Country hitmaker Taylor Swift is making a guest appearance tonight on “CSI” and, according to Chicago Tribune television critic Maureen Ryan, she’s not too shabby at acting either.

…we’ve all seen examples of non-actors, or even very famous guest actors, messing up otherwise good shows.

That’s not the case in Thursday’s episode, which would have been engrossing with or without Swift. The singer-songwriter, who plays a teen living at a seedy motel, acquits herself well. But she’s not really the main attraction.

The “CSI” episodes I enjoy most do two things well: keep me guessing about who did what to whom until the end and make things matter emotionally to the characters. I don’t care as much about the technology used to solve crimes as I do about the stories crime tells us about the darker recesses of the human heart and mind.

Thursday’s excellent episode is a showcase for George Eads, who plays crime-scene investigator Nick Stokes. In the episode, Nick encounters Swift’s character every time he responds to a crime scene at the low-budget motel her father manages. Several crimes are solved in the episode, and there are many clever red herrings and feints before the viewer realizes what’s going on.

Okay, I’m intrigued.

Swift follows in the footsteps of artists including Roger Daltrey (a missing mob boss with an axe to grind on “CSI”), Diddy (a defense attorney on two episodes of “CSI: Miami”), Nelly Furtado (a shoplifter on “CSI: NY”), Chris Daughtry (a musician named Machiavelli Taylor on “CSI: NY”) and Nelly (a club owner and informant on “CSI: NY”).

Speaking of “CSI: NY,” Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz and his bride Ashlee Simpson are scheduled to make an appearance on the March 18 episode of the show playing “Bonnie and Clyde-like characters.”

Thursday, March 5
Akon – “The Tavis Smiley Show” – rerun
Jo Koy, George Wallace – “Chelsea Lately” – rerun
U2 – “Late Show with David Letterman”
Frank Caliendo, Tom Jones – “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”
Ludacris – “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”
Raphael Saadiq – “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Andrew Bird – “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson”

Friday, March 6
Sean “Diddy” Combs – “The Ellen DeGeneres Show”
Josh Wolf, Sarah Colonna – “Chelsea Lately”
Plain White T’s – “The Bonnie Hunt Show”
U2 – “Late Show with David Letterman”
Papa Roach – “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”
Crooked X – “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” – rerun
M. Ward – “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson”
N.A.S.A. – “Last Call with Carson Daly”

Saturday, March 7
Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley – “Austin City Limits”
Ray LaMontagne – “Saturday Night Live”