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CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

American crime fiction television series (2000–2015)

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ117396
Source-derived summary

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American procedural drama television series that aired on CBS from October 6, 2000, to September 27, 2015, spanning 15 seasons. It is the first series in the CSI franchise. The series originally starred William Petersen, Marg Helgenberger, Gary Dourdan, George Eads, Jorja Fox, and Paul Guilfoyle. Other cast members included Eric Szmanda, Robert David Hall, David Berman, Louise Lombard, Wallace Langham, Lauren Lee Smith, Ted Danson, Laurence Fishburne, and Elisabeth Shue. The series concluded with a feature-length finale, Immortality.

During its original broadcast, CSI became one of the biggest phenomena in television history, and was CBS' most successful series at the time with the highest ratings. It received positive reviews from television critics, and won six Primetime Emmy Awards, although it received criticism from public officials and law enforcement for its depiction of crimes, graphic content, and other mature content.

A follow-up series, CSI: Vegas, premiered in 2021 and ended in 2024 after 3 seasons.

Premise

Mixing deduction and character-driven drama, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation follows a team of crime scene investigators (CSIs) employed by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVPD for short) as they use physical evidence to solve murders.

The team is originally led by Dr.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” as american crime fiction television series (2000–2015). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Crime, Scene and Investigation.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2000, 2015, 2021, 2024—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Crime, Scene and Investigation providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”, the useful work is to connect “american crime fiction television series (2000–2015)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q117396. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2000, 2015, 2021 and 2024.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

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  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow CSI: Crime Scene Investigation primary sources, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation archive and Crime research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.