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Official Synopsis:
CSI: Miami – The Sixth Season –
Set against the backdrop of blue skies, turquoise water, and Art Deco hotels, CSI: Miami is hotter than ever, as criminologist Horatio Caine (David Caruso) and his team return for the edgiest season yet, all captured in this 21-episode collection. Horatio battles the mother of his son, a deadly seductress from his past, while the rest of the team (Adam Rodriguez, Eva La Rue, Rex Linn, Jonathan Togo, and Khandi Alexander) works to rescue Calleigh (Emily Procter) from kidnappers! Catch all the action in this provocative Sixth Season of CSI: Miami.
Criminal Minds: Season 3 (September 16) –
CRIMINAL MINDS revolves around an elite team of FBI profilers who analyze the country's most twisted criminal minds, anticipating their next moves before they strike again. The Behavioral Analysis Unit's most prominent agent is David Rossi (Joe Mantegna), a founding member of the BAU, who returns to help the team solve new cases, while pursuing some unfinished business of his own. Each member brings his or her own area of expertise to the table as they pinpoint predators' motivations and identify their emotional triggers in the attempt to stop them.
Ghost Whisperer: The Third Season –
The hit CBS drama Ghost Whisperer plunges into new territory literally rocking the foundation of the series. At the end of season two Melinda (Jennifer Love Hewitt) met the ghost of her estranged father, who told her she has a brother. Melinda's search for the truth of her family history grows ever more complex and dangerous when she learns that her roots are bound to the roots of Grandview itself. Melinda and husband Jim (David Conrad) begin to wonder whether this small town they chose for its peace and tranquility might have actually chosen them. With the help of occult expert Professor Payne (Jay Mohr) and loyal but skeptical friend Delia (Camryn Manheim), Melinda digs for answers. She discovers that in the town's desperation to bury its own dark past, a whole other world was left festering literally beneath their feet. Journey with Melinda as she uncovers the mysteries of Grandview in all 18 third-season episodes.
Medium: The Fourth Season –
Allison Dubois (Arquette) is a strong-willed, devoted young wife and mother of three girls, who has gradually come to grips with her extraordinary ability to talk to dead people, see the future in her dreams and read people's thoughts. This season, Allison and her family's world is turned upside down after her abilities are publicly exposed, resulting in sweeping changes both professionally and personally. For the past three seasons, Allison has served as a part-time consultant to the district attorney's office in Phoenix, Ariz., using her psychic abilities to solve violent and horrifying crimes that have mystified authorities, including her now former boss D.A. Devalos (Miguel Sandoval, "The Division") and others within the criminal justice system. Academy Award-winning screen legend Anjelica Huston ("Prizzi's Honor") guest stars this season as Cynthia Keener, an investigator for a national firm called "Ameritips," who strikes an unusual professional arrangement with Allison for her crime-solving abilities.
Our Take:
CBS/Paramount’s September TV-on-DVD slate includes four procedural shows; two of them are grounded in reality and two of them are based in the supernatural. Although I’m a sci-fi, horror, and genre fan, in the case of these shows, I lean much more to the realistic side of things.
My favorite of the four shows by far is Criminal Minds. The show taps into our country’s fascination with serial killers as we follow a group of behavioral analysts as they try to stop serial killers who are actively taking victims. It works a lot like a CSI show, but with more psychological clues rather than evidence-based ones.
In the show’s third season, grumpy Mandy Patinkin left the cast, which is a shame as I did like him quite a bit, but he is ably replaced by another favorite of mine, Joe Mantegna. Mantegna’s David Rossi brings a much harder-edged and less-polished vibe to the show, but he makes it work among the already excellent cast. It’s such an interesting and well-written show, you could put just about anybody in the lead role and have it work, and it does so quite well here in the third year.
CSI: Miami is a watchable outing. I’ve never cared for David Caruso in his role as Horatio Caine, which has been one of the main reasons I’ve never been able to fully embrace the show. Still, its six seasons in and still quite popular, so I’m obviously in the minority there. The rest of the cast is quite good, and I will say that I like the fact that CSI: Miami isn’t afraid to shake up the cast and kill off a team member when it needs to freshen things up a bit. When Calleigh gets kidnapped in this season, I actually wasn’t sure if she’d live or die, and that’s rare in this day and age.
Ghost Whisperer is an interesting show in that I’m a little surprised by its popularity. It’s clearly been a big success for Jennifer Love Hewitt, whose career was flagging before this, but it’s kind of got a been there/done that feel to me. It’s like a weekly series version of The Sixth Sense, but I do like that the show has struck a nice balance between ghost-of-the-week episodes and an overarching mythology involving Melinda’s family. It’s also nice to see Jay Mohr and Camryn Manheim in the cast.
Medium is the one I just don’t get. I think Patricia Arquette is terrible in the show, the stories are dull, and I just can’t get emotionally involved in the characters’ lives. Every time a new DVD set comes out I give this show another chance, but I think I’m just going to have to live with the fact that I just don’t like it all that much. Despite a much-touted gust starring role by Anjelica Huston, I think Medium may be on its way out.
Each DVD set comes with a nice collection of bonus features. Ghost Whisperer gets the most and most-interesting features, while CSI: Miami fans draw the short straw this time around.
CSI: Miami -
* Four-Sight: Directing CSI: Miami
* Playing Dead
* The Real Women Of The MDPD
* Analyzing Season 6
Criminal Minds –
* Killer Roles
* The Making of Criminal Minds: Season 3
* From Script to Screen: True Night
* Profile: Rossi/Mantegna
* Shemar Moore: Criminal Minds’ Wild Ride
* Deleted Scenes
* Gag Reel
Medium –
* Deleted Scenes With Optional Commentary.
* Joe’s Crayon Dream
* Introducing Cynthia Keener
* The Making of Medium: Season 4
* Gag Reel
Ghost Whisperer –
* The Other Side II Webseries - See the world through the eyes of a ghost by venturing beyond Melinda Gordon's Ghost Whisperer world and experiencing the Other Side.
* Interactive Haunted House - Take a spooky interactive ride through a haunted house.
* Welcome To The Underworld - Secrets buried under Melinda's hometown uncovered.
* Bringing The Spirits To Life - An in-depth look into what it takes to emulate an angry spirit.
* Interactive Mashup - Create your very own cemetery scene.
* Animated Short - Step into the world of Ghost Whisperer animation and see what happens to Melinda Gordon between Season 2 and Season 3.
* Melinda's Haunted Diary - Interact with Melinda's haunted diary.
* Evolution Of Melinda - Watch Melinda Gordon's fashion evolve over three seasons of Ghost Whisperer.
* Payne's World - Jay Mohr discusses his character and shares his experiences with ghosts, both on- and off-screen.
* Commentary - By John Gray, James Chressanthis and P.K. Simonds on selected episodes.
For the most part, I think Paramount does a great job with CBS’ current slate on DVD. There are no bare bones DVD releases like they’ve done with many of their catalog titles, and the sets aren’t split into two volumes per season (also like the catalog titles). Each of these releases includes some cool extra features, and each of the shows has fans that will be happy to have another season of their favorite TV show on DVD. For my money, though, Criminal Minds is easily the best of this bunch.
Overall Picture:
Show (Criminal Minds): A
Show (CSI Miami, Ghost Whisperer): C+
Show (Medium): D
DVDs (average): B+
- Mike Spring
Editor
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