Uneasy Rhetoric

TF 1, one of France’s major networks, will be broadcasting a new series calls “RIS,” which sounds a lot like CSI:

R.I.S, adaptée de la série italienne RIS – Delitti Imperfetti, est une série policière inspirée assez largement des Experts. Ici, les détectives font partis de la police scientifique et tachent, à l’aide des outils modernes mis à leur disposition, de reconstituer le meurtre en se basant sur l’analyse des indices souvent infimes - cheveux, empreintes, etc… Les méthodes “classiquent” sont ainsi misent au placard pour préferer le côté scientifique.

Loosely translated: RIS, adapted from the Italian series RIS-Delitti Imperfetti, is a police drama inspired by Experts. [a program, the people?] Here, detectives are part of a scientific police force and attempt, with the help of the modern tools at their disposal, to reconstruct murder, basing their analysis on small clues - hair, prints, etc. Classic methodology is set aside in favor of scientific.

Aside: the Bablefish translation is hilariously bad. Mine is bad too, but it’s closer.

(via Mon Puteaux)

Notice how the description says it’s based on an Italian program? I find that hilarious. I don’t read Italian, but a search on the program’s title along with “CSI” pulls up sites that seem to be saying that RSI-DI and CSI aren’t the same. Sounds the same to me. Now if RSI-DI came first, that would be even more funny, given how successful the CSI franchise has been here - how many of you saw “Crime Scene Investigations” units in your local police forces prior to the program? Cities have had them for years, but I don’t recall them “branding” themselves so conspicuously.

But I digress. I welcome Paris et ses banlieux to the CSI pantheon. May your program be as edgy, interesting, and popular as ours.