Buckley Talks New Costar, New Timeslot For ‘New York’

AJ Buckley (Adam Ross) is optimistic about CSI: New York’s new timeslot, and he’s a big fan of new costar Sela Ward (Jo Danville). (Minor spoilers after the jump!)

When Buckley first heard that New York would be switching to Friday nights at 9:00pm ET/PT, he got nervous—but executive producer Pam Veasey put him at ease. “At first I was like ‘Uh-oh’. I was in Vancouver shooting and I heard,” the actor told TVGuide.ca. “I was like, ‘This is not good!’ And then I spoke to Pam and she said ‘This is not the end. We still have to put out a good show. This still has a lot of life left in it. The way the economy is, there are a lot more people at home on Friday nights.’ And, on Friday nights, they wanted to take a big show and put it on at 9 o’clock. And, it could add more years to the life of the show. It’s such a beast of a show that they can move it around … we very rarely lost our timeslot (on Wednesdays) in the seven years.”

The actor was also upset when he learned that former leading lady Melina Kanakaredes (Stella Bonasera) was leaving the series. “It was sad to see her go, but she’s done really well over the years and she will end up on some other show and she’ll be fantastic as always,” Buckley said. “When one door closes, another one opens and Sela Ward … honestly … the tone of the show has changed in such a different way. Her character is so dynamic. She is a phenomenal actress. I’m a huge fan of her. Beautiful, and just the sweetest lady. I really think people are going to freak out about her character and how dynamic she is.”

“She has this sincerity, which I think just comes naturally, to seek justice,” Buckley said of Ward’s character, former FBI agent Jo Danville. “There is a real drive to her. You don’t want to mess with her. There is a scene coming up where Adam questions her and she puts him in his place very quickly and Adam gets scared.”

The actor is pretty popular in the United States and Canada, but it’s a whole different world when he travels overseas. “[I]t’s bananas. I’m like Elvis!,” Buckley revealed with a laugh. “My mom, dad and I were in Italy and out of nowhere this bus of sightseers stopped and people were coming up to me. And my parents were just laughing, and my mom was like, ‘This is great!’ It’s a humbling thing and I’m very grateful.”

The full interview is available on TVGuide.ca. Thanks to perlnoir from TalkCSI for the heads up.