CSI: CATHERINE AND SARA INTERROGATED!
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TV Guide Magazine, September 28-October 4, 2009
By Craig Tomasoff
Marg Helgenberger and Jorja Fox answer burning questions about Saraās return and the crime showās killer new season.
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The most baffling scene on CSI last season wasnāt a stabbing or shooting. It was a missing persons case: The showās lead investigator for its first nine seasons, William Petersen (Gil Grissom), left the series halfway through the year, sending CSIās ratings slipping and causing concern for its cast and producers.
āWe look at last season in a way not dissimilar from the fans,ā admits executive producer Carol Mendelsohn. āWe may have shortchanged a number of our characters in being so focused on the transition from Grissomās team to Catherineās Weāll try to make up for that this season.ā
From the opening scene, itās clear the mood is deadly on the graveyard shift. The team is āfractured,ā says Mendelsohn. Enter Jorja Fox, whoās back, at least temporarily, to help Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) get the CSIs to play nice again. But whereās Grissom? āThe audience will know in very short order the status of Grissom and Sara,ā Mendelsohn promises. āI can say that between the time they left and now, there are no little Grissoms out there.ā
Meanwhile, both Nick Stokes (George Eads) and Ray Langston (Laurence Fishburne) get promoted and start a season-long hunt for a serial killer. āThe crime scene for this killer is a body,ā says Mendelsohn.
The case may also be just the thing to bring the team together and feeling like a family again. āWe were out of our rhythm a bit last year,ā says Eads. āWe needed to go back to the garage and find what inspired us, and thereās some good stuff with whatās happening on the show now.ā
That starts with the return of Fox, whose departure two seasons ago āfelt like we lost our lead guitarist,ā Eads adds. So, as CSI tunes up for its 10th season, TV Guide Magazine sat down with Fox and Helgenberger to ask them questions, sent in by fans on tvguidemagazine.com, and found out how the team is getting its mojo back.
What would you like to see this year on CSI that hasnāt already been done?
Marg: A musical episode! Thatās something weāve talked about since Season 2. The cast has, anyway. I donāt think the writers think itās a great idea.
Jorja: Iāve been advocating for the CSI musical episode for a long time. And not because I have any talent musically, because I donāt. Everybody else does. Marg has a beautiful voice.
Marg: You do, too, have talent.
Jorja: I canāt really sing. But Iād love a dance number.
Jorja, why did you come back to CSI?
Jorja: I thought it would be a heck of a lot of fun. When I said my goodbyes, with cake in my mouth and flowers in my arms, the last thing I said to the producers was Iād love to visit. But this was very unexpected.
Is it possible Sara will return for good?
Jorja: Iāll just say Iām very pleased with what theyāve come up with to bring Sara back. You do get to learn a little about what sheās been up to. I was pleasantly intrigued.
Marg, are you happy to have Jorja back on the set so youāre not the only woman?
Jorja: Iām gonna cover my ears!
Marg: Well, obviously, Lauren Lee Smith [who played Riley Adams] was with us last year, but there was a time before she joined us that I was the only woman, for the most part, other than Liz Vassey in the lab and Sheeri Rappaport. Not that I minded being around all those guys, ācause theyāre all really great and cool and sexy and all that stuff. But there needed to be more of a presence of female power. So I was thrilled to have Jorja back. Sheās just the coolest chick on the planet.
Catherine and Sara have never really had a close friendship. Will they become closer?
Marg: Iāve always wanted them to have a closer relationship. I liked the charactersā energies together. So it hasnāt been for a lack of me wanting and asking for it. I hope it happens. We do have a couple of nice scenes in the first episode.
Jorja: I know very little about where weāre going from here. Sara has pretty obvious authority issues, so when sheās locked horns with Catherine, itās because Catherineās in a position to tell Sara what to do. In her mind, Sara believes she doesnāt have a boss. She is her own boss. Most of their fights come out of that. Theyāre very different woman but blend marvelously together.
Will we see more of Catherine as a strong supervisor this season?
Marg: Yes, you will. There is something that happens in one of the first episodes because someone leaks information to the press, [and the] hard-ass on the show, Ecklie [Marc Vann], has to come down on someone, so itās the leader. I think youāll see Catherine at the top of her game, confident.
Jorja: Catherineās had a leadership position on the show for some time. So itāll be sort of seamless and subtle. But for me, itās exciting to see a woman in charge.
Will there be a Grissom and Sara wedding anytime soon?
Jorja: I have no idea if thereāll be a wedding! Would I, as Jorja, like to see one? Sure. I think, even though it seems the antithesis of who Sara is, sheād like to see one, too.
What do you think happened between Grissom and Sara after the screen went to black at the end of William Petersenās final episode?
Jorja: I think we left them happily ever after in a Costa Rican rain forest. I certainly would like to leave it at that. I liked that moment being suspended for a while. It was so slow in coming, season after season. It was something I was rooting for, and I was happy the story ended the way it did. So just let it hang there for a while.
Will we see Catherine find love in the future?
Marg: [Laughs] I think itās way overdue for Catherine to have a love interest! There was an ex, who was shot dead. I had a brief relationship with a guy who just wasnāt right for me. There was the whole Warrick [Gary Dourdan] flirtation thing that we didnāt really follow through on. But Iād love to see Catherineās vulnerable side.
Jorja: And to see some sparks fly!
Marg: Catherine needs somebody tall and dark. Sheās always attracted to edgy-type guys, but at this point in her life and career, she knows thatās heading into dangerous water. I think sheās evolved a little bit. Not that she wants somebody who is milquetoasty.
Jorja: [Laughs] A foot doctor?
Marg: Sure. He probably gives great foot massages. Which would be quite sensual. [Laughs] She does stand on her feet a lot.
Would Catherine ever kiss Sara?
Jorja: We did today! At the TV Guide Magazine photo shoot. But on the show, probably not. Sara and Catherine love each other very much, but they probably wouldnāt kiss.
Marg: We have to keep some mystery.
Will we get to see Catherineās daughter, Lindsey, and her mother this season?
Marg: Iāve always wanted to have my daughter be much more of a presence on the show, especially now that sheās a young woman. That allows for some great storytelling. I can only hope there will be more.
Will there be any more about Catherineās father, Sam Braun, and his legacy?
Marg: That will definitely be there. Definitely that old-school Vegas stuff will be throughout the whole season.
Whatās the funniest thing that ever happened on the set?
Jorja: Back when we were doing the āGrave Dangerā episode, and George [Eads] was in the box where heās dying every minute heās still in thereā¦.We get this tape in the mail from the killer and itās a Turtles song. The cameraās going around all of us, and weāre all there. Weāre trying to analyze this tape, a critical moment in the story, and we all hear the music and start dancing to it.
Marg: The musical episode!
Jorja: Exactly!
Do you two hang out together off set?
Marg: I keep meaning to go down to watch her surf.
Jorja: I just spent four days doing it. Iāve been surfing for about eight years.
Marg: Iāve been down to her place but havenāt seen her surf yet. I guess I might try doing it, too, but Iām not as brave as she is.
Jorja: Oh boy, thatās not true!
Marg: [Laughs] The temperature of the water is what Iām most afraid of. If I was in Hawaii, Iād love to do it with you.
Jorja: Great! Letās go to Hawaii and go surfing.
Would either of you consider joining Dancing With the Stars since you have the moves to blow the minds of America every week?
Marg: I could see where that would be a lot of fun, actually.
Jorja: Would America be ready for dancing forensic investigators?
Marg: See? It all comes back to CSI: The Musical. Every question comes back to that. If we keep putting it out there, itāll happen.
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