Name recognition is the only thing that come to mind. I seriously doubt CBS would have greenlit a pilot for this show if it did not have CSI attached to it. Cold Case was more CSI then CSI:Cyber was. And really if you think about it, aside from the beginning season of the original one, and outside from the first 10 minutes of each episode most of the episodes of the CSI franchise revolved around detective work, not forensics and crime scene investigation. There's really not much CSI in any of the CSIs, and not too many people in the field of forensics or who are apart of real life crime scene units arrest suspects, go on freeway chases, set up stings/raids or break down doors. The best part about this franchise is how on CSI and CSI:Miami they would frequently investigate crimes and do things outside of their jurisdiction. How many times in the original did they go to crime scenes in North Las Vegas, which is a separate municipality and has their own police department.