Right you 'orrible lot (hehe) I have done it. I have done what I have been swearing I'd do since May. I've e mailed David Rambo.
Here's my e mail, let me know what you think (I hope to God I wasn't too rude!?):
Dear Mr Rambo,
Firstly I'd like to apologise if I'm intruding upon your privacy by e mailing you. I understand from the other CSI fans that you do communicate with them via this e mail address so I hope it is appropriate for me to do so as well. Again, my sincere apologies if it is not.
I would like to say how much I hugely enjoy watching Eric Szmanda, who has transformed wonderfully from a crazy hilarious labrat into an amazing CSI. Amongst other talents he has a particular skill for communicating his feelings simply with his eyes and a facial expression - his face alone can say more than about 2 pages of dialogue could. It seems that most of the CSI writers agree with me, as they seem to have capitalised on this.
In particular, you seem to have a particular affinity for writing for Greg, as your episodes contain a good dollop (as I like to call it
) of him. You seem to be the writer who writes the most for him, and I would like to thank you on behalf of the Eric fans for all the chances you give him to shine. You may like to know that on one messageboard (TalkCSI) one of the posters' signatures is "In David Rambo we trust". We definitely hold you in extremely high regard.
I must tell you though, that a lot of the CSI fans are extremely worried about Eric's lack of screentime. Despite being one of the best-loved characters on CSI (according to the opinion polls I believe Greg only comes second to Grissom) he appears to have the least amount of screentime of any of the CSIs. I believe that the reason Greg became a CSI was because the writers wanted to give Eric more screentime; however it seems as though this has not happened, and the fans speculate that this is because his insane persona has had to be toned down in order to reflect the horrors he now witnesses, and the writers don't know what to do with him anymore. Hodges now appears to have taken over the comedy role Greg used to have and as a result he now has more screentime than him.
It seems to the fans as though Greg is used in the first 10 minutes of the show and disappears for the rest of the episode, only popping up again in the last 10 minutes. If Greg is working a case with someone, he will disappear to do the background references and phone records offscreen while his partner (often Nick) will do the interrogation and "legwork" onscreen. He was also, if I may say, appallingly used in the episode "The Happy Place" in Season 9, where his appearance was solely used to facillitate Sara's appearance. It was Greg's case!! Even though Jorja Fox has left (although she does seem to appear in every other episode) and although Sara was not a CSI, she was given more time on screen than Greg, who again disappeared into the background. This, as I'm sure you can imagine, is extremely frustrating for those of us who really love watching Eric.
We are also concerned that the newcomers will be given more screentime than him. Despite the fact that Eric has been on CSI from day 1, and despite the fact that he is now fourth in the credits, Riley has been given more screentime than him. We understand that she needs to be established as a character, however the fans agree that we have been given more information about her in just a few episodes than we have been given about either Greg or Nick. Eric does seem to have been given a bit more to do so far in Season 9; however when Laurence comes in we are concerned that the writers will "play with the new toys" more than the old.
As I've said, we know that you are responsible for a lot of the best Greg scenes and dialogue, and we are exremely grateful to you for that - if you ever come over to England I'll buy you a drink! - but we just wanted you to be aware that we are worried that the other writers are seriously underestimating and underusing him. Not only has he proven his loyalty to CSI by staying there for 9 years, he has also proven his amazing talents for comedy (Table Stakes) and angst (Fannysmackin', Post Mortum, Big Shots). He was highly acclaimed by critics when he performed in a one-man play, Hyenas, in 2005. Therefore, I hope you can understand how completely baffled CSI fans are as to why the writers consistantly fail to provide him with great storylines. While I have an enormous respect for George Eads and his character Nick, it seems as though he has a far larger role in the show despite being Eric's equal acting-wise (I know that Nick is a higher level CSI than Greg).
I really am sorry if I've come across as disrespectful or rude, I certainly have not meant to. This e mail is on behalf of not just other Eric Szmanda fans, but also other CSI fans who have noticed that Eric isn't getting the storylines and screentime he deserves. This has been going on for a while and this e mail is bourne out of years of frustration. I do not know if you've ever visited
http://talk.csifiles.com/forumdisplay.php?f=63 but the fans on there really do have their fingers on the pulse and I think that a lot of the posts on there explain the situation better than I can.
This is just to make you aware that Eric does indeed have supporters who love to see his work, to let you know our concerns and for me to seek a bit of reassurance that the other CSI writers do indeed share your (and our) respect for Eric as an actor. I don't know how long he is contracted to be on the show, but I hope that in that time he will be given more chances to show what he can do.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this e mail and thank you for the entertainment and joy you have given us all.
If you see Eric in the near future, please pass on my best wishes to him and let him know we're all behind him.
With kind regards
Hay