Have Crime Shows Reached A Saturation Point?

CSI and Law & Order are reveling in the ratings game, with two and three spin-offs respectively. But media experts wonder: how much is too much?

The two franchises have produced seven different crime shows combined, and when looking at the ratings it's easy to see why the shows keep reproducing. America can't seem to get enough of them. "Since 9/11, there's been a hunger for shows where justice is being served," said Marc Berman, senior television writer at Mediaweek. "Crime shows have become a new kind of comfort food."

It's no wonder the ratings competition is so fierce. While all three CSIs, including syndicated repeats, average more than 65 million viewers a week, the Law & Order family is comfortably ahead, with more than 92 million viewers. The wide gap is easy to explain: reruns of two of the Law & Order shows, Law & Order and Special Victims Unit, can be seen every day, while only the original CSI is on regular syndication, with Miami repeats airing during the weekend. However, in every other measure CSI is well above its crime ratings rival. CSI, Miami, and New York rank in 3rd, 7th, and 21st in the Nielsen ratings respectively, while Law & Order and its first two spin-offs rank in 23rd, 24th and 28th.

But media pundits wonder how long the crime show trend will last. Law & Order's latest spin-off, Trial By Jury, only managed to pull in a decent 17.8 rating in its premiere night, and CSI's third child, CSI: New York, is not doing as well in the ratings as its predecessors. In the case of spin-offs, too much of a good thing may not be a good thing after all. "It might be that nobody knew what the saturation point was for the crime shows," said Variety columnist Brian Lowry. "Maybe we're seeing the cusp."

Berman agreed, and hopes CSI won't make the same mistake Law & Order committed by creating a third spin off. "Law and Order has peaked. Four hours is enough already."

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