What I liked about last night's CSI was their casting of Tim Blake Nelson, who's one of my favorite nerdy-type character actors. But, the overall structure of the show was definitely not very successful.

Speaking of changes of structure I don't think the CSI one worked nearly as well. Too much (boring) time with the perpetrator/flashback to the victim, not enough crimesolving.

Yes. IMO, if they had just done it "straight" - it probably would have worked better.

Problem is, I wasn't rooting for the victim. I wanted him dead myself and so therefore there wasn't a lot of tension.

All that extra time with the killer ate what would have been a B plot with another crime. I could see it if we had a particularly clever or flamboyant criminal on our hands, but I think it was meant to be poignant, which it wasn't. I think they were both annoying.

I'm not a big fan of Tunney's range, but I think she played the breakdown well.

I thought that it was scene chewing. I mean, I get that it was supposed to be over the top, but I was not impressed.

And I totally got that it was the psychiatrist from early on. Not how or why,

I often figure out who the bad guy is because of the fact that they are using an established actor in a "throwaway" role. Christian Clemson is too good for 5 minutes a week as the psychiatrist. At first, I thought that it was going to be an ongoing thing (like Stephen Fry in "Bones"), but the chemistry/vibe wasn't there.

I was unsatisfied that we never got a motive for why he risked everything for this caper. Yes, he got a million dollars, but is that reason to commit murder, betray your client, and risk your career?

I was unsatisfied that we never got a motive for why he risked everything for this caper. Yes, he got a million dollars, but is that reason to commit murder, betray your client, and risk your career?

It did seem like the sort of thing that should have had a realllly personal motivation behind it, didn't it?

is that reason to commit murder, betray your client, and risk your career?

I don't think he saw it as betraying his client--didn't he take her on as a client so he could frame her? A million dollars used to be a lot of money. I don't think it's enough to get Joe Normal who probably makes decent money (give him a gambling debt, or something) to turn to a complex life of crime.

I don't think he saw it as betraying his client--didn't he take her on as a client so he could frame her?

No, she was assigned to him by the department to mandated counseling after the shooting last season.

That's awfully convenient.

Yes, I didn't like that either. We have to extrapolate that the briber guy found out that she was in counseling, found out the name of the counselor, approached the counselor about a patient, counselor was willing to break confidentiality to confirm that she was a patient, and to come up with this hare brained scheme? Not bloody likely.

Procedural synchronicity heavily at work--NCIS and Castle use Strangers on a Train, The Mentalist and Psych have murderous psychiatrists.

I liked this week's Psych, although I understand I missed much of the injoking. Still, Gus was smart, and a good Dwayne Wayne moment never goes amiss.