Did You Know?

Did You Know that in an ironic twist of fate the CSI set was once broken into. Despite having some of the most sophisticated forensic equipment in the world to hand, they never caught the thieves.

Gil's last name was supposed to be 'Scheinbaum' but when William Petersen was cast, Anthony Zuiker decided that he was 'insufficiently Jewish' and along with William Petersen, decided to change it to 'Grissom' after the astronaut.

Catherine and Nick were supposed to be a couple and the pilot was set for them to have a 'make-out' scene in a parking lot but the idea was later scrapped. Whether it was filmed is not known.

Catherine was intended to have two children not just the one.

George Eads had to have a fake tattoo on his arm for the pilot as the writers believed Nick was 'that kind' of character. After filming they re-thought the idea and got rid of it due to George not portraying Nick as they had originally planned and that the tattoo was not clearly visible.

William Petersen along with other cast members were not happy with the idea of a spin-off so early into their series. Petersen had openly expressed his concern for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation due to Miami taking away their writers and episode ideas. To this day he is not happy with either spin-offs but has still stayed with the original show."I still think that the other shows could have been done in a more interesting way. I think they just rubber-stamped them and stuck more of them out there,” the actor, who hasn't been shy in the past about being critical of the rest of the CSI franchise, said. “CSI: Miami does 24 shows a year, CSI: NY does 24; everyone gets tired. There's a whole lot of stories we can't do because of the other shows, and that's a problem."

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation was the highest rated new show in 2000-2001.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, along with other crime shows, has been marked as a problem for real life crimes. It was dubbed as the 'CSI Effect' or 'CSI Syndrome' due to raising the expectations of forensic science. Read the full synopsis here.

The characters Gil Grissom and Catherine Willows are loosely based on real-life LVMPD criminalists Daniel Holstein and Yolanda McCrery.

All the equipment in the lab is fully functional, and was either purchased outright, or donated/loaned to the show for product placement.

Under the glass top of Grissom's desk is a photo of the series' executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

Jorja Fox tried out for the part of Sara while on crutches because her leg was run over during the filming of an episode of the West Wing.

Marg Helgenberger, Gary Dourdan, Jorja Fox, and Robert David Hall all play in a “garage-style” band during breaks in filming.

CSI was originally presented to the ABC network but the executives classed it as 'to confusing for the average viewer'. CBS saw potential in the script and took the show.

William Petersen has a pay or play contract with CBS, another reason why CBS own the rights to CSI.

Despite being dubbed 'CSI: Las Vegas', a very large portion of the show is actual filmed at Universal Studios in Universal City, California. Still, some necessary scenes are filmed in Las Vegas.

In a high profile product placement deal, General Motors donated two GMC Yukon XL Denalis to the Los Angeles and Las Vegas police departments. The same model vehicles were modified and used on the show as the "Mobile Analysis Unit", or MAU, in the same episode directed by Tarantino, the season five finale "Grave Danger". The vehicles were given a six inch height difference from stock models, allowing the trunk lid to be used by the characters as a rain shield, and the rear bay and third-row area as a mobile lab, complete with notebook computers, equipment drawers and storage. (Direct from Wikipedia)

In later seasons, the spider behind Grissom's desk only has 7 legs.

The season 8 episode, 'Lying Down With Dogs' was recently nominated for a Genesis award which are given to members of the media who bring attention to animal rights. CSI was nominated in the Dramatic Series category and they took home the award, "For shedding light on the brutality of dog fighting with a plot that reveals a victim's sadistic life as a dog fighter may have led to her vengeful murder." Read the full article here.

When CSI first aired, it was on Friday nights after The Fugitive but because of the success it got moved to Thursday nights where it was up against other popular TV shows.

The choice to place this series in Las Vegas was not random. Among US crime labs, Las Vegas is the second most active, surpassed only by the FBI lab at Quantico, Virginia.

Holly Gribbs was supposed to be a regular on the series, but her character was not liked by many of the test audiences. So, Holly did not survive the shooting and the character of Sara Sidle was created.

The actual Las Vegas Police Department's crime scene division is called the "Crime Scene Unit (CSU)" not "Crime Scene Investigation (CSI)" as is done from this point on through the series.

Series creator, Anthony Zuiker has appeared as a cameo in a fewof the CSI episodes. They include, 'Pilot', 'Ellie' and 'Last Laugh'.

The characters use real cameras when photographing crime scenes. A Nikon F5 was used most often early in the series; now most characters use different models. Warrick can be seen with a Nikon D100 or D70.

Police codes mentioned on CSI, such as 419, are real codes used by the LVMPD. A 419 means "deceased person".

It has been readily admitted that some fibbing has been done on the show, regarding how long certain lab tests take. Some may take days or weeks in real life, but take seconds on the show.

Assistant coroner David Phillips is played by David Berman, who also serves as a head researcher to the show.

CSI stars Marg Helgenberger, Jorja Fox and George Eads have appeared on the same show before appearing on CSI. They all appeared on ER, on different episodes.

November 18, 2004, marked CSI's 100th episode. It also became the most watched episode in CSI history thus-far with 31.46 million viewers tuning in.

July 15, 2004, George Eads and Jorja Fox were fired due to an alleged money dispute. CBS rehired them the following week when it turned out to be a couple of misunderstandings.

On December 6, 2001, 'Ellie' was the first episode to go #1 on American television.

'After the Show' is based on an actual case, the murder of Linda Sobek. The case was solved by Elizabeth Divine who is the consulting producer of the show and a former CSI.

There were rumors of a fourth CSI series, to be set in London and using "Eminence Front" as its theme tune, but the show never materialized and there are not presently any plans for such a spin-off.

The show utilizes a wide array of tactical flashlights; the most often-used light is the Surefire M4 Devastator.

They were going to have a CSI Toronto but decided 3 was enough (Toronto is in Ontario, Canada).

When asked about a possible CSI feature film, creator Anthony E. Zuiker said he'd like to wait until after the 30th season to make it.

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• Did You Know? Episode Facts