IT’S a busy Tuesday at CBS Radford Studio City in Los Angeles for the cast and crew of “CSI New York.” They are working on “Help,” the 12th episode of their fifth season, which fans of the series in the Philippines will get to watch next year when the new season airs on AXN.

“Don’t forget to exercise your right to vote!” the call sheet reminds the cast and crew. But that morning, they have other things on their mind than Obama and McCain. Like the rape victims they have to seek justice for in the episode they are filming. And the presence of the international press in their set.

Crime drama

Not that the press pose any threat, no. They are all busy raiding the buffet spread of the crafts services while waiting for the day’s scheduled interviews.

“CSI New York,” a procedural crime drama, is the youngest show in the “CSI” franchise. Although initially perceived by viewers as dark and gritty, the show underwent a big change in the second season.

Pam Veasey, the show’s executive producer and co-showrunner explains the development: “We realized that when people go to New York City, where they go are Times Square and the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty and none of those places are very dark or gritty, they’re beautifully lit and bright. There’s color everywhere. We thought the show should reflect what New York City is to most people or what they dream it to be. New York should be alive and vibrant and busy and cluttered and active. We go for danger, fine, but we make sure New York is alive, that you go there and there’s something about that city specifically that you didn’t know. We try to tell a story with little intricate details about the city.”

Since then, audiences have embraced “CSI New York” and ratings have steadily climbed season after season. The show has also received three Emmy nominations — two for Outstanding Stunt Coordination and One for Outstanding Makeup for a Series.

Huge hit

There’s a good reason the show has become such a huge hit. Real-life CSI Tech Advisor Bill Haynes says, “Everybody loves a good mystery. A mystery just has a timeless appeal. And we pair that with extravagant, extraordinary visuals.”

The show is supposedly based in New York but most of it is actually shot in LA. Pam says, “Most of the sets are on this lot but we do make an effort to put in as much of New York as possible. We shoot in New York too sometimes but we also have really terrific visual effects guys. We just built the top of the Empire State Building at our parking garage last week. We built the Statue of Liberty on a set here. Our visual effects guy can put our people on New York monuments. They can turn an LA skyline into New York.”

The cast and crew spend about eight to 10 weeks working on each episode and each episode costs about two million dollars to make. Bill says, “An amazing amount of work goes into it during that period. There’s a lot of overlap. It’s this assembly line that never stops. It will make your head spin.”

We witness this assembly line that Tuesday, as the cast members sneak out one by one between takes to sit down and answer questions about their characters and about the show.

Crime lab

After the interviews, they return to the CSI crime lab to finish shooting. The CSI New York lab is impressive — they are complete with the latest equipment in forensic science.

One of the great things about CSI New York is how it has gotten a lot of people interested in forensic science. Bill says, “My understanding is that since the CSI franchise has come about, there’s been an even a bigger interest in this field. It has probably drawn people into this field who are brilliant, amazing people who might not have gotten into this field otherwise.”

Tech advisor John Dove adds, “A friend of mine runs a forensics competition in New York for high schools. They set up an identical crime scene and teams of high school students compete. It has grown in the last three or four years. He started out in a college gymnasium and now he’s had to go to three different locations to run this thing, it’s become this big. I think he’s doubled the number of schools participating. It’s really exploding.”

Competition

A big challenge for the show is keeping things fresh — and making sure they stay different from CSI and CSI Miami. Pam says, “If you think about it, CSI will celebrate their 200th episode, Miami will celebrate their 150th and we’re celebrating our 100th. So we really have to compete against all the episodes that have already been done. That’s where the competition lies, that rush to get the story. We constantly send in story ideas and hope we’re first.”

Not that there’s a real competition among the three shows. Pam adds, “We all know we’re on different nights, with different competitions, with different types of shows. We hope the audience doesn’t get bored with the format so that they’ll just say “I’ll just watch one.”

But how does CSI New York do it? Pam says, “My writers printed up a T-shirt and the front of it says, “Make it young, make it sexy, make it dangerous, make it ride.” And the back says, “With a grounded believable motive” That’s my requirement. I ask that the writers think of a story that’s grounded and believable but really fun. We try to be very explosive, we try to take the audience on a mystery ride where they don’t know what to expect.”

Watch CSI New York on AXN on Tuesdays, 10 p.m. with replays on Wednesdays, 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., Sundays 1 p.m. and 10 p.m. and Mondays, 3 a.m.