This is what we know, this is the truth: CSI is a global television phenomenon. It began in 2000 with "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation", a dark procedural drama about forensic science set within the neon escapism of Las Vegas, in which Grissom and his team search within the very vitals of the murder victims they investigate. Nearly 17 million viewers tuned in each week and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" fast became America's number one show. The success of the series moved it into franchise territory, continuing in 2002 with the body beautifuls and dismembereds of "CSI: Miami" (now the world's biggest television show) and again in 2004 extending the francise to the melancholic noir of post-9/11 New York with "CSI: NY". "Reading 'CSI'" pieces together the evidence in order to understand what the CSI shows mean to contemporary television culture, both in America and beyond. The varied, intellectually curious and often polemic responses to CSI from critics, journalists and industry professionals focus on a range of issues from the pornographic quality of the CGI effects, the relationship of characters to their narratives, and the reaction of the fans, to the semiotics of Horatio Caine's sunglasses. This in depth, compulsive read also includes a full episode guide.

CSI is a global television phenomenon. It began in 2000 with "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation", a dark procedural drama about forensic science set within the neon escapism of Las Vegas. This book pieces together the evidence in order to understand what the CSI shows mean to contemporary television culture, both in America and beyond.

About the Author
Mike Allen is Lecturer in Film and Electronic Media, Birkbeck College, University of London. His books include 'Family Secrets', a study of D.W. Griffith's feature films, and 'Contemporary U.S. Cinema'. His new book, 'Live from the Moon: Film, Television and the Space Race will be published by I.B. Tauris in 2007.

Reviews
Michael Allen (Birkbeck College) - " So Many Different Ways to Look At It: CSI as Multi-platform Storyworld." Matt Hills and Amy Luther (Cardiff School of Journalism) - "'Crime Scene - Do Not Cross': Investigating the Textual Boundaries and Paths of 'CSI Fandom'" Simone Knox (University of Reading) - "Five's Finest: The Import of CSI to British Terrestrial Television" Roberta Pearson (University of Nottingham) - "Anatomising Gilbert Grissom: the Structure and Function of the Televisual Character" Karen Lury (University of Glasgow) - "The Sound of CSI" Charlie Gere (Lancaster University) - "The Digital Trace and the Absent Body in CSI" Sue Turnbull (LaTrobe University, Australia)- "CSI and the Aesthetics of the TV Crime Series" Silke Panse (University of Kent) - 'The Bullet Confirms the Story told by the Potato': Materials without Motives in C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation" Karen Boyle & Elke Weissmann (University of Glasgow) - "Evidence of Things Unseen: The Pornographic Aesthetic and the Search for Truth in CSI" Deborah Jermyn (Roehampton University) - "Body Matters: Realism, Spectacle and the Corpse in CSI" Patrick West (Griffith University, Australia) - "Horatio Caine's Sunglasses and the Construction of Identity: 'Looking' and 'Being Looked At' in CSI: Miami" Janet McCabe (Manchester Metropolitan University) - "Mac's Melancholy: Cultural Trauma, 9/11 and Bodily Absence in CSI:NY" Lucia Rahilly - " The Quintessence of Con: the Las Vegas of CSI" David Bianculli - "The CSI Phenomenon" Dermot Moran - "RTE and the C.S.I. Franchise: Buying and Scheduling CSI on Irish Television" Anna Konig - "Who are they? Style Codes of the CSI Investigators " Shelley Robinson - "CSI on the (Real-life) Pathology Table" Andrew Anthony - "No Need to Pathologise..." (The Observer Review)



Book Information
ISBN 9781845114282
Author Michael Allen
Format Paperback
Page Count 304
Imprint I.B. Tauris
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC