CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Pilot
TV Flash files “Pilot” as a desk essential hour — CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000–2015) on CBS, season 1, episode 1, aired 2000-10-06, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 337 in the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 2000-10-06 (60 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “Cool Change” (S01E02).
Essential hour: “Pilot”. Pilot turns Las Vegas criminalists into stylish science: Zuiker's CBS hit making lab work look like nightclub cinema, the who now the how.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Gil Grissom is the supervisor of the graveyard shift of Las Vegas' elite crime scene investigators. Holly Gribbs, fresh out of the academy, joins the team. Jim Brass is head of the unit and is trying to scare Gribbs from CSI. Catherine Willows, mother of a young daughter, is the number two CSI on this shift. Warrick Brown and Nick Stokes are competing to solve their 100th case to earn a promotion to CSI 3. Grissom investigates a murder staged to look like a suicide with precious little evidence. Warrick and Catherine take the case of a drunk who breaks into the house where he had been staying and is shot to death. Nick talks to a man who picked up a woman who drugged and robbed him.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Pilot sit in the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 337 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did CSI: Crime Scene Investigation S01E01 air?
Pilot aired 2000-10-06 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Do I start with Las Vegas CSI or a spinoff?
The original Las Vegas series is the mothership — stylish forensics as nightclub cinema. Miami, NY, and Cyber are franchise mitosis, not the first language.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Las Vegas criminalists solve murders with stylish science that made lab work look like nightclub cinema. Anthony E. Zuiker's CBS hit turned the who into the how, spawned a franchise mitosis machine, and put the "CSI effect" into real courtroom talk. 2000s procedural TV as global brand architecture.
The first useful image is glass, not a confession. Las Vegas criminalists solve murders with stylish science, moody lighting, and forensic close-ups that made lab work look like nightclub cinema. Anthony E. Zuiker's CBS series premiered October 6, 2000; the original Las Vegas run lasted through 2015, with a later revival limited series. William Petersen and Marg Helgenberger anchored early years of sunglasses, evidence, and gravitas beside George Eads, Jorja Fox, Paul Guilfoyle, and Eric Szmanda. The show turned…
Open the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation package · Season 1 hub
Filed against
- William Petersen as Gil Grissom
William Petersen’s Gil Grissom made CSI: Crime Scene Investigation into nightclub cinema for lab work — Las Vegas criminalists, stylish science, Anthony E. Zuiker’s CBS hit that turned the who into the how and put the “CSI effect” into…
- Marg Helgenberger as Catherine Willows
Marg Helgenberger’s K.C. made China Beach treat Vietnam trauma and R&R as the same weather — Dana Delany’s nurse, evacuation-hospital ensemble — then turned CSI’s Las Vegas lab into nightclub cinema. Late-80s quality drama with aching…
- George Eads as Nick Stokes
George Eads played Nick Stokes on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation — Las Vegas criminalist heat in the lab-as-nightclub years, when stylish science turned the who into the how. Franchise mitosis waited in the wings. TV Flash files him as…
- Jorja Fox as Sara Sidle
Jorja Fox’s Sara Sidle made CSI’s Las Vegas lab a human weather system — criminalists solving murders with stylish science, Anthony E. Zuiker’s CBS hit turning the who into the how, a franchise mitosis machine, the CSI effect in real…
- Paul Guilfoyle as Jim Brass
Paul Guilfoyle played Jim Brass on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, 2000s Las Vegas criminalists solving murders with stylish science that made lab work look like nightclub cinema. Anthony E. Zuiker’s CBS hit turned the who into the how,…
- Eric Szmanda as Greg Sanders
Eric Szmanda worked the graveyard shift as Greg Sanders on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation — Las Vegas lab-as-nightclub, the who turned into the how, a franchise mitosis machine. Anthony E. Zuiker made science stylish; Szmanda made the lab…