Fishburne Says Goodbye To 'CSI'

Great news!

From the beginning, I was never fond of Ray Langston and also felt that Fishburne was the wrong choice to "take over" CSI. I had the impression, they were trying to "groom" him to be the new face of CSI, and completely overdid it with all the focus on him. I don't know what it is with CBS, but they always highlight the (big name) leading actors on promotional ads etc. although each show is a team effort!

Anyway, I'm glad the character Ray Langston is past and it would be really terrific if Gil Grissom returned one day. In fact, Langston/Fishburne made me appreciate Gil Grissom/William Peterson. You could tell that William Peterson had a great connection with the whole team and he just fitted in perfectly. Probably because he always said that the whole cast is like a theater ensemble and that teamwork really showed on screen.
 
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Honestly am glad to see him go. Was never a fan of the character he played. Am hoping the focus will go back to the core cast of the show.
 
I really don't think this is good news for the rest of the cast. Unfortunately, we may find out that there are worse things than having Ray on the show. :( I think they will do something crazy to revamp it, and in the process it will end up being a slap in the face to the actors who have worked so hard on the show for going on 12 years now.
 
Wow I'm surprised. Didn't expect that to happen so soon. Well honestly Ray has never been my fav character on the show but I was pretty intrigued by his character. I was expecting something like greater storyline.
LF is good actor but I'm not sure if I wanted to see him on CSI, more like on movies.
I just hope they won't ruin all the fun changing cast so frequently.
I can just wish luck to LF hope the next season will be as much as interesting as all the previous.
 
And here I was thinking we would get through this summer without anyone leaving. A shame though, Ray's one of my favorite characters and LF with be missed (to some extent I guess).
 
I love all the "glad he is gone," "hated his character," so just one question:

Exactly who will satisfy your impossible demands?

All LF has done is star in some of the most iconic films of the last 30 years, won multiple awards, and done it with class and grace. Can you imagine walking onto the CSI set and having the writers say, "OK, Larry, today some guy is going to stab you in the neck with his eyeglasses...doesn't that sound cool?"

His internal monologue must have said, "But I was doing my one-man play for the President a week ago...."

CSI LV is toast, with limited Marg and no consistent male lead (read: none of the co-stars have the chops to succeed LF) next season will be its last.
 
Like most of you, i was indifferent to his character; I can't say I wasn't surprised though...I wonder who will be his replacement. Jobless Charlie Sheen? ;)
 
Smokey said:
I really don't think this is good news for the rest of the cast. Unfortunately, we may find out that there are worse things than having Ray on the show. :( I think they will do something crazy to revamp it, and in the process it will end up being a slap in the face to the actors who have worked so hard on the show for going on 12 years now.
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To be honest, I think that the extreme focus on Ray Langston - especially during the big number episodes and season finales was already a big slap in the face to the long standing cast, IMO.

bill_az said:
I love all the "glad he is gone," "hated his character," so just one question:

Exactly who will satisfy your impossible demands?

All LF has done is star in some of the most iconic films of the last 30 years, won multiple awards, and done it with class and grace. Can you imagine walking onto the CSI set and having the writers say, "OK, Larry, today some guy is going to stab you in the neck with his eyeglasses...doesn't that sound cool?"

His internal monologue must have said, "But I was doing my one-man play for the President a week ago...."

CSI LV is toast, with limited Marg and no consistent male lead (read: none of the co-stars have the chops to succeed LF) next season will be its last.
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It's not so much the actor as the way the character was written. If TPTB wanted a character who was the 'lead' in the lab, then maybe they should have written a character who was as qualified as the senior CSIs so it wouldn't have been so annoying to have him act like he was so much more experienced than characters who had been there for years.

I call bullshit on your assertion that none of the cast has the 'chops' to succeed LF. If TPTB hadn't been so panicked at the thought of not having a big name on the show after WP left, then maybe they'd have brought in a less well known name and put the focus on the rest of the cast. They did it before - unnecessarily IMO - when WP took his sabbatical.

Maybe this time they'll decide to have a bit of faith in their other stars.
 
I'm so sorry to hear that LF is leaving the show :(, he's a great actor and I think he did a great job playing Ray character. I will miss him.
 
I like Fishburne and enjoyed Langston. I'm sorry to see him go. I hope they send him off to teach, write a book, maybe reunite with his ex-wife —*and not kill him off.
 
bill_az said:
I love all the "glad he is gone," "hated his character," so just one question:

Exactly who will satisfy your impossible demands?

All LF has done is star in some of the most iconic films of the last 30 years, won multiple awards, and done it with class and grace. Can you imagine walking onto the CSI set and having the writers say, "OK, Larry, today some guy is going to stab you in the neck with his eyeglasses...doesn't that sound cool?"

His internal monologue must have said, "But I was doing my one-man play for the President a week ago...."

CSI LV is toast, with limited Marg and no consistent male lead (read: none of the co-stars have the chops to succeed LF) next season will be its last.
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First it wasn't Fishburne we had a problem with, it was the way tptb handled his character.

As for none of the co-stars having the 'chops'? George Eads has shown time and again he can lead the show. His episodes have been some of the highest rated episodes.

Fishburne didn't save CSI. People watched because of the core cast. You know the characters we are all invested in? They could have carried the show because they were 'our' characters. The majority of us did not need a big name person brought on the show to keep us watching.

If the tptb would just once listen to the fans maybe we could get back what made CSI so great in the first place.
 
I'm ecstatic, genuinely over the moon.

Honestly, come this finale, (and the last, and the one before that...) I did not see a way out as long as Ray was in the show... it was so out of character to cover for him... it has been so unlike CSI to worship this rookie CSI, accept him as in charge (even though he's less authority than Greggo), and to focus every episode around his personal life than about... the forensics, the cases... the evidence.

Laurence Fishburne is a fantastic actor and I have never had a problem with him, but the way they wrote his character - the way they portrayed this situation has shamed CSI to a point which I do not believe they can recover from, the hole they dug is too deep - losing LF will help the situation if they handle it correctly, but it's been such a long time since they've handled anything correctly I'm not sure they're up to the challenge. I hope they realise what a mess they made of things come LF - and if they do, then they should know how to correct it...

if not, well, the speculation is out there that S12 will be the last, and I hope it's true, because the hole has dug so deep I cringe when I admit to being a CSI fan these days, because of what the show has become, most of the fans who appreciated it for what it was we lost years ago, those of us that stuck it out are either too loyal, suckers, or both, I guess a part of me couldn't call myself a fan unless I watched every episode, but I have hated the last 3 years they have killed my Friday nights, and if this season repairs some of that damage, then hopefully at least we'll go out with a bang.

ETA: As much as I love Nick Stokes (and his relationship with Cath) GE CANNOT lead the show, he has not proved that. The guy has an ego problem, have you not read/listened to any of his interviews over the last... I dunno... 5 years? As long as he keeps belittling and insulting his costars, and proclaiming himself as the obvious choice to lead the show... he proves he does not have the maturity to do so. Sure, he can act, but he has let the lifestyle get to him, he has become pretentious, indulgent and egocentric, and the lead of CSI MUST be humble... that's why they picked LF (let's face it, it was the writer's failure, not the casting director), that's why WP lasted 9 years, and that's why MH co-leads... GE, despite his strengths, is shockingly awful at politics and has offended way too many people to prove himself worthy of leading this show - give him that responsibility and not only will it go to his head, but the show will fail. They obviously know that, because otherwise they would have never hired LF in the first place, and MH and GE would have lead together, I assure, he is not capable.

And also, just quickly, remember when Liev Schreiber played Mike Keppler? It can be done, I like him, and got on board with him... it was the writing not the situation, it can be done.
 
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Good Luck to LF for the future.He is a good actor, and this seems like the right time for him to leave the show.
I enjoyed his character when he first appeared as the newbie, but I started to dislike him when he suddenly appeared to be the boss in the lab. As others have said, the writers are to blame there, and not the actor. Hmm, I wonder what they will do now?
I believe that George Eads could be a good leading man.
 
babydoll said:
ETA: As much as I love Nick Stokes (and his relationship with Cath) GE CANNOT lead the show, he has not proved that. The guy has an ego problem, have you not read/listened to any of his interviews over the last... I dunno... 5 years? As long as he keeps belittling and insulting his costars, and proclaiming himself as the obvious choice to lead the show... he proves he does not have the maturity to do so. Sure, he can act, but he has let the lifestyle get to him, he has become pretentious, indulgent and egocentric, and the lead of CSI MUST be humble... that's why they picked LF (let's face it, it was the writer's failure, not the casting director), that's why WP lasted 9 years, and that's why MH co-leads... GE, despite his strengths, is shockingly awful at politics and has offended way too many people to prove himself worthy of leading this show - give him that responsibility and not only will it go to his head, but the show will fail. They obviously know that, because otherwise they would have never hired LF in the first place, and MH and GE would have lead together, I assure, he is not capable.

And also, just quickly, remember when Liev Schreiber played Mike Keppler? It can be done, I like him, and got on board with him... it was the writing not the situation, it can be done.
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I'm going to have go with you're a Jorja fan, because some of them are the only one's who say that. He has never belittled his co-stars. Everyone takes what he says out of context and put things in his mouth that he never said.

Also, when interviews go to print it is never word for word what the celebrity says. The writers have a way to omit certain things so it sounds like they said something else.

No one 'heard' what he actually said in those interviews. What was written and what was said are two completely different things. Celebrities have complained for years that what was printed was not how they said it.

Has he put his foot in his mouth at times? Sure, but everyone has.

You can't use that as a reason for him not being a lead.

However, what he allegedly said in an interview has no bearings on his/ or any actor for that matter, ability to be a male lead.

If you're going by someone's ego, then NO actor would be able to replace Fishburne. The ALL have egos, including Fishburne.

George has shown, as I said, that he can carry the show. His episodes have always rated high in the ratings.
 
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