JFO At the Paley Center

The Paley Center was a wonderful night.

For the CSI finale preview at the Paley Center, I headed up north after work.

This marks the first time I’ve gone to an event on my own volition that I knew Jorja would be there. I’m weird like that. But this is a different sort of event to me. This is the end of fifteen years (more or less) of a show that pushed me by accident into being able to change my job and move back west.

I owe a lot to CSI, in a way. A lot of us do. I know people who became foster parents because of Sara Sidle. I know people who became cops and scientists and writers. I became a web-software developer instead of a lowly bank peon. CSI’s given me a lot, even though it never really knew it, and it seemed like a good idea to go say goodbye.

They let everyone in around 6pm. The room was about half full and everyone was clearly a CSI fan. A few rows were reserved entirely. The actors had a walk and photo shoot while we sat inside. It was a little surreal to have their photos showing up on Twitter while we sat waiting. The room filled out to what was a sell-out crowd while the media snapped photos. It was a small enough event though, so it felt comfortable. Except for the really cranky lady in front of me.

After they did an intro, Antony Zuiker came out on stage and thanked us. He told us the history of CSI and his life with CBS, and he thanked everyone on the show and showed us a little CSI video that had the original promo in it. Grissom talking about how he works the night shift in Las Vegas, and to concentrate on what cannot lie. And then… they got a little campy and goofy, saying that for fifteen years CSI brought us everything from furries to bombs and everything in between. It was hilarious and perfectly classic CSI.

It started with Lynette Rice asking some prepared questions, ones we’ve heard before about the pitch of the show and how it was received. They discussed how they never really showed the characters’ personal lives, not like we see on things like ER or Law & Order, but we still knew who everyone was. Like how Grissom went out with the lab tech we saw in the first episode (Billy denied this, Paul laughed that they’d been arguing about that for fifteen years, and Jorja smirked).

Then she had the cast talk about each other and their first impressions of each other. It’s clear they all love each other. Billy and Marg goofed around with a flashlight before Billy got to tell us why he liked Jorja. He told us about the famous lunch story (with the head in the popcorn bucket) and said he decided that she was cool and that he liked her right away after that first lunch. But then he told us this:

Yeah, we all got a little damp eyed. It was worse when he said that acting with Jorja, every scene was like ‘falling off a log’ (aka easy). Of course Jorja admitted that Billy drove her crazy for the first six months and then suddenly he didn’t.

She talked about Paul, and said he was so glamorous and jet-setting. Jorja also said that while she believed everyone was a real actor, Paul was a real actor.

Paul called Jorja the heart of the show, which everyone agreed on.

They went on and talked about all sorts of things. Lynette asked why Jorja thought people hated Sara. Jorja clarified that it’s not that she thought more people hated Sara than liked her, because Sara and Jorja clearly had a fan base (yes, we cheered). But more people hated Sara than hated any other character.

And so do we.

I actually didn’t have any questions of my own. What could I possibly ask? Afterwards, I made a point to tell Lynette thank you (because really you guys have no idea how nice she’s been to me). And I caught up with Wally because I promised him I would and he remembered. My wife has loved him since the 80s which helped.

It was really nice to see everyone one last time. I’m sad and tired after that drive (seriously, LA traffic is insane, and I have to drive past the city). But I’m very happy to have gone to see them one last time. I’m also happy to have met the fans I was able to meet, those who said hello and who just nodded at me across the room.

In 11 days we have the finale. I can’t wait to see it.