CSI

There are certain films and shows that resonate with audiences everywherethey generate discussion and debate about everything from gender, class, citizenship and race, to consumerism and social identity. This new teachable canon of film and television introduces students to alternative classics that range from silent film to CSI.

• Since its debut in September 2000,CSIs fusion of cinematic spectacle, forensic pathology and character drama has regularly drawn in tens of millions of viewers around the world
• This original new study investigatesCSIs cultural importance, both for the media industry and for the criminal justice system itself, exploring its formal and narrative style, and its impact on media culture
• CSI 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

Derek Kompare is an Associate Professor in the Division of Cinema-Television in the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University, where he teaches courses on media and culture. He has published articles on television history and form in several anthologies and journals, and his first book,Rerun Nation: How Repeats Invented American Television (2005), was runner-up for the 2006 Society for Cinema and Media Studies Katherine Singer Kovacs Book Award.

List of Figures.

Acknowledgments.

Introduction: WhyCSI Matters.

1. Science, Spectacle, and Storytelling.

2. What Happens inCSI's Vegas.

3. Finding Balance: Professionalism in Serial Narrative.

4.CSI Effects.

Conclusion.

Appendix:CSI Episode Guide, 2000-9.

Notes.

References.

Index.