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Cold Case

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 in September 2003 on CBS. Its sixth season began on September 28, 2008.

Format

Each episode of Cold Case begins with a flashback scene that establishes the year in which it takes place, as well as a set of characters in a seemingly mundane situation. These flashbacks features 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 shows the corpse of the victim--usually one of thse introduced earlier--as it was discovered.

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.

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.

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 cut 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.

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. 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. There have been numerous 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.

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.

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. Will Jeffries played by Thom Barry
Det. Nick Vera played by Jeremy Ratchford
Det. Kat Miller played by Tracie Thoms (Season 3-)
Det. Chris Lassing played by Justin Chambers (Episodes 1, 2 and 4 of Season 1)
Det. Josie Sutton played by Sarah Brown (Episodes 1-5 of Season 3)

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. The CSI shows and Cold Case all air on CBS and are produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.

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

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. 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. Both shows air in Canada (and on the same network, CTV).

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

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	15.1
3rd	Sunday 8:00 p.m.	September 25, 2005	May 21, 2006	2005-2006	#20	14.5
4th	Sunday 9:00 p.m.	September 24, 2006	May 6, 2007	2006-2007	#19	14.4
5th	Sunday 9:00 p.m.	September 23, 2007	May 4, 2008	2007-2008	#33	10.8
6th	Sunday 9:00 p.m.	September 28, 2008	May, 2009	2008-2009	#19	11.4