A Discovery Channel Show Led To The Creation Of One Of TV's Biggest Crime Franchises

Discovery Channel viewers who are mainly familiar with its reality-competition series may not be aware of "The New Detectives," a true-crime docuseries that debuted three decades ago. But this is the show that inadvertently led to "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."

"CSI" creator Anthony E. Zuiker cited "The New Detectives" as his primary inspiration for the series during an interview with Television Academy in 2025.

"In 1998, I was watching a Discovery Channel show called 'The New Detectives,'" recalled Zuiker. "There was this particular episode about Linda Sobek, an LA Raiders cheerleader that was killed by a photographer. In that episode, there were three pieces of key evidence that stuck out to me as a layman just watching the show — and the light bulb went off. I poured myself a glass of cabernet and I wrote the script in three days."

"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" debuted October 6, 2000, on CBS and launched a franchise that spanned over two decades and across multiple spin-offs.

In 2024, the "CSI" franchise took a turn into true-crime territory with "The Real CSI: Miami," and it had more in common with "The New Detectives" than any of its forerunners. Instead of fictional murders, "The Real CSI: Miami" profiled real cases as well as the forensic science used to catch the perpetrators. Anthony E. Zuiker executive produced and co-created the new series.

"It is a wonderful treat to watch the real cases unfold with the real CSIs and real law enforcement in Miami using the same cinematic motif of my format in that genre," said Zuiker during an interview with Forbes. "This keeps it fresh, and it makes the conversation easier for other eventual true crime formats in the franchise."

"The Real CSI: Miami" ran for only a single season. The franchise's current legacy may be the so-called "CSI Effect." A 2005 report from CBS News alleged that "CSI" had an unintended impact on real jurors who expected police detectives to be able to deliver the same kind of cutting-edge forensics that they saw on the show.  However, there have been studies that call the existence of the "CSI Effect" into question.