Do we have crime in Canada?!?!

Creator: No Canadian ‘CSI’ spinoffs planned
TORONTO (CP) – Despite the growing number of copycats and the enormous popularity of the original and spinoffs, fans shouldn’t hold their breath for a “CSI: Toronto” or “CSI: Vancouver,” says creator Anthony Zuiker.
The franchise, he says, has hit its magic number.
“CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “CSI: Miami” and “CSI: New York” are usually in the ratings Top 10, but Zuiker said he doesn’t envision another version of the show because pumping out the current roster is already a grind.
“We’re done, I think with ‘CSI: New York’ – that’s it. We may do a ‘CSI’ movie in the future – when we actually get some rest, which is going to be God knows when – but three is definitely enough,” he said during an interview in Toronto.
“We’ve killed so many people in so many ways.”
Zuiker’s life has been consumed by death and disease for the last several years, overseeing the development of the three shows.
The idea for “CSI,” now in season 7, came to him after watching a forensics show on the Discovery Channel about how investigators used a single hair to solve a murder investigation.
“I was so fascinated … by how the body can talk to the investigator,” Zuiker recalled.
“The body is ultimately the perfect specimen, designed in every respect – from skin to bruising to hair to blood to DNA – to give clues with almost perfect certainty about what happened to the body without ever being there.”
Critics have knocked the show for being unrealistic in portraying the work of forensic investigators, but Zuiker said that with the exception of accelerated timelines, everything is factual and real.
“All the technology we use, all the machinery we use – the gadgets, the gimmickry, all that stuff we use for bells and whistles – is being used” in real life, he said.
“What’s not real is the fact we have to (speed up) a lot of the results for DNA. Obviously, pressing a button and sitting there for four weeks until results come back with a name is not a television show.”
Zuiker’s use of special effects to visualize the body’s internal reactions to trauma became “CSI’s” trademark, but it wasn’t long before similar scenes were popping up on other shows.
Not that Zuiker minds. He insists he’s flattered that shows like the medical drama “House” use “CSI”-like effects.
“It’s an element that feels familiar (because of) us and it’s really flattering, we don’t take offence to that,” he said.
” ‘House’ is fantastic and people do not watch that show just because there are ‘CSI’ shots inside the show. That show is simply wonderful – I watch it, I adore it, I get a kick out of the ‘CSI’ shots myself and I can sit back and go, ‘I thought of those.’ ”
He also didn’t mind when one of his heroes, director Quentin Tarantino, borrowed some “CSI”-style special effects, and it actually led to a collaboration, with Tarantino directing a season finale.
“If you watch ‘Kill Bill’ there’s a lot of influence from ‘CSI’ in there too because Quentin is a fan,” Zuiker said proudly.
“And in the same respect, I got in the business because I watched ‘Pulp Fiction’ and adored that storytelling so much.”
With no new “CSI” series on the way, Zuiker has big ideas for a dream project he’d like to pursue – but it’s currently stuck in showbiz limbo.
He rewrote a script based on the true story of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, but there’s no sign that Columbia Pictures, which owns the rights to it, has any plans to move forward.
“It’s probably my best work,” he said with a hint of bitterness. “It’s the one that got away, it’s the one I think about every day.”
He said the tale of a Jewish man putting together a team of African-American basketball players in the 1920s is “probably the best story I’ve ever heard,” an inspiring account of courage and following dreams.
But even the creator of one of TV’s biggest shows can’t get everything he wants. Zuiker’s not sure the movie will get made.
“Hopefully, as I grow more successful in the business, I’ll have the opportunity to get that script back, be involved with it, possibly direct it some day, and really tell a story I think that should be told,” he said.