A Tale of Three Cities

In 'CSI' Trio, Photogenic Locales Get Star Billing

They share the same initials and premise -- figure out whodunit and how by using forensic evidence -- and they even film in proximity to each other. But because of the cities they're set in, CBS's three "CSI" series are as different as Las Vegas, Miami and New York.

"The fundamental part of each show is dead bodies and how can you kill people in the most creative, interesting, scientific ways," said "CSI: NY" executive producer Pam Veasey. "You have to find something else that makes your show stick out."

So the three cities have become characters of a sort, lending their own distinguishing details -- city-specific colors and lighting, for instance, and even methods of death and the speed of body decomposition.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. When series creator Anthony Zuiker, who lives in Las Vegas, received the go-ahead for the original "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," it included a caveat from his bosses at Jerry Bruckheimer Television: America's gambling capital could be a backdrop, but the setting shouldn't be too location-specific.

"The signature shot of strip was to say 'We're in Vegas, but we're not,' " said "CSI" executive producer Carol Mendelsohn. "The story could happen anywhere."

The first season, in 2000-01, generally stayed true to that premise. But Las Vegas started to become prominent the next year -- one episode featured Lady Heather the dominatrix in a look at the seedy side of Sin City.

By the third season, when an episode delved into crimes that occur when people flock to Vegas to watch boxing, the location had "organically crept in as a character," Mendelsohn said.

"Could you take some of our stories and tell them in Anywhere, USA?" she asked. "Probably. But I do think Vegas and 'CSI' have become married to each other."

In the middle of the second season, the "CSI" producers were called to a meeting with Leslie Moonves, who was then president of CBS Entertainment. "'You guys have done great,'" executive producer Ann Donahue remembered him saying. " 'Let's do another one. Pick a city.'"

Miami was chosen because Bruckheimer observed that "Florida is becoming the new California, and Miami is becoming the new L.A.," Donahue said.

A Miami-Dade County crime-scene investigator told the show's producers: "Some people call Florida 'South Georgia' and some people call it 'North Cuba.'" So they created the characters Calleigh Duquesne -- a nod to Southern culture -- and Eric Delko, whose roots are Cuban. The series launched in 2002.

"People go to Miami to be seen," said Donahue, who left the original show to become "CSI: Miami" executive producer. "The sky is different, the clouds are different, the air is like cotton." And those differences, Donahue said, affect the speed with which a body decomposes and how long its fingerprints will last.