Question: Just wanted to thank you for your recent comments about “CSI” and Jorja Fox. Your response to Sandra S.’ question about whether Grissom and Sara’s relationship hurt “CSI” was the most accurate evaluation of their romance and the last couple of seasons of the show that I’ve read. It was nice to see someone in the media not jumping on the “they turned the show into a soap opera!” bandwagon, which so many fans inexplicably have joined. Personally, I wonder if the “soap opera” people are watching the same show I’ve been watching.– Melanie

Matt Roush: There is no trickier tightrope to walk in series TV than for those procedurals that balance casework with personal stories. Some of these shows do turn into soap operas, but I feel classic “CSI” managed to add these elements more successfully than most, without significantly altering or ruining the show. Which doesn’t stop people from obsessing.

Take this over-the-top reaction from Barb C.: “I would suggest you visit the “CSI” message boards and chat rooms to get viewers’ reaction; people are very disappointed with how Sara’s departure was written. Fans are angry and feel it was such a letdown. There was an indication a possible marriage could occur because of the proposal, but it did not. What were the writers thinking! It was not believable that she simply would kiss him, then go to her locker, remove her name badge and call a cab before Grissom goes looking for her. Now fans are losing interest and are planning to boycott the show. The whole storyline of Grissom and Sara was so popular and fans are not happy about this. Maybe the writers’ strike will give them time to get their creative juices flowing again. I plan on watching the reruns and will return when I know that Grissom and Sara are together again.”

Thanks for the invitation, but it’s precisely because of overheated reactions like this that I tend to avoid message boards and chat rooms. An informed fan of the show would know that this departure was Jorja Fox’s decision, not the producers’. And while it may have been a mistake to dangle the proposal storyline as a possibility when it was already known she was leaving the show, the fact that the writers attempted to explain her departure in psychological rather than melodramatic or romance-novel terms impressed me. What, you’d rather they’d killed her in the cliffhanger? You should see the crazy mail I keep getting from those who can’t get over Prison Break killing off the Sara Tancredi character. Face it: She’s gone. I agree that the way they offed her was disgusting and insulting, and in this case, it may well be the sort of thing that could turn some people off the show forever. (I had already made my own escape, thank you.) But the idea that “CSI” fans en masse will boycott the show because of Sara’s departure? Not likely.