Smith Leaves 'CSI'

CSI Files

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<font color=yellow>Lauren Lee Smith</font>'s Riley Adams will not return for the tenth season of <I>CSI: Crime Scene Investigation</I>.<p>Smith joined <I>CSI</I> in the ninth season episode <A class="link" HREF="http://www.csifiles.com/episodes/csi/season9/art_imitates_life.shtml">"Art Imitates Life"</a>. She took the place of Warrick Brown (<font color=yellow>Gary Dourdan</font>), who was killed in the season nine premiere, <A class="link" HREF="http://www.csifiles.com/episodes/csi/season9/for_warrick.shtml">"For Warrick"</a>. Less than a season after her addition to the series, Smith is saying goodbye. "She's not going to be back for Season 10," executive producer <font color=yellow>Naren Shankar</font> told <A class="link" HREF="http://www.tvguidemagazine.com/default.aspx">TV Guide Magazine</a>.<P>"It was an issue of how we were feeling the ensemble was working," Shankar continued. "When we brought in the character of Riley, it got lost in the shuffle a little bit because we had lost Warrick, we had lost Sara [Sidle (<font color=yellow>Jorja Fox</font>)], and then in the middle of last season [Gil] Grissom (<font color=yellow>William Petersen</font>) finally left. I think, as a result, the character never quite found its footing in terms of the rest of the gang."<p>As CSI Files previously <A class="link" HREF="http://www.csifiles.com/news/180709_01.shtml">reported</a>, Fox will return for several episodes during season ten, including the season premiere. According to Shankar, Riley's departure will allow for Sara to come back to the crime lab. "She shows up because the team is understaffed," he explained. "The undersheriff reaches out for a recommendation and Sara says, 'I think that person might be me.'" Shankar promised that the returning character would get plenty of focus during her time on <I>CSI</I>: "We're going to spotlight her for the episodes that she'll be in."<p>The original article is from <A class="link" HREF="http://www.tvguidemagazine.com/news/csis-riley-leaves-the-lab-1852.html">TV Guide Magazine</a>. Thanks to <font color=yellow>Shane</font> from TalkCSI for the heads up.<center></center>
 
I am too, I'm more sad to hear that the episodes Jorja will be in will focus on her.

The characters that have been there since the beginning can barely get on episode to focus on them and some not all, but Sara will get FIVE episodes devoted to her? That is so wrong!!!!!!
 
Sara was there since the beginning as well ¬¬.

I didn't care one way or another about Riley, or about LLS. I hope she lands a role that suits her more, and where she's not introduced at the same time as a big movie star.
 
Technically, no Sara was there from the beginning. The remaining characters, except Doc Robbins and the new ones have been there since the beginning. Sara was not in the Pilot and she left the show, so again, no she has not been there since the beginning.
 
That's a shame. I didn't see many eps last season, but she seemed like she had the makings of a great character.

Shame they had to bring in Fishburne, and pretty much abandon everything else they were trying to do.

I hope she finds something that better suits her.
 
I am sad to hear this. I really like Lauren Lee Smith's character Riley. She was one of the few new additions to the CSI's I liked.

However, after the episode where Riley and Ray were trapped in the basement with the guy and his brother (Can't remember the name of the episode), they rarely showed her. So she never really got the chance for her character to develop even more.

Personally, I'd take Riley over Sara any day, but that's my opinion.
 
I'm sad to hear that they're getting rid of her - and I'm disappointed that they're pretty much giving up on the character without giving her a fair shot. She was there for most of the season, but she never really got any focus. Hopefully they've at least learned their lesson about trying to do too many things at one time - something always falls to the wayside.
 
I kind of feel bad for her. It seems as if they are getting rid of her because of Sara's return, which I hope is not the case.
 
I feel bad for Lauren. I think she was great in the L Word and is a fine young actress. I agree that her character Riley never got a chance to really develop and that's a shame. IMO if they keep giving up on new characters so quickly (and really, it's their own fault that they couldn't give her a good storyline) and bringing back old characters for that matter, the show will never really move on.
 
I won't necessarily miss Riley, but it's a shame they just up & ditched the character. If they had taken the time to concentrate on anyone other than thier "featured star", then I think they'd have made some progress with her. LLS is young though, she's likely better off (career-wise) to get into a show that perhaps isn't so established & at the end of thier rope.
 
It's really too bad that they didn't give Lauren/Riley more of a chance. I think she had a lot of potential. I really hope she doesn't just disappear with out a word. She at least deserves an explanation of where Riley went.

I generally like Lawrence Fishburne (or at least, I don't dislike him), but I hate how much he (or his character) has taken over the show :(
 
Dragonfly said:
I generally like Lawrence Fishburne (or at least, I don't dislike him), but I hate how much he (or his character) has taken over the show :(
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Totally agree. Personally I think the writers ditched the wrong new character. The problem was never Riley, it was that all the focus went to Langston and none to Riley. Langston is the one who doesn't fit in my opinion. Riley fit perfectly with Greg and gave him someone closer to his age to interact with. Hopefully now they'll at least make Wendy a CSI so Greg can have someone to play off of again. Unless they beef up the friendship between Greg and Nick which would be great. They'll never be Warrick and Nick, but it could still be great.

I'm very disappointed that they cut the Riley character. I think this show is going downhill fast. I wish Lauren the best and hope that she gets a good show with writers and producers who actually care about her character and won't just shove her character aside for a new character.
 
I came to really like the character Dr. Langston,[LF] he was to me a great fit. He and the team clicked immediately and they all seemed to accept him with open arms. He's calm cool and collected and sweet. I'm glad he's there, and plus he'll get along great with Sara and he aready knows Grissom so that's cool as well. I just didn't think the character Riley added anything thrilling or exciting, and she had a whole season to prove herself. soo.This season will be exciting and thrilling. So many new stories and everyone working on them together:thumbsup:CSI will still come out on top after 10 years and still counting~
 
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I just didn't think the character Riley added anything thrilling or exciting, and she had a whole season to prove herself.
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TPTB had the whole season to prove it, not Riley -- a character can't go very far when the writers neglect her development.
 
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