Get Real, CSI
February 18, 2008
I woke up this morning to the sound of two people discussing the consumption of human organs. At first I thought I was dreaming… but as I began to orient myself I realized that I was not, in fact, dreaming. I’d fallen asleep with the television on and I was hearing CSI.
How could I skip a conversation about eating human organs, right?
One thing led to another and I’d watched a couple of episodes of the show. I think there’s a marathon on or something. But it only took those two episodes for me to remember why I never liked CSI (or any of the other crime shows like it).
They’re so unrealistic it’s almost funny.
Now I can’t claim to be an expert on forensics or police work. But it doesn’t take an expert to know that things don’t just fall into place for law enforcement. No one is as lucky as these investigators always seem to be. And no one - not even a professional investigator - knows as much about as many diverse topics as these people seem to know.
In one scene two of these investigators were looking at a bird that appeared to have blood on it. One of them just happened to know the intricate details of bird physiology. Specifically, he knew that birds have different types of feathers and that some of the bleed while others don’t. When his partner asked him how he knew that, his answer was “the Discovery Channel”.
Come on. At least try to make it believable. At least have them look something like that up.
These shows are graphic and violent and they depict the good guys coming out on top despite all odds at the end of the day. I get why people like them. But don’t insult my intelligence. Are there good investigators out there in real life? Sure. Do some of them know a lot about a wide variety of subject? Sure… why not. Do they sometimes get lucky and have things just fall into place for them like the CSI folks do? I suppose it’s possible on occasion.
I know, I know. I should just shut up and enjoy the show for its entertainment value. I just think if you’re going to try to depict something real - like crime scene investigation - you should make it at least halfway realistic.
Right?
Posted in Rants
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February 19th, 2008 at 7:29 am
I don’t watch it either for kind of the same reason. I watched an episode where they chased a bad guy with guns. I couldn’t get over the fact that the crime scene investigators probably aren’t running around nabbing the bad guys. I’m not sure what it is about that show that I can’t suspend my belief like I can with say, 24, where improbable thing after improbable thing happens and I just write it off as expected for a television show.
February 20th, 2008 at 1:45 am
Yeah… I’ve noticed the same thing on shows like CSI. Is it standard procedure for crime scene investigators to not only catch the bad guy, but to be interrogating witnesses and petitioning for warrants?
Maybe it is. I don’t know for sure. But something tells me it’s not. I guess the show wouldn’t be as interesting if all they did was the behind the scenes stuff :P