It’s a crime procedural with the intensity of an action cop show whose lead investigators dab Q-tips, recover hair strands, dive in the ocean for bodies, occasionally shoot their guns, drive SUVs through explosions and push civilians out of harm’s way when a tsunami washes over the city.
They are pretty people, and they dress the part, whether a bridge collapses, the Florida Everglades burn down or they are standing next to a cadaver observing its autopsy.
It’s “CSI”: Miami-style.
The middle child of CBS’ “CSI” franchise is proving to be as hot as its tropical setting. With an average 19.5 million viewers every week, the series ranks sixth among prime-time shows and ninth among viewers who are 18 to 49 years old, the demographic advertisers covet. The show, now in its third season, is growing. Its total audience is up 11 percent from last year, and the 18-to-49 demographic is up 18 percent.
No matter what competitors put up against it, “CSI: Miami” has maintained its strength in its 9 p.m. Monday time slot. NBC’s “Medium” has scored impressive ratings but hasn’t put a dent in “Miami’s” audience. This season, producers have rewarded its loyal followers with a couple of action-filled 90-minute episodes; the next one, set in the Everglades, airs Feb. 21.
“Our challenge was to find our own signature and distinguish ourselves a little bit and to capture some of what Miami is,” said David Caruso, the show’s star.
Week after week, 11.6 million female and 7.9 million male viewers are drawn to Caruso’s serious and compassionate Horatio Caine, the lieutenant in charge of the Miami crime scene investigation unit. Campy and melodramatic, he lets the bad guys know that he takes all crimes personally.
Science prevails in Las Vegas and New York, where Gil Grissom (William Petersen) and Mac Taylor (Sinise), respectively, are as diligent as Caine in solving cases. But they are less prone to check in on victims and their relatives or to make promises to suspects that they will be caught.
CBS President of Entertainment Nina Tassler said she thinks Horatio’s popularity with viewers lies with his sense of vindication for the victim.
“It does inform the storytelling,” Tassler said. “When that line comes out of his mouth, you believe it.”
When an assassin on a speedboat shoots up a party at an oceanfront home, Caine, facing the pink horizon, sums it up wryly: “Drive-by, Miami-style.”
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) and Victoria Rodriguez (vrodriguez@tribune.com)
