CSI

Since its debut in September 2000, CSI’s fusion of cinematic spectacle, forensic pathology, high technology, action, mystery, and character drama has regularly drawn in tens of millions of viewers around the world.  This original new study explores CSI’s cultural importance, both for the media industry and for the criminal justice system itself.  The book

• Examines CSI as an important example of contemporary popular television, exploring its formal and narrative style, and its impact on media culture
• Provides a model for studying how genre, narrative, industry concerns, and the broad “public life” of a television series contribute to our understanding of the nature and function of contemporary popular television
• Probes the ways in which the series’ treatment of criminal investigation has affected the actual justice system
• Considers CSI from an industry perspective, tracing the genesis and impact of the three-series CSI franchise on network program development in the 2000s