‘CSI: Vegas’: What to Expect From the Series Premiere, Plus How to Watch
Gil Grissom is back on the case. CSI: Vegas, a 10-episode reboot of the mega-popular series CSI, premieres Oct. 6 on CBS. The new show brings back a few fan-favorite characters, including Grissom (William Petersen) and Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox), and introduces new team members. And yes, it still has the same memorable theme song — The Who’s “Who Are You?”
The Crime Lab’s faces an existential threat in the ‘CSI: Vegas’ series premiere
In the CSI: Vegas series premiere, an attack on Jim Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) kicks off a conspiracy that targets the Las Vegas crime lab. As the results of past investigations are called into question, the Crime Lab faces an existential threat. And thousands of convicted killers could end up back on the streets of Las Vegas.
“Every case. Every defendant that was put away with evidence from our lab has been called into question,” Sidle says in a teaser. “Our life’s work is on the line.”
With the lab’s reputation at stake, Maxine Roby (Paula Newsome) and her team of investigators call on Grissom and Sidle to deploy new forensic techniques in order to keep Sin City safe.
Jorja Fox says this isn’t your mother’s ‘CSI’
CSI: Vegas is bringing back some beloved characters. But the new show isn’t just a rehash of the original, Fox promises.
“This isn’t your mother’s or your grandmother’s CSI,” she said in a promo video for the new season (via YouTube). “It is a new day. It’s 2021, the lab has changed.”
Those changes reflect real-life developments in the field of forensic science, executive producer Anthony Zuiker said at a TCA panel for the new show (via Deadline).
“Science has changed, technology has changed, forensics has changed, and I think the great benefit to the franchise for CSI: Vegas is you can really see the upgrade in not only the storytelling, but the cinematic storytelling, and the forensic gadgets, and just how to tell stories in 2021 versus 2000 proper,” Zuiker said.
Executive producer Jason Tracey said the new season reflects recent advances in genetics and DNA technology.
“One of the big ones that’s changed the most in the last five or six years since the show has been on the air is in the area of genetics,” he said. “The show I think taught the world a lot about what DNA is, but now what scientists are able to do with DNA is really something special. And that’s one of the reasons why our new character played by Paula, Max Roby, is running the lab, is from a genetics background. … We can now build a story around a pool of suspects, Agatha Christie-style, that have brown hair and blue eyes in a way that 10 years ago that was simply impossible.”
How to watch ‘CSI: Vegas’
CSI: Vegas premieres Wednesday, Oct. 6 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS. That’s 21 years to the day that the original CSI premiered.
New episodes of CSI: Vegas will air weekly and will also be available to stream live and on-demand on Paramount+.
Want to revisit the original CSI and its spinoffs CSI: Miami and CSI: NY? You’ll find those on Paramount+. All 15 seasons of CSI are also streaming on Hulu, along with 10 seasons of CSI: Miami. You can also stream CSI episodes for free on Pluto TV.
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