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50 free CSI trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation premiered on a Friday night in October 2000 after The Fugitive, drew 17 million viewers, and within three seasons was the most watched show on American television. It spawned Miami, NY, Cyber and Vegas, a catalogue of novels and games, a museum exhibit, and the "CSI effect" that prosecutors still complain about. Every series opens with a remixed song by The Who. These 50 questions cover the whole franchise: the Las Vegas graveyard shift under Grissom, Willows and Russell; Horatio Caine's sunglasses and one-liners in Miami; Mac Taylor's NYPD lab; Avery Ryan's cyber division; and the 2021 revival. Easy questions stick to the leads and the theme songs; the harder tier asks who co-produced the show when Touchstone pulled out, which Tarantino episode buried Nick Stokes, and which real crime-scene analysts inspired Grissom and Willows. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss. Play it solo or print it for a TV-night round.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On which network did CSI: Crime Scene Investigation air for 15 seasons?
CBS
It ran from October 6, 2000, to September 27, 2015, and was the network's most successful series at the time.
Q 02Who created the CSI franchise?
Anthony Zuiker
His first movie script caught producer Jerry Bruckheimer's eye in the 1990s; Bruckheimer's company produced the show.
Q 03Which blockbuster film producer's television company produced CSI?
Jerry Bruckheimer
His company produced it with CBS Productions, later CBS Paramount Television and then CBS Television Studios.
Q 04Who plays Gil Grissom, the forensic entomologist who supervises the graveyard shift?
William Petersen
CBS had a pay-or-play contract with him, and he said he wanted to do the pilot.
Q 05Which actress plays Catherine Willows, Grissom's second-in-command?
Marg Helgenberger
Catherine was a Las Vegas stripper before being recruited and trained as a blood-spatter specialist.
Q 06Grissom and Willows were based on real crime scene analysts from which police department?
Las Vegas Metro PD
Their models were LVMPD analysts Daniel Holstein and Yolanda McClary.
Q 07What is Catherine Willows's forensic specialty?
Blood-spatter analysis
She rose from lab technician to assistant supervisor and eventually left Las Vegas to join the FBI.
Q 08Which agency does Catherine Willows join after leaving the Las Vegas crime lab?
The FBI
She was demoted after a departmental scandal before leaving; she returns in the finale to run the lab.
Q 09Which band performs the theme songs for every series in the CSI franchise?
The Who
The original used "Who Are You"; Miami got "Won't Get Fooled Again".
Q 10Which song is the theme of the original Las Vegas series?
Who Are You
Pete Townshend wrote it and Roger Daltrey sang it; some countries used a different theme to dodge licensing fees.
Q 11Which Who song is the theme of CSI: Miami?
Won't Get Fooled Again
Horatio Caine delivers a one-liner about the crime just before the credits roll into it.
Q 12What was the title of the feature-length series finale in 2015?
Immortality
It aired September 27, 2015, and brought back Grissom, Willows and Brass.
Q 13Which show was CSI's Friday-night lead-in when it premiered in 2000?
The Fugitive
The pilot pulled 17 million viewers and a 5.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic.
Which Canadian company stepped in as co-producer after Disney's Touchstone pulled out?
Q 21Which city's crime lab does Nick Stokes leave Las Vegas to direct?
San Diego
He had been demoted from assistant night supervisor before the move.
Q 22Sara Sidle majored in physics at which university?
Harvard
She later became director of the Las Vegas lab, then gave it up to reunite with Grissom.
Q 23Who plays Sara Sidle?
Jorja Fox
She joined in episode two, left in season eight, and returned for seasons 11 through 15.
Q 24Gary Dourdan's Warrick Brown struggles with which addiction?
Alliance Atlantis
Touchstone balked at spending so much on a show for a rival network, since Disney owns ABC.
Q 15CSI first became the most watched show on U.S. television in which season?
2002-03
It was later named the most watched show in the world for a sixth time in 2016, a record.
Q 16How many Primetime Emmy Awards did CSI win?
Six
That was from 39 nominations; it also collected four People's Choice Awards.
Q 17Which rookie CSI's murder on her first day costs Brass his supervisor job?
Holly Gribbs
Brass becomes captain of LVPD homicide and the team's legal muscle for the rest of the series.
Q 18Who plays Captain Jim Brass?
Paul Guilfoyle
Brass retires to focus on his daughter and ends up as head of security at Catherine's casino.
Q 19What is the name of Catherine's casino, where Brass works security in the finale?
The Eclipse
Her father Sam Braun was a casino mogul.
Q 20Which actor plays Nick Stokes?
George Eads
Stokes is a Texas A&M graduate who eventually takes over the San Diego crime lab.
Gambling
A Las Vegas native, he is an audio-video analyst with a chemistry degree from UNLV.
Q 25Greg Sanders starts the series working in which part of the lab?
DNA
He later moves into the field and writes a book about the history of Las Vegas.
Q 26Chief medical examiner Al Robbins has what physical trait?
Prosthetic legs
He lost his legs to a drunk driver as a teenager; Robert David Hall, who plays him, is a double amputee.
Q 27Trace technician David Hodges has which uncanny ability?
A nose that identifies chemicals
Wallace Langham's character came from the LAPD lab, where superiors felt he had an attitude problem.
Q 28Which actor joined in season nine as Dr. Raymond Langston?
Laurence Fishburne
Langston met the team during a murder investigation and joined the lab as a level I CSI.
Q 29Who plays D.B. Russell, the botanist who runs the lab from season 12?
Ted Danson
He is the only actor to be a series regular on more than one CSI series, later joining Cyber.
Q 30Elisabeth Shue's Julie Finlay is recruited from which city's crime lab?
Seattle
Known as "Finn", she is a blood-spatter specialist who had worked for Russell there.