“Is Ted Danson The Right Fit For CSI?”

Ted Danson is taking another shot at the world of network television. Danson has signed on to take over as the lead actor on the show “Crime Scene Investigation”. CBS executives approached Danson and other actors about becoming a part of the show after they decided now to renew the contract of actor Laurence Fishburne.
CSI was one of the highest rated shows on television before the last two seasons began. I don’t think that anyone could have maintained the same level of popularity as CBS attempted to replace William Peterson. On a personal note, the people who I spoke with about CSI really could not get into the show anymore because they so loved the character Gil Grissom. CBS executives hope that many of the fans of the shows Becker and Cheers are still watching TV and will take an interest in Danson’s new role.

It is difficult to say exactly why Laurence Fishburne is no longer a part of the show. Fishburne’s appearances on the show did not really drag down the ratings of the show. Danson has always been an extremely well paid actor, so it can not be the money that seemed to be the major sticking point in Fishburne’s negotiations.

It can be assumed that Fishburne knew he was taking a risk by joining a show like CSI. Some movie stars simply do not translate into extremely high television ratings such as Christian Slater who had his ABC show “The Forgotten.” Many of these shows with the bigger and more well known stars tend to do very well for the first few episodes, but the ratings tend to take a dip after the freshness of the show wears off. Many CSI fans did want to see how Laurence Fishburne would translate to the show at first.
Some people may speculate that the negative publicity caused by Laurence Fishburne’s daughter Montana may not have done her father any favors. Ted Danson is reportedly very excited about the opportunity amd CBS executives are saying all the right things about the move.