THE Real CSI: Miami creator has revealed he has big plans for the show if it gets renewed for another season but admits transitioning to the new format hasn't been easy.
Anthony Zuiker, 55 - creator of the CSI franchise and its new unscripted series, The Real CSI: Miami - exclusively spoke to The U.S. Sun about where he sees the latter heading following its premiere on June 26.
During the sit-down, Anthony discussed the progression of the highly successful franchise, including CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, and CSI: Cyber, which he co-created with Carol Mendelsohn, and the recently canceled CSI: Vegas, developed by Jason Tracy.
He revealed that after over two decades of investment into the scripted crime dramas, starting with the original series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which ran from 2000 to 2015, he decided to try a different format to keep up with the times.
The television writer explained that CBS approached him about doing an unscripted version of the franchise, feeding into the massive popularity true crime has gained in recent years.
With CSI: Miami already in mind, Anthony began formatting episodes of the show, converting it into a documentary-type series.
It was then that The Real CSI: Miami - an unscripted series breaking down cases from the CSI spinoff and some Florida cases, including interviews with victims' families, police, forensics, etc. - was born.
However, Anthony confessed that the move from scripted to unscripted with a show based on actual events comes with its own set of challenges.
"The challenge, don't call it bad, but the challenge of that is when you take actual factual cases that don't have wiggle room for creativity based on it is what it is, sometimes, that factual format of the real events doesn't like to get married to the exploratory narrative of CSI born out of that," the book author exclaimed.
"It's not a cop show with a forensic show. So, we need to make sure that the way we deploy information is factual and linear," Anthony continued.
"But at the same time, you have the magic of storytelling. What CSI is in terms of doing the whole motif of the crime series, and that was a little bit of early struggles in the first three months and those last 12 months.
"We started our stride, and the shows got better and better and better, but it was a learning curve," he added.
The Real CSI: Miami debuted on CBS and Paramount+ last Wednesday, and a new episode will drop each week.
Since its launch, the show has received significant praise on social media.
"All my true crime buffs check out The real CSI on cbs," one fan encouraged on X, while another boasted, "They made a show called the real csi Miami loveee it. It’s giving first 48."
There have been five versions of the CSI franchise on CBS
But Anthony had already planned for positive feedback and had a vision to keep the new series going with spinoffs.
"I'm hoping that this particular formula has been cracked expertly by us. I'm not only hoping for Season 2 to be picked up for [The Real] CSI: Miami but also the possibility of The Real CSI: Vegas, The Real CSI: New York, The Real CSI: Cyber," the Illinois native revealed about formatting other CSI shows into the unscripted motif.
He also shared that he hopes to extend this idea to other cities beyond those covered in the franchise.
"We have no burden of obligation to go back to a scripted series because I've already done that. I have worked long hours and 15 months to figure this out," Anthony said before noting the reason for the shift.
"In case there is no budget for a pricey scripted premium show, I need to have the ability to continue to do more CSI at a price to where it would be at the quality you saw [in the latest episode of The Real CSI: Miami]. That's my main focus right now," he closed.
This will please fans who have been devoted watchers of the franchise, especially since CSI: Vegas got the boot this spring.
In April, it was revealed that the show was in jeopardy, and weeks later, it was axed from the CBS lineup after three seasons.
CBS renewed 11 scripted shows for the 2024-2025 season, but the spinoff didn't make the cut despite acquiring 6.4 million viewers per episode, as per Nielsen's seven-day linear ratings.
The network has had 12 of the top 15 scripted series on TV since mid-February.
