Women The Driving Force Behind 'CSI'?

CSI executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer appeared on Thursday's Entertainment Tonight to talk about the strong women cast in all three CSI shows - and the real life women who've helped him bring it all together.

"When you hire Marg [Helgenberger (Catherine Willows)] and the rest of the women, it is easy to characterize them as smart because they are smart as individuals," said Bruckheimer. He also credited producers Ann Donahue and Carol Mendelsohn for their input. "Ann and Carol came up the hard way and they created these women characters from themselves. [There] is a little bit of our writers in each of the characters," he said.

Earlier in the week, The Insider ran an article on the three women – revealing what Marg Helgenberger, Emily Procter (Calleigh Duquesne) and Melina Kanakaredes (Stella Bonasera) were up to before they were famous. The actual show featured numerous clips of the trio pre-CSI fame, and listed some of their less-than-glamorous former occupations – including Helgenberger's stint as a meat-packer, Kanakaredes winning runner-up status in the Miss Ohio beauty pageant, and Procter's early TV job as a weather girl.

Despite the number of strong women, at least one columnist felt women were being sorely unrepresented – in their status as audience members. Seattle Times columnist Kay McFadden noted that most of the men of CSI portrayed "a form of realism that insists officers of the law are world weary, emotionally oppressed and entirely too absorbed in their jobs and AA meetings to flirt." She did reserve praise for CSI: New York skipper Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise), adding that "Sinise's character is poised to be the first CSI chief that combines an enticing appearance with seductive vulnerability."

The full ET article can be found here; the Seattle Times piece here, and the Insider piece reposted at Talk CSI.

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