And, last but certainly not least; if there was any worse chemistry between stars David Caruso and Kim Delaney, John Ashcroft would arrest them for bio-terrorism. It's not a good idea to put two actors from two different acting schools in the same scene (the smoldering, intense everything-is-portentous school versus the warm, compassionate please-won't-you-be-my-neighbor good girl theory of acting). Even worse, since both of them first made it big on NYPD Blue, I kept flashing back to that show. Kim looks rather lost without Jimmy Smits to return her passion, as if she is waiting for someone to exonnerate her from a drunk driving charge, and anytime she was talking with Caruso, I half-expected Dennis Franz to come in and show us his naked butt (which might have been more interesting).
Plus, the supporting cast are also all well-established (Alexander from News Radio, Rodriguez from Roswell, Procter from West Wing). It looks so obviously like A TV PRODUCTION. The original had the advantage of a cast that was relatively unknown, except for Marge Helgenberger, who essetially was refining her same character from China Beach (where she starred with Kim's sis, Dana).
Finally, for some reason, the CSI unit in Miami isn't content with little things like Murders. So far they have taking on Corporate Crime-induced Plane Crashes and the periennial Mad Bomber. The plots are so far out, in relation to the texture of the cast and sets which are so ordinary, as to make the resulting feeling disconcerting. It's as if a bunch of TV execs were in a hot tub, doing some strange white powder, and they decided to throw in a whole bunch of neat yet cheap-to-produce stuff, without thought to coherency. But we know that could never happen, could it?
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Article comments
1 - Bill Sherman
In our house we recall William Petersen from To Live and Die in L.A. (hey, a Wang Chung theme song!) and Michael Mann's what's-the-point-of-remaking-this-anyway maiden version of Red Dragon - not to mention his role as a philandering car salesman in Cousins. So it's not exactly as if the man were exactly an unknown when he started in C.S.I. Still, the teevee series has done much more for his public profile than Manhunter, so your basic point still holds - even if my wife's thought he is a hottie for years . . .
2 - skippy
bill,
sure, mr. petersen was well-known to this reviewer for the excellent film manhunter, but he certainly didn't have the tv q of caruso or delaney, or even those other guys fresh from tv shows last season, so we will stand by our point until we get bored and walk away.