Cold Case

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Cold Case
Cold Case intertitle
Format	Police procedural Drama
Created by	Meredith Stiehm
Starring	Kathryn Morris Danny Pino John Finn Jeremy Ratchford Thom Barry Tracie Thoms
Theme music composer	Helmut and Franz Vonlichten with intro by Michael A. Levine
Opening theme	Nara
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	134 (List of episodes)
Production
Location(s)	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Running time	approx. 45 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV)
Original run	September 28, 2003 – present
External links
Official website

Cold Case is an American police procedural television series revolving around a fictionalized Philadelphia Police Department division in Pennsylvania that specializes in investigating cold cases. The series first aired on September 28, 2003 on CBS. Cold Case has been renewed for a seventh season which will begin airing Sunday, September 27, 2009 at 10pm.^[1]

Contents 1 Format 1.1 Victims and End Scenes 1.2 Cases that were not murders 1.3 Cases that were not Cold Cases 2 Music 3 Characters 4 CSI: NY crossover 5 Similar series 5.1 Cold Squad controversy 6 Episodes 7 U.S. television ratings 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Format

Each episode of Cold Case follows a formula that begins with a flashback scene that establishes the year -- sometimes the actual date -- in which the crime took place, as well as a set of characters in a seemingly mundane situation. These flashbacks feature a different style of direction, whether it be the colors, lighting, shading, or camera angles. Flashbacks often match a style from that era, such as a black-and-white flashback depicting the 1950s. The next scene generally shows one or two of the characters introduced in the flashback scene dead at some future point in time.

The show then flashes to the present day, with the detectives of the homicide division of the Philadelphia police department prompted to reinvestigate an old case gone cold following, for example, a revelation of new evidence, discovery of the victim's physical remains, or a witness who has decided to come forward. The detectives then give the cold case a new look and begin researching the victim and interviewing their friends, acquaintances, and family.

During the cold case investigation, those who were introduced in the flashback at the beginning of the episode have aged (in one case, a seven-year-old witness to the crime is interviewed by the detectives when she is 95). Gradually, the detectives gather enough evidence to determine the killer, who is usually then arrested. In contrast to many procedurals, such as the CSI series, Cold Case stresses cooperative interviews with potential witnesses who each fill in a part of the story, usually in chronological order. There are few adversarial interrogations and very little use of forensic evidence. Violent confrontations with suspects are rare.

At the end of each episode, the detectives mark the case as "closed," putting the evidence box back on the shelf, while an apparition of the murdered person(s) looks on, although the apparition may appear to a friend or family member of the murdered person instead. Sometimes they may make scenes about the apparition victim's future, had they lived. In one recent case, the evidence box is being shipped out of state as it became evident that the crime took place outside of Pennsylvania. This happened with the episode "Wednesday's Women," where the crime took place in Mississippi in 1964.

The problems in the detectives' personal lives are also featured, though the main emphasis of every story is on the victim and the search for the killer. Most notably, Detective Lilly Rush grew up in a severely dysfunctional, poverty-stricken home with an alcoholic mother.

The show usually casts a young actor for the flashback sequences and an older actor for the shots in the present, and cuts back and forth between the two to show how the character has aged. The same actor could be used if the crime is in the recent past, or if the character is not likely to have changed much in appearance except for added weight and grey hair.

While all of the information shown in the flashbacks is true, what the characters say in the present day about the flashbacks is not necessarily true and, in fact, is often used for misdirection of the audience.

[edit] Victims and End Scenes

Typically, once the murderer is revealed, their confession is depicted in one final flashback in which the murder is shown. The episode then usually ends with a montage (with no dialogue) of the killer(s) being arrested, set to a song of the era, as well as the fates of other characters from that era, showing all of them in their current appearance, but briefly flashing back to their younger selves.

The only exceptions to the final flashback are when the scene fades out just as the murder is about to happen. This is because of the utter heinousness of the underlying crime accompanying the murder. This is usually in the cases of rape and sexual assault on a woman or even a child. This was the case in the episodes "Death Penalty: Final appeal", "Lover's Lane" and "Offender". The only episode that featured a whole rape scene was the episode "The Letter".

Finally, Detective Lilly Rush or someone else close to the victim sees a vision of the grateful-looking victim standing nearby, who then quickly vanishes. This aspect of the show is left up to personal interpretation: depending on the viewer's perspective, it could be Rush's imagination, or it could be the ghosts of the victims themselves. It's important to say that the victim is not always happy. It could be because the victim was killed by a family member, did not feel loved or the homicide was not properly solved. Examples: "Time To crime", "Superstar" and "Justice".

There have been few episodes where the victim is not seen. The first time was the episode "Mindhunters" where the killer walked away free.

Other episodes are:

• "Kensington"
• "Baby Blues" - The victim was only 6 months old.
• "Fireflies" - The victim was found alive in West Virginia.
• "The Road" - The main victim was found alive but three other victims were seen by Detective Kat Miller.
• "The Ghost of my child" - The victim was found alive.

There have been numerous other variations on this pattern, however, such as the fifth season episode "Family 8108". The episode had the rare distinction of ending with an original monologue over top of a song during the closing montage. The speech was performed by actor David Huynh, playing the character of Billy Takahashi.

[edit] Cases that were not murders

Very few cases are not homicides but other type of accidents or suicide. The episode "Daniela" was the first of this type because the victim killed herself. The episode "Best Friends" featured a 1932 traffic accident that was first ruled as homicide since the car was stolen from a criminal. The deaths in the episodes "Roller Girl" and "Boy in the Box" were both accidental deaths. The episode "Justice" was the first time a case was marked as justifiable homicide. The episode "Fireflies" is the first and only episode where someone did not die.

[edit] Cases that were not Cold Cases

The episode "Officer Down" which aired March 15, 2009 was an episode where the detectives were not investigating a Cold Case. This episode involved the shooting of a shop owner where Detective Will Jefferies was caught in the cross fire and shows how the team is affected by a shooting so close to home and how they go about catching the person responsible.

[edit] Music

The theme song is an excerpt from "Nara" by E.S. Posthumus (who also performs the theme for the NFL on CBS), with an introduction by series composer Michael A. Levine. Besides Levine's original music, each episode makes extensive use of era-appropriate music for flashbacks to the year in question. Some episodes contain music only from one artist such as U2, Bruce Springsteen, Nirvana, John Mellencamp, Johnny Cash, Tim McGraw, Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra and John Lennon. Pearl Jam's music was used in the two part season six finale, the first time one artist's music has been used for two full episodes.^[2]

[edit] Characters

• Det. Lilly Rush played by Kathryn Morris
• Det. Scotty Valens played by Danny Pino (From episode 6 of season 1)
• Lt. John Stillman played by John Finn
• Det. Nick Vera played by Jeremy Ratchford
• Det. Will Jeffries played by Thom Barry
• Det. Kat Miller played by Tracie Thoms (Season 3-)
• Det. Chris Lassing played by Justin Chambers (Episodes 1, 2, and 4 of Season 1)

[edit] CSI: NY crossover

On May 2, 2007, one of the Cold Case detectives made a rare appearance outside of the series. In the CSI: NY episode "Cold Reveal", Danny Pino appeared as his Cold Case character Scotty Valens as he traveled to New York when it was discovered that CSI Stella Bonasera (Melina Kanakaredes) was connected to an unsolved case, proving that Cold Case and CSI take place in the same universe. The CSI shows and Cold Case all air on CBS and are produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.

[edit] Similar series

The investigation of "cold cases" has been used as the basis for several other detective dramas, including:

• The Enigma Files, UK / BBC, 1980
• Cold Squad, CAN / CTV Television Network, 1998
• Cold Case Files, A&E Network, 1999 (true cases)
• Waking the Dead, UK / BBC, 2000
• New Tricks, UK / BBC, 2003

[edit] Cold Squad controversy

Upon its launch, television critics noted similarities between Cold Case and a similar Canadian series called Cold Squad which debuted in 1998, five years before Cold Case^[3]. Fans of Cold Squad accused the American series of copying the basic premise and characters of the Canadian version. In 2003, the creators of Cold Squad considered launching legal action against the makers of Cold Case over copyright issues.^[4][5] Both shows air in Canada (and on the same network, CTV). The law firm headed by famed entertainment attorney Pierce O'Donnell, who successfully represented Art Buchwald in his copyright-infringement suit against Paramount and who has defended the James Bond franchise against copycats, has confirmed that it has agreed to represent^{[clarification needed]} the producers of Cold Squad, who claim that the CBS series is a knock-off of their own hit show. The Toronto Globe and Mail reported that Meredith Stehm, the creator of the American series, attended a seminar on TV writing at the Canadian Film Centre in 2002 where the concept of Cold Squad was explained to her. O'Donnell's law firm stated: "Our clients are very concerned about many striking similarities and have retained counsel to investigate the situation and if necessary, to take appropriate action."

[edit] Episodes

Season	Ep. #	First Airdate	Last Airdate
Season 1	23	September 28, 2003	May 23, 2004
Season 2	23	October 3, 2004	May 22, 2005
Season 3	23	September 25, 2005	May 21, 2006
Season 4	24	September 24, 2006	May 6, 2007
Season 5	18	September 23, 2007	May 4, 2008
Season 6	23	September 28, 2008	May 10, 2009
Season 7	24	September 27, 2009	May 2010

[edit] U.S. television ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Cold Case on CBS.

Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.

Season	Timeslot	Season Premiere	Season Finale	TV Season	Ranking	Viewers (in millions)
1st	Sunday 8:00 p.m.	September 28, 2003	May 23, 2004	2003-2004	#17	14.18
2nd	Sunday 8:00 p.m.	October 3, 2004	May 22, 2005	2004-2005	#17	15.10
3rd	Sunday 8:00 p.m.	September 25, 2005	May 21, 2006	2005-2006	#20	14.50
4th	Sunday 9:00 p.m.	September 24, 2006	May 6, 2007	2006-2007	#19	14.40
5th	Sunday 9:00 p.m.	September 23, 2007	May 4, 2008	2007-2008	#33	10.80[6]
6th	Sunday 9:00 p.m.	September 28, 2008	May 10, 2009	2008-2009	#23	12.00[7]
7th	Sunday 10:00 p.m.	September 27, 2009	May 2010	2009-2010	TBA	TBA

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Cold Case on CBS
• Warner Bros. Cold Case official site
• Cold Case at TV Guide
• Cold Case at the Internet Movie Database
• Cold Case at TV.com
• [1]Article From IMDB