Caruso Enjoying Forensics

After a very successful first year, "CSI: Miami" recently kicked off its second season. The Early Show co-anchor Rene Syler recently visited the show's set in Miami and spoke to star David Caruso.

Now that the Miami show is quite set apart from "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," which takes place in Las Vegas, there is a sense of relief, says Caruso. "I think there's a sense that some of the pressure is off because it's all about establishment initially and finding your audience, finding the foundation."

One of the things Syler likes most about "CSI: Miami" is the way the well cut scenes flow. For Caruso, it is not just the editing, but the whole concept of the show.

He says, "This forensic science is kind of spooky, interesting, magnetic new world. The footage has a tone and the world we're in has a very specific tone. And you take that tone and you set it in the tropics. The combination of those two elements I think is a great contrast and really unique."

In "CSI: Miami," Caruso plays crime scene investigator Horatio Cane. Each week Cane trusts his gut instincts as much as science, while investigating evil crimes. To ensure as much realism as possible the scripts can be very technical. Caruso says it's like getting an education every week.

He adds, "And it's an ongoing process. The real CSIs are constantly going to school because the technology is modernizing itself every week, every month, every year.

Asked what it means when his character says, "Evil is…" Caruso says, "In a weird way, all of this that we deal with is a fractured self expression. When a human being departs from normal thinking and normal feeling and is so damaged that they now have to begin expressing themselves through these horrific crimes that's this area, this abstract area, where I think you depart from your humanity and you embrace evil."

So far, Caruso is quite content with the way the show is going. He says, "It worked out nicely, I have to say. The network gave the show great care. And they launched it beautifully. And it's rare to get that type of hard-core support. I mean we had full barrage of the network's power behind us. And it really worked."

He credits reruns as well for the success of the show since people who missed the show have a chance to see it and become fans. Caruso notes, "That happened to the Las Vegas show as well. The Las Vegas show developed a really nice following the first year. And was discovered by an entirely different group of people in the rerun season. And the next season they climbed way up."

You can see "CSI Miami" Monday night at 10 p.m. ET/ 9 p.m. Central, on CBS.