The creator of CSIdelves into the mysteries of his father’s tragic death and his own unlikelyrise in Hollywood using the very techniques he has honed by working on his hitshows, CSI, CSI: Miami,and CSI: New York.Deeply felt and insightful, Anthony Zuiker’s searingmemoir of dreams and losses, successes and heartbreaks, is not only abehind-the-scenes look at television’s most-watched drama, but an essentialguide for aspiring script writers and filmmakers, featuring practical tips andinspiring lessons to help tomorrow’s writers succeed today. Fans of crimedramas, anyone who dreams of unraveling the mysteries of their own story, andeveryone who dreams of making it big will find themselves immediately drawn inby the one-of-a-kind story of the man who made it: Mr. CSI.
Mr. CSI
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From the Back Cover
In 1990, Anthony Zuiker was just another Hollywood wannabe—a balding, overweight guy driving a tram in Las Vegas for eight bucks an hour, telling his friends about the screenplay he was writing, dreaming of fame. He’d grown up in Vegas, where his mother worked the blackjack table at a casino, while his father flitted back and forth from investment schemes that didn’t seem to go anywhere. His friends figured Anthony wouldn’t either.
But twenty years later, Zuiker stands as the mastermind behind the most popular television show in history, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and its spin-offs: CSI: Miami and CSI: NY. How he got there—a remarkable rise from nothing to something—is the narrative lifeblood of Mr. CSI, only, like the show itself, there’s a catch:
On a January morning in 2005, Zuiker got a call from the Las Vegas Police Department while he was working at his desk on a script for CSI: NY. His estranged father, whom Zuiker hadn’t seen for a decade, had put a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.
So begins Mr. CSI, a book that frames Zuiker’s astonishing ascendency to fame and fortune with an unsettling and honest appraisal of his father’s suicide. It’s a book that uses the conventions that have made CSI a worldwide success to tell a far more personal story, of what one man left behind in his success and what he gained when he returned.
About the Author
Anthony E. Zuiker is the creator and executive producer of the most watched television show in the world, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, as well as CSI: Miami and CSI: NY. He is also the author of the bestselling novels Level 26: Dark Origins, Dark Prophecy, and Dark Revelations. He lives in Los Angeles, California.
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Customer Reviews
“ Zuiker doesn't always paint himself in the best light and one concludes that as much as he likes to brag about his intelligence he's really not at smart as he thinks. ”
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mostly About The Creator's Relationships, Not Much About the Show
January 3, 2012
By Mediaman
Format:Hardcover
This extremely well-written book covers the background of the creator of CSI and explains why he has become the egocentric person he is, but doesn't have much about CSI. If you're looking for a good book about a boy who learns to improve on his dad's mistakes, then this may be one for you; but if you're looking for a behind-the-scenes look into the CSI francise you may be disappointed.
The main focus of the book is a father who told Zuiker he never wanted the boy to be born. This dad was in with the mob in Las Vegas, often stole money, had numerous failed businesses and had nothing to do with his son for years until the dad committed suicide. There are a number of self-discovery moments in the book, as it's structured around Zuiker's search for meaning in his father's death.
He states a number of life facts without enough details and probably the main complaint about the book is that it doesn't reveal enough--either about Zuiker or his shows. He also has a few of his facts and dates mixed up (at one point he says "I hadn't seen my father in more than 25 years," yet in the narrative of the book it was actually around 20 years, then later he says for 25 years he had "little to no contact" with his dad and then finally he says he had just seen his dad seven years before he died--so what is it???). And at times some of his stories sound a bit beefed up for the book, exaggerated to make it sound like a TV screenplay. But the things that happened to him while he was a bellman at a Vegas hotel are hilarious.
Some of the self-diagnosis is very raw while other parts of the book show a snide side to the writer. For example, after going to five different colleges and not being able to find work, he blames President Reagan on his inability to get a job! He actually followed some of his dad's patterns by skipping from one scheme to another, never really doing the work needed to have a steady income. His dad, even though emotionally distant, had a huge impact on the son that Zuiker has a hard time wrapping his head around.
He doesn't seem to have much of a moral compass either. His first creative "sale" was to a sex shop. For awhile he "stayed afloat by betting on sports" even though he claims he had no money. He also seemed clueless as to how to get work--he claims to get repeatedly chewed out by people that he submits unsolicited materials to, yet in his mid-20s he didn't have enough common sense to know to go to an HR office and fill out a job application.
He comes across as a bit clueless and a loser. Zuiker doesn't always paint himself in the best light and one concludes that as much as he likes to brag about his intelligence he's really not at smart as he thinks. He is abrasive, unemotional, demeaning and demanding. His father's suicide (five years after the son had become rich and successful) doesn't mellow the author but instead makes him treat the death like a CSI episode.
So while the book is well structured and shows the author's great ability to write, it doesn't have near as many lessons (or emotional punch) as there should be. Zuiker is too successful and too Hollywood to humble himself to dig deep enough to make his father's life and death a motivator to change, other than to use the last couple pages of the book to give himself praise for being a great dad to kids that are never really mentioned otherwise in the book. And he completely glosses over the admission that he values his work more than his wife (who lives separately in Vegas while he lives in L.A.)
Some will complain that there's not enough about the CSI shows in the book--and they are correct. But he makes clear that the point of the book was to be an inspirational self-help book. Even on that point he doesn't exactly succeed because no one could duplicate the inept, unplanned way Zuiker became a TV writer.
Any success that happened to Zuiker was not merely due to his own talent or intelligence--it was due to the good will of others, which he barely acknowledges here. This is not a "how to make it in Hollywood" book but rather a "how to use a rich high school buddy to get ahead" and "how to get others to feel sorry for you so you can bum around until you make it." Based on this book you won't be able to figure out why so many people gave this goofball a chance, but what you learn is that if you attach yourself to the right people and they feel sorry for you then maybe you can be a big TV writer as well.
The main focus of the book is a father who told Zuiker he never wanted the boy to be born. This dad was in with the mob in Las Vegas, often stole money, had numerous failed businesses and had nothing to do with his son for years until the dad committed suicide. There are a number of self-discovery moments in the book, as it's structured around Zuiker's search for meaning in his father's death.
He states a number of life facts without enough details and probably the main complaint about the book is that it doesn't reveal enough--either about Zuiker or his shows. He also has a few of his facts and dates mixed up (at one point he says "I hadn't seen my father in more than 25 years," yet in the narrative of the book it was actually around 20 years, then later he says for 25 years he had "little to no contact" with his dad and then finally he says he had just seen his dad seven years before he died--so what is it???). And at times some of his stories sound a bit beefed up for the book, exaggerated to make it sound like a TV screenplay. But the things that happened to him while he was a bellman at a Vegas hotel are hilarious.
Some of the self-diagnosis is very raw while other parts of the book show a snide side to the writer. For example, after going to five different colleges and not being able to find work, he blames President Reagan on his inability to get a job! He actually followed some of his dad's patterns by skipping from one scheme to another, never really doing the work needed to have a steady income. His dad, even though emotionally distant, had a huge impact on the son that Zuiker has a hard time wrapping his head around.
He doesn't seem to have much of a moral compass either. His first creative "sale" was to a sex shop. For awhile he "stayed afloat by betting on sports" even though he claims he had no money. He also seemed clueless as to how to get work--he claims to get repeatedly chewed out by people that he submits unsolicited materials to, yet in his mid-20s he didn't have enough common sense to know to go to an HR office and fill out a job application.
He comes across as a bit clueless and a loser. Zuiker doesn't always paint himself in the best light and one concludes that as much as he likes to brag about his intelligence he's really not at smart as he thinks. He is abrasive, unemotional, demeaning and demanding. His father's suicide (five years after the son had become rich and successful) doesn't mellow the author but instead makes him treat the death like a CSI episode.
So while the book is well structured and shows the author's great ability to write, it doesn't have near as many lessons (or emotional punch) as there should be. Zuiker is too successful and too Hollywood to humble himself to dig deep enough to make his father's life and death a motivator to change, other than to use the last couple pages of the book to give himself praise for being a great dad to kids that are never really mentioned otherwise in the book. And he completely glosses over the admission that he values his work more than his wife (who lives separately in Vegas while he lives in L.A.)
Some will complain that there's not enough about the CSI shows in the book--and they are correct. But he makes clear that the point of the book was to be an inspirational self-help book. Even on that point he doesn't exactly succeed because no one could duplicate the inept, unplanned way Zuiker became a TV writer.
Any success that happened to Zuiker was not merely due to his own talent or intelligence--it was due to the good will of others, which he barely acknowledges here. This is not a "how to make it in Hollywood" book but rather a "how to use a rich high school buddy to get ahead" and "how to get others to feel sorry for you so you can bum around until you make it." Based on this book you won't be able to figure out why so many people gave this goofball a chance, but what you learn is that if you attach yourself to the right people and they feel sorry for you then maybe you can be a big TV writer as well.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
CSI is one of the few TV shows that I watch on a permanent basis, mainly because I am a Las Vegas resident and enjoy references to local place names and institutions in the context of police procedural narratives. Story of Mr. Zuiker's slow rise to success in the teleplay business takes place around the development of our city through its various incarnations over the decades. But if that might be of no interest to the general reader, his personal struggle to find his niche in the world is inspiring. And the goal was not obvious for years.
He was taking forensics (not medical) classes at university, where his talent for debate and writing became evident. So he got noticed by people with influence in the entertainment media world. But even after having been "discovered" and achieving an "in" in Hollywood, the struggle continued in an atmosphere where LUCK is so important. He was going to write a Leonard DiCaprio movie, and that fell through. In the TV world pilots are made and not sold. Even when CSI was finally launched, it did not have particular support from the CBS network, whose attention had been devoted to the Fugitive. Little did ANYONE know in advance what a global success that CSI would be? No. It would become the flagship venue around which the CBS scheduling strategy would be built.
The show's success is based on a concept fresh at the time. The Forensic side of police work. That had not been really done well since the show Quincy, M. E. It set a new trend of spinoffs and copycats, all of them with great ideas and superb writing. The Miami version is even showing up as reruns on American Classic Movies. That is supposed to be a MOVIE channel for crying out loud.
Even though doing a commercial TV show is a collaborative effort involving scads of talented people, the scripts for CSI became personal on occasion. After the writers' strike had been concluded and normal production resumed, a story shows up in which there is a murder of an obnoxious superstar on a TV show set. The nerdy little writer thumbs his nose at the CSI team, walks off with the sexy assistant producer, and apparently "gets away with it". How could anyone begrudge Mr. Zuiker's self-indulgent fantasy. After all, he now had CLOUT!
I recommend this autobiography, even for those who do not care about the mean politics within the entertainment business. Everyone would be inspired by the life story by one who overcame adversity and eventually "made it".
Tom Martin, Las Vegas
He was taking forensics (not medical) classes at university, where his talent for debate and writing became evident. So he got noticed by people with influence in the entertainment media world. But even after having been "discovered" and achieving an "in" in Hollywood, the struggle continued in an atmosphere where LUCK is so important. He was going to write a Leonard DiCaprio movie, and that fell through. In the TV world pilots are made and not sold. Even when CSI was finally launched, it did not have particular support from the CBS network, whose attention had been devoted to the Fugitive. Little did ANYONE know in advance what a global success that CSI would be? No. It would become the flagship venue around which the CBS scheduling strategy would be built.
The show's success is based on a concept fresh at the time. The Forensic side of police work. That had not been really done well since the show Quincy, M. E. It set a new trend of spinoffs and copycats, all of them with great ideas and superb writing. The Miami version is even showing up as reruns on American Classic Movies. That is supposed to be a MOVIE channel for crying out loud.
Even though doing a commercial TV show is a collaborative effort involving scads of talented people, the scripts for CSI became personal on occasion. After the writers' strike had been concluded and normal production resumed, a story shows up in which there is a murder of an obnoxious superstar on a TV show set. The nerdy little writer thumbs his nose at the CSI team, walks off with the sexy assistant producer, and apparently "gets away with it". How could anyone begrudge Mr. Zuiker's self-indulgent fantasy. After all, he now had CLOUT!
I recommend this autobiography, even for those who do not care about the mean politics within the entertainment business. Everyone would be inspired by the life story by one who overcame adversity and eventually "made it".
Tom Martin, Las Vegas
By PhillyGuy
Format:Hardcover
As a long-time fan of all CSI shows, especially the [unfortunately and wrongly canceled] CSI:Miami, I picked this up expecting a "procedural" on how the author came up with the idea for the original CSI, and instead got a stretched out memoir of his personal history, most of which is totally unrelated to the series. While his family background may have been sad, especially the break with his clearly colorful father, I think the readers would have been better served by more information on his creation of the series, ideas for characters and episodes. Even more galling, for someone whose life was obviously shaped by his broken family, I was struck by how little he mentioned his wife, while gushing about his sons. Sure enough, I later read that he'd filed for divorce, likely brought on by what I'd hazard a guess was due to a dalliance with some D-list actress or a "production assistant."
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Inspiring
Even if you're not a CSI fan, it's hard not to be moved, and even inspired, by the story of Anthony Zuiker, a man from a broken home, with no wealth or contacts in Hollywood, who... Read more
Published 16 months ago by UES
5.0 out of 5 stars
CSI fan
Never heard of Anthony Zuiker but of course know the CSI Franchise. Mr. CSI is a highly entertaining read about a guy who basically came from nowhere and became, through the CSI... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Booksnob
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not about CSI at all
I am an avid fan of all the CSI shows and was looking forward to this book. I really wanted this to be about how he came up with the idea for the shows and sort of a... Read more
Published 17 months ago by ecogirl87
3.0 out of 5 stars
All is not as it seems....
Okay... I'm 200 pages into a 280 page book and what do I know about CSI that I didn't know before..? Nada, nothing, zip-O. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Quixote010
