NUMB3RS

'''Numb3rs''' (also capitalized as '''NUMB3RS''' and pronounced as '''Numbers''') is an American television show produced by brothers Ridley Scott and Tony Scott. It follows FBI Special Agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) and his mathematical genius brother, Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz), who helps Don solve crimes for the FBI. It was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, produced by CBS Paramount Network Television, and airs on the CBS network in the U.S.
The show focuses equally on the relationships between Don Eppes, his brother Charlie Eppes and their father, Alan Eppes (Judd Hirsch), and on the brothers' efforts to fight crime, normally in Los Angeles. A typical episode begins with a crime, which is subsequently investigated by a team of FBI agents led by Don and mathematically described by Charlie, with the help of Larry Fleinhardt (Peter MacNicol) and/or Amita Ramanujan (Navi Rawat). The insights provided by Charlie's mathematics are always in some way crucial to solving the crime.
The series was the most popular show airing on Friday evenings throughout its first three seasons;^[1] the fourth season is due to start airing at 10pm on September 28 2007.^[2]

Contents

Cast and characters

Episodes

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Awards

Representation of mathematics

Production

US television ratings

External References

References

Cast and characters

Main articles: List of Numb3rs characters

The show revolves around three groups of characters: the FBI, mathematicians at CalSci and the Eppes family.

★ Don Eppes is the lead FBI agent. Played by Rob Morrow.

★ Professor Charlie Eppes is a mathematics genius who consults for the FBI and NSA. Played by David Krumholtz.

★ Professor Larry Fleinhardt is a theoretical physicist and cosmologist at CalSci who aids Charlie in his work for the FBI. Played by Peter MacNicol.

★ Megan Reeves is an FBI agent and psychological profiler. Played by Diane Farr.

★ Alan Eppes is a former LA City Planner, and is the father of both Don and Charlie Eppes. Played by Judd Hirsch.

★ Amita Ramanujan is a mathematician at CalSci and FBI consultant. Played by Navi Rawat.

★ David Sinclair is an FBI agent. Played by Alimi Ballard.

★ Colby Granger is an FBI agent. Played by Dylan Bruno.

Episodes

Season 1

Main articles: List of Numb3rs episodes#Season 1: 2005

The first season of the show aired between January 23, 2005 and May 13 2005 at 10pm on Fridays. It sees the start of the working relationship between Los Angeles' FBI department and Charlie Eppes. The main FBI agents are Charlie's brother, Don Eppes, and Terry Lake, as well as David Sinclair. Don and Charlie's father, Alan Eppes, provides emotional support for the pair, while Professor Larry Fleinhardt and doctoral student Amita Ramanujan provide mathematical support and insights to Charlie.
The season ran for 13 episodes, and was ranked #36 in the Nielsen Ratings, with an average number of viewers per episode of 10.77 million.^[3] It was released on DVD in a 4-disk box set in the U.S. and Canada (Region 1) on May 30, 2006, in the UK (Region 2) on October 02, 2006 and in Australia (Region 4) on October 05, 2006, with a running time of 544 minutes. While the Region 2 and 4 versions does not contain any special features, the Region 1 version comes with audio commentaries on selected episodes, with co-creators/co-executive producers Cheryl Heuton, Nicholas Falacci and David Zucker; actors David Krumholtz, Lou Diamond Phillips, Judd Hirsch and Rob Morrow; supervising producer/writer Andrew Dettmann and directors Alexander Zakrzewski and Paris Barclay. Additionally, the Region 1 version contains the video featured "Crunching Numb3rs: Season 1", "Point of Origin: Inside the Unaired Pilot", "Do the math: The Caltech analysis" and "CharlieVision: FX Sequences 1.0", as well as blooper and audition reels, the latter with an optional commentary by casting director Mark Saks.^[4][5]

Season 2

Main articles: List of Numb3rs episodes#Season 2: 2005-2006

The second season ran between September 23, 2005 and May 19 2006, again at 10pm on Fridays. Season two sees several changes to Don's FBI team: Terry Lake is reassigned to Washington and two new members join Don and David Sinclair: Megan Reeves and Colby Granger. Charlie is challenged on one of his long-standing pieces of mathematical work and also starts work on a new theory, Cognitive Emergence Theory. Larry sells his home and lives a nomadic lifestyle, while he becomes romantically involved with Megan. Amita receives an offer for an assistant professor position at Harvard University, but is plagued by doubt as her relationship with Charlie is challenged and her career is in upheaval. Alan begins work and dating again, though he struggles with the loss of his wife, and both he and Charlie have a dream of her.
The season ran for 24 episodes, and was ranked #32 in the Nielsen Ratings with an average number of viewers per episode of 11.62 million.^[6] It was released as a 6 DVD box set on October 10, 2006 in the United States and Canada (Region 1), as well as in the UK (Region 2) on July 9, 2007^[7] and Australia (Region 4) on June 6, 2007.^[8] The running time is 1037 minutes, the video is in Anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) and the audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. The Region 1 box set comes with audio commentaries by Robert Port, John Behring, Barry Schindel, Rob Morrow, Miller Tobin, Diane Farr, David Krumholtz, Sean Crouch, Norberto Barba, Bill Nye, Andrew Dettmann, Nicolas Falacci, Andrew Black, Alimi Ballard, Will Patton, Cheryl Heuton, Don McGill, Peter Ellis and Mark Llewellyn. Additionally, it has two "Behind the Scenes", one with Nicolas Falacci, the other with David Krumholtz, as well as a "Crunching Numb3rs: Season 2" featurette and a blooper reel.^[9]

Season 3

Main articles: List of Numb3rs episodes#Season 3: 2006-2007


''Numb3rs'' was renewed for a third season,September 22 2006 and ended on May 18 2007. Charlie and Amita intensify their relationship, as do Larry and Megan. Amita has troubles adjusting in her new role as a CalSci professor, and Larry announces his leave of absence—he will be on the space station for six months, which greatly distresses Charlie. Dr. Mildred Finch, the newly-appointed Chair of the CalSci Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy Division, initially troubles Charlie and his colleagues, as Alan dates her. Don dates Agent Liz Warner, questions his ethics and self-worth, and receives counseling. Charlie sees Don's therapist and the two understand one another more. Alan engages in some FBI consulting with his knowledge of engineering, and Larry returns from the space station, although disillusioned. The finale wraps up with a revelation that shakes the whole team.
Noticeable changes from previous seasons include the removal of the opening credit sequence (credits are now done during the first segment of the show), the absence of Peter MacNicol's character for much of the season, and the absence of Diane Farr's character for a few episodes. Peter MacNicol appeared in the first eleven episodes before leaving for the television show ''24'', but returned to ''Numb3rs'' for the 21st episode of season 3. His absence was explained as being a payload specialist on the International Space Station. Diane Farr, pregnant for most of the season, left the show for maternity leave in episode 18, her absence explained as a special assignment to the Department of Justice.
The season was ranked #38 in the Nielsen Ratings, with an average number of viewers per episode of 10.5 million.^[10] It will be released on DVD in the United States and Canada (Region 1) on September 25, 2007, with 1020 minutes of runtime over 6 disks.^[11]

Season 4

CBS has confirmed that Season 4 of ''Numb3rs'' will begin showing on September 28 2007 in the same Friday night time slot as in previous seasons, 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time.²

Awards

Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, the show's creators, have won several awards for the show, including the Carl Sagan Award for Public Understanding of Science in 2006,^[12] and the National Science Board's Public Service Award in 2007.^[13] Also, the show's stunt coordinator, Jim Vickers, was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Stunt Coordination in 2006 for episode 14 of Season 2, "Harvest".^[14]

Representation of mathematics

Several mathematicians work as consultants for each episode.^1[15] Actual mathematics is presented in the show; the equations on the chalkboards are real, and they are indeed applicable to the situations presented in each show. This phenomenon has been recognized by working mathematicians.^[16][17]1 However, at least one mathematician consultant to the show has expressed concern with its use of math and the failure to integrate [sic] consultants at various stages in each episode's development, in addition to its portrayal of female mathematicians and inappropriate aspects of the relationship between Charlie Eppes and his graduate student Amita Ramanujan.^[18]
To assist the FBI in the show, Professor Charlie Eppes has invoked the following mathematical disciplines (among others): cryptanalysis, probability theory, game theory, partial differential equations, decision theory, graph theory, data mining and astrophysics. Famous scientists and mathematicians mentioned in the series include Archimedes, Francis Bacon, Albert Einstein, Paul Erdős, Michael Faraday, Richard Feynman, Werner Heisenberg, Pierre-Simon Laplace, John von Neumann, Isaac Newton, Alfréd Rényi, Bernhard Riemann, Edward Witten and Stephen Wolfram (season 2, episode 3).

''We All Use Math Every Day'' promotional poster

An education program called ''We All Use Math Every Day'' provides educational resources based on the mathematics featured in episodes of the show. The program is run by Texas Instruments in association with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The material is created by teachers and mathematicians, and is aimed at grades 9-12.^[19]
A book entitled ''The Numbers Behind Numb3rs: Solving Crime with Mathematics'' (ISBN 0452288576; published August 28, 2007) has been written by Keith Devlin and Dr. Gary Lorden, a consultant to the show, explaining some of the mathematical techniques that have been used both in actual FBI cases and in other law enforcement departments.^[20][21]

Production

The idea of ''Numb3rs'' was generated in the late 1990s when Nick Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, the show's creators, attended a lecture given by Bill Nye, a popular science educator.^[22] The premise of the show is similar to that of Mathnet.
Gabriel Macht was originally cast to portray the character of Don Eppes. Also, the original concept for the show had the events take place at Massachusetts Institute of Technology;^[23] this was later changed to the fictional California Institute of Science, commonly called CalSci. Scenes which take place at CalSci are filmed at California Institute of Technology (Caltech)²³ and the University of Southern California. One of the most frequent campus locations at Caltech is the vicinity of , including the bridge over Millikan Pond, the Trustees room, and the arcades of nearby buildings. At USC, locations include Doheny Library and the Town and Gown dining room.
Another common location is the Craftsman home of the Eppes family. The house shown in the first season is real; it is owned by David Raposa and Edward Trosper,^[24] a replica set was used from the second series onwards.^[25]

US television ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of ''Numb3rs'' on CBS.
''Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.''

Season	Timeslot	Season Premiere	Season Finale	TV Season	Ranking	Viewers (in millions)
'1st'3	Friday 10:00PM	January 23, 2005	May 13, 2005	2004-2005	'#36'	'10.77'
'2nd'6	Friday 10:00PM	September 23, 2005	May 19, 2006	2005-2006	'#32'	'11.62'
'3rd' 10	Friday 10:00PM	September 22, 2006	May 18, 2007	2006-2007	'#38'	'10.5'

External References

★ ''NUMB3RS'' full episodes

References

1. The Math(ematica) behind Television's Crime Drama NUMB3RS
2. CBS 2007 Fall Preview
3. Viewer numbers of the official 2004–2005 U.S. television season
4. Numb3rs (Numbers) - Featurettes, a gag reel and commentaries
5. Numb3rs - The Complete First Season (2005)
6. Viewer numbers of the official 2005–2006 U.S. television season
7. Numb3rs Season 2 DVD
8. Numb3rs Season 2 DVD
9. Numb3rs - The Complete Second Season (2005)
10. 2006-07 primetime wrap - Series programming results
11. Numb3rs - The Third Season (2005)
12. Official Numb3rs website
13. The "Numb3rs" Add Up: Popular TV Show and Its Creators Receive Public Service Award
14. Awards for "Numb3rs"
15. Hollywood Math and Science Film Consulting
16. NUMB3RS gets the math right
17. Math Games - The NUMB3RS TV show
18. Alice in NUMB3Rland, , Alice, Silverberg, FOCUS, 2006
19. We All Use Math Every Day
20. The Numbers Behind NUMB3RS: Solving Crime with Mathematics (Paperback)
21. NUMB3RS Books and DVD's Lady Shelley
22. The Numb3rs Guy
23. "Numb3rs" (2005) Trivia
24. Arts and Crafts by the 'Numb3rs' Christy Hobart
25.