Helgenberger: 'CSI' Is A Thrill Each Week

After winning the People's Choice Award and then going on a talk show tour to promote her new film, last week was a busy one for Marg Helgenberger (Catherine Willows). But last Thursday on The Early Show, the actress sounded like she had no problems with being in the spotlight.

"It's very gratifying," Helgenberger said when Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith asked her what it was like to win the People's Choice Award. "And it's a thrill every week. I have to admit, I will check the weekly ratings to see that [CSI] is number one. And then, this season being our fifth season, we've had bigger ratings than ever. Which is incredible, that doesn't happen very often."

Smith then asked her about the recent changes to the show, which have included the original CSI team breaking up into a night and a swing shift. Helgenberger made a connection between the fictional break-up and what has happened behind the scenes at the CSI franchise over the past three years. "What's happening on our show has happened overall, in the making of our show, because our three executive producers now have split up. [Each] has their own show, and having to share crimes, so now that's happening on our show."

Even while the overall team may be breaking up, rumours have abounded for a while that Catherine will actually be drawn much closer to one specific member of the CSI team - Warrick Brown. "I wouldn't kick him out of bed for eating crackers, that's for sure," Helgenberger said, and then she and host Harry Smith both laughed. "Sex sells, Harry. What can I say?"

In the full interview, Harry Smith touched on all the major topics in Helgenber's professional live, also including her role in the new film In Good Company and the way she managed to get from being a kid in a small town in Nebraska to being a famous television star. A digital video version of the interview, as well as a list of extensive trivia about Helgenberger, can be found here on the official Early Show site.

Unfortunately for Helgenberger, not all entertainment reporters ask questions that are as relevant to her career as those of the Early Show. Also on Thursday, Helgenberger visited CBS's Late Show and recounted to host David Letterman the most bizarre question that she had been asked while walking the red carpet at the People's Choice Awards: "Where were you when you heard about Brad [Pitt] and Jen [Aniston] [splitting up]?"

After laughing about this with Letterman, Helgenberger spoke briefly about CSI's fifth season, saying they'd had a "rocky start" with the firing and then re-hiring of Jorja Fox (Sara Sidle) and George Eads (Nick Stokes). But "they're back on track," she said.

Finally, Letterman talked about their common background as former weather announcers in the Midwest, and showed several clips of 19-year old Helgenberger delivering lines like "Looks like some more hot weather!" Clips of this unfortunately are not available online, but more detailed accounts of Helgenberger's Late Show appearance can be found both in the Wahoo Gazette and at Elyse's.

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