Critic Reviews

Procedurals work well when viewers like the characters, e.g., Mark Harmon on “NCIS” or Mariska Hargitay on “Law & Order: SVU.” It’s hard not to like Arquette, Van Der Beek and the other cast members on Cyber.

Arquette is a cool presence onscreen and brings understated conviction to a character whose powers­ of observation border on superhuman.

Watching CSI is like eating Gummi Bears. There's no nutritional value, but the franchise has created a yummy, empty-calorie world.... The eternally maternal Patricia Arquette, enhances her journeywoman bona fides on this TV junk food. [6 Mar 2015, p.75]

At the end of the day, though, what we've got is essentially more CSI--with a first-rate lead.

Name aside, Cyber's pokey and old-fashioned, but the leads are the big draw.

CSI: Cyber is perfectly serviceable television, with nothing distracting--David Caruso dramatically interrupting his own cheesy ripostes to don his sunglasses, say--to take you out of the story, but not a whole lot to keep you breathless for another.

Change of venue notwithstanding, CSI: Cyber falls squarely in line with its predecessors and is a perfectly adequate diversion in the way that crime procedurals can be.

The main joy it offers is familiarity, done with CSI's customary polish and general competence.... Unfortunately, the one new card Cyber has to play is an ugly one: paranoia.

On CSI: Cyber, Ryan and her team act very swiftly, oftentimes preposterously so. Computer graphics whiz and buzz. And then, just like that, another suspect is chased down and vetted by Ryan, who seemingly needs nothing more than a burp or a twitch to determine who the bad guys are and who they are not.

Each of [supporting characters] will thrive or fall depending on their chemistry with Arquette. And she is, even with the current concerns about cybercrime, the reason to watch the show.