This is not Las Vegas

I'm not a super fan of CSI or anything, but I do enjoy watching the show from time to time. Like with a lot of programs, the show's producers have been trying to cut corners by filming in locations other than the location in the storyline.

One of the things I like about the original CSI was the way it captured the grittiness and sleaziness of Sin City, but this move away from Las Vegas and Clark County in general has left the show wanting.

Moreover, I think it contributes to the dumbing down of America. Watching this episode, they might get the impression that southern Nevada is made up of irrigated farmland or something, when it fact it's desert and more desert as far as the eye can see.

That's not to say it's not pretty terrain — I find the desert to be hauntingly beautiful at dawn, dusk, in the snow, or when the flowers are in bloom. But it's the desert, not farmland. Don't kid the kiddies who are already geographically impaired.

How hard would it be to take this signature Vegas show to Vegas itself. Show Vegas homes instead of overly manicured Hollywood houses or blighted Compton-area neighborhoods. Find a body underneath an I-15 overpass instead of in the train yard a mile east of Downtown L.A. And how much more trouble would it be to have a skydiving scene shot near Hoover Dam instead of somewhere over the San Joaquin Valley (I'm guessing)?

Okay, rant over. There are probably more pressing concerns today.