I have been a huge fan of C.S.I for many years. I'm so in love with the Vegas version that I've been reluctant to watch the others. Last season, the producers killed off one of my favorite characters, "Warrick Brown" played by Gary Dourdan. Warrick was a C.S.I who often got caught up in trouble. He was a very likeable character, someone that audiences would look forward to watching.
Warrick was portrayed as a person who came into a bunch of trouble with the law. He was involved with gambling, strippers, hookers, alcoholism and more. He was portrayed in this negative way but also had some positive characteristics. He was loyal, hard working, and willing to help out any of his C.S.I teammates. Audiences identified with him because he was a great guy who wasn't perfect but was working towards a better life. People would watch the show to see him fight his problems and some weeks he would go back to old habits.
In the end of last season, Warrick got involved with strippers. He was framed for the murder of a stripper in Las Vegas. Later he was murdered in his car by someone he thought he could trust. The death of Warrick was sad for all fans of the show. Many people said they would never watch the show again.
Since then, C.S.I has replaced Warrick's character with Laurence Fishburne, better known as Morpheus from The Matrix. Fishburne is portrayed as a successful black professor, who is a doctor/professor/lawyer/C.S.I. His character is much more positive than Warrick's was. I like that there is a positive representation being shown through Fishburne's character. I think the show is much better without the negative portrayal of Warrick. Now that he's on the show, I find it hard NOT to watch it every Thursday night.
Are you thinking they did this on purpose? Replaced the negative black vibe for the positive one? It is always easier to identify with a character who isn't perfect because no one in real life is perfect.
ReplyDeleteI think I actually saw that episode of CSI, the one the character was killed.
Yes I do think they did this on purpose. The new character isn't exactly perfect either. He's still a beginner as a C.S.I. He makes mistakes, but they always show him working harder to prevent those mistakes. In last week's episode he told his boss that he was going to be using his vacation time to practice his lab expertise. I definitely think they replaced the negative portrayal with a positive one on purpose.
ReplyDeleteWarrick was, for better or worse, meant to be that "everyman" - a more complicated way of saying that he was supposed to be a character that everyone could relate to. He had problems that a lot of people have but also had skills and abilities that weren't too far-fetched for someone to see themself as being able to handle. That was part of the reason why he was so likeable, regardless of the negative that came along with him, he was the everyman character. (If you're familiar with comic books, Bobby Drake (or Iceman) was an everyman character as well).
ReplyDeleteAlthough it looks it right now, I don't feel that this new character is as much out of step from Warrick was we think... his problems and issues seem to be building up and more skeletons seem to be falling out of that fabled closet.
Fan of the show Liza? I'm not sure what skeletons you're talking about. I know that when he first came to the show he had some problem about shooting a gun. That he was too dangerous in the heat of the situation. How else is he imperfect?
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