THE VIEW, TRANSCRIPT OF MARG’S INTERVIEW
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February 23, 2006
Star: Everyone thinks they can get away with murder, but on CSI Marg Helgenberger makes sure that the killers pay the price. Please welcome back Marg Helgenberger!
Marg greets all the hosts.
Marg: Thanks for having me. What a great turn-out youâve got!
Star: Yeah, isnât this great in Vegas?
Star: We know that for years people talked to you about changing your name, Marg Helgenberger, and coming up with some showgirl TV kind of name. So you saw what we did on the show this morning. We got to pick a new name, a new profession and where weâre from. All right, you can pick right here and now. Whatâs your new name? Your Vegas name.
Marg: You know, Iâve heard this done where you can choose your first petâs name and the street you lived on, you know that. Thatâs your stripper name. Oscar Locust.
Star: And where are you from, Oscar?
Marg: I am from Reno.
Joy: And youâre a stripperâŠ
Marg: Iâm a journalist.
Barbara: Oh baby, you got a little lipstick on⊠(Barbara wipes lipstick off Margâs cheek) âcause youâve been kissing too many of us.
Joy: You know, Marg, you cannot get through any place without all this CSI stuff.
Marg: You know, I see more and more every time I come.
Joy: So cute. (Marg is looking at some merchandise with CSI logos on them)
Marg: I donât know if these have been endorsed or officially endorsed by CBS or Jerry Bruckheimer.
Joy: Oh really?
Marg: I donât know. Well, that one probably is because theyâre using the actual logo.
Joy: Thatâs cute. I like that Crime sceneâŠ
Star: What you guys may notâŠIâm sure you know itâs the number one show in the country. CSI is set right here in Vegas.
(Audience applause)
Marg: Thank you.
Star: So this is a familiar place for you. You guys actually get to come here a few times a year to shoot exteriors, etc. right?
Marg: Yes. Let me put my water down so I can answer your question.
Star: You do get to come here.
Marg: Yeah, four times a year. In fact, the last time was when it was blazing hot in August heat. And we get to see a lot of the city that most tourists never get to see, sort of the grungier areas.
Star: Whatâs the strangest thing that you learned about Las Vegas?
Marg: Well, you know, the strangest and most interesting thing, I guess, is always just the mix of people. Itâs high-end and low-end and down and dirty with classy. One of the places we shot most recently was an area near the Stratosphere, which hasâŠitâs populated by strip clubs and wedding chapels, every other…and one of the strip clubs actually has a billboard that advertised âHome of the five dollar lap dance.â
Star: The five dollar lap dance.
Marg: There wasnât a long line.
Joy: Thatâs cheap!
Elizabeth: Worth every penny.
Marg: I set myself up for that, didnât I?
Barbara: You know what Iâm going to ask youâŠbecause your character, weâre talking about the show girls, some of them were wearing something here (Barbara makes motion to the top of the body), some of them werenât. Your character Catherine was a stripper supposedly. And there are people who want flashbacks and theyâd like to see you take it off.
Marg: Yeah…
Barbara: Is that ever going to happen? Or would you ratherâŠ
Marg: No, never. I really think itâs best for the audienceâs imagination. And then they can just imagine whatever they want about me and what I did.
Barbara: So no stripping for Catherine, No stripping for Marg.
Marg: There actually was a flashback in the second episode, but I wasnât actually, you know, wrapping myself around a pole.
Elizabeth: You werenât working it. Now what about a relationship? Because, you know, Catherine has beenâŠsheâs had some flings, but nothingâs reallyâŠ
Marg: I keep telling the producers that Iâd love to have a relationship because, you knowâŠ
Barbara: What if you stripped?
Marg: If I stripped to get a relationship? Youâre really pushing for this, Barbara.
Joy: Just donât work at the five dollar place, okay?
Marg: No, no, no. That would be great just because it would give my character the opportunity to show a few more colors – her passionate side or intimate side or vulnerable side. Because we do a lot of cerebral work on the show, and playing opposite a swab or a computer screen, Iâd much rather play opposite somebody like Gary Dourdan.
Star: Yeah, not bad at all. Lets all contemplate that.
Marg: I know. I hear you there.
Star: Weâre actually going to get you to stay around with us for a little bit and actually explore this thing called the âCSI Effectâ. Stay right there. Weâll be right back with Marg Helgenberger.
(Commercial Break)
Star: And weâre back with Marg Helgenberger. You know, the girls and I, we were talking about this âCSI Effect,â where juries, real life juries, are now expecting cases to look like the ones on CSI. And lawyers are actually having to, during a jury selection, say âDo you watch CSI?â
Marg: I know, I think that will get me out of jury duty, probably at least with my run on the show. You know, the show, I sometimes feel guilty about that whole thing. But you know the showâs always been educational as well as entertaining. So weâre educating the public, and sometimes I guess we educate the criminals, Iâm sorry to say. But we also educate the people who may have the misfortune of actual being involved in some kind of criminal act because they know to pull the hair out byâŠpull it out that way so you get a skin tag. So the criminalist can get that for DNA, because if it is just a loose hair, you canât get DNA from it.
Star: Yeah. But most jurors today, they want to see blood evidence. They want forensics. They donât want stuff that usually is just a crack head standing on the corner saw somebody shoot another person. Thatâs what really normally happens.
Marg: I know, and of course, we speed up the process.
Star: Yes indeed.
Marg: For storytelling purposes.
Barbara: Look what you have learned.
Marg: Iâve learned quite a bit, yes I have.
Barbara: Pull the hair out by the roots and stuff.
Barbara: But we want to learn a few personal things about you, some of which we know. Your husband Alan Rosenberg was a guest on your program a year ago.
Marg: Yes. It was one of the…not the season finale but close to it.
Barbara: Okay, so originally you two met on the soap opera Ryanâs Hope. And then you didnât see each other for a long time. Nothing happened, no fireworks, and then you got together again because you wereâŠ
Marg: Well, four years later in LA⊠that was in New York⊠LA, I was opening up a bank account, and my second day thereâŠand Alan was there, and we exchanged numbers, and I called him.
Barbara: Thatâs what I was getting at.
Joy: Did you really?
Marg: I did. I did.
Joy: What did you see? What did you see that you wanted?
Marg: Well, initially when we worked together on Ryanâs Hope, it was somebody who I thought was, first a terrific actor, and a really nice person, but very cuteâŠ
Joy: Smart
Marg: Very smart, very funnyâŠ
Barbara: So when you call him up, what do you say? âWell you didnât call me, so Iâm calling you.â
Marg: I think he was shocked that I called him. I mean, just because I donât know if he was going to call me.
Barbara: He was so surprised, he married you!
Marg: I think heâs still surprised sometimes.
Meredith: And you have a fifteen- year-old son Hughie, whoâs in the Audience. Nice to see you, Hughie. (shows Hughie in the audience)
Marg: You can use the mic, Hughie.
Meredith: I have to ask you, because I have a teenage son as well and a teenage daughter, and itâs not always easy. What is the hardest thing about raising a fifteen year old boy?
Marg: I would have to say homework. Making sure the homework gets done, thoroughly and neatly and specifically. And turning down the rap music.
Barbara: Whatâs the hardest thing for you having Marg as a mother?
Hughie: Nothing’s bad.
Elizabeth: Thatâs a smart answer.
Barbara: Awww, nothing’s bad.
Star: Awww, nothing’s bad.
Joy: Heâs an only child too. How do youâŠyou like being an only child, donât you?
Hughie: Yep.
Joy: Yeah!
Meredith: Weâre excited to tell the people of Las Vegas that youâre going to be sticking around here for a little bit because this weekend youâre hosting an event in support of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. What is that about? Whatâs the event?
Marg: Itâs a world Bunco championship, which Bunco is a dice game that is apparently sweeping the nation.
(Audience applause)
Elizabeth: Popular I see.
Star: There are some Bunco addicts out there (pointing to the audience)
Marg: And my mother is a breast cancer survivor, twenty-three year survivor. Iâve, over the years Iâve raised awareness and money for various breast cancer causes. And you can come and play or come and watch.
Meredith: It will be a fun way to raise money.
Marg: A thousand women are playing at the Paris Hotel this Sunday, in fact.
Meredith: Are you going to play as well?
Marg: Iâm not exactly sure. I mean, I might. Itâs a pretty easy game. Itâs all luck. Thereâs no skill involved.
Barbara: But she has the nicest mother. I met her mother. We did a program together and sheâs lovely.
Marg: Thank you, Barbara. Thank you for saying that.
Joy: Is her name Helgenberger?
Marg: Well, sheâs since remarried. My father died. Sheâs Snyder now.
Joy: Snyder
Barbara: A little easier.
Marg: Yeah, a little easier. Yes.
Star: Marg, we love having you here. You fit right in on this couch.
Marg: Thank you. I love being here.
Star: And we want to say thank you for coming to visit us.
Star: CSI airs Thursday nights, so check your local listings. Like you donât know when CSI is.