So, um, what's the deal here? Is William Peterson trying to leave the show or something? Or did they just want to shake things up? Also, I noticed there was no "Next week on CSI." Thoughts?

I thought it was a strong episode, except the machine gun subplot. What a waste of screentime. I could have gone with more scenes of the inquest or more of the crime investigation, anything but those machine guns.

That just means next week is a repeat

About the episode, I don't know what they're doing. I thought it was a decent episode. I wonder if the blonde is joining the cast now.

Are we going to get "CSI: Swing Shift" with Catherine supervising now, and CSI will just be Grissom and the blonde lady trading quips and sexual innuendos for an hour?

I can't wait for Grissom's team to process the scene where Eckley gets raped and murdered by a group of MTF ex-sumos posing as door-to-door knife salespersons.

I hate that man.

I haven't seen any articles of William Petersen trying to leave CSI recently however, is no secret that he was unhappy with CBS and the CSI creators for spinning off CSI to Miami and NY since he felt that it water down the quality of the original. I guess CBS is just making sure that they have a backup plan if Petersen feels like leaving the show.

I believe they are just trying to shake up the show a bit, create some tension between the characters.

I just have a gut feeling there will be a case where Eckley is a suspect.

im really dissapointed by the split of the team

Well, I agree that none of the spin-offs have been anywhere near as good as the original, despite some top notch casting. However, the original CSI is still as good as it ever was, so I don't know why Peterson is bitching.

Petersen is not leaving the show. He's a producer on it, so if he didn't like the direction the show was taking - chances are, they wouldn't be taking it.

The reason the team is splitting up is to reflect real-life CSIs - where teams rarely stay together for long periods. I'm sure the characters will still be running into each other on a weekly basis.

Exactly. It's not like they aren't going to be in the same office. And they pretty much "split up" on different cases now, so I doubt it will affect the series too much.

I did like the glimpse into the inner workings of the lab, and the reaffirmation that Eckley is a complete tool.

Now, if Warrick and Catherine get it on, that's definitely a problem (unravelling into a sexual harrassment situation since Catherine is now Warrick's supervisor), so perhaps Warrick will have to keep flirting with the Aisha Tyler character.

Great episode!

I figure this "shake-up" will probably last as long as Jack reporting to Vivian on "Without a Trace".

I'm going to take the opposite route: I'm guessing it will last at least the rest of this season. Should be interesting to see which way it goes.

Good episode. I wonder if we'll be introduced to additional characters?

new characters on the show would also lead to diluting the product...

very good episode, and I'm interested to see where they take this.

and eckley is a prick.

Which is not news, but I loved Grissom's comment about him not having a scientific bone in his body. Maybe Grissom should not have taken on Eckley's old arson case a couple of seasons ago.

I am not sure this is the best thing for the show. It's probably the beginning of the end for Peterson (who is rumored to be leaving after his contract ends next season). That new blonde chick just rubs me the wrong way. I think it's the way she talks. It's so grating and annoying.

man, that arson case episode is ringing a bell but I can't quite remember what happened? Can you do a small recap?