“CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” was a last-minute pickup by CBS, plugged into a Friday lineup whose widely forecast surefire hit would be a reboot of “The Fugitive,” not a quirky little drama dwelling on hair fibers and blood spatter.

“I thought it was never going to succeed,” says Jorja Fox. At the time she had a recurring role on “The West Wing” as a Secret Service agent, “but I thought, ‘How fun would it be just to take this ride for a little while!’ By Christmas, I figured I would be back on ‘The West Wing.’”

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As Grissom told his colleagues on an early episode: forget personalities, ambitions and assumptions. “Concentrate on what cannot lie: the evidence,” he said. Ever since on “CSI,” hard evidence with its glorious certitude paved the way to enlightenment.

The trip ends Sunday, “by offering the fans who’ve been loyal so long with an opportunity to say goodbye to the people they fell in love with at the start,” says Danson, who vows, “It will be very satisfying.”

“I still feel a little delirious,” says Fox, speaking only a couple of days after wrapping the finale.

“Right now, I really feel maniacally happy about it,” she says, having spent most of 15 seasons as forensics scientist Sara Sidle. “I feel like, wow, look at this amazing run we were able to have! And now we’ve gotten a chance to close the book. That’s a very comforting feeling.”