The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 53

CALENDAR E11 LOSANGELESTIMES By Sheigh Crabtree Special to The Times When Crime Scene writer and executive producer Naren Shankar was a kid, he carefully crafted models of classic cars from the 1930s and Little did he know that several decades later, his youthful hobby would help him shepherd aseventh-season television series with a recurring story line about a serial killer with a penchant for building miniaturized crime scenes. Known as the Miniature Killer, or the (for Miniature Crime Scene fans trying to unravel the identity online, the murderer will be revealed Thursday night in the season finale. the first time has used a serialized story line. Some TV critics and fans thought it was implemented in response to the CBS series being pitted this season against the emotional lather of popular but Shankar said that was not the case. The writers had talked about creating season-long arcs for years, he said.

Asked how the serialization has worked, insofar as standing offthe ratings threat of nostrils flared slightly in the hallway of the offices in Universal City. comparison between story arcs and is a little apples and oranges to me, because that show is truly a soap opera and he said. a true crime procedural; a mystery show. Any kind of season- long arc we generate is not about who going to sleep with, or who going to choose, or who going to drive off into the sunset In any case, the MCSK mys- terycertainly hurt. For the season as a whole, which performs well in repeats, has averaged 20.5 million viewers anight to 19.1 million.

But the lusty doctors at Seattle Grace lead among the advertiser-preferred demographic of 18- to 49-year-olds. Miniature Killer tale is abyproduct of the hard- nosed crime research mixed with free-form culture sampling. If the series writers are students of any one show, Shankar said, which famously did both in which mysteries were solved in one episode, and which tackled a single theme, such as space aliens, over the course of the season. Swap out space aliens for the MCSK you have five Miniature Killer episodes this season, with each installment complete unto itself. The inspiration for the plot came during fifth season when director and supervising producer Ken wife, Beth, read an article about Frances Glessner Lee (1878-1962), a Chicago heiress who was barred from attending medical school because of her genderbut who went on to become a pioneer in scientific crime detection because ofher use of murder-scene dioramas as forensic training tools for police.

There was a resurgence of interest in her work when Corinne May Botz, a Brooklyn photographer, published 500 photos of blood- soaked dioramas in the book Nutshell Studies of Unexplained The trick for the writers was figuring out how and when to introduce a killer ghoulishly obsessed with dolls into their hit series. They met last summer with a forensic scientist to better understand the type of person who would plan a murder using miniatures. From that conversation was born a character and story line. The hard work of physically bringing the idea to the screen fell to set designer Rob Sissman. For each of the crime scenes in the five episodes, Sissman first designed a life-sized set, then built two miniatures with the help of Manhattan Beach- based So Cal Prop Shop.

One was a half-inch-scale model for the actors to use as props, the other a 1-inch-scale version for the camera department to shoot with a remote high-definition digital camera system. Sissman spent long hours at his drafting table bent over mouse-sized sets and bloody dolls, using tiny tweezers, knives and glue as he sought to match the three sets detail for detail, in three scales. Those hours of alone time seemed to influence countenance as he gave a downbeat tour of his miniatures and the set late one rainy Friday afternoon in April on the Universal lot. The finale was being filmed on a set that seemed half-inspired by Terry junk-deco aesthetic of and half by avid doll collector and author Anne Southern gothic St. Orphanage in New Orleans.

season was Sissman allowed. In fact, a few days earlier he had told the producers he would be leaving to accept a job with you stay too long on any one series in this business, people forget who you he said. Shankar echoed the sentiment when discussing the ongoing internal pressure of keeping a series as fresh as possible season after season. you get to a point where just sort of churning it out, and it just feels the same, when a show begins its decline into Shankar said. think where we want to The devilis in details Photographs by Allen J.

Schaben Los Angeles Times MINIATURE CRIME SCENE: Executive producer Naren Shankar, above, says the writers have taken a page from creating the MCSK mystery story line. A story arc dubbed the Miniature Crime Scene Killer mystery, about a murderer ghoulishly obsessed with dolls, will culminate Thursday. DOLLHOUSE: Two sets of miniatures were constructed for each crime scene. SAN CLEMENTE SAN CLEMENTE CINEMA 6 641-B Camino De Los Mares 626-661-SHOW (7469) ATM NOW HIRING FOR ALL POSITIONS CORONA KRIKORIAN THEATRES 15 AT DOS LAGOS 2710 Lakeshore Drive Exit Weirick Road off the I-15 951-667-4242 ALL STADIUM SEATING VISTA METROPLEX 15 25 Main Vista Village Dr. Exit, off Hwy 78 760-945-SHOW (7469) ALL STADIUM ATM REDLANDS REDLANS CINEMA 14 340 N.

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Myrtle Avenue 626-305-SHOW (7469) ALL STADIUM ATM SHREK THE THIRD Adv Tix On Sale Now PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT END Adv Tix On Sale Now 28 WEEKS LATER THE EX GEORGIA RULE LUCKY YOU SPIDER-MAN 3 (10:45,11:30,12:25,1:10, 9:55,10:40 THE INVISIBLE NEXT FRACTURE HOT FUZZ DISTURBIA CHINO CHINO SPECTRUM MARKETPLACE 12 3750 Grand Avenue 909-628-1500 ATM SHREK THE THIRD Adv Tix On Sale Now PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT END Adv Tix On Sale Now 28 WEEKS LATER (11:30,12:05,1:55,2:35,4:25, THE EX GEORGIA RULE (11:20,12:00,2:00,2:40,4:35, LUCKY YOU IT OLD SKOOL HOT FUZZ IN THE LAND OF WOMEN DISTURBIA 7:10,7:55,9:45 FIREHOUSE DOG (11:05,1:40,4:10) MEET THE ROBINSONS A 9:35 NOW HIRING FOR ALL POSITIONS SHREK THE THIRD Adv Tix On Sale Now PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT END Adv Tix On Sale Now 28 WEEKS LATER (11:45,12:45,2:15,3:15,4:45, DELTA FARCE THE EX GEORGIA RULE (10:55,11:55,1:35,2:35,4:15, LUCKY YOU SPIDER-MAN 3 (10:30,11:00,11:40,12:10, 6:05,6:30,7:00,7:30,8:00,8:30,9:15,9:40,10:10,10:40 THE INVISIBLE NEXT 7:10,10:00 FRACTURE HOT FUZZ VACANCY DISTURBIA MEET THE ROBINSONS A (11:40,2:05,4:30) DIGITALPRESENTATION 28 WEEKS LATER 10:45 VACANCY 28 WEEKS LATER GEORGIA RULE (11:15,12:15,1:50,2:50,4:25, LUCKY YOU 6:30,7:30,9:20,10:20 THE INVISIBLE (11:30,12:30,2:05,3:05,4:40, NEXT PATHFINDER THE REAPING THE NAMESAKE PREMONITION AMAZING GRACE MUSIC AND LYRICS SHREK THE THIRD Adv Tix On Sale Now PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT END Adv Tix On Sale Now 28 WEEKS LATER (11:40,12:20,2:10,2:50,4:40, DELTA FARCE 10:00 THE EX GEORGIA RULE LUCKY YOU SPIDER-MAN 3 (10:30,11:30,12:10,12:40, 9:00,9:40,10:10,10:40 THE INVISIBLE NEXT FRACTURE HOT FUZZ 6:50,9:35 DISTURBIA BLADES OF GLORY MEET THE ROBINSONS A (11:20,1:50,4:20) SHREK THE THIRD Adv Tix On Sale Now PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT END Adv Tix On Sale Now 28 WEEKS LATER DELTA FARCE GEORGIA RULE LUCKY YOU SPIDER-MAN 3 (10:30,11:40,12:40,1:10, 9:15,9:40,10:10,10:40 THE INVISIBLE NEXT FRACTURE HOT FUZZ 7:55,10:45 DISTURBIA BLADES OF GLORY MEET THE ROBINSONS A (11:05,1:45,4:25) TIMES FOR 16,2007 BUENA PARK METROPLEX 18 8290 La Palma Avenue 714-826-SHOW (7469) ALL STADIUM ATM Bargain Matinee Special Passes BLACK BOOK (R)Dolby Digital (1:00, 4:30) 8:00 HOT FUZZ (R)Dolby Digital (1:15, 4:15) 7:15, 10:00 PROVOKED (NR)Dolby Digital (1:30, 4:15) 7:00, 9:45 JINDABYNE (R)Dolby Digital (5:30) 8:15 RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK Sat Mid! Ends Tomorrow! "A Class Act! Pencil Sharp!" -Justin Chang, VARIETY Morgan Spurlock Presents CHALK (NR) (5:10) 7:30, 9:50 All Teachers With I.D. Buy One Ticket Get One Free Through Thursday! Friday Midnight The Spice Girls in SPICE WORLD Saturday Midnight THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW Featuring Live Shadow Cast "Sins o' the Flesh" Showtimes Valid Wednesday, May 16, 2007 2007 Landmark Theatres Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (May 7-13) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish. Nielsen estimates there are 283.5 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older.

Viewership is listed in millions. Program Network View- ersProgram Network Viewers 1 American Idol 2 American Idol 3 House 4 Anatomy 5 Dancing With the Stars (Mon.) ABC19.44 --------------------------------------------6 CSICBS18.75 7 CSI: MiamiCBS17.18 8 Dancing With the Stars (Tue.) ABC16.86 9 Desperate HousewivesABC16.13 10 Without a Trace --------------------------------------------11 NCISCBS13.88 12 Survivor: FijiCBS13.76 13 Survivor: Fiji FinaleCBS13.63 14 King of QueensCBS13.42 15 Two and a Half MenCBS13.27 --------------------------------------------16 Criminal MindsCBS12.92 17 CSI: NYCBS12.83 18 LostABC12.11 19 Brothers SistersABC11.61 20 Fiji --------------------------------------------21 HeroesNBC11.14 22 Law Order: SVU 23 24FOX10.92 24 The UnitCBS10.74 25 Deal or No Deal --------------------------------------------26 The Bachelor: An Officer and a Gentleman ABC10.38 27 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC10.35 28 Close to HomeCBS10.27 29 BonesFOX10.23 30 Numb3rsCBS10.03 --------------------------------------------31 Boston LegalABC9.98 32 Ugly BettyABC9.63 33 60 MinutesCBS9.50 34 E.R.NBC9.39 35 Are You Smarter Than a 5th p.m.) FOX9.32 --------------------------------------------36 Ghost WhispererCBS9.15 37 Are You Smarter Than a 5th p.m.) FOX8.70 38 39 Law Order 40 Without a Trace --------------------------------------------41 MediumNBC7.91 42 New Adventures of Old Christine CBS7.82 43 JerichoCBS7.72 44 How I Met Your MotherCBS7.69 45 House --------------------------------------------46 Law Order 47 Family GuyFOX7.22 48 The OfficeNBC7.17 49 Funniest Home Videos ABC7.04 50 48 Hours MysteryCBS6.99 --------------------------------------------51 Law Order: Criminal Intent NBC6.94 My Name Is EarlNBC6.94 53 The Simpsons (8:30 p.m.) FOX6.86 54 Dateline: NBC 55 The Simpsons (8 p.m.)FOX6.54 --------------------------------------------56 Crimetime Saturday (9 p.m.) CBS6.42 58 According to Jim (8 p.m.)ABC6.35 59 (10 p.m.)ABC6.15 60 Law Order: SVU --------------------------------------------61 Crimetime Saturday (8 p.m.) CBS5.71 62 Notes From the Underbelly ABC5.70 63 American DadFOX5.67 64 Crossing JordanNBC5.34 65 ScrubsNBC5.31 --------------------------------------------66 Thank God Here (Wed.) NBC5.27 67 Destilando Amor 68 Dateline: NBC 69 Destilando Amor 70 Top Model 2 (Wed.) CW4.92 --------------------------------------------71 NBA Playoffs (8:12 p.m.)ABC4.91 72 La Fea Bella 73 Destilando Amor La Fea Bella 75 Destilando Amor --------------------------------------------76 Dateline: NBC 77 Real Wedding CrashersNBC4.77 78 NASCAR Nextel (Sat.) FOX4.67 79 Destilando Amor 80 George Lopez --------------------------------------------81 Friday Night SmackdownCW4.56 82 According to Jim (9 p.m.)ABC4.55 83 La Fea Bella 84 George Lopez 85 CristinaUNI4.40 --------------------------------------------86 (9 p.m.)ABC4.34 87 Anatomy 88 La Fea Bella La Fea Bella 90 Gilmore GirlsCW3.99 --------------------------------------------91 Cops (8:30 p.m.)FOX3.87 92 King of the Hill (7:30 p.m.) FOX3.68 93 Dateline: NBC Thank God Here (Sun.) NBC3.67 95 Day --------------------------------------------96 Cops (9:30 p.m.)FOX3.57 97 Cops (9 p.m.)FOX3.47 98 Nuestra Belleza 99 SmallvilleCW3.43 100 Aqui AhoraUNI3.35 --------------------------------------------101 Don Francisco PresentaUNI3.33 102 7th Heaven (8 p.m.)CW3.32 103 Bailando Boda Suenos UNI3.23 104 One Tree HillCW2.95 105 King of the Hill (7 p.m.)FOX2.90 SupernaturalCW2.90 107 GirlfriendsCW2.89 108 Duelo de Pasiones 109 Duelo de Pasiones 110 Casos VidaUNI2.67 --------------------------------------------111 Duelo de Pasiones 112 Duelo de Pasiones 113 Duelo de Pasiones Everybody Hates ChrisCW2.48 115 8 p.m.) ABC2.47 --------------------------------------------116 All of UsCW2.29 117 Sabado GiganteUNI1.96 118 Veronica MarsCW1.85 119 Futbol Liga MexicanaUNI1.70 120 Top Model 2 (Sun.) CW1.67 --------------------------------------------121 7th Heaven (7 p.m.)CW1.44 122 Dame Chocolate 123 Dame Chocolate Dame Chocolate 125 Zorro --------------------------------------------126 Dame Chocolate 127 Esclava Isaura 128 Zorro 129 Zorro 130 Esclava Isaura --------------------------------------------131 Marina 132 Marina 133 Hora PicoUNI1.09 134 Marina 135 Zorro --------------------------------------------136 Cinemundo del SabadoTEL1.06 137 Dame Chocolate 138 Zorro 139 Marina 140 Esclava Isaura --------------------------------------------141 Esclava Isaura 142 Esclava Isaura 143 Marina 144 Cine NuestroTEL0.78 145 Cine MillonarioTEL0.76 --------------------------------------------146 Marav Mundo DisneyTEL0.56 Network averages Here is the number of viewers (in millions) that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season. Network Last week Season to date CBS11.3012.25 FOX10.2210.08 ABC9.619.62 NBC6.888.72 UNI3.713.62 CW3.143.14 TEL1.000.86 Prime-Time TV Rankings From Times wire reports Eating bugs, stabbing fish with a makeshift spear and tropical island backstabbing appear to be losing their appeal for fans. The long-running CBS game immune to the general malaise affecting network TV this spring, as only 13.6 million people watched Sunday as California advertising executive Earl Cole unanimously won the Fiji edition, according to Nielsen Media Research. from the 16.4 million people who watched the end of the previous edition in December.

Last finale had 17.1 million viewers, Nielsen said. It illustrates how long it has been since the first in the summer of 2000 electrified fans and drew 51.6 million people to its conclusion. The latest game was the 14th edition. CBS notes, however, that consistently wins its time slot against a hot new hit, and Name Even May sweeps, usually a climax, seem to get viewers excited. Only the two episodes and on Fox brought in more than 20 million viewers last week, Nielsen said.

slipped to 16.1 million viewers. The veteran CBS comedy of went out with a small wave of nostalgia, however. It was the most-watched sitcom on the air last week, and the 13.4 million who watched this finale was its biggest audience since 2003. CBS was the most popular network last week, averaging 11.3 million viewers in prime time. Fox had 10.2million and won among viewers ages18 to49, a coveted demographic.

The only premiere, the ABC drama was 38th for the week and third in its Thursday 10-11 p.m. time slot with 8.6million viewers. Viewer- ship dropped from the first half-hour to the second. For the sixth consecutive week, was most-watched show of the week, with 6.49 million viewers for its first airing Sunday, which would have put it 56th among the programs on the five major broadcast networks. won the evening news ratings race, averaging 7.9 million viewers.

had 7.2 million viewers and the Evening was third for the 33rd consecutive week, with 6.1 million viewers. More viewers are voting themselves off.