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CNN Live Today

Talk With 'CSI' Creator

Aired May 15, 2002 - 10:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Many of you, I am sure, recognize the look and sound here. We're talking about one of television's biggest hits,

It's one of television's biggest hits, CBS's "CSI," crime scene investigation. The drama gets down and dirty with forensics detectives and the seedy side of "Sin City," otherwise known as Las Vegas.

And the series has been so popular since its debut in back in October 2000, that the creators are now launching a spin-off for next season, "CSI Miami." And that could not make Anthony Zuiker any more proud. He is the creator and executive producer of the show, and he joins us this morning from New York.

Good to see you. How are you?

ANTHONY ZUIKER, EXEC. PRODUCER, "CSI": Thank you. Good morning. I'm great.

HARRIS: Congratulations. This has been a heck of a ride for you, huh?

ZUIKER: It's unbelievable. It's like October 6th of 2000, we aired and debuted, and now we are sitting here in May at the up- fronts, and what a two-year roller coaster. It's been great.

HARRIS: I'm telling you, it's amazing to see how far you've gotten in barely two years. It's been really more like just a year and a half. Tell us how you got the idea to begin with, because many of us were fans of the show "Quincy." Most us were thinking, this guy had to steal the idea from "Quincy."

ZUIKER: No, it had nothing to do with "Quincy. My beautiful wife, Jennifer, was watching the Discover Channel, and watched this show called "The New Detectives." And she said, sit down, there is a cool show on about forensics, and I sat next to her, we started watching it. And I thought to myself, there is a heck of world here with a different spin on a cop show.

HARRIS: I can see that. I remember watching that show as a matter of fact.

ZUIKER: It was unreal. So I figured, if the science is pretty interesting and cool, maybe there is a series here.

HARRIS: Well, why Las Vegas?

ZUIKER: I grew up in Vegas, since I was six months old. So I know the town back and forth, and the first thing a network asks you, is can you write 100 shows, and I said yes, well, I live it Vegas, and I think I can do it. I'll need some help.

HARRIS: How easy was it to wrote the first one?

ZUIKER: I am sorry.

HARRIS: How easy was it to write the first one?

ZUIKER: The first one was easy. Now episode 42 and 44 are a lot tougher, because we try not to replicate ourselves, and try to keep the science new and fresh, but Vegas is a perfect backdrop for a crime drama. And so, here we are.

HARRIS: Yes, well, where do the ideas come from? Do they come from real life cases, or what?

ZUIKER: It's a foray of different situation. We have a extensive researching staff. We take ideas from real cases, and loosely based. We did the Binion (ph) trial for our premiere this year. We were more interested in the forensic science on that trial. But between talking with real CSIs, and research and the Internet, we come up with a lot of ideas, and it takes about four or five days to write a script.

HARRIS: Your Web site is cool. Are you responsible for that as well?

ZUIKER: That's a CBS thing. They put a lot of money into that, and we're happy with that.

HARRIS: I have got to give credit where credit is due. It may be another network, but I got say, that's a very cool Web site.

ZUIKER: Very nice.

HARRIS: And speaking of research, I hear that basically to get your ideas and to make sure you were being authentic you actually rode around with one of these crews for a while.

ZUIKER: I rode around with the Las Vegas CSI for five weeks in the graveyard shift. I told the guys, I want the bloodiest, goriest shift. They said, OK, graveyard. Most of the shows that have been primetime dramas have been pretty much day shows. I want to make this a graveyard show, a night show, a 24 hour town, Las Vegas. I saw real life murders. Went to autopsies and found out a lot of the stuff that wasn't in the paper actually happens in Las Vegas, so it pretty scary.

HARRIS: No kidding? What was the scariest thing you saw?

ZUIKER: Probably walking into and finding a dead body laying against the closet door, that was pretty scary.

HARRIS: OK. Speaking of dead bodies, I hear it actually helps some of these actors careers if they are seen in your show as a dead body.

ZUIKER: Yes, it's funny, because we were actually in Santa Clarita, California, where Magic Mountain is, and people will drive, actors will drive an hour and 10 hours to lay down and act dead and get their, like, network primetime debuts, so it's fun.

HARRIS: Now I've heard everything. Let's talk about the spinoff, because it really strikes me as amazing in barely a year and a half, not even fully two years, you will have a spinoff already, and Miami does seem to be a pretty perfect pick from an outsider looking in.

ZUIKER: Absolutely, with Jerry Bruckheimer and Leslie Moonves, at the same time, like osmosis (ph) said, Miami, and we felt that was a town with some energy, an international city, a town with consequence, a town with passion. We feel Miami is a perfect backdrop for a spinoff, and between the airing of the original "CSI" and the new spinoff, this whole thing has been on hyperspeed. It's unbelievable.

HARRIS: Yes, whose idea was it to get David Caruso to come back for this in Miami?

ZUIKER: You know, it's funny, we talked about David Caruso about two months ago, and then we revisited like at the 11th hour, and it was a collective decision by the producers to, say, he let's give this guy a shot, and his comeback is unbelievable. He is going to be a favor force on that show.

HARRIS: You think maybe down the road more cities may be added, you can fill out a whole week, like maybe you guys can be, like, "20/20" or something like that.

ZUIKER: Yes, I am going to talk with Les Moonves and see if we can do "CSI Paris."

HARRIS: There you go.

One last note, I got to ask you this, who comes up with the names for the titles, because I found a couple that I really liked -- "You Got Male," and "Felonious Monk."

ZUIKER: That's our writing staff. There is like "35 KOBO". There is "Unfriendly Skies" for our airplane episode, "Cross Jurisdictions" for the spinoff. So that's the fun part. When you complete your draft, the gift is as a writer, you can name it and is it sticks.

HARRIS: That is great. "Felonious Monk" for some murderous monks or whatever, that is incredible. Way to go. Good luck and congratulations, and also congrats for getting the key to the city of Las Vegas, your hometown. ZUIKER: Oscar Goodman gave me the key to the city. I thank him, thank Las Vegas, and God bless America.

HARRIS: Have you used the key yet?

ZUIKER: I guess I can get a free drink or something.

HARRIS: Good luck doing that, buddy. Anthony Zuicker, thanks much for sharing some time with us, and good luck down the road.

ZUIKER: Thank you.

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