'Oprah' Goes Behind The Scenes Of 'CSI'

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation star Marg Helgenberger (Catherine Willows) and writer Elizabeth Devine appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show yesterday to talk about the reality behind the television show.

Helgenberger told of her experiences on the beat with a real-life crime scene investigator, according to a report at Elyse's CSI Site. As a former criminalist, Devine also had plenty of stories to share, including her part in the investigation of the death of model Linda Sobek.

The pair also showed off some of the technology which can be used by criminalists today. One device was able to show, in the words of host Oprah Winfrey, a "butt print" left on a seat. Helgenberger joked, "We'll have to do that next on our show", and submitted to having her "butt print" scanned.

As part of the segment, Helgenberger took the audience on a tour of the CSI soundstages. The William Petersen Appreciation Page has made a video of the tour available for viewing online. For those of you with slower connections, a transcript follows:

[The camera picks up Marg Helgenberger at the entrance to the CSI soundstage.]

Helgenberger: "Welcome to stage seven."

[She gestures at the ladders, rigging and other television paraphernalia.]

Helgenberger: "Equipment everywhere!"

[The actress continues to walk towards the set.]

Helgenberger: "But once we get to the set, it's all clean and pristine, because it's the labs, after all."

THE CSI CRIME LAB IS THE ENVY OF CRIME LABS AROUND THE COUNTRY

[The camera tracks past one of the set's labs.]

[Close-up of liquid being squeezed into a test tube.]

[Sara Sidle walks through the lab.]

[Close-up of a fingerprint being exposed.]

THEY HAVE EVERY CRIME-FIGHTING TOOL AVAILABLE

[A CSI uses a fluorescent light on a piece of evidence.]

[A computer screen displays various fingerprints.]

[The camera zooms inside a laser.]

INCLUDING A REAL-LIFE CRIME SCENE [INVESTIGATOR] IN LIZ DEVINE WHOSE EXPERIENCE LANDED HER A JOB AS A PRODUCER ON THIS SHOW

[Elizabeth Devine uses a torch to examine a shiny sheet.]

[Devine opens up a case as Helgenberger watches.]

[The pair stand talking in one of the corridors.]

[Helgenberger appears at the door to the morgue set.]

Helgenberger: "So here we are the morgue, which seems to be our most popular set when visitors arrive."

[Close-up of a corpse's face being revealed.]

[Dr. Robbins and Grissom stand either side of a corpse.]

[Helgenberger walks over to the shiny wall which houses the corpses.]

Helgenberger: "This is where the bodies are stored. Right now they're all just John Doe."

[She bends down and opens up one of the lower compartments.]

Helgenberger: "And let's just see what happens to be in here."

[Devine is on the other side, waving back. Helgenberger hams it up.]

Helgenberger: "Oh my god! It's Liz Devine!"

[The actress turns to the camera and laughs.]

Helgenberger: "It's all just fake! It's just fake!"

[The actress now stands in another hallway in the production officers.]

Helgenberger: "One of the things I get asked most often is, 'Do I get grossed out?'"

[Close-up of some body parts from an episode.]

[CSIs mill around at a crime scene.]

Helgenberger: (off-screen) "Occasionally I do, and I'm going to show you who grosses me out from time to time."

[The camera tracks through the inside of a body.]

[Helgenberger enters the make-up studio.]

Helgenberger: "It's Jackie and John, our make-up artists extraordinaire, who've won Emmys."

[She enters the room, where Jackie and John are standing next to a body, and introduces them.]

Helgenberger: "Jackie and John."

ACTORS WHO PLAY THE VICTIMS CAN SPEND UP TO FIVE HOURS BEING MADE UP AND CREATING THE CORPSES CAN TAKE DAYS

[John stands over a 'victim', applying make-up.]

[Fake wounds are created over the victim's body.]

[Close-up as some 'blood' is applied beneath the victim's eye.]

[Jackie works on creating a hand.]

[John pushes down on the lungs inside a skeleton.]

HERE'S MARG'S CO-STAR, BILLY PETERSEN, WHO GIVES US A TOUR OF HIS CHARACTER, GIL GRISSOM'S, OFFICE

[Gil Grissom walks with Sara Sidle at night.]

[Grissom performs a forensic procedure.]

[The camera pans across the office, where Grissom is working at his desk.]

[William Petersen stands inside Grissom's office, addressing the camera.]

Petersen: "This is my creepy bungalow."

[He walks over and shows off Grissom's display cabinets.]

Petersen: "We have all sorts of creepy things in jars around here."

[He picks up one of the jars.]

Petersen: "Here we have cicadas, giant grasshoppers. Sometimes I've been known to put chocolate on them and eat them."

[Petersen shows another jar full of spherical objects to the camera.]

Petersen: "I know this looks to you like olives, and we're about to have a martini, with the permento and what not..."

[Close-up of the jar, which reveals the objects are eyeballs.]

Petersen: "...but they're actually my little collection of eyeballs."

[On location, Marg Helgenberger shows her watch to the camera.]

Helgenberger: "8 p.m. now. I'm going to give you a little blow-by-blow of what we're doing."

FILMING CONTINUES PAST MIDNIGHT AND SHOWS NO SIGNS OF SLOWING DOWN

[Jorja Fox, George Eads and Helgenberger stand together in the dark, looking at a script.]

[Amongst all the hustle and bustle of filming, Helgenberger addresses the camera.]

Helgenberger: "1:15 a.m. We're still here."

[George Eads stands in front of a suburban house goofing around.]

[The camera gets really close to his face and he starts to laugh.]

Eads: "Get off me now!"

[The camera is on Helgenberger's watch again.]

Helgenberger: "It's about 3:10, that's a.m."

[The actress is standing with Jorja Fox and Paul Guilfoyle.]

Helgenberger: "I've just been wrapped."

[Jorja Fox speaks to the camera.]

Fox: "Goodnight Oprah!"

The clip can be viewed in Quicktime format at the William Petersen Appreciation Page. Further details on the segment can be found at Elyse's CSI Site.

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