That was particularly true this year, as some of television's longest-running, top-rated dramas ended last season leaving millions of fans guessing about the futures of their favorite characters. That was the case for all three "CSI" series, two "Law and Order" shows, "Without a Trace" and "ER."

Legal TV eagle Tom Wharton has been tailing all the crime shows, and he offers a recap of how the seasons ended, as well as predictions on how they will be resolved.

CSI Season finale: Undersheriff Jeffrey McKeen (Conor O'Farrell) murdered Warrick Brown (Gary Dourdan) in the final scene, revealing that he's part of an ongoing police department scandal.

What will happen: Dourdan was leaving the show so, indeed, he was killed. Since star William Petersen, who plays team leader Gil Grissom, is in his last season, it's a safe bet to predict that the undersheriff will try to force him out. And, in the process, Grissom will discover the sheriff is the murderer. Expect new cast member Laurence Fishburne to solve the mystery.

CSI Miami

Season finale: Horatio Caine (David Caruso) was shot as he tried to help his son. The show ended with Caine lying on a private airport tarmac and CSI team member Ryan Wolfe (Jonathan Togo) getting a text message saying "It's done!" What will happen: No way will Caine die. Unlike Petersen's Grissom, Caine might be the one character this high-rated show can't lose. Besides, after leaving "NYPD Blue" for better things, Caruso knows a good thing when he has it. One Web site predicts that Caine set up this whole ruse in order to save his son from the clutches of an evil stepdad. The guess is that Wolfe, instead of being the bad guy, is in on the plot and is actually helping Horatio.

CSI New York Season finale: Detective Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) is fooled into helping a guy who apparently robbed a bank but convinced Taylor he was a victim. The season ends with a deceived Taylor being kidnapped and driven to an unknown location.

What will happen: Sinise's Taylor is too essential to the show to be killed, and the kidnapper didn't appear that bright to begin with. Taylor will use his CSI skills to give his team a hint as to his location and will be rescued.

NCIS Season finale: NCIS director Jenny Shepard (Lauren Holly) was killed in a shootout. Her replacement, who was seen in the finale shredding some documents from her file, reassigns agents Ziva David (Cote de Pablo), Anthony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) and Tim McGee (Sean Murray), and tells team leader Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) to put together a new team.

What will happen: While one of the main characters is rumored to be killed in the first episode, it's hard to believe that most of the cast of a highly successful show will leave. Gibbs will find the dirt on the new director and reassemble the team, minus one member.

ER Season finale: This long-running medical drama left viewers with many plot twists. The major one did not reveal whether nurse Samantha Taggart (Linda Cardellini) or doctor Gregory Pratt (Mekhi Phifer) rode in an ambulance carrying an ex-mob member (Steve Buscemi), which exploded as the last show ended. Also: Dr. Morris (Scott Grimes) is suffering from PTSD, doctors Abby Lockhart (Maura Tierney) and Luka Kovac (Goran Visnjic) are quitting the ER and and Dr. Neela Rasgotra (Parminder Nagra) took a new lover. Whew! What will happen: Since Noah Wyle is returning for the series' final season as Dr. John Carter, Phifer's character, Pratt, who was going to head the ER, died in the explosion, setting things up for Carter's return.

Law & Order Season finale: This long-running procedural added a new cast member last year. The finale had the fate of Jack McCoy, promoted to district attorney last year, in the air as an Eliot Spitzer-type New York governor is trying to cover up a sex scandal but McCoy knows about it.

What will happen: Good regularly triumphs over evil in this series, so McCoy will out the governor and win election to a new term.

Law & Order SVU Season finale: Det. Chester Lake (Adam Beach) was arrested for murder. Fin Tutuola (Ice-T) became tired of Elliot Stabler's tantrums and headstrong style and asked for a transfer. And assistant district attorney Casey Novak (Diane Neal) may get disbarred.

What will happen: Lake, obviously guilty, will be gone. Fin and Elliot will patch things up and Novak will get by with a warning. Bigger things happen later in the season when Stabler and his estranged mother (Ellen Burstyn) are reunited.

Without a Trace Season finale: Jack Malone (Anthony LaPaglia) is demoted as the head of the FBI unit searching for missing persons. The show ends with Samantha Spade (Poppy Montgomery) delivering a baby alone and Malone visiting the hospital. What will happen: Malone and Spade, who had an affair, will get back together in a difficult relationship. After a few episodes where Vivian Johnson (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) heads the unit, Malone will get his old job back, which will complicate his new relationship even further.