Sara sidles out

Sara Sidle, the lab technician character on “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” may have survived the first episode of the show’s new season. But she won’t make it to the last installment.

Jorja Fox, who has played the role on the hit CBS series since it began in 2000, will not complete the current season and will leave after the seventh episode in November, E! Online reports.

Her departure comes after rocky contract negotiations offscreen and an onscreen story line that has been foreshadowing for months a less than happy ending for her character.

The inability of Miss Fox and producers to come to terms on a salary boost, which they had been negotiating since January, put the final nail in her “CSI” coffin.

The actress, along with co-star George Eads, both were fired back in 2004, when they famously held out for a bigger payday. Their ploy didn’t work and they eventually were hired back after making public mea culpas.

Mr. Eads wound up with a contract extension, but not Miss Fox. While the contracts for the entire “CSI” cast expire at the end of the current season, Miss Fox’s lapsed in May, E! Online says.

Producers appeared to waste no time in finding a replacement. Last month, actress Jessica Lucas was hired for the show’s Vegas crime lab, although producers insisted she would only do a guest stint, starting with the third episode.

The news comes just as fans were put out of their summerlong misery last Thursday night when Miss Fox’s Sara survived. Her character’s fate was the major cliffhanger from last season’s finale, and Thursday’s season opener revealed that Sara escaped from her run-in with the “Miniature Killer.”

Miss Fox’s impending departure comes at a time when “CSI” couldn’t be stronger. The series’ seventh season premiere bested ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” season debut in the 9 p.m. Thursday slot by the largest margin since the ratings juggernauts first squared off. The CBS procedural averaged 24.8 million viewers, while the soapy medical drama drew in just 20.5 million.

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