CSI: Miami
Show Details CSI: Miami (aka. Crime Scene Investigation: Miami) is a spin-off of the popular CBS network series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The show trails the investigations of a team of Miami-Dade Police Department forensic scientists as they unveil the circumstances behind mysterious and unusual deaths and crimes committed. CSI: Miami is produced in partnership with the Canadian media company Alliance Atlantis and CBS Paramount Television. On May 14, 2008, CBS renewed the show for a seventh season. Season 7 will begin airing in Fall, 2008.
Production CSI: Miami is filmed primarily in the United States. Location shots are filmed in the South Florida/Miami-Dade area. Some scenes, mainly outdoor, are filmed in Long Beach, CA. Beach areas of Downtown Long Beach are often used for outdoor scenes: Marina Green Park, Rainbow Lagoon Park. The newly constructed high-rise condos there give the presence of Miami. The sculptured walkway paying tribute to the old Pike Roller Coaster can be seen in the background in the episode "Under The Influence" (original air date 10/04/04). There, Alexx and Horatio investigate a body found on Shoreline Drive, a street made famous by the Long Beach Grand Prix. Other locations of Long Beach are used such as Naples, where it's canals and upscale homes with large boat docks and palm trees give a feel of Miami.
Music Like CSI and CSI: NY, CSI: Miami uses a song, "Won't Get Fooled Again," by The Who, as its theme song. The lyrics were written by Pete Townshend, with vocals by Roger Daltrey, from The Who's 1971 album, Who's Next. All throughout the series music plays an important role, with popular music often playing during the course of an episode. Musicians who have lent their music to the show include Jay-Z, Beyonce, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Paul Oakenfold, Audioslave, Nine Inch Nails, Ill Nino, Sigur Ros, Prince, Oasis, M.I.A., Seal, Damien Rice, Lemon Jelly, Eminem, Chamillionaire, Mogwai, Drowning Pool, Black Eyed Peas, Chemical Brothers, Finger Eleven, Kylie Minogue, Papa Roach, Interpol, Chronic Future, Death Cab for Cutie, Foo Fighters, Amy Winehouse, Kasabian, FC Kahuna, Linkin Park, Paolo Nutini, Evanescence, and many more. CSI: Miami: The Soundtrack was released on September 24, 2002 by Hip-O Records.
Plot Like the original CSI, CSI: Miami is a police procedural about a team of forensic scientists. It is set in present-day Miami-Dade County (which mainly includes unincorporated Miami-Dade, as well as Miami, Kendall, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Opa-Locka, Key Biscayne, etc.). The team investigates mysterious and unusual deaths to determine who killed whom and why, and also solves other serious crimes (such as rape). The show frequently focuses on a single case in each episode, or an investigation branched off from the main case (for example, episode 305, 'Legal,' in which a homicide in a nightclub is solved by Wolfe and Calleigh, while Horatio and Delko crack a prostitution ring being run by the nightclub's owner), as opposed to the two-cases-per-episode storytelling of its sister shows, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and CSI: NY. Many of its characters have appeared on all three CSI related shows because of the two-part episodes.
Characters
Main characters 
Season 1 promotional photograph of the CSI: Miami main cast. - Lieutenant Horatio Caine (David Caruso): the Head of the Miami-Dade crime lab, a forensic analyst and former bomb-squad officer. In "Saving Face" (season 1, episode 2), Caine revealed that everything he knew had been taught to him by his mentor, Al Humphreys (played by Lou Beatty, Jr.), who is killed by an explosion while trying to defuse a bomb in the episode. Caine was briefly married to Eric Delko's sister, Marisol Delko (Alana de la Garza), which ended when she was murdered by a Mala Noche sniper. As of the season 6 premiere, Horatio has discovered that he has a sixteen-year-old son named Kyle, who was going to be tried as an adult for kidnapping. His mother paid off the star witness, and the episode ends with Kyle choosing his mother, saying, "I have to give her a chance."
- Horatio was present at the death of fellow CSI Tim Speedle, and that of his own brother, (Ray). Caine appears to have a good sense for how to communicate with children who have just experienced traumatic ordeals, obtaining information from them quickly and gently. As a child, Horatio was a victim of domestic violence (his mother was killed by his father).
- CSI Supervisor Detective Calleigh Duquesne (Emily Procter): a ballistics specialist. Her father is an alcoholic attorney who has tried to rehabilitate himself several times. She has a brief relationship with John Hagen in season 2; in the season 3 finale, Hagen shoots himself while she is getting a different gun, after having pulled a gun on her earlier in the episode. It has been hinted that romantic interests have sprung up between her and others, including Special Agent Peter Elliot, fellow CSI and best friend Eric Delko and (currently) Homicide Detective Jake Berkeley. She follows the letter of the rules at all times (except once with her father).
- CSI Level 3 Detective Eric Delko (Adam Rodriguez): a fingerprint and drug identification expert of Cuban and Russian descent. In episode 410, "Shattered", Delko's job is endangered when he is arrested for drug possession, but it is discovered that the marijuana was for his sister (Marisol) to ease the pain of her leukemia treatments. Marisol was murdered by a Mala Noche sniper after she married Delko's boss, Horatio Caine. Eric is also the team's underwater recovery expert. While trying to rescue a woman kidnapped by escapee Clavo Cruz, Delko was critically wounded by one of Cruz's henchmen. He survived and is now back on the team.
- CSI Level 1 Detective Ryan Wolfe (Jonathan Togo) (Season 3-): Ryan was working as a police officer at the time he was hired by Horatio, who noted with approval that Ryan kept his firearm immaculately clean (his predecessor, Speedle, died in the line of duty as a direct result of his poor gun maintenance). He first appeared in the episode "Under the Influence", but did not become a regular cast member until "Hell Night". Ryan appears to believe in curses ("Curse of the Coffin"). Ryan was impaled in the eye with a nailgun in the episode "Nailed". At the end of the episode "Burned" (#522), Ryan was fired for being directly linked to a murder suspect and lying about it. Seeking jobs as both a crime-scene expert, an expert witness for the defense, a firearms range technician and applying to work as an ME Investigator while applying for reinstatement, he was later reinstated. In the season 6 finale, Wolfe receives a text message saying "It is done" right after Horatio is shot and presumed dead; it is, as of yet, unknown if this is message was related to Horatio's shooting, or if it was regarding another matter entirely.
- Homicide Detective Sergeant Frank Tripp (Rex Linn) (Season 5-; Recurring Seasons 1-4): a Texan homicide detective who regularly accompanies the team to the crime scenes. He has a gruff appreciation for the capabilities of the CSIs and their excellent results. He has a good working relationship with all the CSIs, particularly Calleigh. He is divorced, with three kids (episode 118, "Dispo Day"). After passing the Sergeant's Exam, Tripp was required to spend some time in uniform on a patrol rotation, but soon returned to the homicide unit and plainclothes duty (episode #611, "Guerrillas in the Mist").
- CSI Trainee Natalia Boa Vista (Eva LaRue) (Season 5- ; Recurring Season 4): a DNA analyst who upon first arriving, was only allowed to work on cold or unsolved cases due to the restrictions of her federal grant. She and Delko dated briefly, which ended abruptly after a pregnancy scare. She escaped an abusive marriage before joining the department, when her association with a society for battered women was key to helping the team solve the murder of a woman (who had been killed by the victim's ex-husband) assuming an alias for protection. In season 5, much to her distress, she discovered her abusive ex-husband (Nick Townsend) was out of prison when he served her with a restraining order. He was working for a private company that cleans up crime scenes, forcing her to make terms with him to get the restraining order dropped. The two shared a tense professional relationship until Nick's murder, a crime for which Boa Vista was briefly considered the prime suspect.
Past characters - Lieutenant Megan Donner (Kim Delaney) (Season 1, episodes 1-11): Horatio's predecessor who went on indefinite leave from her job following the death of her husband. She briefly returned to work alongside Horatio, who has since been promoted to head investigator of the CSI unit, but later resigned, finding the pressures of the job to now be more than she could handle. The character was reportedly written out due to the lack of chemistry between Delaney and Caruso.
- CSI Level 3 Tim "Speed" Speedle (Rory Cochrane) (Seasons 1-2; season 3, episode 301; Guest Star Season 6): trace evidence and impressions expert; originally from Syracuse, New York, with a degree in biology from Columbia University, Speed was killed in the line of duty in the third season premiere, Lost Son; he had not maintained his firearm diligently, and was shot by a suspect when it misfired during a police shoot-out. The character was written out at the request of Cochrane, who wanted to pursue a career in film and reportedly disliked the long, arduous shooting schedule for CSI: Miami. The actor later reprised his role as a hallucination of Eric Delko's.
- Detective Grade 3 Yelina Salas (Sofia Milos) (Season 3; Recurring Seasons 1, 2, 5, & 6): a Colombian homicide detective frequently attached to CSI investigations, and the widow of Horatio's brother Raymond. She later starts a relationship with IAB Sergeant Rick Stetler, Horatio's personal nemesis. After her husband Raymond was revealed to still be alive, she left with him and their son for Brazil, where they planned to keep a low profile for Raymond's safety. She reappears in Season 5, starting with "Rio" (the season opener). Caine and Delko are in Rio de Janeiro to hunt down Antonio Riaz, who murdered Caine's wife (and Delko's sister) Marisol at the end of Season 4. Riaz is killed in a fight with Horatio, but not before killing Raymond Caine and enlisting Ray Jr into drug running in the shantytowns of the area. Yelina and Ray Jr wind up back in Miami, and Yelina goes into business as a private investigator (episode 522, "Burned"). Yelina investigates a suspect for Horatio, and she locates a birth certificate that reveals that the parolee is in fact Horatio's biological son (episode 601, "Dangerous Son").
- Medical Examiner, Doctor Alexx Woods (Khandi Alexander) (Seasons 1-6): a Miami-Dade medical examiner. Alexx began her medical career in New York as a physician and became a medical examiner with the CSI team after moving to Miami for personal reasons. She is a very emotional person, and often talks to the dead bodies as she examines them. She is married with a young son and daughter. Alexx is not the Chief Medical Examiner, as noted in one the episodes when she was offered a transfer to the night shift by the Chief Medical Examiner, but rejected the position. In the episode "Rock and a Hard Place" (#619), her son is named the prime suspect in a murder; this causes Alexx to rethink her job in the M.E.'s Office (and her place on the team as well as her friendship with the other CSIs), and she quits - "I need to spend more of my time taking care of the living."
Recurring characters CSI: Miami has utilized an extensive cast of recurring characters on the show. Recurring characters can be found as technicians in the crime lab, as homicide detectives, as family members of main characters, and as villains, among others.
Episode list List of CSI: Miami episodes
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