"CSI" dilemma: keeping corpses fresh

By P. Ryan Baber

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Proof, if ever any was needed, that dead bodies are big business: CBS' "CSI: New York" is about hits 100 episodes Wednesday, and the entire "CSI" franchise is about to strike the 500 bell.

No wonder co-creator/executive producer Anthony Zuiker is smiling -- he's managed to corral millions of American viewers into watching autopsies.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: YOU'D ALREADY HAD SUCCESS WITH LAS

VEGAS AND MIAMI ITERATIONS OF THE SHOW. HOW DID THE NEW YORK

EDITION OF "CSI" COME ABOUT?

Anthony Zuiker: All these (spinoffs) were network ideas. The phone would ring, (CBS president and CEO) Les Moonves would say, "We want to do a 'CSI 2.' Pick a city." Collectively, (executive producer) Mr. (Jerry) Bruckheimer and all of us said "Miami." New York was pretty much the same conversation. We were looking to pick a city that was diverse from the previous two -- Las Vegas is in the desert, Miami is on the water -- and we wanted the ability to do snow forensics.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: THE SHOW STRUGGLED EARLY ON. WHAT

HAD TO CHANGE?

Zuiker: It had been my idea to go darker, more rough and raw. I was a brand-new showrunner, and I was forgetting the biggest rule of television; I was writing for myself instead of for the audience. The turning point in the success of the show was Les Moonves saying, "We're no longer going to live in a subterranean world." Now it's beautiful, multicultural, expansive and there are 8 million people on the island. The second we did that -- turned some lights on and saw the actors' faces -- the audience came back.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: ONCE "CSI: NY" GOT ITS SEA LEGS, IT

FORCED NBC TO RELOCATE "LAW & ORDER" FROM ITS LONG-STANDING

TIME SLOT. THAT MUST HAVE BEEN A SURPRISE.

Zuiker: You never conceive a television show to be competitive with another show. It's up to the powers-that-be to play strategic network chess and put it in a time slot that would give it the opportunity to be successful. If in turn it ends up knocking somebody off the perch, then you can get a two-for-one.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: SHOW RATINGS ARE UP FOR THE SEASON.

WHAT DIRECTION DO YOU SEE THE SHOW GOING IN FOR THE NEXT 100