movie, action packed adventure ride. Harold Perrineau as Reggie Tiford went thru an evolution and Hill Harper hit you in the gut at the end when Hawkes visited his sister's grave. I understand Lenkov had to make HAWAII 5-0 his priority, but had he never left this show, CBS would not have been able to destroy it. This week would have been the period paying host to this show's 300th episode. SCREAM by 0zzy 0sbourne was the perfect musical backdrop. This episode captures a moment in time when CSI:NEW YORK was at Its best. 0nce Season 6 was done, so was the show. From Kanakaredes Konsistency to being Warded off by Sela. Disgraceful the turn the show took 6 years ago. Shame on CBS.
Angel: Tomorrow (2002)
The end of the Greenwalt era
This was the end of all direct involvement from showrunner David Greenwalt and in many way created a schism between this and the seasons that came before and those after. 0verall the feel and tone of the show took on a noticeable chance in Season 4. It was a lot to take in that I would no longer have the certainty of every season premiere/finale being written & directed by Greenwalt. Just as Joss Whedon having a less direct involvement in Season 6 of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, the same was felt here. I can understand Greenwalt's desire to move onto other projects, but there was so much missing from Season 4 as a direct result. 0nly until Season 5 being run by Whedon did this show gets Its old school mojo back. But I give props to Greenwalt for coming back to direct Season 5's THE GIRL IN QUESTION. Still too much to take on following the network breakup of both shows.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Hollywood Brass (2005)
The first time Paul Guilfoyle got screwed over.
Nearly a decade before cowardly producers and serpentine network suits ordered the scumbag firing of Paul Guilfoyle from CSI, he had his finest hour in this episode where HE, not William Peterson, was the anchor. We see Captain James Brass at odds with his superiors back home in Las Vegas and the corruption riddling Los Angeles all while grappling with the life his estranged daughter Ellie is living. Brass is fighting what seems to be a losing battle trying to save Ellie on many fronts, from (A) her descent into prostitution, (B) the hold drugs have over her and (C) those corrupt figures in LA who may see Ellie as a threat. Paul Guilfoyle delivered a command performance in this episode and the assholes at the Emmys refused to even nominate him for 2005's ceremony. A great actor who never got his due, a tale as old as time.
CSI: NY: The 34th Floor (2010)
Veasey, Pam, personality of spam
Let us discuss the pile of wreckage Pam Veasey racked up in her career as showrunner on CSI:NEW YORK. This was the beginning of the end for this once great show. This woman is the architect of this show's fall from grace. The summer of 2010 was when she allowed CBS to screw over Melina Kanakaredes and move the show to the Friday night deathslot. The clock began officially ticking till the end with this episode. Pam Veasey is the reason this became the only CSI series to not reach 10 seasons, to not reach 10 years on the air, to not attain the vaunted status of a 200th episode.
For the way Veasey allowed CBS to stab Melina Kanakaredes in the back, she should have retired from television work. Pam Veasey has no honor, no backbone, no guts, no integrity, no affinity for the fans. That was seen on full display when she co-wrote the CSI:CYBER episode GOING VIRAL. Set in New York but did not include any characters from CSI:NEW YORK. This show got weaker and weaker and weaker as the years went on. I have watched so little of the Sela Ward DVD sets that I don't even know the episodes that contributed the DVD mintage music save for Season 8 since FLASH POP had such a distinct soundtrack. Without Melina Kanakaredes/Stella Bonasera, this show lost Its spark. It just continued to deteriorate.