•Though there's another Thursday left in the season, some of the evening's bigger shows are exiting a week early.
By Sonja Flemming, CBS
Bill Irwin returns as the Dick & Jane killer, Nate Haskell, on CSI.
By Sonja Flemming, CBS
Bill Irwin returns as the Dick & Jane killer, Nate Haskell, on CSI.
The best stop on tonight's farewell tour is likely to be NBC's Community (8 ET/PT), which wraps up with the study group's paintball battle. Few TV rewards have been richer than watching this clever comedy grow this season — let's hope next year holds even better in store.
•Then there's CBS' CSI (9 ET/PT), which, sadly, has been moving in the opposite direction.
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Tonight showcases one of its best guest stars, Bill Irwin as serial killer Nate Haskell — but Irwin's vicious character only highlights the uglier, more violent turn the series has taken, and his performance makes Laurence Fishburne's underplayed Ray Langston seem even duller.
Trying to backstop Ray by giving him a tortured back story only makes matters worse; the last thing CSI needs now is more angst. CSI was never a great drama, but it was once a reliably entertaining series.
Obviously, it can never seem as fresh as it once did.
But it doesn't have to feel this stale — and it might not if all concerned would face mistakes and fix them.
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