History Series / CSINY

** In 'Get Me Out of Here!', Danny tells Lindsay he wants his ashes scattered over the Mets' field. She says she'll flush them out of the lavatory of her new husband's private jet on their way to Paris.
** In 'Misconceptions,' Flack discovers a letter from his father expressing his wishes to have his ashes scattered on the diamond at Yankee Stadium. He spends the rest of the episode persuading his sister to help him do this.
* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler: Peyton in 'Point of View' and Reed in 'Pot of Gold']], but just for one episode each.

* BusmansHoliday: A minor example with Mac in 'Greater Good.' He uses his day off to reinvestigate a closed case that has been bothering him...and also keeps checking in on Lindsay as she's in the hospital about to give birth to Lucy.
* TheButlerDidIt: Discussed by Stella and Flack in "Trapped." He lists the wealthy victim's hired help and the following exchange ensues:

* ByTheBookCop: Mac, most of the time.
* CPRCleanPrettyReliable:
** Averted with Stella giving Sid mouth-to-mouth during her HIV-scare window ('The Ride In').
** Also averted with the guy in the hibernation experiment who is later found to have bruising on his chest from someone giving him CPR ('What Schemes May Come').

* CaliforniaUniversity: Chelsea University is mentioned quite a few times. Mac's stepson, Reed, is a student there beginning in Season 3.

** In 'Necrophilia Americana,' Mac and Danny each use the presence of beetles on the body to tease Lindsay about having eaten the bugs at the end of 'Fare Game' two episodes earlier.
** In 'Can You Hear Me Now?' (ep 4.01), Mac and Danny find a victim who has had his tongue cut out, and Mac is visibly shaken when telling Stella that the man died at the hospital. He gets the same look on his face when Christine's kidnappers send him a [[FingerInTheMail tongue in the mail]] in 'Seth and Apep' (ep 9.15).
** See also Bird Poop Gag and Bulletproof Vest above.

* CampingACrapper: The woman who gets locked in a high-tech public toilet and drowns when its self-cleaning feature kicked in.
* CandlelitBath: In 'Heart of Glass,' the first Victim of the Week breaks into the apartment of a guy she wants to get back together with, sets up the classic scenario with a bottle of wine, rose petals leading to the bathtub, candles, etc., expecting him to come home soon. Turns out, he'd sublet the place to someone else, but that's not the real problem. Upstairs neighbors hear a gunshot and call the cops, who find this woman dead in the tub along with a bullet fragment, but she has no gunshot wound so the team has to noodle out what really happened.

** The woman just above.

* CantTieHisTie: Lindsay has to help Adam with his before they go to the 9/11 10th anniversary memorial program in 'Indelible.'

* CarCushion: A few.
** In 'Dancing with the Fishes,' a couple are driving underneath a tramway when the body of a young lady falls onto their windshield.
** In 'Past Imperfect,' Clay Dobson falls (or did he jump...hmmm?) from a rooftop and lands on a squad car.
** Downplayed in 'Happily Never After' when a dead woman slides of the top of a bus that came to a sudden stop in traffic, although it is later revealed that [[spoiler: her body was dropped from an above window by her assailant]].
** In 'Nine Thirteen,' the victim lands on a parked cab after falling off the 10th floor balcony.

* CarpetRolledCorpse: One of the victims in 'Jamalot' is found rolled up in an expensive rug inside a dumpster.
* CarryingTheAntidote: Played with. The perp in 'Personal Foul' fills one capsule with deadly poison and a second with its antidote. *She* swallows the antidote first, then crushes the poison capsule with her teeth...immediately before kissing her victim, thus transferring the poison to him.

* BlackComedy: Used from time to time, but Mac is not amused by it after his suspect dies trying to jump from one rooftop to another in 'Blood Out.'
--->'''Robert Hicks:''' [''grinning slightly''] Heard you had a falling out with Carmen Vega earlier today.
--->'''Mac Taylor:''' [''frowning''] Young lady made a bad decision. Paid for it with her life.
--->'''Robert Hicks:''' [''apologetically''] Gallows humor. Occupational hazard, I suppose.

** "Kiddie Clay" stands in for "Play Doh" in 'Happily Never After.'
** Danny uses "Mighty Glue" to lift some prints during his 'Trapped' predicament. He also finds some "Clog Away" drain cleaner in the victim's bathroom.

** Facebook accounts are referred to simply as "profile pages" in season 8. (Averted once in season 6, when Mac tells Stella, "Adam saw a quiz on Facebook: If you were the Compass Killer, where would you strike next?")

** In 'Cavallino Rampante,' the carjacker's three daughters (blonde and brunette went into the family business, redhead went to law school).

** Mac's love interests, depending on one's personal belief about Claire. While he tells Reed in season 3 that she had brown hair, in 'Indelible' & 'Near Death' she's clearly shown to have dyed it red/auburn. Peyton was a brunette and Christine is blonde.
* BloodBrothers: Stella and her foster sister. The foster sister still had some of Stella's blood in a necklace vial, which led to it getting found at a PA crime scene during the ''Series/ColdCase'' crossover episode, 'Cold Reveal.'

** 'Rain.' After a robbery, one of the robbers is found in a pool of blood with baby-sized ones leading away from it.
** 'The Past, Present and Murder.' A body goes missing from a crime scene. Then, a bloody handprint is found on a "trash bag animal" that appears when airflow from passing subway trains comes up thru the grates. [[ItMakesSenseinContext It really does make sense in context.]]
* BodilyFluidBlacklightReveal: As is true for the entire franchise, investigators use blacklights quite frequently. One of the cases in 'Tanglewood' has Danny and Adien searching for clues in a seedy massage parlor. He aims his light in a waste basket and declares, "This is Chernobyl."

* BodyPaint: A can of this laced with ecstasy leads to [[spoiler:a model's death]] in "Wasted."
* TheBodyPartsThatMustNotBeNamed: Played straight at least twice.

** In another episode, he whistles instead of using the word "penis" when telling Mac where some evidencece was found on a victim.
* BodySushi: A season 1 VictimOfTheWeek is poisoned at such an establishment by her former personal assistant. The PA had only meant to sicken her former boss, [[PsychoLesbian who had fired her for refusing to sleep with her and blacklisted her from the industry]], but the tiny amount of blowfish venom that the girl had used was potent enough to kill.

** The season 5 finale is a prime example with the entire team. The bar they're all in is sprayed with bullets in a drive-by. The episode ends with everyone having hit the deck.
** The season 6 finale is with the Messer family and Shane Casey. The screen goes black before a gunshot is heard. Who shot who?
* BondingThroughSharedEarbuds: 'Indelible' has a touching flashback to Mac & Claire's last morning together where they share earbuds on the bus to work before he gets off at his stop.

* BookcasePassage: A closet Neo-Nazi in 'Yahrzeit' keeps his horde of Holocaust memorabilia behind a bookcase that slides in front of the entrance. The investigators find it after Mac notices scratch marks on the floor.
* BornFromADeadWoman: In 'The Box,' an unwed pregnant woman promises her baby to a couple, then changes her mind in her last month. She gets pushed down the stairs during a fight in their home. The husband realizes she's dead, but cuts the baby out of her and hides her body.
* BoundAndGagged: Chronlogically...
** Camille in 'Smooth Criminal.'
** The wife in 'Who's There?'
** One of Brooks' victims in 'Where There's Smoke.'
** Christine in 'Seth and Apep.'
* TheBoxingEpisode: 'Tales From The Undercard.' Mac is revealed to be a fan of the victim, a retired boxer who got back into an underground version of the sport.
** Not an episode, but Sheldon is also revealed to be a boxing fan in 'Cool Hunter.'
* BratsWithSlingshots: 'Commuted Sentences.' Country girl Lindsay uses one to simulate how a bullet would ricochet off a column.
* BreakTheCutie: Danny and Flack have both gone through this; Adam to a lesser extent.

** Flack has gotten blown up, was beaten to a pulp on the subway, had to participate in the investigation and arrest of his mentor, had problems with his sister, and [[spoiler: his girlfriend was killed in the line of duty]].

* BreakUpDemand: The fathers in 'Blood, Sweat and Tears' forbid their kids to see each other.
* BreastPlate: In some episodes, Stella wears a rather low-cut BulletProofVest, exposing part of her cleavage--and the heart area.
* BringingRunningShoesToACarChase: In one episode, Don is removing a handcuffed man from a squad car when perps drive by and dump a body in front of the precinct. He takes off after them on foot, but doesn't get very far.
* BrokeEpisode: 'It Happened to Me.' Sheldon loses his life savings in bad investments. He is shown sleeping on a friend's couch after having to give up his apartment and sell his furniture. He spends most of the episode hiding this from his colleagues, but reveals it to Mac and a perp when said perp is about to jump from a building due to similar circumstances. Mac lets Sheldon crash in his spare room for several episodes till he can get back on his feet.
* BrokenGlassPenalty: In one episode, a group of boys are playing football in the street when their ball goes thru a ground-floor apartment window. They look in, see a dead body, freak out and run away, thinking they killed the man. Later, one convinces another to turn themselves in. Det. Flack locks them up just for fun.

** Stella's mentor and pseudo-father figure turned out to be an art thief and smuggler of Grecian antiquities.
* BrokenRecord: Music/BillWithers' "Ain't No Sunshine" is used in 'Manhattanhenge.' The "I know, I know, I know..." part plays at least twice.
* BrokenTears: Danny weeps along with his neighbor, Rikki who is distraught, after he tells her that her 10 yr old son was accidentally shot to death.
* BrooklynRage: Danny, at times. He's settled down a little since becoming a family man, but his short temper can still get him into trouble.

* BuffySpeak: Mild example. In "Rain," Stella finds "something gooey" on the first victim's face. Mac snarks, "Gooey. That's a good forensics word; we should use it more often." See also Techno Babble below.
* BulletholeDoor: The third season finale, 'Snow Day' features a group of robbers breaking into the lab vault in this way. Done slightly more realistically than most of the examples of this trope, involving a .50BMG sniper rifle (i.e. a {{BFG}}) and taking most of the episode.

** At the beginning of season 7's 'Exit Strategy,' Mac and Danny are shown getting ready to apprehend a suspect. Danny kisses a picture of Lucy before sticking it in his vest pocket while Mac, also wearing a vest, kisses his crucifix before dropping it down his shirt. Half-way thru, the episode has a CallBack scene.
* BuriedAlive: The first victim in 'Boo,' who escapes from a "green coffin" made of hemp and is mistaken for a zombie by bystanders due to his appearance and the fact that it is Halloween.
* {{Burlesque}}: 'The Real [=McCoy=]' features a bar by that name which has a burlesque dancer. Jo mentions to Mac that she worked for a burlesque club during college and lets him think for a good while that she danced, before confessing that she kept their books.

** Mac chases down and arrests a purse snatcher while dressed in a tux again; he's about to attend another formal event.

* BallCannon: In 'Buzzkill,' a man attacks a group of models doing a live billboard display with a tennis ball launcher. The balls injure several of the models, and one of them smashes a neon sign and drops a live wire into the oversize glass a model is frolicking in. This would have electrocuted her, except [[spoiler:she had already been poisoned]].
* BallisticDiscount: In 'Command+P,' a young inventor demonstrates his new process for 3D printing a gun to someone he thinks is an investor. He hands the gun to the guy, along with a bullet so he can see that the gun takes standard rounds. The "investor" loads the bullet into the gun, shoots the inventor, and steals the computer, printer and software.

** In season 1's 'The Dove Commission,' the author of the titular report and the woman he's dancing with at a party are taken out by a sniper using an armed drone-like device belonging to the TARU (Technical Assistance Response Unit).
** The sniper in 'Hide Sight' (season 7) takes out a woman at an office celebration, complete with cake and party hats, in a high rise.
* BankRobbery: At least three. Chronologically:
** 'Rain,' about valuables being stolen from safe-deposit boxes.
** 'Hostage,' wherein a guy intending to rob a bank was beaten to it...and the manager was shot to death in the process, so he demanded a CSI prove his innocence. Mac volunteers and is eventually taken hostage as well.
** 'Unusual Suspects,' where two brothers rob a bank on their way home from school, and get robbed themselves.
* BaseballEpisode: Season 1's 'The Closer,' where the killer is a player, and Danny gets to use the pitching skills from his aborted baseball career.
* BastardBastard: The perpetrator in [[spoiler: 'Manhattan Manhunt']] is the illegitimate son of a multi-millionaire. He commits murders out of resentment towards his father and half-sisters.
* BathroomBreakOut: In 'She's Not There,' the team search a building where a sex trafficking ring held their victims and find a young woman hiding under a cot. She asks to use the restroom. Initially thinking her to be a victim, they let her. While she's taking her time, they deduce that she's in on it, break the door down, and discover that she has escaped through the window.
* BathroomStallOfOverheardInsults: A girl hiding in a bathroom stall who overhears two cheerleaders insulting her becomes a vital plot point in 'Do or Die.'
* BatterUp!
** In 'Boo,' a guy who tries to fake his death to collect on the insurance by using blowfish poison to make him appear dead is betrayed by his spouse and buried alive. He manages to break out, so the spouse's lover kills him with a cricket bat (but not before the husband manages to inject both of them with the poison).
** In 'Tanglewood,' the Tanglewood Boys kill a wannabe with an autographed baseball bat taken from a sports bar. The fragment of signature on the splinter left in the body provides the CSI investigators with a vital clue.
* BattleInTheRain: Sort of. In 'Snow Day,' half the fight is done soaking wet because the perps set the sprinklers off in at attempt to blend in with first responders and get away.

* BeardOfSorrow: Danny probably qualifies after it is revealed in the season 6 opener [[spoiler:that he is paralyzed from being shot in the season 5 finale.]]

* BellyDancer: The birthday party in 'Sweet 16' has a Middle Eastern theme, complete with belly dancers. One of the girl's friends shows up dressed this way as well, complete with coins dangling from a gold chain belt.

** Danny and Lindsay in 'Snow Day':

** In 'Nine Thirteen,' the entire subplot is the group trying to figure out whether or not Lindsay is pregnant and when she's going to tell Danny, though they never explicitly state it until the end. After she tells Danny in the last scene, the others are shown paying up their bets to Sid. Mac & Christine have one going [[SideBet as well.]] Early on, he tells her she owes him ten bucks before he relents and agrees to get evidence.

** After Danny jokingly asks Lindsay how she'd get away with killing him and suggests that she would use her forensic know-how to clean up the scene, she responds that she ''wouldn't'' clean up but would claim that Danny was a DomesticAbuser. Her "performance" is kind of eerie, to say the least.
** Another time they're discussing what to do if the other dies: Danny wants a two-week long wake (first week for mourning, second week for partying) and Lindsay "jokingly" declares that she'll haunt him and any future girlfriends forever ''while eating all of his cannolis.''

* BigEater: Lindsay, who gives Danny a LongList of food to bring her in 'Food for Thought,' prompting him to wonder if she's pregnant again.
* BigGuyRodeo: The victim in 'The Party's Over' is strangled by someone much smaller than him jumping on his back and strangling him from behind.
* BigHeroicRun: Sheldon runs down the middle of the street with his game face on and carrying a rifle when he heads to the warehouse to help rescue Danny and Adam in 'Snow Day.'
* BigHonkingTrafficJam: In 'Summer in the City,' Mac is one of those honking his horn in the middle of stopped traffic blocking the way to a crime scene. He gives up and says, "Grab your kit, Hawkes. We're walking."
* TheBigRottenApple: The series zig-zags this: overall, New York is presented as an amazing place to visit and live in...but it's a show that takes place in the CSI-verse, so [[CityOfAdventure you may want to watch out]] [[VictimOfTheWeek for all of the]] ([[AlwaysMurder mostly murdered]]) dead bodies.

* BillyNeedsAnOrgan: 'Live or Let Die' is this trope, but it's the doctor's wife who needs the liver. He orchestrates a medical helicopter hijacking and kills several people in the process. Mac is naturally not amused, and tells the man he will likely be in prison when his wife dies.
* BirdPoopGag: In season 2's 'Risk,' Stella and Flack are questioning a suspect who is feeding pigeons while standing up through the sunroof of his limo. They need his handkerchief for evidence and ask him to explain a large stain on it. He says the birds gave something back to him. A reference is made to that being considered good luck.
** This scene has a mild CallBack in season 7's 'Food for Thought.' Adam finds traces of bird saliva on a victim and asks Mac if he thinks someone getting bird spit on them is good luck "just like bird sh..." [[CurseCutShort Mac testily interrupts him before he can finish his question.]]

** Downplayed in 'Murder Sings the Blues.' Mac has his birthday off and goes to the opera with Peyton, who wants to celebrate afterward. He gets called in to work and the case keeps getting more complicated, keeping him there. They end up sharing a cupcake from a vending machine on another floor of the Crime Lab building. In the next episode, it is revealed that Stella had stopped by his place to drop off his gift, but no other mention of his birthday is ever made.
** One of the cases in 'Sweet Sixteen' involves a murder at a teenage girl's birthday party.
** The case in 'Unwrapped' is that of a man murdered on the way to his niece's birthday party and a missing gift holds a vital clue. Meanwhile the team are all making plans to attend 3-year-old Lucy's birthday party at the end of the episode. Mac uses the opportunity to invite Christine so she can meet everyone. Adam, seeing all the gifts she brought, mentions that his birthday is the next month and that she and Mac "are definitely invited."
* BizarreAndImprobableBallistics: 'Hostage' features a gun that fires two successive rounds so quickly and accurately that they pierce the victim through the exact same entrance wound. Played as a real thing in-universe, and may actually be a case of AluminumChristmasTrees.

** In episode 5.02, 'Page Turner,' the gang have to race to find out exactly what type of radioactive substance had caused two people to die and the coroner, Sid, to collapse, so they can tell the doctors what to do to treat him.

* AliceAllusion: 'Down the Rabbit Hole' and, to a lesser extent, its sequel episode, 'DOA for a Day.' There's even a white rabbit who does indeed disappear down a hole.
* AlienAbduction: Inverted with a twist in 'Consequences.' A schizophrenic woman "captures" a badly injured paintball player, thinking he's an alien and that the green paint oozing all over his gear is his blood. She also has metal colanders hanging from her ceiling and offers them to Stella and Flack to wear so their thoughts won't be captured. Naturally, they decline.

** Averted by Jo Danville, who had refused to take her ex-husband's last name of Josephson due to the cheesy way it would've sounded.

* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: The lab gets stormed by an Irish gang intent on reclaiming their seized drugs in 'Snow Day,' and the precinct gets it in 'Today Is Life' from a mob of rioters angry over the shooting of a young black man by a white police officer.

* AlphaBitch: 'Crushed,' episode 8.07: She [[spoiler: pretends to be homely girls' friends, dolls them up, has her boyfriend have sex with them, rates the experience online, and gives each of the girls a big necklace so everyone will know what happened. The sister of her victims strangles her and then part of her house falls on her]]. Her name is Libby.

* AmalgamatedIndividual: One episode ([[Recap/CSINYS06E04 "Dead Recononing"]]) where the twist is based on "The Phantom of Heilbronn", where a spate of crimes involving the same person turns out to be due to a woman in one of the factories where their swabs are produced not wearing gloves.
--> "I am I in trouble?"

* AmericanSeries: This is [[BigApplesauce The Big Apple]] after all.
* AmicableExes: Jo and Russ. Although he didn't like Jo being a career woman when they were married, they're still friendly and even have some UST in one of the episodes he appears in.

* AndIMustScream: The victim with Locked-In Synddrome in 'Blink.' Mac is so desperate to help her that at first he is convinced she's trying to communicate with him through her eyes.

* AnimalReactionShot: Averted by the dog show beagle in 'Recycling.' His owner is insistent that Mac has almost driven him to tears. Cut to the dog...with a perfectly bland expression.

* Area51: In 'The Lady in the Lake,' Adam finds what he thinks is a piece of an alien space ship, figures he'll be famous for making first contact, and immediately makes plans to open his own theme park called [=ARea=] 52. [[note]]That's not a typo; he deliberately capitalized his initials.[[/note]]
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: From the season 5 opener, 'Veritas':

** 'What You See Is What You See.' The femur being the strongest bone in the human body, there's no way Sheldon could twist it to make the lodged bullet fall out.
** 'What Schemes May Come.' The heart monitor hooked up to the (actual) lab rat is set for human heart rates, not those of rats which would have been many times faster.
* ArtisticLicenseLaw: The episode 'Grand Master' deals with fugu being openly sold in a sushi bar. This is extremely illegal in the US. Even in Japan there are very specific laws strictly regulating the selling and serving of fugu.
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The Native American tribe in 'Communication Breakdown' never existed.

** Creator/JohnMcEnroe, appears as himself, and portrays his own doppelganger, in 'Comes Around.'
** Music/{{Train}}'s Will Dailey performs at a jazz club during the conclusion of 'Time's Up.'
** Music/Maroon5 put on a free concert in Central Park during the opening of 'Page Turner.'
** Music/KidRock performs in the opening of 'All Access,' then portrays himself as a murder suspect throughout the rest of the episode.
** Music/JoshGroban performs in the venue where Mac & Christine eventually have their Valentine's date at the end of 'Blood Actually.'

** There are some odd choices for character names from time to time, like that one girl named Risa Calaveras ("Laugh Skulls" in Spanish).
** The Egyptian suspects in 'Seth and Apep.' An Egyptian viewer posted on another site that their names aren't Egyptian at all, but from another Arabic-speaking area.

** In Season 1 episode "Grand Master," [[spoiler:a fashion designer found dead was revealed to have been poisoned by her former personal assistant, who had been fired for refusing her sexual advances, blacklisted from the industry, and further humiliated when her former boss began to resume sexually harassing her at her new workplace]],
** In 'Who's There?,' [[spoiler:the victim was purposefully destroying his family's company, liquidating every cent they had, destroying the future of his own daughter, just to spite his estranged wife.]]
** In 'All Access,' [[spoiler:Frankie, Stella's deceased ex-boyfriend, is revealed to be this after he shoots a sex tape between the two behind her back (and posts it online!). When Stella breaks up with him, he stalks her by entering her apartment and then after she refuses to accept him, he attacks her to the point of attempting to kill her, hence it ultimately ends with Stella killing him in self-defense.]]
* AsTheGoodBookSays: Mac quotes relevant passages from memory in 'The Ride-In' and 'Taxi.' To specify the exact verses would require spoiler formatting.

** In "Murder Sings the Blues," Peyton takes Mac to the opera for his birthday. He gets called to a crime scene during the standing ovation, interrupting the rest of her plans.
** Downplayed earlier in the series when Lindsay shows up to a scene in a formal dress, having been called in while seeing an opera herself.

* AuthorTract: Creator/GarySinise, a noted veterans' advocate in real life, seems to have influenced Mac's dialogue about veteran-related issues now and then. His and Jo's discussion of the plight of homeless veterans in 'Clean Sweep' (episode 8.10) is a noticeable example.

** In one episode, Stella expects Danny to utter his catchphrase "Boom" when they find a piece of evidence. He doesn't, and she asks why. He tells her Lindsay doesn't want him to use it anymore because she's afraid it'll be Lucy's first word. A few seconds later, Danny finds more evidence and can't help himself, "Boom!"
** Later, in "Do Not Pass Go", the mother of a young man who'd gone missing tells Flack what her son's first word was. He replies that his own first words were "cookie and cake."
* BackForTheDead: [[spoiler:Aiden]] in 'Heroes.'
* BackToFront: The entire opening of 'Nothing for Something' is shown in reverse.

* AccidentalSuicide: More than once.
** In the season 1 episode "The Fall", the crime scene investigators look into the death of Melvin Heckman, a FatBastard movie producer, who was apparently pushed from his apartment's balcony. After the investigation goes through a series of people [[WhoMurderedTheAsshole who all had an axe to grind with him for ruining their lives]], the team finally discovers that Heckman had been on the balcony eating chocolates and [[AccidentNotMurder simply lost his balance]], falling to his death.
** In the season 3 episode "Cold Reveal", the team investigates the death of Toby Finch, who was found dead in a church with angel wings strapped to his back after seemingly [[CameFromTheSky falling from the sky]]. Initially, Toby's friend and girlfriend are seen as suspects but further investigation reveals what really happened. Toby, [[AmbitionIsEvil obsessed with becoming internet famous]], drunkenly attempted to catapult himself off a roof, expecting that his artificial angel wings would help him soar across the sky like a hang glider. To ensure this, he pre-cut the bungee cords on his safety harness, thinking that the force of the catapult would fully disconnect them. Unfortunately, they held faster than he expected, giving him such severe whiplash that his [[NeckSnap neck snapped in two places]] killing him before he even fell through the church's paned window. Mac surmises that the only crime committed was the [[IcarusAllusion victim's misdirected ambition]].

** Mac playing bass in the jazz band is a direct reference to Gary Sinise's role in his own rock band, the Lt. Dan Band. Several Lt. Dan Band members played members of the jazz band, and Gary brought along his own guitars for those episodes.

** Mac helping with the Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance in 'Indelible' (episode 8.01) was based on Gary Sinise's real life help with the project.

* AdoptionAngst: There's a bit of it with Ellie Danville, Jo’s daughter. In her case, she knew she was adopted, but got upset at Jo for not telling her that her birth mom was in prison.

* AdvancingWallOfDoom: 'Death House' has a penthouse filled with booby traps including one particular room whose walls would close in or, depending on the trigger, cook you to death. Sheldon accidentally triggers them to close in on himself; Mac rescues him by shoving his forensics kit in the gap long enogh for Sheldon to squeeze out.

* AmbiguousSyntax: A plot point in 'City of the Dolls:' [[spoiler:The events started because the victim told the culprit about a recording found in her daughter's doll about her describing "them kissing again." The culprit realized that she witnessed her relationship with a younger male student and told him to try to get the recording deleted, leading to the victim's AccidentalMurder. It's later pointed out to the culprit that she could've avoided the whole mess if she didn't do anything as, due to how vague the description is without any context, the daughter could've been talking about two students secretly kissing at school, but the culprit knew exactly what she was talking about.]]

** In a later episode, Mac chases down and arrests a purse snatcher while dressed in a tux again; he's about to attend another formal event.

* RuleOfThree: The PlotDevice from the "333 Stalker" arc.

* EngineeredHeroics: The victim in 'Battle Scars' gets a friend to pose as an armed robber so he can be a hero to his girlfriend. It backfires.

* VaryingCompetencyAlibi: In "[[Recap/CSINYS04E15 DOA for a Day]]", a judge is murdered, then the main suspect is killed with a Navy Seal's knife which is found at that scene. The judge's son, who is a former Seal, calls the detectives out for suspecting him because, while admitting that he is capable and would've done it if he'd known who killed his father:
-->'''Russ:''' C'mon, leaving my knife behind? That's just sloppy. And if you know anything about Navy Seals, we're not sloppy.

* IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow: In 'Rush to Judgment,' Flack discovers that a murder victim had been secretly taking dance lessons to surprise his wife for their anniversary. When Flack tells Mac what he was doing but before he can explain, Mac asks:
-->"Private salsa lessons? Is *that* what they call it these days?"

* DrowningPit: One of the illusionist's tricks in 'Sleight Out of Hand.'

* BearTrap / CaughtInASnare: See AlienAbduction above; it's how she "captures" him.

* DeathByFallingOver: The episode "Recycling" features an unusual variant on this trope. [[spoiler: The lady who is stabbed in the heart: Ssomeone who is jealous of her poisons her with Ipecac, which doesn't really kill you, but can make you deathly sick if given too much. She is walking across the floor when she starts to feel sick and tumbles forward, landing on an open bag of knitting needles, one of which fatally pierces her heart.]]

* DeathByOriginStory: Claire, who died on 9/11/01, three years before the show began.

* DeathBySex: See SexEqualsDeath below.

** Mac's late wife's maiden name had been Claire Conrad. Comes up when his step-son Reed shows up in season 3.

* TimeSkip: Six months in the end of the season 8 finale, to give Mac time to heal from being shot.

** Danny uses "Mighty Glue" to lift some prints during his 'Trapped' predicament.

** Sportscaster Sports/DickEnberg appears as himself, interviewing a football player in 'Super Men.'