LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY, TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW
September 28, 2006
Regis: Youāve all seen our next guest She plays the crime scene analyst Catherine Willows on CBSās big hit drama, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Please welcome, Marg Helgenberger!
Regis: Looking hot! How are you?
Marg: Great! (To Kelly) Hey!
Kelly: How are you? Youāre wearing thatā¦
Regis: Look at you. Looking so trim. Whoa!
Kelly: Also wearing tight jeans! Thank you very much!
Marg: Skinny jeans.
Regis: Skinny jeans are in, no doubt about it.
Kelly: He was just harassing me about my skinny jeans.
Marg: I heard him.
Kelly: But he showered you with compliments when you walked out here.
(Marg and Regis laugh).
Marg: (starts fidgeting behind her): Iām losing my little mike in my skinny jeans! These low rider skinny jeansā¦
Regis: Thereās no room for the microphone!
Regis: Marg, itās back for the seventh season, huh?
Marg: Back for the seventh season. It goes by quickly.
Regis: Wow, what a hit. Number one!
Marg: What year is it for you all? My God, how many forā¦
Regis: Well, Iāve been doing it here for 23 years.
Marg: Bravo.
Regis: Yeah.
Marg: And Kelly, how long have you been with the show?
Regis: Five
Kelly: Iāve only been here for five.
Marg: Oh!
Kelly: But it seems like much more (Marg and Kelly laugh)
Regis: Come to think of it, it seems more like 35 for me.
Regis: I havenāt seen you since ourā¦my escapade there. I visited you on the set.
Marg: I remember it well, and you know, we loved having you there.
Regis: Did you?
Marg: You gotta come back, and you too, Kelly! We had so much fun.
Kelly: Yes, he loved it. He played a dead body at one point, didnāt you? Didnāt they perform an autopsy on him?
Regis: We had a little visit clip, yes.
Marg: Yes, the autopsy. And then you were playing director for a little while.
Regis: I did direct that segment pretty well, I thought.
Marg: Yes, you did. You were brilliant. That was some of the best direction Iāve ever been given.
Regis: Honest to God. Thatāsā¦
Marg: Uh huh.
Regis: You mean that, donāt you?
Marg: Yes, I do! (laughs)
Kelly: Whatā¦what direction did you give her?
Regis: I donāt remember (Marg laughs)ā¦I just remember it was great.
Marg: āFaster, funnier.ā
Regis: So, what did you do this summer while you were on hiatus?
Marg: I went back to my little hometown of North Bend, Nebraska, where I was honored by having a street named after me, Helgenberger Avenue. It was on the street corner I grew up on, andā¦
Regis: Oh, thatās great.
Marg: That was really a lot of fun.
Regis: Did you say North Bend?
Marg: Yes.
Regis: Sounds like a small town, huh?
Marg: 1,200
Regis: 1,200?
Marg: Yeah, 1,200. Very rural area, and it was very touching. They did a program at the high schoolā¦
Regis: Thatās nice.
Marg: In which my English teacher, whoās still there, had her students perform scenes from shows that I had done – you know, āOnce Upon a Mattress.ā
Regis: Uh huh.
Marg: It was really touching.
Regis: Did you go to your old house on the street where you lived?
Marg: Yes, yes, and got a tour of that, and you know, as most people when they return home, everything seems so much smaller andā¦
Regis: Yeah.
Marg: It was a home thatā¦an old home, built in 1910, it was built, and we hadā¦it was always filled with teenagers whenā¦especially during Homecoming and Prom because it was aā¦
Kelly: Sure. Iāll bet.
Marg: Like I said, a rural community so all of the farm kids would come and thatās where the girls would change out of their pep club outfits and into their, you know, little formals for the prom.
Regis: Sounds like you were the golden girl of the whole neighborhood (laughs)
Marg: Well Iā¦but I never made any sort of Prom Queen or Homecoming Queen.
Regis: No kidding!
Marg: No! I didnāt!
Kelly: Well, I bet theyāre sorry now! (Everyone laughs)
Marg: But it was a great place to grow up.
Regis: Iāll bet.
Marg: Yes, it was.
Regis: And then you went on to Northwestern University, and thenā¦
Marg: I went to Northwestern University, and I returned in May. I was asked by the Dean to be on the Advisory Council, and I was very flattered about that. You know, at Northwester, which is a great academic school, and it does have a better football program nowā¦
Regis: Yes, they do. Yeah.
Marg: But at the time, we set the recordā¦
Regis: They sucked.
Marg: For the most consecutive college, most consecutive losses in college football history. And one year I remember there was this campaign, PR campaign, to get behind the team and they made up bumper stickers that said āExpect the Unexpected,ā right? And then, after the first couple of annihilations, you know (Regis and Kelly laugh)ā¦every time we would see one, we would cross out the āunā so it would say āExpect the Expectedā. (Everyone laughs)
Regis: Oh, but they came back. Theyāve got a good team now. Weāll be right back with Marg.
(commercial break)
Regis: Marg Helgenberger. Seventh year on CSI. It premiered last week, and of course, howās your character doing these days?
Marg: Well, this episode this evening is a continuation from what happened towards the end of last week. Um, you know, itās quite a journey, because she was roofied ā in a cocktail ā she was given a date rape drug.
Regis: Roofied?
Marg: Itās aā¦
Kelly: Rufinol? Right? Rufinol.
Marg: Yes.
Regis (to Kelly): How would you know so much about that?
Kelly: I donāt know (acts like a junkie). No, Iāve readā¦itās in the newspaper. You read about it all the time.
Regis: Rufinol.
Marg: Yeah, itās a date rapeā¦
Regis: Somebody slipped you one of thoseā¦
Marg: Right, and I wake up, you knowā¦
Regis: You donāt know where you are, how you got there.
Marg: Yes, how I got there, which I know a lot of people have to encounter that. Itās sad, butā¦
Regis: So youāve got to investigate your own case here, more or less?
Marg: I have to process myself actually, which was really some of the more, I have to saw, raw stuff Iāve had to do because itās a very sensitive subject. But anyway, thatās just the beginning of this journey that puts Catherine in ā that take her, that brings her daughter into the scene, her father into the scene.
Regis: Wow.
Marg: And itās quite ā it was actually a really, from an acting point of view, it was really gratifyingā¦
Regis: Yeah.
Marg: Because most of the time weāre tape lifting dandruff or, you know, stuff like that.
Kelly: But I bet, but it was exhausting.
Marg: In some way, but in other ways, it was totally energizing.
Kelly: Wow.
Marg: Because it wasā¦
Regis: So, excuse me, but donāt you know whether or not you were raped?
Marg: I find out, yes. Well, Iām not going to tell you!
Regis: Oh, okay, weāve got to watch and find out. Yeah, but of course, youād have to be checked, right?
Marg: Yeah.
Regis: Sure. So, but in this particular scene, youāre apologizing to your daughter because you missed her dance rehearsal, right?
Marg: Yes. Thatās right, yes, and uhhh, I guess the clip can speak for itself.
Regis: Letās take a look at this.
(Clip from CSI is shown)
Regis: Wow! Thatās some kind of scene!
Marg: Yeah, thatāsā¦.
Kelly: Marg! What in the world is going on in your life?!
Marg: I know.
Regis: Youāve got a lot on your plate, Marg!
Marg: I know. Itās very dramatic, isnāt it? It wasā¦Itās the first time Iāve seen that actually. In shooting, it was, you know, weāre always shooting in the middle of the night, so everything always seems surreal to begin with at that hour. But, it was, I know, at time, you know, a little bit tough, and uhh, you know, with havingā¦thinking about if that was your real life, but it wasā¦
Regis: Sure.
Marg: Like I said, it was prettyā¦I enjoyed it.
Kelly: Wow.
Regis: Wow, good piece of film making, and thatās going to be in the episode weāre going to see tonight.
Kelly: Tonight.
Marg: Yes, thatās right. Yes.
Regis: At 9:00 on CBS. CSI.
Kelly: Wow, donāt want to miss that.
Regis: Looks like a good one. Marg, so good to see you.
Marg: You too.
Regis: Please say hello to everybody, will you?
Marg: I will! I will, absolutely!
Kelly: Good seeing you, Marg.
Marg: You too! Thanks for having me.