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Question: I’ve been a *CSI *(Las Vegas) fan from the beginning. But this season has just lost me. I don’t understand why Sara is back while Grissom is off in Paris? I thought their love story ended beautifully in the jungle. I don’t like the “happy Sara” either. It just seems too OOC (out of character) for me. I don’t care about the Dr. Jekyll storyline the way I did with the miniature killer, blue-paint killer or the Paul Millander story. Laurence Fishburne seems wasted on the show and not sure of what he is doing. Short of canceling the show, do you see anyway to fix it? Or has it jumped the shark? –Michelle

Matt Roush: Let’s leave the shark aside, OK? What we have with original CSI is a show in its 10th season, experiencing an understandable slump, especially in the wake of losing its lead star. Bringing back Jorja Fox was a reaction to the show having shed too many of its core characters (including Grissom and Warrick) too quickly. And while it may not please the …shippers," I’ve always liked Sara as part of the ensemble so am happy to see her still around, and she gives us an occasional link to Grissom as well. (The long-distance relationship doesn’t make much sense, but then, it’s hard to imagine Sara being content just sitting around while Gil lectures at the Sorbonne or whatever.) To CSI’s bigger problems, I agree they haven’t made Fishburne’s character dynamic or compelling–even the stunt where he crossed over to the other CSI shows fell flat (though the ratings were strong)–and the new arc hasn’t caught fire. It’s possible CSI exhaustion has simply set in; it happened with Law & Order, too, although that show has creatively rebounded in the last year or so. Not sure what CSI can do to refresh things without upsetting the long-time loyalists who have attachments to Catherine, Nick, the lab rats, Brass, Doc Robbins, etc. The show appears to have peaked, and it’s not likely to go back to the way it was. So we, like CBS, may just have to settle for a while.

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