I like CSI. Yes, I know it's ridiculous, and has very dubious scientific operation duplication, especially with regard to what things cost and the length of time they take (I'll be back in five minutes, I just want to check the DNA on this...), but at least it understands scientific method, and tries to impress that upon people.
However the subsequent spin-offs move further and further away from reality. New York is presented as having almost limitless wads of cash (hey, why not have a virtual reality autopsy right here?) and Miami might as well be an SF show for its out-there presentation of how things are done.
Here in the UK a sketch show presented a running joke about writers who wrote about various settings for their stories (cricket, hospital, outer space) without doing any sort of research beforehand ("Stand back, I'm going to use the electric shock that's sort of medicine if you're ill, but can make you very ill if you're fine, clear, *flatlines* oh no, he was fine, but now he's poorly from too much electric").
I'm convinced that the way CSI writing teams go about research is this: CSI Vegas picks the most TV-worthy stories from actual cases, with advice from actual proffesionals, and a little bending of the truth for dramatic purposes. CSI New York writers watch CSI Vegas and make a series based on the methods they saw, but bend the truth a little for dramatic purposes, with advice from actual police officers. CSI Miami Writers watch CSI New York for research on the method, but bend the "truth" from this for dramatic purposes, with advice from actual people who live near Miami.
The next step is to write another series, just watching CSI Miami for research, with advice from actual lunatics. They've talked about making CSI London for a while now. I'm convinced the only reason they haven't gone ahead with it is any treatment they come out with ends up breaching the copyrights already set down by JK Rowling
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