One has to look past the improbably-fast lab work - the rest of the show IS credible. You couldn't put together an entertaining TV show that depicted the actual, glacial movement of material thru a typical crime lab. BUT - what comes OUT of the crime lab is much more important than how fast it comes out, and THAT'S what the show is about. Plus, it has some superb writing and very original situations.
I've been watching Seasons One and Two on DVD, and there was one episode in Season Two where I was worried that the show had jumped the shark.
One of the consistent things on CSI is that the viewer knows and is comfortable with the fact that the CSI's are never in harm's way themselves. That separates it from the stupid-horror-movie genre. But Episode 219 had the team in physical peril and it played like a Freddie-Horror flick. I was appalled. But they snapped out of it and the rest of the season is back in-premise.
Michael
A bad episode is just that...
That's my only problem with the jumptheshark website. Some of the voters think one episode is jumping the shark.
In the Happy Day's episode where Fonzie (who had never waterskied before and in his leather coat) jumped the shark... it was the beginning of the end. All episodes that followed were just as bad if not worse.
Sorry about the rant!