Marg Helgenberger to leave "CSI"

Actress  Marg Helgenberger, who has been with "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" since  it began 11 years ago, is quitting at the end of this season.
The 56-year-old Helgenberger, who investigator Catherine Willows played on the show, told reporters gathered in California for the annual fall TV previews they plan to leave at the end of the upcoming 12th season of what CBS is calling the most watched TV series in the world.
"I was planning on leaving after last season," said Helge Berger, adding that its producers said in a stay of a new season, so they could better script's exit.
Its planned exit comes just as former "Cheers" actor and co-star of HBO's "Bored to Death" Ted Danson joins the cast. Danson, who replaces Laurence Fisburne, DB Russell plays CSI supervisor. Executive producer Thurs McGill says Russell is a family man who grew up in a commune with folk-singing parent.
Danson, 63, said he enjoys working on a crime drama, but joked "they do not give me a gun. "

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