So I went through episode descriptions for the first 10 seasons of CSI...

[aldersprig]

And then x-referenced against my/T's memory of Bones and mine of Leverage.
Um. I'm gonna need a longer month.
(one * per show we could find/remember it in)

(this is in re http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/696410.html <-- that post for Campnano)

Just a limb found *
Attack on a member of the team (finale)
Amish *
Fetish death **
Mistaken Identity *
Body Farm **
Hockey***
Monks**
Dwarf**
Magic Show*
Classical Music*
Rock Music **
Rap/Hip Hop/R&B Music**
Guitar Camp*
AU Episode*
Murder is suicide or suicide is murder *
Garbage dump*
Poker**
Horse**
Body Mod *
Officer Down **
Really gross decomp**
Home Invasions*
Buried Alive **
Furry**
Juror Murder/tampering/etc.**
no-money game tournament (scrabble, chess, etc)***
Marathon *
Looks supernatural **
Mental institution * (the older/creepier the better)
Crop Circles*
Cult**
Wedding*
Sci-fi Convention **
Hoarders*

People involve:
Crazy Cat Lady*
Cheerleader/High school Sports*
Psychic **
Sex change*
Flight Attendant** (on a plane?)*
Prostitutes*
Deaf *

Family of a team member involved***

Comments

[inventrix]

Honestly, I'd limit it to episodes which have at least two stars, at the least, unless one of the one-stars really grabs you. The idea is to use really common episode tropes, yes?

[aldersprig]

Yes... Hrrm. Might have to go through my memories of Cold Case, too. ;-D

[clare_dragonfly]

I do love the Bones AU episode.

NCIS has just a limb found. NCIS and CM both have team member attacked. Oh, I recently saw a Monk episode with a magic show! Monk might be a good one to mine for tropes because it's so silly. It has a circus episode too.

NCIS has one where they think it's murder but it turns out to be suicide. And several with really gross decomp. A few with buried alive. NCIS has one with crop circles and CM has one where they killer acts like a vampire.

NCIS has two episodes with trans characters and one in which the answer to the mystery is "she wasn't having an affair with him but with his wife"! There's one with a psychic and one with a flight attendant. And CM, of course, has lots of prostitutes. Both have family members involved in various ways--I'm not really sure that's a trope in and of itself.

[inventrix]

Oh, let me do Elementary and Perception! At least, as best as I can remember, minus the season of Perception I didn't see..... Also, neither of these are exactly standard crime dramas.

Elementary:
Just a limb found (sort of)
Attack on a member of the team (sort of)
Fetish death
Mistaken Identity
Classical Music? (does ballet count)
Suicide is murder
Horse (unless this means "death by horse" and not "episode involving horses/horse racing")
Officer Down (sort of)
Really gross decomp (implied)

Perception:
Mistaken Identity
AU Episode (okay it's not an AU ep but it's sooooooort of like an AU ep)
Murder is suicide or suicide is murder (I can't believe they don't, even if I don't recall it)
Cult

Both Elementary and I think it was Law & Order: SVU which also had a hackers episode (they used IRC as the hacker chatroom it was great). Perception has a schizophrenic suspect episode and I'm pretty sure CSI did as well, within the last couple of years.

Also it's quite amusing to me how many of these were probably in the first 10 seasons of CSI and were also within the past couple years of CSI. >.>

[aldersprig]

Ooh, yes, Crim. Minds did a schizophrenic suspect episode too, I think.

And yes, CSI starts to repeat.