Zuiker & Donahue Preview Tonight's 'Felony Flight'

See Also: 'Felony Flight' Episode Guide

Anthony Zuiker and Ann Donahue are not scared to guarantee this week's Miami/New York mini-saga will knock your socks off.

The special crossover event is something the producers have been considering for a year and nearly developed last season, until they decided to hold back and wait for the right moment. "This is just the event the franchise needs at this point -- not only for NY, but to treat the viewers," said Zuiker, series creator and New York showrunner. "I feel that it's some of our best work."

In "Felony Flight," Henry Darius, a convicted serial killer, confesses to an unsolved murder and is flown from New York to Miami to show the police exactly where he buried the body. However, as the plane flies into Miami, it crashes and Darius escapes. Now, as Darius begins a Miami killing spree, New York's Det. Mac Taylor, who put Darius away the first time, comes to help Horatio and the team track Darius down before he kills again.

The story will conclude two nights after that in the New York episode "Manhattan Manhunt," which will see Horatio following Mac back to New York to hopefully put the cuffs on Darius for good. Of course, this isn't the first time Horatio Caine and Mac Taylor have worked together, the two characters first met in the first crossover episode "MIA/NYC – NonStop."

And from the moment David Caruso (Horatio Caine) and Gary Sinise (Mac Taylor) came together in that first crossover, the producers knew they wanted to see them work together again. "The way those two talked, they just had a give-and-take that was so cool," Miami showrunner Ann Donahue said. "I thought, Oh my gosh, I love these guys and I love this show. So what happens as a creative type is, you want your baby back."

"They are both extremely prepared actors who don't miss a beat," Zuiker later told Entertainment Tonight. "When together, they have the magic to make you believe they have been acting together 20 years. That is the real treat people will have when they watch this crossover."

But even without having watched the crossover people are already wondering: will there be more crossovers in the future, and will CSI ever get to meet New York? "You never know," Zuiker told TV Guide. "The beauty of this franchise is that it's very interchangeable in terms of how the combinations will work. But if you do too many of these a year, you run the risk of killing the writers!"

"Felony Flight" airs tonight at 10/9c on CBS, and the story will continue on Wednesday night at 10/9c in the New York episode "Manhattan Manhunt." Visit ET Online, TV Guide, or Zap2It to read the original articles.

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