Cold Case (TV series)

Cold Case
Cold Case Logo.jpg
Intertitle
Format Police procedural
Drama
Created by Meredith Stiehm
Written by Timothy Slater (Senior Writer)
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
Language(s) English
No. of seasons 7
No. of episodes 156 (List of episodes)
Production
Location(s) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Running time 45 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel CBS
Picture format 480i (SDTV),
1080i (HDTV)
Original run September 28, 2003 (2003-09-28) – May 2, 2010 (2010-05-02)
Status Ended
External links
Official website

Cold Case is an American police procedural television series which ran on CBS from September 28, 2003 to May 2, 2010. The series revolves around a fictionalized Philadelphia Police Department division that specializes in investigating cold cases. On May 18, 2010, CBS announced that the series had been cancelled.[1] The series currently airs in syndication on TNT in the U.S.and on Viva in Canada.

Contents

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 that begins with an otherworldly wail from vocalist Elise Morris. 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, Elvis Costello, The Doors, John Mellencamp, Johnny Cash, Pink Floyd, 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] In one episode, the music from the movie "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", as well as the music from Cabaret was used.

A soundtrack CD was released in 2008 by Lakeshore Records, featuring incidental music composed by Michael A. Levine from the first four seasons, as well as the song 300 Flowers, sung by Robbyn Kirmsse.[3]

Characters

Character Portrayed by Rank Main cast seasons Guest seasons Also appeared
Lilly Rush Kathryn Morris Senior Homicide Detective
1–7
 N/A N/A
Scotty Valens Danny Pino Senior Homicide Detective
1–7
 N/A CSI: NY: "Cold Reveal"
John Stillman John Finn Lieutenant
Homicide Commander
1–7
 N/A N/A
Nick Vera Jeremy Ratchford Senior Homicide Detective
1–7
 N/A N/A
Will Jeffries Thom Barry Senior Homicide Detective
1–7
 N/A N/A
Kat Miller Tracie Thoms Senior Homicide Detective
3–7
3
 N/A
Chris Lassing Justin Chambers Junior Homicide Detective
1
 N/A N/A
Josie Sutton Sarah Brown Junior Homicide Detective N/A
2
 N/A

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.

Satire

In 2005, John Finn, Kathryn Morris, and Jeremy Ratchford appeared in a satirical promo on the Irish language television station TG4. The commercial won a Gold Medal in the "Best Drama Promos" category of the 2007 Sharks International Advertising Awards Festival of Ireland (Sharks Awards) [4]. The promotion features John Finn and Kathryn Morris in character interrogating a murder suspect (Peader Cox) from the TG4 soap Ros na Rún who refuses to speak in English; both detectives then begin talking in Irish, much to the surprise of Jeremy Ratchford's character. The promo tied in with a murder investigation in Ros na Rún [5].

Similar series

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

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[6]. 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.[7][8] 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 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."

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 22 September 27, 2009 May 2, 2010[9]

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[10]
2nd Sunday 8:00 p.m. October 3, 2004 May 22, 2005 2004–2005 #17 15.10[11]
3rd Sunday 8:00 p.m. September 25, 2005 May 21, 2006 2005–2006 #21 14.24[12]
4th Sunday 9:00 p.m. September 24, 2006 May 6, 2007 2006–2007 #23 13.98[13]
5th Sunday 9:00 p.m. September 23, 2007 May 4, 2008 2007–2008 #34 10.89[14]
6th Sunday 9:00 p.m. September 28, 2008 May 10, 2009 2008–2009 #23 12.00[15]
7th Sunday 10:00 p.m. (September 27 – November 15)
Sunday 9:00 p.m. (November 22 – January 17)
Sunday 10:00 p.m. (February 14 – May 2)		 September 27, 2009 May 2, 2010[9] 2009–2010 #32 9.86[16]

References

  1. ↑ Hibberd, James (May 18, 2010). "CBS cancels seven shows, including 'Ghost,' 'Case'". The Hollywood Reporter. http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/05/cbs-cancels-cold-case-numbers-miami-medical.html. 
  2. ↑ "Pearl Jam Turns "Ten" Buzz". March 19, 2009. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/pearl-jam-turns-ten-buzz-to-11-with-modern-1003953499.story. Retrieved April 11, 2009. 
  3. ↑ "Cold Case Soundtrack page at Lakeshore Records". November 11, 2009. http://www.lakeshore-records.com/coldcase/. Retrieved November 11, 2009. 
  4. ↑ "Corporate – Awards". TG4. http://www.tg4.ie/bearla/corp/grad/grad2.asp. Retrieved May 3, 2010. 
  5. ↑ "Cold Case meets Ros Na Rún". You Tube/TG4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He_dJM-cwrM. Retrieved 2 June 2010. 
  6. ↑ Bob Sassone (September 18, 2006). "The strange case of Cold Squad". TV Squad. http://www.tvsquad.com/tag/stephen%20mchattie/. Retrieved February 21, 2008. 
  7. ↑ Ian Edwards (November 10, 2003). "Cold Squad on Bruckheimer Case". Playback. http://www.playbackonline.ca/articles/magazine/20031110/colds.html. Retrieved February 21, 2008. 
  8. ↑ Dan Brown (December 4, 2003). "The genius of Ratchford". CBC News. http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_browndan/20031204.html. Retrieved February 21, 2008. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 http://www.cbspressexpress.com/div.php/cbs_entertainment/release?id=24809
  10. ↑ "ABC Medianet". Web.archive.org. http://web.archive.org/web/20070208132303/http://www.abcmedianet.com/pressrel/dispDNR.html?id=060204_11. Retrieved April 5, 2010. 
  11. ↑ "Primetime series". Hollywoodreporter.com. May 27, 2005. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000937471. Retrieved April 5, 2010. 
  12. ↑ "ABC Medianet". ABC Medianet. May 31, 2006. http://abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=053106_05. Retrieved April 5, 2010. 
  13. ↑ "ABC Medianet". ABC Medianet. June 5, 2007. http://abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=060507_05. Retrieved April 5, 2010. 
  14. ↑ "Season Program Rankings" (PDF). ABC Medianet. May 28, 2008. http://abcmedianet.com/DNR/2008/pdf/dnr052808.pdf. Retrieved June 2, 2008. 
  15. ↑ "ABC Medianet". ABC Medianet. May 27, 2009. http://www.abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=052709_07. Retrieved April 5, 2010. 
  16. ↑ "Full Series Rankings For The 2009-10 Broadcast Season". Deadline. May 27, 2010. http://www.deadline.com/2010/05/full-series-rankings-for-the-2009-10-broadcast-season/. Retrieved June 2, 2010. 

External links