Dear CSI:

[yendi]

Look, overall, this week's episode was good (a solid mystery even if it was a filler, a nice goodbye scene for the actress you should have brought back, and an increased focus on Catherine is always worthwhile), and continues a trend of solid episodes over the last year.

That said, you had characters say "ATM machine" and "VIN number" in the span of sixty seconds.

Seriously?

Someone on your writing staff needs be poked with a spork. Repeatedly.

Comments

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

I volunteer to administer Teh Sporkening.

[fiddledragon]

actually - it's good that they *did* say ATM machine and VIN number. While *technically* incorrect because they're redundant, they're common usage in daily speak, so it gives characters a more human feel. Even insurance agents and car salesmen and RMV/DMV staff who *know* better say "VIN number". It lends credence to the characters.

[yendi]

I'm okay with that for Brass (who, in fact, was the one who handled the "VIN Number" line, but not for Willows, who should know better.

[hippie-mamabear.livejournal.com]

Yup, they may be redundant, but they're both correct by the law of common usage. While 'i went to the ATM and got some cash' might reveal plenty of information in context, there are also such things as 'ATM cards,' 'ATM screens,' etc. so adding on the word 'machine' specifies that you mean the actual device from which the money is expelled itself, and not some other paraphernalia involved in the process. Also, 'VIN' sounds too much like a word, so if you said something like "Hey Joe, get the VIN off that tow truck, you might mistakenly think mispronounced 'van' or shortened the word 'vending machine.' Hey, you never know.

[yendi]

I've got mixed feelings about common usage; I don't like being overly prescriptivist, but I also hate redundancy.

In the context of the show, I'd have preferred they take the Criminal Minds approach to something like VIN -- define it the first time, then use the acronym (see how CM handles "unsub").

[lurkerwithout.livejournal.com]

Machine machines can only be accessed by the correct number numbers...

[allah-sulu.livejournal.com]

Someone on your writing staff needs be poked with a spork.

Or given the HIV virus.

*ducks and runs*

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

I love you, man!

[pharminatrix.livejournal.com]

I kept waiting for Macklin to start speaking Tauran and/or flash his initiation tattoos.

Also, they should have used another name, because they created a continuity error. Macklin and Catherine "just" meeting for the first time now? So they both contracted amnesia after she helped investigate the limo-driver's daughter's death in his penthouse suite and the subsequent disappearance/inadvertent suicide of his daughter?

[yendi]

Different Macklins -- the last one was Charlie (played by Brenda's hubby on The Closer), this one was Danny.

Random info

[imortalscot.livejournal.com]

Activision/Blizzard pokes fun at CSI Miami's characters in their new expansion.

Re: Random info

[yendi]

Cool (although poking fun at CSI Miami is like shooting fish in a barrel).