Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Today
Discussion With Creator of 'CSI'
Aired July 18, 2002 - 10:40 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: That's the opening theme and the opening scenes to "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," one of the nominees for this year's Emmy for best drama. For those who help craft the highly praised show, the drama is just now beginning. They, and other nominees, have to wait until September to hear who will capture the statuette. The list was revealed this morning, and it seen live right here on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURA INNES, ACTRESS: The nominations in the drama series category are "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Law and Order," "Six Feet Under," "24," and "The West Wing."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Anthony Zuiker is the creator and executive producer of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." He joins us this morning from Los Angeles.
Good to see you, again, man, how are you?
ANTHONY ZUIKER, CREATOR, "CSI": Good to see you, how are you?
HARRIS: Hey, I'm great, and I'm happy for you. Glad to see you guys did this. And you see what kind of company you're in, that's a pretty tall company.
ZUIKER: It's unbelievable to wake up to those kind of nominations and that kind of company, it's just a dream again, and we're very excited, and it should be a war on the 22nd.
HARRIS: You're on a role, man, I got to tell you. Were you watching this morning as the announcements were made, or did you hear about it from somebody else?
ZUIKER: No, Carol Minelson (ph)and Donna Hue (ph), they're both executive producers, and myself, have the annual, like, sleepover at night, and we woke up at 5:30 in the morning with your camera crews, and we have the nominations announced live. We're in like in pajamas, and robes and everything else. So it was a grand old time, and we're pretty excited.
HARRIS: That's a pretty cool robe, man. Nice to see you don't wear Garanimals or anything. That's very good. Very smart move on your part, buddy.
ZUIKER: Hold on, that's my bosses father's robe from Hong Kong, and it cost like 17 grand. So to keep the boss happy, I had to wear it.
HARRIS: OK, no problem there.
Now, is there any disappointment at all that none of the individual characters got nominations?
ZUIKER: We're bummed out about Marg Helgenberger and Billy Petersen. They're both the glue to our show, the glue to our series. But also the being nominated actually also nominates them, because of the success of the show, so hats off to our cast, hats off to our fabulous crew. We have a great team, and we're all very happy in the nominations.
HARRIS: Did you ever have any doubts?
ZUIKER: Absolutely. We take nothing for granted. We didn't get the nomination last year, but this year recognizing the show is a big deal. So we're holding our breath the whole time.
HARRIS: Have you talked with any of the other cast members this morning or any of the other staff?
ZUIKER: We talk to Marg Helgenberger this morning. She was very exciting. We're still trying to track down Billy. I'm sure he's busy doing interviews, but as far as we've heard so far, CBS and everybody is very, very happy.
HARRIS: They must be happy. Because this -- go ahead.
ZUIKER: I'm sorry, hats off to Alan Ball and people at "Six Feet Under," 23 nominations is amazing. They're going to have a big night on the 22nd, and couldn't happen to a better guy.
HARRIS: Yes, good move on your part, a classy move.
I'll tell you something, this has really got to raise the bar in some regards to what may be expected of you down the road, because I know a lot of people -- I know you -- we talked a couple of months ago -- you didn't expect this kind of success, especially not this quickly. What kind of pressure does this put on you now?
ZUIKER: Well, I'll tell you, with the new show coming out "CSI Miami: Monday at 10:00, and with the return of season three of "CSI," you know, there's so much pressure, there's no pressure. We're writing both shows, producing both shows, getting geared up, taking nothing for granted, and just trying to entertain America for 44 minutes and 15 seconds twice a week and ride the wave.
HARRIS: And doing it well. Hey, listen, do you know this morning we've been taking e-mails from the audience about what they think their favorite shows are and who should have gotten nominations. I don't know if you've seen any or seen our announcements about it, but let me show you one of the e-mails that we just got in a moment ago.
"Without a doubt, "CSI," best show to come around since "X- Files." The acting, writing, directing, filming and editing are excellent. And I've learned an awfully lot about forensics from this show. If I was younger and starting a career, that's probably what I'd go into."
That's from Donna in Old Lyme, Connecticut.
What do you say to that?
ZUIKER: I hope that's not the code name for my mother sending an e-mail in.
Thank you, Donna. God bless you, keep watching, and just know that every single word, every single comment that we write is for you, the audience, and thanks for those great words.
HARRIS: Well listen, congratulations, and hope that we had some help in giving you some good karma on this one. You have a lot of fans around here.
ZUIKER: Thank you very much. Good to see you, Leon.
HARRIS: All right, thanks, man. Appreciate that. Anthony Zuiker, actually creator of the "CSI: Crime Scene Investigators."
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
