The New Detectives: Case Studies in Forensic Science - Seasons 1 & 2

This is a great series. The current trend in Discovery/History Channel shows is ridiculous: some bombastic narrator is walking briskly down the street, blabbering away, as jump-cuts and overblown sound effects drown out the content. Or the other kind: shaky-camera, Blair-Witch-Project style, as usually idiotic people try to sound incredibly excited or scared of the material they are trying to tell viewers about, trying to jack up the mood and tension level, obscuring the source material, whether that source material is actually interesting or not. In both of these approaches, crazed sound effects, an altogether inappropriate level of false excitement and frequent commercial interruptions touting other, similar, series are all key ingredients.The New Detectives is the opposite: a mellow narrator, moody yet very light musical score, and a focused, methodical development of the subject matter. Episodes go in depth, showing forensic methods used to solve actual crimes, many of which are well known cases. There is lots of science, and plenty of interviews with serious professionals. That being said, there is a mood and tone set here- and it is a creepy one, as this series deals mostly with terrible crimes. The music, narration, and some reenactments add to the atmosphere of quiet dread.The steady pace and lack of grating sound effects and other nonsense fits the grim and frequently gruesome subject matter. This series is not for the squeamish or easily frightened, as it goes into pretty serious details of murders, serial killings, abductions, rapes, etc.I love this series- the serious treatment of the subject, the mellow, yet still moody style, and the very in-depth documentation of real cases in which forensic science was employed to solve crimes, plus the great price point, make this an excellent DVD set.

Great Product!

Really helps us to understand the burden of proof on law enforcement when proving guilt and shows some of the great new innovative methods that are being used to help convict criminals. I learn something each show. Helps to show how hard many people work to solve one single crime.

This series goes into a lot of details on how the forensic laboratories actually analyze the evidence. Even if you are familiar with a particular case being portrayed, you will learn a great deal. A very enjoyable series.

Would have been thrilling if it were still the Nineties. As it is now, it's archival information. let's just hope the criminals don't watch CSI. I'm sure they do, though.

I like the connections made between old technology and the new technology. Very interesting to watch.

I love anything related to forensics! The New Detectives is fantastic. Each show features a different aspect of forensics. The show is informative and interesting and fills my need for forensics!

I really enjoy many crime, forensics and investigative programs... The New Detectives covers about anything/everything crime related! Always enjoyable, entertaining and informative!

from the same people who brought you The F.B.I. Files comes this seriesabout the high tech aspects of solving crime(such as the use of DNA andfingerprinting)as well as forensic anthropology and psychologicalprofiling.for me,this series is much slower than the F.BI. Files andless interesting.it is much more dramatic,with less action.and i foundit much darker in tone than the F:B:I: Files.it gets more in depth intothe science of crime detection,and less on the crime itself.i foundthis aspect a bit dry at times.still, it is well made and at timescompelling.certainly if you're into the scientific aspect of crime andcrime solving,you should check this series out.in North America,seasons1&2 are available as one collection.for me,The Detectives is a 3/5

Excellent Forensic studies. Great Entertainment!Chris Edwards