When I was a kid, the top cop in New York City was Kojak. He was a bald detective who loved lollipops, his Greek heritage and solving crimes. Most of the time, Kojak was out roaming the city, tracking down suspects and closing cases. He did most of this by the gut. He didn’t spend episodes bogged down with the boys from the lab with their scientific evidence. He was cutting edge in the ’70s. That all changed in the 21st Century when the guys in the lab refused to be taken for suckers. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation became a massive hit in the Fall of 2000. The Las Vegas-based series nearly immediately triggered a spin-off when CSI: Miami arrived in 2002. Fans seemed eager for more Crime Scene Investigator action. But instead of just giving us a fresh new location with a new crew, the producers linked the new show when an investigation on CSI: Miami has to fly up to Manhattan to solve a murder. He introduces us to Det. Mac Taylor (Forrest Gump’s Gary Sinise) who runs the CSI department. This proves to be the proper way to launch CSI: NY since the series lasted 9 seasons. Now all 197 episodes have been compiled into CSI: NY: The Complete Collection.
Detective Mac Taylor is a former marine who runs the CSI Lab in New York City. He also has to deal with the loss of his wife during the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center Towers. He expects a well run department. His assistant for the first six seasons is Stella Bonasera (Providence‘s Melina Kanakaredes). She thinks out loud more than Mac which often leads to her getting into hot water. But it proves to be a good balance between the two for dramatic purposes. However the character resigns her gig after the sixth season. This brought detective Jo Danville (Sisters‘ Sela Ward) to be Mac’s main back up for the last three season. Danny Messer (Carmine Giovinazzo), Aiden Burn (Vanessa Ferlito), Don Flack (Eddie Cahill), Sheldon Hawkes, M.D. (Hill Harper) and a few others round out the crew that’s eager to push the evidence to point at the true guilty party. While Mac was in charge, this was still a police procedural series so it was all about the team effort to crack the cases.
Over the course of the 9 seasons, they had quite a few guest stars amongst the suspects and the witnesses and a few victims. There was Madchen Amick, Criss Angel, Kat Dennings, Peter Fonda, Robert Forster, Ed Furlong, Nelly Furtado, Josh Groban, Mia Kirsher, Joey Lawrence, Lee Majors, Marlee Matlin, John McEnroe, Rob Morrow, Craig T. Nelson, Judd Nelson, Danica Patrick, Rex Ryan, Ashlee Simpson, Skeet Ulrich and Shailene Woodley. Ed Asner won an Emmy for his visit during season five. Even Suicide Girls members popped up during that time when the tattooed ladies of the internet were mega-hot. You never knew who the CSI:NY team would be drawing a chalk outline around.
During the prime of CSI-mania, CBS had the three different shows do a mega stunt crossover where all three shows became involved on a single case. All three episodes are featured in the boxset along with a later time when just CSI and CSI: NY crossed over. Crime could happen all over the map and someone had do all the tedious crime scene investigating.
Like so many alleged New York cop shows over the decades, CSI: NY was secretly shot in the backlots of Hollywood and the rougher streets of Los Angeles. They would do a few special shots in Manhattan, but most of the Big Apple atmosphere was created with stock footage of the city’s real estate and recreational attractions. The east coast urban grit is mostly TV magic.
The episodes move at a pretty fast clip as the test results are run through the lab equipment. Amazing how fast things move in Manhattan. But it’s a speedy kinda city even when it comes to a gruesome homicide. This means you’ll press play and devour all the episodes on a DVD without realizing your afternoon has been murdered. CSI: NY was a fine addition to the CSI franchise. The partner swap works out well in the boxset since the Sela Ward era is all contained on the third of the giant plastic boxes. CSI: NY: The Complete Collection will remind you that the Big Apple is still a dangerous place even if it really is Los Angeles.
Audio commentaries are featured on many of the episodes over the seasons.
The Cast Examines the Characters
The Science Behind the Scenes
CSI: NY Set Tour
The World’s Largest Crime Scene
The Zoo Year
Top of the Heap
Rolling with Jamalot
A New Look At the 35th Floor
Heroes
Season 2 Ends With A Bang
Breaking the Killer Code
The Suicide Girls Rock CSI: NY
The Making of Silent Night
Hill Harper Explores the Body Farm
Art Imitates Life
Dante’s Infernal Epiode
Art Attack
Cutting to the Core: Seaosn 3 in the Big Apple
Pre-Production: Planning the perfect Muder
Production: Shoot To Kill
Post-Production: Crime Scene Cleanup
Celebrating 100: Evidence of a Hit
Better Than Botox
Leaving Las Vegas: Langston Heads East
East Coast Heros
A Killer House
Seeing Stars
Creation of a Crime Scene
A Closer Examination: Dr. Sid Hammerback
Seventh Deadly Season
New In Town: Jo Danville
Under the Microscoppe Blogs
An Extended Visit: John Larroquette
Wild Ride: Peter Fonda
Gage Reel
Honoring Our Heros
A New York Halloween
Flash to the Past
The Magic 8
Gag Reel
On Thin Ice
Fireworks
NYPD CLue
Deleted Scenes
A Day Off
CBS DVD presents CSI:NY: The Complete Collection. Starring Gary Sinise, Melina Kanakaredes, Carmine Giovinazzo, Vanessa Ferlito, Hill Harper, Eddie Cahill, Anna Belknap, Robert Joy, A. J. Buckley & Sela Ward. Boxset Contents: 197 episodes on 55 DVDs. Release Dates: May 19, 2021.
