THE ROSIE O’DONNELL SHOW – TRANSCRIPT OF MARG’S INTERVIEW
October 6, 2000
Rosie: We all remember our next guest from her award winning role as KC on China Beach. Starting tonight, she returns to series TV in the new drama CSI. Please welcome back to the show, Marg Helgenberger.
Rosie: How are you, Marg?
Marg: I’m great.
Rosie: I had a lot of instructions not to say Marge. Do people say Marge?
Marg: Well, yeah, a lot.
Rosie: I’m going to give you the foot stool.
Marg: Thanks.
Rosie: It’s good, right? I knew you’d like it. A lot of people say they don’t want it. They protest. I give it and they are happy.
Marg: The guys probably protest more than the gals do.
Rosie: I’ve never given it to a guy, have I? Yeah, I gave it and somebody got insulted. Who did we give it…Oh, William Shatner. We almost killed him with it. The first time we had it tight, and I said to him, ‘Do you want… we got it just brand new’ and I hit the button and the chair started to move. and he fell off.
Marg: No way.
Rosie: And it wasn’t a joke.
Marg: Well, I can see why he would be a little upset, I guess.
Rosie: But there was one actor that was tiny and I gave him the fool stool and he wasn’t happy. Let’s keep going. That’s a bad area,and I don’t know why I got into it.
Rosie: How are you?
Marg: I’m really good, thank you very much.
Rosie: And do people say Marge or not?
Marg: Many people do, yes. It’s a, you know my mother…Mary Marg is my full name. Marg is my middle name. My mother intended me to be called Mary Marg. She does…It gets mispronounced so often my production company is called “Don’t call me Marge” production.
Rosie: Oh, really? Because it’s not Margaret? It’s not short for Margaret?
Marg: No, Mary Marg.
Rosie: Very Irish, isn’t it?
Marg: Yup.
Rosie: That’s where I first saw you.
Marg: Ryan’s Hope.
Rosie: Ryan’s Hope, that’s my show.
Marg: I know. I remember.
Rosie: And how did you get that gig?
Marg: You know, I was at Northwestern University and I was in Taming of the Shrew. Now who would think Kate in Taming of the Shrew would lead to a soap opera? It did. But I actually did have a…my first TV gig was playing…well, it wasn’t really playing…I was being the weekend weather girl at this station in Kearney, Nebraska. I was pretty bad at the job, you know. It was only a summer and I was doing it just for kicks. But it was serious because the farmers were relying on whatever I said. You know ,depending on what the weather’s going to be like for the week and the crops. I think they were glad to see me go.
Rosie: Were you schooled?
Marg: I was in school, yes.
Rosie: No, but I mean, did you know meteorology or whatever for the weather?
Marg: No, no.
Rosie: You knew nothing?
Marg: I knew nothing. I was just putting together my information by the UPI and the AP wire services and I would make up my own maps and all this kind of stuff.
Rosie: Really?
Marg: I actually went by the name of Margi McCarty because my name Helgenberger was clashing with the two other anchors on the show whose names were Harvey Knocklinger and Joyce Eisenminger. So it would have been the Knocklinger, Helgenberger, Eisenminger report.
Rosie: That would have been hard.
Marg: Exactly.
Rosie: Now people must have tried to get you to change the name because it’s a tough one.
Marg: Only then. My first job, that was it.
Rosie: Not when you were a soap opera actress, they didn’t?
Marg: No, nobody. No.
Rosie: You know who I saw from Ryan’s Hope recently in Remember the Titans?
Marg: Who?
Rosie: The guy who played Ox Knowles.
Marg: My god, you remember his name. Will Patton.
Rosie: I love that show
Marg: I know. He was cool on that show.
Rosie: He’s in Remember the Titans.
Marg: I know. He’s got a big role apparently.
Rosie: Huge role.
Marg: I haven’t seen it yet.
Rosie: The whole movie I kept going, ‘I swear he was on Ryan’s Hope’, to my friends.
Marg: He was like a demolition car driver or something like that.
Rosie: Yeah. He was a bad guy too.
Marg: He was kind of a good guy, bad guy.
Rosie: He got involved with Delia in a bad way, when she was in a bad place. Because Frank had left her. Cause Frank never loved her. He always loved Jill…
Marg: I can’t believe you remember this, because I don’t even remember.
Rosie: You don’t remember?
Marg: I remember him on the show. And I remember he was some kind of dark brooding kind of guy. And something with race cars… but I don’t remember specifics.
Rosie: You don’t? Anything you want to know, you phone me okay?
Marg: What was Kelli Maroney’s character’s name?
Rosie: Kelli Maroney? I don’t know.
Marg: Okay. She was Ray’s daughter. She was like a vixen on the show. Blonde…
Rosie: Really?
Marg: The reason I bring this up. When I was on that show, I got booted out of the sublet…I was subletting an apartment from one of the actresses on the show. I’m not going to mention any names.
Rosie: You’re not gonna, but you’ll tell me at the commercial…
Marg: Perhaps.
Rosie: Okay.
Marg: As long as you don’t repeat it.
Rosie: Swear to God.
Marg: Okay. Anyway, I was like destitute and Kelli was on the show with me. She said come into my studio and crash on my sofa. So there I was for like three months. The two of us were like co-eds hanging out in this studio together, but I can’t remember her character’s name.
Rosie: Who did she play?
Marg: She was always conniving, and she was very young, sex kitten type.
Rosie: What year? Give me what year.
Marg: This would have been about eighty-two and three.
Rosie: Eighty-two and three. I was still very addicted at that point.
Marg: So?
Rosie: I will find out it out. During this commercial break, I will find it out. You don’t think I will…you just watch me.
Marg: I know you will.
Rosie: Watch me non Marge helgenbergerriginduger.
Rosie: We’ll be right back with Marg after this. Don’t go away.
(commercial break)
Rosie: Her name was Kimberly.
Marg: Yes.
Rosie: I have a cracker jack staff. They found it out during the commercial break.
Rosie: Now, Marg, I saw your new show. I really enjoyed it.
Marg: Thank you very much.
Rosie: It’s called CSI.
Marg: CSI.
Rosie: It’s sort of like a modern Quincy.
Marg: Yeah. A lot of people have said that. CSI stands for Crime Scene Investigation for those who don’t know. We’re a unit of criminalists that work the graveyard shift in Vegas. We’re sent to the crime scene, gather the evidence, bring it back to the lab, analysis it and then figure out what happened.
Rosie: Right. Do you work actually in Vegas? Do you shoot the show there?
Marg: Some of the time. In fact we’re going next week to Vegas to shoot some.
Rosie: You do the exteriors there and the rest in L.A.
Marg: Right, exactly.
Rosie: Did you bring a clip?
Marg: I did.
Rosie: And it’s about which one?
Marg: I think this clip, if I’m not mistaken. is myself and an actress named Jorja Fox, and we’re sort of waiting the results of the DNA analysis on a suspect that we think may have been involved in this murder.
Rosie: Take a look. CSI, right here.
(Clip of CSI is shown)
Rosie: It premieres tonight on CBS. It’s a very good show.
Marg: Thank you very much.
Rosie: It really is.
Marg: Thank you.
Rosie: And you’re a very convincing cop.
Marg: I played a lot of law enforcement. Well, starting with Ryan’s Hope. I played a cop on that show and went undercover as a prostitute. Guess what my name undercover as a prostitute was?
Rosie: It rhymed. Daisy Glue. Wait, what am I thinking? What was your name?
Marg: Pepper Adams.
Rosie: Oh, I wasn’t even close.
Marg and Rosie together: Pepper Adams.
Marg: Spicy. I was a saucy little…
Rosie: Usually when they cast the real pretty girls as cops, they’re not believable. But you’re pretty and also believable.
Marg: Thank you very much.
Rosie: And I like when that happens. Because, you know, sometimes they get these Barbies that are so un-cop like. You know what I mean.
Marg: Well, you know, I’ve played so many cops and detectives. I’ve ridden with a lot of cops. And you know, my hat goes off to the people. I just respect what they do. It’s just a hard job.
Rosie: It’s the toughest gig in the world. It’s got to be.
Marg: God, yes.
Rosie: Now how’s your son. Is he doing good?
Marg: He’s doing very well. Thank you.
Rosie: What’s he into?
Marg: He’s now in the fifth grade. And he, well lately, he was into, who wasn’t? The Olympics. Completely got into it. ‘Mom, this is the first time I’ve really gotten into ‘em.’ And then when they were coming to a close he said ‘I’m kind of depressed they’re not on anymore.’ And I remember feeling that as a kid too. There was one night, in fact, we were sitting around watching the woman’s triathlon, which my god, these women…
Rosie: I know. It’s unbelievable.
Marg: Those bodies on them. So lean and in such great shape…just a brutal event. And I said, I was commenting…He had four of his friends over sitting around eating popcorn. And I said, ‘You know, you couldn’t perform in this event if you had large breasts.’ Well that brought the house down. You say the word breast in front of a group of nine and ten year old boys, they think it’s the funniest thing ever heard.
Rosie: Really? Did he yell at you for embarrassing him? Did he yell at you?
Marg: No. I think he thought I was cool because all of his friends were laughing their little tushes off too.
Rosie: It’s so funny because sometimes I call all my kids Fred for no reason. I just go ‘Hey Fred!’ to all of them. And if I ever do it in front of their friends, they’re furious.
Marg: Beause it’s uncool.
Rosie: No. they’re like, ‘Don’t ever call me that’. I’m like ‘why? It’s all right at home.’ It’s a bad name in front of everyone.
Marg: Well, he does weird things like that too. I had these pair of shoes that were really groovy. They were these Miu Mius, and I was picking him up at the playground just the other day, and I had the shoes on. And he said ‘Those shoes…what’s with the spikes on the bottoms of them? What’s with that?’ And he was like standing in front of me putting his backpack. And I said ‘You know what, every girl in this playground is digging these shoes right now.’
Rosie: Did that change his mind at all?
Marg: No.
Rosie: No. He’s only in the fifth grade.
Marg: Of course not, of course not
Rosie: Well, it’s great to see you.
Marg: Thank you. It was great to be here.
Rosie: Thank you very much for being here.
Marg: Thanks for having me back.
Rosie: And CSI premieres tonight, so definitely look out for it. It’s a great show.
*Special thanks to fox1 for transcribing this interview.