Inside 'CSI'

After a serial killer escapes capture in Miami and travels to Manhattan with a hostage, the "CSI" NY and Miami squads join forces to capture him before he strikes again in a two-part episode concluding Wednesday night.

Melina Kanakaredes plays Big Apple crime scene investigator Stella Bonasera and she tells The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm that this episode is particularly gruesome.

"Every episode there's something obviously going on this way, but this one's really tough because there's young people involved and he's just brutally killing people," Kanakaredes says. "It's really ugly. But I think you need something that's intense that way to put two teams together."

The interior scenes for this special episode were actually done in Los Angeles.

"The Bruckheimer machine all works in Los Angeles," Kanakaredes says. "But we come to New York probably four times a year .... The only odd thing is that you're pre-shooting shows that haven't been written yet. So we might be doing a scene in front of the New York library, right? And I'm doing a scene. I'm on the phone with the writer going, 'So what are you thinking about writing?'

"It's a little odd, but it's great because it gives the audience and gives us, the actors, the opportunity to really be in this great city."

To prepare for her role as Stella, Kanakaredes spent some time in the L.A. Coroner's office.

"It's amazing actually," she says. "It was more reality than I think I ever needed. But I've used that research in so many different roles."

She says people who actually do her character's job for a living are able to "put up a wall. Yet, at the same time, there's compassion for the victims' families, the people left behind. It helped when I was trying to develop this woman, Stella, to make her somebody that is fierce and fearless at doing her job, but has the compassion to deal with the people who are left behind."

As for her look, "I think we're going for a little sexier," she says. "My very sweet Greek family is very interested in how Melina looks and are calling up and saying, 'Your eyes are green again! We're so happy.' "

Gary Sinise's look has changed as well. "We're a little looser," Kanakaredes says. "I kind of look at it like my first year in New York starting out acting. I was in the basement apartment of this little tiny studio and didn't know what the weather was like. Then I get my first job, I move to the 11th floor — a whole new New York City."

Don't miss the special edition of "CSI" at 10 p.m. ET/ 9 p.m. Central on CBS. "CSI" Week continues Thursday with an exclusive sneak peek at the key scene from the Thursday edition of "CSI."