A Tale of Three Cities
In 'CSI' Trio, Photogenic Locales Get Star Billing

By Marc D. Allan
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, May 13, 2007

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.

Then there are Miami's fires -- controlled burns to take out the underbrush -- and its watery natural surroundings. In one of the first episodes of "CSI: Miami," someone fishing for sharks pulled a body out of the water instead. In another, Lt. Horatio Caine (David Caruso) entered a part of the Everglades where sharks and alligators coexist to rescue a stranded boy.

"You could not do that in any other city and have that kind of fear," Donahue said.

When the third "CSI" premiered in 2004, New York was an instant character -- its high-rises, its population density, its ethnic mix, its weather and icons such as Central Park and the Statue of Liberty. But the look of the newest "CSI" took some time to perfect.

"When we first started out, it was dark and very grainy and felt like an independent film," said Melina Kanakaredes, who plays Stella Bonasera. Viewers responded -- by tuning out. So the show lightened up visually.

The change reminded Kanakaredes of early in her career when she was an aspiring actress in New York and lived in an apartment with one window facing a courtyard.

"I couldn't tell if it was sunny or snowing," she said.

Then she started to make money and moved to the 11th floor -- and "I could see a whole 'nother New York," she said.

The three CSIs are produced near each other in the Los Angeles area, and they have what Mendelsohn called a checks-and-balances system so they don't duplicate stories.

Each series films in its respective city three to four times a year, giving the episodes an extra burst of authenticity.

Adam Rodriguez, who plays Delko, remembered the first season of "CSI: Miami," when he made the first scuba dive of his life in a swampy area of the Everglades.

"As I'm getting out of the water," he said, "I turn around to look and there's a six-foot alligator laying in wait in a bunch of reeds that were about 12 feet from where I had been the whole time. I was already out of the water, so I felt pretty safe. But just the thought that it was as close as it was got my heart pumping a little bit."

CSI: MIAMI

Season finale Monday (5/14) at 10 p.m. on CBS

CSI: NY

Season finale Wednesday (5/16) at 10 p.m. on CBS

CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION

Season finale Thursday (5/17) at 9 p.m. on CBS