Csi 01/16/03 (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

While HDTV makes shows look good, it's a very nice upgrade in actually seeing the detail of the evidence that gets uncovered/discovered each episode on CSI.

To me, shows like CSI and Without a Trace have become sort of like "The Love Boat" only in how guest stars show up on a weekly basis. These guest stars are actors who aren't working normally on TV shows or films currently, but still getting some face time.

Last night's episode feature the original Danny Noonan from Caddyshack (one of my all time favorite movies): Michael O'Keefe, and from Once and Again (Jessie): Evan Rachel Wood, who's been growing up right before our eyes it seems. The other case had the ubiquitously-obnoxious Joey Slotnick, last seen as being dispatched by Jack Bristow on Alias last season.

The case with O'Keefe and Wood was bizarre as it unravelled, and the clues provided by the perp was also rather unconventional, but even when you know the writer is trying to mislead you, the "truth" of the case is amazingly far out, and minutely plausible.

The case with Slotnick had lots of slice-n-dice autopsy details (pretty gory stuff in HD, to say the least). The resolution of the case seemed a bit forced, but as always, persistence is what gave them the break they needed to nail the perp in this case.

 

[Shawn C]

Last night's episode feature the original Danny Noonan from Caddyshack

I was trying to place where I had seen him before. I just never could figure out where I had seen him before.

I agree with you that the 'details' in the evidence are much more 'detailed' in HD. Nice work with the eyeball..

 

[Chris S]

it's a very nice upgrade in actually seeing the detail of the evidence that gets uncovered/discovered each episode on CSI

Its funny you mention that because it helped me to notice a continuity problem when Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) was pulling items out of the birds nest. Near the start of the scene she pulls some baby toy out and places it on the counter ,but when Grissom (William L. Petersen) comes in the baby toy is back in the nest.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Just a question for those who watched this episode in HD, was it not in 16x9 up until the opening credit montage kicked in? It seemed like someone at the local station forgot to flip on the HD switch (because the show before is Star Search, which is SDTV) until that early point in CSI.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

My local CBS station must have some kind of automatic switching because they never fail to switch to HD during the moment of black just before the show begins. It's always perfect. Do you guys ever see any CBS commercials in HD? Every commercial, whether local or national, is SD here.

But about CSI.... how are they ever able to solve crimes in the dark? Jeez, turn on some lights! And how are they ever able to solve crimes on CSI Miami when the only time they do any investigating is apparently during the half hour before sunset? Can we have some daytime scenes that aren't tinted orange, and some indoor scenes which don't have orange light streaming through the windows as the only source of lighting in the room?

 

[MikeFR]

Good episode as usual too bad CBS had to spoil nearly the entire thing with their preview of the show 2 minutes before. The morgue scene would have played much better if we didnt already know he was still alive.

 

[MancusoB]

I agree MikeFR!

They spoiled it themselves, as did the DirecTV guide listing!

 

[Jeff Kohn]

I agree on the morgue spoiler. Also, I knew that car salesmen was guilty the moment we saw him just because he rated more than a bit part, they need to be a little more careful with casting IMHO.

 

[Rob T]

But about CSI.... how are they ever able to solve crimes in the dark? Jeez, turn on some lights! And how are they ever able to solve crimes on CSI Miami when the only time they do any investigating is apparently during the half hour before sunset? Can we have some daytime scenes that aren't tinted orange, and some indoor scenes which don't have orange light streaming through the windows as the only source of lighting in the room?

I don't know about the Miami team, but the Vegas team is the night shift so being able to work in the dark is a must for them.

 

[RossTerry]

i agree about the darkness thing

HD is so much more spectacular with bright colors/settings

ex: nfl playoffs...wow

 

[Jeff Kohn]

The darkness on CSI Las Vegas doesn't bother me. The cinematography is very good on the show, and they make excellent use of lighting. Even though many/most scenes are in low light, you never get the kind of darkness that makes it impossible to see what's going on like on some "dark" shows (ehem.. Alias, Angel).

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

The darkness on CSI Las Vegas doesn't bother me. The cinematography is very good on the show, and they make excellent use of lighting. Even though many/most scenes are in low light, you never get the kind of darkness that makes it impossible to see what's going on like on some "dark" shows (ehem.. Alias, Angel).

Oh, I agree the cinematography is excellent, it certainly has to be more difficult to "light" such scenes than traditional 3-point lighting and I always have some appreciation for successfully accomplishing any difficult task. I'm just saying that they're overdoing "the mood" to the point that it's unrealistic, drawing attention to itself, and pulling viewers like me out of the story. Scene after scene in dark rooms, and in rooms that in real life would not be dark. I can see where a crime lab might have the lights off so they can look in microscopes, but why would an autopsy be performed in the dark?

Last week there was an episode with a scene in a restaurant kitchen that looked like the only lighting was whatever spilled in from another room. I could be wrong but I think adequate lighting is a health code requirement for restaurant kitchens, in any case I'd rather eat at a restaurant where the people in the back can see what they're doing.

Also, the orange scenes on CSI Miami have less to do with cinematography and more to do with digital coloring in postproduction.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Maybe it's just me, but the dark lighting on CSI (LV) has never bothered me, even in HD.

 

[Jeff Kohn]

I guess my point was that the darker scenese in CSI don't bother me because it's so well done; on the other hand shows like Alias don't do nearly as good of a job and it can be a distraction.

I agree about the coloring in CSI Miami, pretty annoying.

 

[Ralph Summa]

Holy Cow! Miss it! Noonan! I didn't recognize him.

I love the gore in this show, but two things that always make me cringe are needles and eyes. Talk about a double whammy! I was in the fetal position for 10 minutes!

My CBS affiliate did something funky two weeks ago (Meat Grinder episode) where the CBS eye was pushed toward the middle of the screen. It wasn't a zoom which would have pushed it further to the side,but it wasn't right. It lasted about 2 minutes then the screen went back to normal. At first I thought someone forgot to flip the switch, but I checked and both images were HD.

Also, during CBS-HD broadcasts, when commercials come on, theyscreen becomes horribly pixillated. Soon as the show comes back, all is well. I figured the station might drop power during commercials but, I checked the signal meter and the signal is still at 100%. It happens all the time, but not during either of the HD AFC football games over the last two weeks. Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

Stations don't drop power during commercials, that's for sure. The advertisers would form a Tar & Feathering Committee in a hurry.

My CBS station is using extreme compression for their local commercial playback system and DTV is good enough to reveal just how bad it is (plus I'm sure the multiple encoding/decoding makes it worse). I figure they'll eventually do something about that, but the Tar & Feathering Committee won't be so quick to form because it's only visible on DTV.

 

[Ralph Summa]

That makes a ton of sense. I hate to complain about anything bad happening to commercials but every once in a while when the audio drops, I get that shrill chirp and it's ear splitting and annoying as hell!