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Page 2 March 2 - 8, 2015 Patricia Arquette fuels 'CSI: Cyber' By Jay Bobbin © Zap2it One of television's new- est crime-fighting teams is led by a very recent Oscar winner. Former "Medium" star Patricia Arquette also earned a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Film Independent Spirit Award and a British BAFTA Film Award as best supporting actress for "Boy - hood." There's no question CBS is loving to boast about having a freshly mint- ed Academy Award winner as a series star as "CSI: Cyber" debuts Wednesday, March 4. Arquette has played her new character, Avery Ryan, in two episodes of parent show "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." Inspired by real-life cyberpsychologist Mary Aiken, one of the new series' producers, Ryan leads an FBI unit focused on online-based crimes. James Van Der Beek, Charley Koontz, Shad Moss and Hayley Kiyoko play appropriately skilled mem - bers of the team, with Peter MacNicol ("NUMB3RS," "Ally McBeal") also return- ing to series work as the squad's supervisor. "CSI" mentor Anthony E. Zuiker delved into the theme of cybercrime with "Cy- bergeddon," a 2012 series he made for Yahoo!, and he deems "CSI: Cyber" to be "the reboot and the future of our franchise. "The bank robbery of yesterday was going into a bank, breaking in and taking a lot of money; the bank robbery of tomorrow is taking three cents out of your account. The arson of yesterday is burning down a forest because you're burn- ing love letters for a loved one; the arson of tomorrow is hacking into your smart house and having all the megahertz be rerouted to your appliance to burn your house down in the middle of the night." Also seen on HBO's "Boardwalk Empire," Ar- quette allows that after she filmed "Boyhood" intermit- tently over a 12-year period, her interest in signing up for "CSI: Cyber" partially came from "CSI" being "the largest global franchise in the world, so you're really connecting to audiences everywhere — but for me, I feel like we're on the dawn of a new time. I mean, this is like the Industrial Revolu- tion. This is an explosion of the way that we're going to be living our lives." Having advocated equal pay and rights for women in her Oscar acceptance speech, Arquette notes that "to be a woman in law enforcement on television, I think, is sort of important. It's a powerful position for a woman to be in ... but also to be looking at these new technologies, exploring these new technologies. And the interesting thing about cybercrime and the whole cyber world is that many of the people that are most proficient in it are young people, really young people." The "CSI: Cyber" cast member arguably most acquainted with the show's themes is MacNicol, who reveals his identity was "stolen by two separate people, both of whom I think are playing me much better than I do. It was a nightmare. And what did I learn from it? To be scared. I don't know what to do. I mean, I just don't know any way around this, because there are so many get- arounds for bad guys." When his shattering murder mystery "Broadchurch" exploded into an international hit a couple of years ago, writer-creator Chris Chibnall hinted that he had something different in mind for Season 2. In fact, he wouldn't even confirm which, if any, characters from Season 1 – including detectives Alec Hardy and Ellie Miller (David Tennant, Olivia Colman) – would be back. Fans will be relieved, then, to find nearly all their favorites returning as the new season premieres Wednesday, March 4, on BBC America. "Chris sees this season as a courtroom drama, not a thriller. In his mind, that was the shift he was talking about," executive producer Jane Featherstone explains. "We were still working things out at that point, but he didn't want to just have the same cops doing another murder in the same town. He wanted to work out the impact of a very public murder trial on these individuals we had come to know and love." Season 2 opens on the day of Joe Miller's (Matthew Gravelle) arraignment, but while spectators – and even Joe's barrister – expect a guilty plea and quick sentencing, things take an unexpected turn and Broadchurch braces itself for a murder trial that threatens to blow the lid off still more local secrets. Joe enlists a formidable defense team headed by Queen's Counsel (QC) Sharon Bishop (Marianne Jean- Baptiste), a fascinating new character. "For her, the main thing is that everyone deserves a good defense," the actress says. "Looking at the evidence, she sees that there definitely were things that went awry. That alone told her this guy was not going to be treated fairly in this small town, in such an emotionally charged situation." Meanwhile, Alec – still nursing a bum ticker and no longer on active duty – remains in Broadchurch for reasons that at first seem unclear, until his past comes back to haunt him via new developments in the previously failed investigation that followed him like a dark cloud as he first arrived in the town last season. This secondary story line introduces two other new characters played by Eve Myles ("Torchwood") and James D'Arcy ("Marvel's Agent Carter"), but it's virtually impossible to reveal more about that plot thread without venturing into some major spoilers. While Season 1 of "Broadchurch" came rushing at you with the chilling inevitability of an avalanche, Season 2 unfolds more deliberately. As before, though, fans can anticipate plenty of twists, shocks and haunting performances. BY JOHN CROOK Favorite characters are back as 'Broadchurch' returns "CSI: Cyber" premieres Wednesday on CBS.

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