From ‘CSI’ to ‘Castle’: Traveling the World, One Crime Show at a Time

We’ve written before about crime novels being a prime source for vivid place-based writing. But how about traveling vicariously through the now-ubiquitous crime show? I’d argue that television travel can be just as effective and enjoyable.

Of course, a forty-four minute episode doesn’t allow for the same richness and depth of detail as you’d find in a book, but you can pack a lot of local color—both sights and sounds—into even the briefest street scene. Think of the all-powerful CSI franchise: from the juicy opening shots of the Las Vegas strip or the Manhattan skyline—sorry Miami, I just can’t handle Horatio—to the plot lines often derived from existing local traditions, quirks or trends (think the original CSI’s frequent tributes to Vegas’ wild mob-ruled past), each of the shows is deeply rooted in its host city. And while the main story lines are certainly glitzed up and sensationalized (not to mention acted out by improbably attractive law enforcement officers), you can still pick up a lot of legit local detail from them: I first heard of narcocorridos in a CSI episode about the Mexican community in Las Vegas, and saw handball played for the first time in an episode of CSI: NY—now, walking around Queens during my stay here, I see the game being played daily.

And (I can already hear the objections) it’s not just big American cities you can learn about this way, either. They’re not really my cup of tea, but my mother swears by the televised adaptations of her favorite British crime novelists. On the occasions when she’s had control of the remote, I’ve gotten an eyeful of haunting moors, sickeningly quaint villages (hiding dark secrets, naturally) and bleak urban landscapes in the likes of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Rebus, or Dalziel and Pascoe. I’m sure the same vicarious-travel possibilities are present in nearly every country’s homegrown crime shows.

I had all this in mind as I settled in to watch the premiere of Castle earlier this week. The show—yet another New York-set crime drama—follows bestselling crime writer (and oh-so-charming playboy) Rick Castle as he teams up with a tough-as-nails female cop to solve a series of murders based on his novels. Disappointingly, apart from a few establishing shots (including the always-popular view of the Brooklyn Bridge from a DUMBO street) the pilot wasn’t at all New York-centric. Still, the writers had a lot of ground to cover, between the quirky secondary characters needing introduction and the groundwork being laid for the inevitable sexual tension between the two leads, so I may give it another chance next week.

And, “Castle” aside, I’m sticking to my theory that crime television can be a great way to do a little armchair traveling. Have you ever learned about your destination through a local detective series? What’s your favorite place-based crime show?

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