Kristin Dos Santos has the scoop
on Lawrence Fishburne's new character on CSI:
* Fishburne's character has no name yet, but according to the executive producers, "Our internal code name for the character is the Professor." (Ooh! Maybe the Skipper and his little buddy come, too? )They're totally soliciting suggestions for character names...
* Fishburne is cool. (In case you couldn't guess that from the past 25 years of his career): "Do not mistake my presence for the event," he said. "The event is CSI the show. Everyone brings their unique talents to the show, and that's what I'm going to do."
* According to Naren Shankar, the Professor's background is in research pathology. He's been forced out of that career, so he's become an itinerant college lecturer. He's teaching a course in criminalistics when he gets involved in an investigation—and, naturally, the ground-floor qualification for being a CSI is a background in science.
* Grissom (William Petersen) and the Professor will overlap, working on a case investigation together throughout episodes nine and 10. According to the exec producers, Fishburne is schedule to start shooting on Sept. 17 or 18, and his first appearance is scheduled for Dec. 11...or early 2009, depending on how the schedule shakes out.
* Said Naren: "It takes a special personality to be willing to start new—to a place where you're not in charge of everything—and start over. It's an interesting place to be," for both the writers and the actor. "And the character will feel very at home in the bowels of the coroner's office, a little more comfortable than he feels in the halls of the CSI office."
We think he's going to reinvigorate the show. Fishburne is the epitome of cool.
