News Bullets

By Carolina
March 1, 2006 - 8:41 PM

In recognition for his work with the USO, the Disabled American Veterans, and the Disabled for Life Memorial fund, actor Gary Sinise has been selected to receive the first annual Pennsylvania Speaker�s Ben Franklin Award for Humanitarian Service. The award will be presented by House Speaker John M. Perzel at this year's Speaker's Ball.
It's not the only award Sinise will receive this year. The actor will also receive the National Italian American Foundation's (NIAF) Special Achievement Award in Entertainment from actor Joe Mantegna in Los Angeles on March 3rd.
CSI actor Gary Dourdan received the NAACP's Image Award of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his performance of Warrick Brown. The actor has been nominated four consecutive years with two wins now.
CSI: Miami's season 4 finally premiered in Holland last night, according to the CSI Forum. The country is also expecting the New York premiere, which will take place on March 2nd, and the CSI premiere, set to begin on March 6th. In Norway, "Grave Danger" finally aired last night. The country reported that 300 thousand viewers have been following CSI, which put the show, along with Desperate Housewives as one of the country's most watched.
Jorja Fox (Sara Sidle) will be one of the presenters at this year's Twentieth Anniversary Genesis Awards, which honor the major news and entertainment media for producing outstanding works that raise public awareness of animal-protection issues. The CSI episode "Unbearable" also put the show in the Outstanding Dramatic Series category for its negative depiction of canned hunting.
According to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Hollywood bureau, television dramas in Hollywood have shown a pleasing representation of minorities, but sitcoms still need to step up. Executive director Vic Bulluk especially praised Grey's Anatomy for its racially diverse cast. "What shows like Lost and Grey's Anatomy and the CSIs show is that people identify with personality and personality traits as much, if not more so, than they racially identify," Bulluk said.
Based on a new British study, DNA samples from a gathered from a crime scene could help investigators predict the last name of the criminal. Scientists have found that certain traits of the Y chromosome can lead investigators to a certain group of surnames, and then to the killer. "You might have a situation where the Y chromosome predicts 25 names. So you could go and see in the pool of suspects whether the names are there," said Dr Mark Jobling from the University of Leicester. "If they are... you could then ask them for a DNA sample and do conventional DNA profiling to see if they match the crime scene sample."
According to the 2006 Reader Awards, CSI has lost a lot of its punch, so much so that the show didn't make it into this year's list of best television shows. Ratings rival Desperate Housewives, however, made it to number 5, while Lost was the audience's favorite once again. CSI plummeted down to the #12 spot.
Daily Variety reports that Emily Procter (Calleigh Duquesne) will return to The West Wing this year for the show's farewell episode. Procter played the White House council Ainsley Hayes during seasons 2 and 3. Many of the former actors are also expected to return to the show, which will air its final episode in May.
Marg Helgenberger (Catherine Willows) will appear in the Oxygen Network's first ever Bunco Championships. Helgenberger will not play but will reportedly encourage the players to keep the dice rolling. The Bunco Championships will be an hour long show and will air on March 10th at 8pm.
Adventure Gamers has the official scoop on the third CSI video game Dimensions of Murder. According to the website, the game features five different cases, and has been improved graphically with a 3-dimensional feature that enables players to get close-ups of the evidence. Much like the show, the game will also include a GMC Mobile Analysis Unit for quick evidence analysis on the field. Dimensions of Murder is expected to hit stores late this month.
10-year-old Cierra Ramirez, who played Isabel Terraza on this week's episode of Miami, "Deviant," said she hopes the role will open some doors for her future plans. "I take this as a short cut," she said. "I want to be an executive producer-slash-writer, cause I love to write and the executive producer � you're the boss of everything." Despite having gotten the role on Miami, however, her parents didn't allow her to watch the show due to its adult content.
Forensic specialists are getting together in Canada this week to discuss the CSI: Effect, which has jurors in real life trials demanding the amount of evidence they see on CSI. For real-life crime scene investigators and law enforcers, it's become a hassle to deal with jurors who are CSI fans. "We're going to have to present our evidence to the courts, and ultimately to the jurors, and they're going to have a certain potential expectation of the forensic evidence that was recovered from the scene," said Staff Sgt. Tony McCulloch.
The American Society of Cinematographers recently awarded Nathan Hope top honor for his work in the episode "Who Shot Sherlock?" in the society's Outstanding Achievement Awards gala.
According to a recent TV Guide poll, 60% of voters want to see Grissom and Catherine get together, while 36% want to see the bug man with Sara and 4% with Lady Heather. And according to Elyse, TV Guide also includes Catherine's John Frieda Radiant Red Shampoo as one of the many products we can't live without.