Zuiker Wants Every Night To Be A 'CSI' Night

See Also: 'MIA/NYC - NonStop' Episode Guide

From this fall, CSI will be on three nights a week. But if Anthony Zuiker had his way, there'd be a different CSI on the box every night from Monday to Friday.

Speaking with Gail Shister at the Philadelphia Enquirer, Zuiker said the CSI spin-offs would draw audiences because they have a "formula that works" like the various Law & Order incarnations.

"We're just beginning to tap different avenues. As long as 50 percent feels fresh and 50 percent feels like where we came from, we're always going to be successful," he said.

Zuiker is currently overseeing the gestation of CSI: New York, starring Academy Award-nominee Gary Sinise as Detective Rick Calucci. Calucci is a widower who lost his wife in the September 11 terrorist attacks, and Zuiker said this will play a big part in the new show. "I knew in my heart this would be a show about heroes. Nine/11 is still very fresh in people's minds. We want to handle it with care."

Calucci and his fellow CSIs will also be more fleshed-out as characters, according to the writer-producer. While CSI: New York will still be a procedural drama series, the characters won't be mere cardboard cutouts to further the plot. "As a franchise, we're at the point where we've done every scientific trick in the book. Viewers have been asking for more character moments. They want to know who these people are and how they deal with the job."

CSI: New York will be introduced this May in a special crossover episode of CSI: Miami, in which Horatio Caine will travel to the Big Apple to work with Calucci and his team.

The complete interview can be found at the Philadelphia Inquirer.

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