Yes - purposefully cheesy. Mindless fun.

Was I the only one irritated by the unacknowledged Rear Window homage/ripoff on CSI:NY? I kept waiting for someone to say something about it on the show, and the fact they didn't just kept bugging. Am I mental? Did other people get a kick out of it? I dunno, just something about the way they handled it rankled me a bit. Or perhaps I'm mental?

I didn't watch it but I saw promos and it was mentioned in the promos.

Someone (either here or at TWOP) said the same thing about the NCIS ep from a few weeks ago that was a homage to Laura--if they fail to mention the film being aped in the script, then it's a ripoff; if they do, then it's an homage.

What about when they mention it in the promos?

Then it's a cop-out.

It REALLY pissed me off when the Unusuals did that Homicide photocopier thing. I mean, without saying that they got it elsewhere. Even though that show stole from The Job, and Barney Miller, and Hill Street, and basically never had an original thought in its head. Perhaps I need to get out more.

Then it's a cop-out.

I disagree. Mentioning it in the script works for some shows, like Supernatural or NCIS which have an in-show pop culture awareness, but CSI: NY is patently not that show (unless you want the AJ Buckley character to say something, but he's such a doof these days).

The writers are willing to admit it to audiences probably bigger than will actually tune into their show. That's enough for me.

if they fail to mention the film being aped in the script, then it's a ripoff; if they do, then it's an homage.

Not necessarily. When Pushing Daisies did that scene that was identical to the dream sequence in Vertigo, that was clearly an homage, not a ripoff, even though they did not refer to the film at all. Sometimes the intention of the writer/director is transparent. Sometimes, not so much.

Maybe if I had seem the promos it would have bugged less, but as it was it felt like the purple elephant in the corner that no one was talking about.

When Pushing Daisies did that scene that was identical to the dream sequence in Vertigo, that was clearly an homage, not a ripoff, even though they did not refer to the film at all. Sometimes the intention of the writer/director is transparent. Sometimes, not so much.

And, I should think, a matter of the overall tone of the show. The tone of CSI:Blue being Very Different from Pushing Daisies. t /ObviousGal

Anyway, thanks for the info on the promos. At least it was acknowledged somewhere. I was just getting frustrated feeling like, "Why aren't they mentioning it? They can't think we don't recognize it! Or was this written by someone young enough not to know it's been done? But no, that can't be it - even if they hadn't seen Rear Window, Disturbia was just a few years ago..." &etc.

So I'm not crazy. This time.