Starring:
Gary Sinise, Melina Kanakaredes, Carmine Giovinazzo, Vanessa Ferlito, Hill Harper and Eddie Cahill

Created by:
Anthony E. Zuiker, Ann Donahue and Carol Mendelsohn

Out to buy on DVD 24/10/05

• First class cast
• Brilliant attention to detail
• Intelligent scriptwriting
• Different enough from the previous two show to make its own way

• Could do with more continuing stories
• More character development is needed

Blink
The body of a missing woman leads Mac to a serial killer who imprisons his victims, and the team must piece together the evidence with the help of one who survived but can only communicate by blinking.

Creatures of the Night
When a woman is raped in Central Park, Stella's mission to find the attacker is hindered, as the victim has no memory of the assault. Despite the abundant evidence at the crime scene, the detectives can't connect a suspect to the rape, frustrating Stella, who commits herself to nailing the attacker.

American Dreamers
When a tourist discovers a skeleton on a Times Square double-decker tour bus, the CSIs must investigate whether the remains were left there as a practical joke or if the person was murdered. After closely examining the remains, Dr. Hawkes discovers that the victim was likely a Caucasian male teenager who died from a blow to the head more than ten years ago.

Grand Master
Mac and Aiden investigate the murder of an up-and-coming hip-hop artist who was stabbed to death shortly after being crowned the winner of a DJ contest and days after signing on with a new label.

A Man, a Mile
Mac and Danny investigate the death of a construction worker who died 700 feet below Manhattan during an underground explosion. While investigating the man's death, the CSIs meet the "Sandhogs," a union of construction workers who build the city's underground tunnels. When Mac and Danny find an empty inhaler at the excavation site and the autopsy results reveal that the victim died from asthmatic asphyxiation before the explosion, the team realizes that he was intentionally left underground.

Outside Man
In a test of faith, Mac assigns Danny and Aiden to one of the team's toughest cases yet: a multiple homicide in which employees of a Brooklyn restaurant are found shot to death with plastic bags over their heads. As they examine the clues, all signs point to an inside job but not to a suspect.

Rain
A Chinatown robbery by three men goes south when one security guard is killed and the other mistakenly fires shots at a gas tank, burning two of the robbers alive. While investigating the heist, Stella uncovers a kidnapping plot involving the bank's manager. Making matters worse, the kidnappers' ransom drop spot is blocked by an unannounced police terrorist response drill, forcing the team to uncover new clues to find the missing child.

Three Generations are enough
Panic ensues on the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange when a briefcase is left behind with no owner. The briefcase's contents are traced back to a stock broker who mysteriously disappeared after investigating another broker's illegal trades.

Officer Blue
When a mounted New York City police officer is shot off of his horse, Mac and Stella must comb the city for suspects. The only shard of evidence is the bullet lodged in the officer's horse. Mac must make the painful decision to either save the animal or analyze the evidence.

Night Mother
When a parasomniac sleep walks out of her apartment complex and is later found covered in blood next to a woman's body, the CSIs must investigate if they have a closed case or if there's more to it than meets the eye. Even though their suspect is covered in the victim's blood and has a wooden stake thought to be the murder weapon at her side, Mac thinks there is more to the case than what they see.

Tri-Borough
The team tackles a series of complicated investigations when murdered victims are found in three New York City boroughs. Mac and Stella investigate the murder of a young man found dead in a Brooklyn subway tunnel. Although the victim was electrocuted, the train's third rail is not the likely culprit. Danny examines the death of an art gallery owner whose final sale was a painting with mob ties that may have been forged.

Recycling
Competitive dog owners become the prime suspects in a murder investigation when Mac examines the death of a dog trainer. Meanwhile, Stella and Danny track the killer of a bike messenger who collapsed on the streets of Manhattan after being stabbed during rush hour traffic. The team hits a roadblock when they must find the crime scene within a 4.8-mile delivery route.

After becoming the highest rated show on US television, 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation' spun off into 'CSI: Miami' and with the formula working again the show spun off for a second time, this time towards the Big Apple.

'CSI: New York' is the third crime scene investigation show to hit the airwaves but can it become its own entity or is the genre becoming too saturated? This is the question that most fans asked about the show when it was announced that the CSI team was heading for New York. While the other two shows came from cities seldom used on TV before, Las Vegas and Miami, New York is the setting for many a police show on television so it really had to standout.

Keeping the same formula which has worked so successfully in the previous two connotations, the main emphasis of all of the CSI shows is the cast and this one is a good as ever. What each of the shows have in common is a strong leading character and 'CSI: New York' has that with Det. Mac Taylor. Played by acclaimed cinematic actor Gary Sinise, Mac is a more of a complex character than any of the other lead investigators in the CSI universe. With a past that is riddled with grief, Mac throws himself into the work, sacrificing his personal life completely. Sinise is another movie actor that has made the move to television and this is becoming a more familiar trend, due to increasing production values and far better and more creative scripts than what Hollywood is producing at the present time. Mac is a character that he can really get his teeth into and with the amount of time each year spent with the character; he will get the chance to develop him greatly.

Joining Sinise is another excellent ensemble cast that you have come to expect from the CSI franchise. Melina Kanakaredes as Det. Stella Bonasera, Carmine Giovinazzo as hot headed Det. Danny Messer, Vanessa Ferlito as Det. Aiden Burn, Eddie Cahill as Homicide Det. Don Flack and Hill Harper as Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Sheldon Hawkes all come together to form an investigative team that have there own problems, as well as expertises to the work. This is an excellent ensemble cast that work well together and are in the process of creating some interesting characters.

'CSI: New York' is just as good as the previous two programmes in the franchise. With suitably different characters to make it stand out and an interesting assortment of crimes that come from the big city, this is a good start to a promising new CSI. While the programme still suffers from the major CSI problem that the show is all about the cast, we do get some more insights into the characters which allow us to become more invested in the show. The CSI franchise continues to grow.