NEW YORK (AP) – There was scant evidence suggesting it would be a hit.
“CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” was a last-minute pickup by CBS, plugged into a Friday lineup whose widely forecast surefire hit would be a reboot of “The Fugitive,” not a quirky little drama dwelling on hair fibers and blood spatter.
“I thought it was never going to succeed,” says Jorja Fox. At the time she had a recurring role on “The West Wing” as a Secret Service agent, “but I thought, ‘How fun would it be just to take this ride for a little while!’ By Christmas, I figured I would be back on ‘The West Wing.'”
“I figured there would be an audience for it,” says William Petersen – “among those people who do crossword puzzles. I never thought the audience would also be everyone who’s NEVER done a crossword puzzle!”
Though set in Las Vegas, “CSI” occupies the world of forensic investigators who solve criminal cases not in the streets or an interrogation room, but in the lab, where the truth reveals itself in the evidence they probe.