Fall TV - C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation Season 8 Premiere Tonight

The night has finally arrived and the Season Premiere of "C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation," is now just a memory. The cliffhanger from last season's finale - the miniature killer has been caught but she has abducted C.S.I.'s own Sara Sidle playing a game of cat and mouse to get back at Gil Grissom. (Can't you just feel the suspense?) Okay, a bit overkill, pardon the pun, but it's fun to write anyway. Why would the serial go after one of our heroes? In Grissom's own chilling words from last season, "I took away someone she loved, now she's going to do the same to me." Whoa! Stop the presses. The secret affair is out of the bag. This whole thing started with the serial killer's foster father in order to protect her killed himself. Of course Natalie blamed Grissom who watched the grisly act live via a video camera feed. Natalie always the busy little bee somehow kidnapped Sara leaving her to die in the Nevada desert buried under a tipped over wrecked car. How do we know this? She made a miniature of the scene, of course. Hence, 'miniature killer.'

I for one, and I'm not proud of this, was seriously hoping for Sara's demise. I'm not generally a mean or cruel person but the affair with Grissom has rubbed me the wrong way from the start. And I know I'm not the only C.S.I. enthusiast who feels this way. Just read the blogs on various web sites or the columns in the TV Guide. The C.S.I. audience is definitely divided on this romantic issue. Mind you, that's not Jorja Fox's fault. She fine as Sara Sidle but since the affair was a secret it had to come out somehow. The fact that Fox was having contract negotiation problems with the show certainly may have moved her exit along at a quicker pace. You all know what happens when money's involved: someone's character is going to die, or maybe not. Possibly just written off and disappears.

In my previous article about Season 8 and the premiere I gave three scenarios: 1. Sara is dead 2. Sara would be found under the car barely alive in a comatose state 3. Her body would be gone.

Well, I have half right. Sara did get out of the car and managed to walk the Nevada desert for a day before she finally collapsed from the heat and dehydration only to be found by Nick and Sophia (thanks to the car mirrors reflection she took with her from the wreck). As the final scene from the show fades into black, Grissom is holding Sara's hand as she's being revived in a rescue chopper on the way to the hospital. Previews for next week find her very much alive, though battered and cut answering Ecklie's questions about the affair. Sara claiming they had been together for two years, Grissom saying nine. Oh yeah, Grissom's under the gun as well in regards to the inquisition. Though her character is still alive the question remains, is Jorja off or on the show? I guess we'll find that out in the coming weeks. However the writer's did say Fox is only in the first couple of episodes and that her relationship with Grissom does have an ending. One possibility remains, she gets the axe from her job. Grissom could be brought up on some bogus charge, etc.

The season premiere did play out exceptionally well as an on the edge of your seat thriller. It did capture the audience's attention throughout and the flashbacks with Grissom and Sara did lend credence to their union. It gave a good bit of history. I would of course liked the show to have been a 2 hour premiere but then again that might have been stretching it a bit. Only time will tell and we'll all have to wait and see the final outcome. One thing is for certain, C.S.I. starting out with a bang rather than a whimper. Keep tuned in for the clues.