It starts with an anguished cop sitting in a church, followed by him looking meaningfully out over the Hudson river from a crime scene. By the end of the first episode, he is clinging to the gates of Ground Zero, lamenting the death of his wife. CSI: NY is like a photocopy of a photocopy: the outlines are all still there, with disposable storylines for a credible character-actor lead (a wasted Gary Sinise) supported
by an improbably beautiful team, but the writing feels clunky. Fortunately, the forensic whodunnit angle still gets you nearly every time.