[…] Question: I went to bed Thursday night thinking, ‘I’ve got to ask Matt what he thinks of [www.cbs.com/primetime/csi/ CSI],’ and then Friday I saw there was a CSI [www.tvguidemagazine.com/csi/sara-is-back-2548.html recap] by Neil Turitz and found it SO RIGHT ON that I commented right away. I’d always loved the show and had high hopes for it after Gil left, thinking Laurence Fishburne would bring something different to the mix and the rest of the wonderful cast was still there (Sara had left already) so I gave it my all but it didn’t give back. I kept watching, hoping, cause nobody likes to see an old friend get sick and die, but it was losing me emotionally, and then came the return last night and “return” is really the word for it. I found it had gotten back its sizzle and excitement. Having Sara back and talking about Grissom and that they’re married and she’s just there because they were shorthanded and he’s doing a seminar made it seem so right, and the wild stop-action opening, and the what’s-in-that-body closing, added even more sizzle, as did the story that kept me guessing, the way their stories used to. Ray is now more into forensics, Catherine looked awful (green blond STRAIGHT HAIR) but I thought it was in keeping with her being “in charge” and overwhelmed, and forgetting what Sara so perfectly said that the thing missing is HER, and Nick now being into spiders, and Greg feeling he was the bottom man on the totem pole yet doing a great job on a supposedly unrelated case, even telling the bored cop how important it all was. I was SO delighted. I really think CSI (not just Sara) is BACK. I’m hoping it stays exciting and fresh and fun, and I’m wondering what you, my favorite critic, think of the NEW CSI!–Dorothy

Matt Roush: From the dazzling opening tableau to that tease at the end, it was a very satisfying way to start the season. (Can’t believe it’s already the 10th!) Sara coming back, even for a limited run, is a very good thing, and so was the off-camera departure of Riley, who never quite fit in. Promoting Langston, hopefully making him more pro-active this season, was also a necessary move. Everyone knew going in that last season would be a transitional and probably rocky one for the show, but Thursday’s opener reminded us that how solid the mothership of this franchise still is. But the competition this year is outrageous, and I’m afraid many weeks I’ll be catching up with these episodes the next day or over the weekend. The mantra I heard in the office over and over on Friday: ‘Thursdays are going to kill me!’

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