Better the Second Time Around

I've seen this floating around the Web, and I did one last year, so why not?

( My Christmas Wish List )

I've been watching Season One of CSI: NY on DVD-yes, I caved and bought it-and the episodes are better than I remembered. Stella Bonasera was still an annoying, feminist, butchbot glory hog, but the cases were excellent. They were gritty and bleak and New York-weird, and Eddie Cahill was pitch-perfect as Detective Flack, snarky and jaded and "OMGWTF!" at all the right moments.

This season of CSI: NY has been a titanic mess. They've mellowed Bitchboots Bonasera, but they've added Miss Perky, Smug Superiority and stopped even trying for logic or plausible motives. They've traded New York grit for cheesy, shallow Miami flair, and it's not working. New York and Miami have flavors all their own, and dammit, they don't mix. Leave Miami in Miami and let New York shine.

And for Christ's sake, tell Cahill to ditch the razor cut. He looks like a tragic victim of the cosmetology school triage unit.