It‘s been a while since I‘ve gone bowling. How old was I, around ten, I think? I couldn‘t hit a strike, I couldn‘t hit a spare, even--but miraculous, I didn‘t hit the gutter as often as I should. I guess I was meant for bowling greatness, but I‘m writing stuff about crime dramas instead.

The CSI crossover episodes wrapped up last night, with Langston returning to Las Vegas to solve one case with implications to the bigger case he‘s been following: the disappearance of Madeline Briggs, who apparently was caught in the middle of a trucking ring that dealt with prostitution and illegal organ harvesting.  By now the ground rules have been more than set: each of the episodes this week are stand-alone ones, with a common thread, and Langston, linking across the three.  By the time we got to Thursday night, I honestly didn‘t have any expectations, because Langston is back in his home turf.

The team investigates a murder at a bowling alley on the November 19 episode of CSI.

The CSI crossover going on this week may involve one story split across three shows, but in reality it‘s really three different crimes with one common thread.  I thought it was the former after watching

It‘s been a pretty action-packed CSI: NY last night, but now the stakes are much higher, and Langston‘s cross-country trip ends tonight.  The trilogy, the crossover, ends here.

Last night was the beginning of what is arguably the biggest thing that could happen to the CSI franchise: one storyline, across three shows, all in one week. Now, why did this take so long to happen? Surely there are a lot more crimes that are connected to other occurrences in other cities, right? Well, we‘ve had a few crossovers within the franchise before, and only because it‘s what the case calls for, and for that I‘m willing to let go of that little complaint of mine. Besides, this is looking pretty good already.

This morning the People‘s Choice Award nominations were revealed, andas always, it‘s populism at its best.  On the TV side, the nomineesoften look like the top of the Nielsen ratings list, with a few notableand surprising exceptions.  Shows like

In the end, it all boils down to the guy who doesn‘t like the way the poor coach did things.  Of course, it takes a turn for the worse when it involves another crime that seemingly did not have a relation before.

In anticipation of the week-long CSI crossover episodes next week--they call it "CSI Trilogy" and I call it "Langston week"--here‘s a behind-the-scenes video on how the whole thing panned out.  Apart from the usual details on what we should expect next week, all those bits about human trafficking and severed legs, here‘s a chance to see why Raymond Fishburne looks forward to working with David Caruso and Gary Sinise, why it took a long time for a three-show crossover like this to happen, and how Langston does a Horatio impression.

I liked last week.  Let‘s see if we‘ll like this week.If last week‘s CSI looked into a policeman who shot a fellow policeman who he thought was shooting indiscriminately, but turns out was shooting someone who was shooting his ward--yeah, I know that sounds confusing--then this week, we look at one big entity: a football team.