CSI: Miami

I quite agree with those who say that CSI Miami is the best of the three series in the franchise. Not for anything other than it is more entertaining. It has beautiful cinematography, and beautiful people are sprinkled throughout as eye candy. What sets the show apart from the other two is that CSI Miami doesn't attempt to take itself very seriously (hence the negative comments of many others who do try to take the show seriously), and if you as the viewer do the same, you will probably enjoy watching it.

If on the other hand, you start looking for 'reality' and for inconsistencies, you will find plenty: - CSI's do not wonder about shooting people and catching criminals; they are essentially lab rats. - David Caruso's character and his famous one-liners are preposterous (but are intended as such) - CSI's and ME's do not wonder around crime scenes dressed as models and wearing 6 inch stilettos - Crimes take months to solve, results take weeks to obtain, not everything is solved in one day etc., etc...

I for one, decided to turn my brain off, poor myself a beer and enjoy the show!

Between David Caruso and Emily Proctor, I don't know if I've suffered through a show of such bad acting that didn't understand it was bad. William Shatner, for example, knows who he is and how he comes off and plays it up; Keanu Reeves similarly comes off as if he knows he's just a prop. Not these two. I don't mind the original show (my wife is an addict), but not this one. Caruso delivers his sickening moralizing, Proctor makes Lindsay Lohan seem emotive, and there's this MTV-style perp walk at the end of the show. I root for the perps. None of them are guilty of wooden acting. I also don't get how Caruso gets away with his bad acting while Proctor is lauded. If she is trying to make a character who is colder than Mr. Spock and with whom I cannot sympathize, she's succeeding.

I don't really see the purpose of this show other then trying to make more money. The main CSI show is great and has interesting characters. But there is nothing that this show does that the main show doesn't do better and has far better characters. Just because the show is set in Miami we're supposed to tune into basically the same show with inferior actors and less interesting story lines? I don't think so buddy. And it seems like a majority of the CSI Miami characters are cast only upon what they look like.

It's just like how you make a copy of a key, the copy never works quite as good as the original. Same thing applies here.

The redhead that looks at the floor as he talks to his suspects. A brilliant trademark for a very well written show. From the opening crime catching scene and into a great 'screaming', remix of The Who's 'Won't Get Fooled again' open credit sequence, to David Caruso's great acting, this show is worth at least an hour of your time each week. Caruso makes the show. He's great to watch as he throws simple single line hooks into his suspects & catches them off guard with the forensic evidence his team gathers. We got a glimpse of this guy in 'NYPD Blue' as he played Detective John Kelly, but Caruso has been a good actor for a very long time. From 'Proof Of Life' to William Friedkin's 'Jade' to Barbet Schroeder's 'Kiss Of Death', Caruso has been an actor that has come into his own. If you have an opportunity to see 'First Blood' you will get to see Caruso as he plays a young Deputy showing compassion to Sylvester Stallone's character. The same compassion that he now shows in CSI:M to victims that are not able to help themselves. A welcome relief to today's hardened Hollywood leading dramatic actors roles that show no empathy.

This is not to take away from the rest of the cast. They are good and hold their own, however it's good that the lead actor shines as Caruso does. Perhaps an Emmy is not out of the question.

I'm gonna get creamed with e-mails from fans of the original CSI show, but I can't help it. In my opinion, CSI: Miami is superior to the original and a good foundation for (the also superior) CSI:NY.

Don't get me wrong, the original is the original, but the fact that the real Miami/Dade CSI's are cops first allows this show to explode in gunfire at any moment...and place our lead, David Caruso, at the center of the action. Now I want to make something clear: Almost 15 years ago I saw some of Caruso's early work and I was trying to figure out what all the fuss was about. What makes THIS guy a sex symbol (on NYPD Blue)? Then, just as fast as he becomes a major star, he exits Blue, makes two movies that bombed (the really good "Kiss Of Death" and the laughable "Jade") and he's suddenly poison. It was after seeing Caruso in Kiss of Death and a previous film, The King of New York" that I realized we were missing one of the last REAL tough guys.

CSI: Miami has brought him back. Caruso spearheads this show with a vengeance. Sure his line readings have their own stilted rhythm, but he did the same thing on NYPD Blue and people loved him then. Caruso with a gun in his hand looks more natural than anything else I have seen on TV (and my favorite show is The Shield).

CSI: Miami is action packed. The stories are seedier. The cinematography is unmatched by any other show. Go watch the DVDs. Tune in Monday nights. I swear, you'll be a convert.

Then go watch Gary Sinise give the performance of his life in CSI:NY. You'll be glad you did.