CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Altered Stakes
TV Flash files “Altered Stakes” as hour 271 of 337 in the TV Flash guide — CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000–2015) on CBS, season 12, episode 20, aired 2012-04-11, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S12E20: listed hour 271 of 337 in the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation guide, hour 20 of 22 in season 12. It aired 2012-04-11 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Split Decisions” (S12E19). Next is “Dune and Gloom” (S12E21).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
When Stokes learns that a man he helped put in prison is going to have his conviction overturned, the CSI team needs to prove the killer is guilty again or he will be released.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Altered Stakes sit in the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation guide?
S12E20 is listed hour 271 of 337 — hour 20 of 22 in season 12, season 12 episode 20.
When did CSI: Crime Scene Investigation S12E20 air?
Altered Stakes aired 2012-04-11 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 12 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…