TVSquad

Now here's a show that was before its time.

UNSUB was a show that ran for a few months (eight episodes) on NBC in 1989. It was about an FBI forensics team that investigated murders and other serious crimes. Sound familiar? This was CSI and Criminal Minds before there was a CSI or a Criminal Minds.

Last night's second episode of ABC's new drama Life on Mars, the American version of the British hit, took a precipitous drop in the ratings. This is really bad news because Life on Mars may be the best new show of the season, unless you're in love with The Mentalist, which I am not, or maybe The Eleventh Hour or My Own Worst Enemy has tickled your fancy.

What's clear is that ABC is trying to build a solid Thursday with Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty and Life on Mars, but Ugly Betty is off to a rocky start, Grey's isn't the powerhouse it once was, and the pressure is on Mars to keep Grey's lead and improve on it.

The show got off to a good start in the premiere, but last night was off 25%. That's not good.

(S01E02) My name is Jen, and I have taken over reviewing Moonlight. If you have read some of the reviews so far, you will know that my colleague Rich Keller hated the show. Most of the commenters hated it too. I seem to have a higher tolerance for it, though, so here goes.

I watched this episode with my best friend, and she said, "If you like vampire smut, you kind of have to like this show." And we both like vampire smut. One other difference between my friend and me and Rich Keller is that we think Mick St. John is good-looking enough to tune to in every Friday night when we have nothing else to do. That might not be the greatest criteria in the world, but I don't understand why people tune in and watch Desperate Housewives week after week, so there you go.

FOX has set up a special MySpace page for the drama Bones, and it's just one of the special promotional ideas the network has for a plotline on the show.

The page lists profiles for 18 characters on the show (regular characters and guest stars), blogs from the characters, videos, and other clues to the mystery of who will be killed (and who the killer is) on the May 9 episode of the show. Fans will actually be able to visit the sites, watch the videos, and read the blogs after every episode to collect clues to see if they can guess the identity of the murder victim and the murderer.

I feel bad about not watching the show anymore. I watched for most of the first season and it was actually pretty good. With this new promotion and the show's growing popularity, I just might try to get back into the show again and see how it is.

For the past week, CBS has been running a sad preview for tonight's episode of CSI, the last one for star William Petersen (for a while anwyay). Liev Schreiber joins the cast soon.

Hey, I'll admit I don't watch this show (even though it's the MOST IMPORTANT SHOW IN THE UNIVERSE). So I ask fans: is this departure as big as they're making it out to be. Yes, yes, I know he's the star of the show and he's the leader of the team and all that. But the commercials make it sound, with the "you never thought he'd leave" voiceover and the tinkling piano and the emotion, you'd think that Lucy Ricardo was just hit by a bus or maybe Petersen had died in real life and this was his last show.

Why is Petersen leaving temporarily anyway? To star in a play? Burnt out? Contract negotiations? The episode preview should get into that: "People come and go...but you never thought he'd leave...but due to other commitments and just a feeling that he had to get away for a while, our star has to leave and will be replaced by another actor...tonight, on a very special CSI."

Don't panic, William Petersen fans, don't panic! It's only temporary.

Petersen is taking a break from the show for a handful of episodes starting January 12, and Schreiber will play another investigator who comes in to solve bizarre murders in Las Vegas.

I wonder if this is a tryout for Schreiber. It's often been rumored that Petersen would not stay with CSI forever, so maybe producers are taking this break as an opportunity to try out someone else in the role if Petersen decides to move on. I'm kinda surprised that Schreiber took the gig, since he's been focusing on movies and the stage for several years, but he could add something interesting to the show. Though I don't watch the show anymore. Is there anything interesting happening on any of the CSIs these days?

I think I'm reading too much into this, but it's still fun. Pictured above is some desktop wallpaper from Showtime's new original series Dexter. I was looking at it and wondered if there were any hidden clues about the upcoming premiere season. I know CSI did something like that to pump last year's season finale but that was an actual promo poster and this is just plain ol' wallpaper. Regardless, there's still a lot going on in the picture. There's a guy in the second floor window, the three women gathered around something (someone?), police lines blocking off the sidewalk, and what appears to be a couple of shirtless men to the far right. You can see the full size image here. Anyone else think there might be something more to this? It just looks like one of those pictures that has some kind of hidden message...

(S06E24) I wasn't too excited about this episode mainly because I watched so few episodes this year. For whatever reason, this was the first season of CSI that didn't consistently hold my attention. This finale kept with that trend. It just wasn't that good. Especially when you consider how much they put into last year's two-hour Tarantino explosion. It was amazing. This one just felt like a regular episode.

(S06E21) I normally don't watch this show, which means I never review it. That being said, I'm glad I tuned in last night because it was fantastic. It case you couldn't pick up on it, the title (and the entire story) are an homage to the Kurosawa classic Rashômon. The episode, just like the film, gave the deatils of the crime from everyone's point of view. The "mama" in Rashomama refers to the victim, a prominent Vegas lawyer who happened to be the mother of the groom at a wedding.

It took the team almost 9 hours to process the crime scene, and then it all fell apart because Nick, Greg, and Sara decided to get a cup of coffee. While they were sitting in the diner, someone stole Nick's SUV and it had all the evidence in it. That's, um, what do you call it? Oh, right - not good.

This is actually really good news. I thought this show was a goner, but having American Idol before and/or after it must have helped the ratings. FOX has confirmed that they have given another 22 episode order for the Emily Deschanel/David Boreanez drama.

I have to admit I haven't seen the past 4 or 5 episodes, but still, this is definitely a show that deserves a second season and some time to grow.

This was a sensational episode. For whatever reason, after it was over, I felt very satisfied, accomplished. Wow... I really just wrote that. Seriously though, it was very good.

One thing I've noticed as of late, is that a majority of reader comments that I've received on past CSI: Miami reviews seem to share a common sentiment. People hate David Caruso and I can't understand why. So he's a poor actor. I can accept that but he still makes this show. I like his "I'm reading this directly off of a cue card" delivery for many of his lines. I think it adds to his character, the dryness of his attitude. At least he a has a character you can pick apart, unlike Gary Sinise's shadow of a man on CSI: NY.

Okay, back to this episode...

CBS' Crime Scene Investigation franchise has done well with shows like CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, and CSI: Plus Calcium, but what about CSI: Mozart? That's what a TV station in Austria dubbed a forensic analyzation of a human skull which may or may not have belonged to the famous composer. The story goes that Mozart's skull was removed from his grave ten years after his death by the same man who buried him. The skull was kept on display before being moved to a safe in the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Tests, unfortunately, proved inconsequential, though I'm not sure that really matters. It's not like it's his brain or anything, which, had it been preserved, would be much more interesting to study, and/or feed to a bear. At any rate, I think the scientists who studied the skull's DNA may have a great idea for a new show on their hands, one in which investigators study a different deceased celebrity's skull in each episode. They could call it CSI: Famous Skull Unit. I'd watch something like that.