Friday Favorites: Maybe CSI:NY should investigate this

The reason I am reposting this is simple: CSI has a new lead actor after the departure of William Petersen, and the franchise seems to be worth talking about again.

I wrote this entry back in May 2006 (as you will likely notice, most of these entries are from early to mid-2006. I don't know how far in the future some of the things I am writing now are going to become Friday Favorites).

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I was not an early watcher of CSI, I admit. But there has been something that has been bothering me for a little while now.

It lays mainly in the theme music for the second spinoff of the franchise, CSI: NY. You see, "Baba O'Riley", while being a great song by the Who, has no connection to any kind of crime fighting.

Am I being picky? I would say so. However, let's look at the facts.

The original show has "Who Are You" as its theme, and given the fact that it is about forensic scientists trying to solve crime through DNA and other evidence, it really fits.

Then there is CSI: Miami with "Won't Get Fooled Again" which isn't the most closely tied to the field, but an argument could be made that forensic evidence makes it less likely that the police/CSI's would get fooled by lies and such, so I'll buy it.

And then you have CSI: NY, with a song which has absolutely no connection to CSI whatsoever. Teenage Wasteland indeed.

Considering the fact that you could probably just throw darts at a list of songs by the Who and get a song that you could connect to forensics, it is just, I don't know, bad form on the producers' part.

To test this supposition out, I randomly chose two numbers and applied them to a who compilation I don't own to see if I could accomplish this feat. I chose numbers 3 and 7, then selected 20th Century Masters: The Best Of The Who as the compilation.

What did I end up with? "I Can See for Miles" and "Behind Blue Eyes".

Let's look at "I Can See For Miles" first. Here is the first verse and chorus.

I know you've deceived me, now here's a surprise
I know that you have 'cause there's magic in my eyes

I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles
Oh yeah

If you think that I don't know about the little tricks you play
And never see you when deliberately you put things in my way

Well, here's a poke at you
You're gonna choke on it too
You're gonna lose that smile
because all the while

I can see for miles and miles
I can see for miles and miles
I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles
Oh yeah

Now, you are telling me that they couldn't have had Gary Sinise looking at a crime scene with UV light and those special glasses, swabbing people and doing all the other CSI type things better to that? I mean, that has a lot more to do with the subject at hand than the current theme.

And then there is "Behind Blue Eyes", which is essentially about crime and conscience, and that isn't good enough for New York? Come on. Did they not even look for another song? If I can do better by random, how hard could it have been to find something when you were really trying?

*grumble* I guess maybe they are saving a song or two for the inevitable CSI: San Francisco or the like.

Tags: csi, miami, new york, the who, who are you, baba o'riley, won't get fooled again, lyrics, i can see for miles, television