CSI has left the lab

Long-running US drama CSI has bowed out in the US after 15 seasons.

The show wrapped with a 2 hour finale, with Ted Danson, Jorja Fox and Elisabeth Harnois joined by original cast members including William Petersen and Marg Helgenberger.

Australia is still some time off seeing this screen with S15E12 airing next Monday on Nine (there were 18 episodes this season).

Here are a few Spoiler-free reactions from US media:

E! Online:
From a fan standpoint, I loved everything about everything that I just saw. If I’m looking at the episode with a more critical eye, that was totally and completely ridiculous.

But it was also CSI, and in a way, it was beautiful, and a fitting end to a consistently ridiculous series. Goodbye, CSI department of the LVPD. It’s been a mostly great 15 years.

Variety:
Granted, a workplace procedural like CSI doesn’t readily and organically lend itself to a big finish in the manner that, say, serialized dramas do. Life – and for the purposes of this particular career path, death – goes on. So give the creative team some credit for seeking a way to make this feel like something approaching a proper sendoff, despite the somewhat clunky and unapologetically sappy nature of it.

LA Times:
In all, it was a deeply inconsistent, occasionally dull, yet largely entertaining series finale for a show that was just that. The episode was also bloated, much like one might expect from a show that should have ran eight seasons, yet ran for 15. “CSI” left this world a shadow of what it once was, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was once a garish and glorious example (in the best possible way) of what network television could be.

Zap2It:
The heart-pounding finale did a wonderful job of reminding fans why they fell in love with this show in the first place….With “CSI” gone for good, fans will undoubtedly be sad that they’re losing a landmark show that some feared had hung on too long.