Weekly Analysis #5 The Forensic Formula

The television show CSI has inspired an entire new generation of one-hour murder/mystery television shows, as after it first appeared back in 2000, there were many more shows with the same exact formula that followed soon after. There is now a CSI Miami, CSI NY, Cold Case and Bones are just a few of the copycat shows that followed in the footsteps of the original CSI. People have long seemed curious as to how murders were able to be solved, these shows, while not real, do provide a realistic depiction of how detectives are able to solve a seemingly, unsolvable case.
I decided to write about the formulas that go along with every crime scene investigation show, whether it is fictional or non-fictional, they all seem to have the same outcome in the end. I really do not watch the fictional shows nearly as much as the non-fictional shows, such as; Forensic Files and Snapped, however, it seems to be pretty clear that they operate with pretty much the same concept. That of the criminal would not have been able to get away with their crime, had it not been for the benefits of forensic science and the genius detectives that were able to solve the case.
The formula is; starting out with the actual horrific crime, detectives investigate the crime scene, they round up the potential suspects for questioning, one of which always seems to be a bit odd and does not have a solid alibi for their whereabouts the time that the crime was committed, however, they do not have any concrete evidence against him/her, the case usually at that point goes cold as they run out of leads and potential suspects. But wait a minute, here come the forensic detectives with a new shred of evidence barely visible to the naked eye; however, given to a forensic scientist, and running all of the necessary tests on this micro-fiber, they are able to determine that one of the suspects could be tied to being at the scene of the murder around the time when it was committed.
These shows usually end up in the perpetrator confessing to the crime when they are presented with the forensic evidence or if it does go to trial that little shred of evidence is referred to as the smoking gun that solved the case. Everyone that was involved with the case at this point, at least on the non-fictional shows, praises the ability of forensic science and how without it, they would have never have been able to solve the case. I always think of the old Scooby Doo episodes when I was a kid, at the end of every episode, when they would catch the criminal, they would rip off his mask, everyone would gasp at who it was, and the criminal would say, “And I would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn’t been for you meddling kids!” I really do enjoy these shows and do not mean to appear that I am trivializing them, I think that it is great that there is such a thing as forensic science that helps to catch murderers and criminals, I just always find it comical that almost every episode follows the exact same formula.