Csi Ny

When 'CSI: NY' returns for its seventh season, it'll be the new kid on the block -- the Friday night block. The series has moved from its former Wednesday timeslot to air Fridays at 9PM ET on CBS.

And that's not the only big change to take place: Original star Melina Kanakaredes, who left the series this summer, is being replaced by Emmy-winning actress Sela Ward. The only thing not changing, it seems, is the location -- still New York, New York.

During a location shoot in Central Park, Ward told us how happy she was to join the veteran hit series. "I'm loving being on the show. I love the character, love Gary Sinise, love all of the cast," she said, adding "It's very different for me, so I'd be lying if I didn't say this may be the hardest thing I've ever done ... but slowly but surely, I think I'll get my sea legs."

Ward and Sinise haven't worked together before, though they'd met on the awards circuit (he for 'Truman,' she for 'Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story'). And when the offer to join 'CSI: NY' came in, Ward couldn't pass up the opportunity to work with the fellow Emmy winner.

"I had made a conscious choice not to do a lot of work for a while while my kids were younger and now that they're older, I was just missing it," she said. "And the offer came in and I thought, "You know what? I've never done anything like this. It'll be challenging and I'd love to work with Gary.'"

Still, joining a tight-knit cast that's been together for seven years must've been daunting. "You would think it would, but no," she responded. "And I really attribute that to the generosity and spirit of this cast and the set and trust me, every show is not like that."

The cast and crew have welcomed her with open arms, and co-star Hill Harper gave her a rave review. "It's been great. Sela is a wonderful actress, she has great spirit," he said. "We're kind of a hard-edged New York show and her character brings all this Southern charm which is really lovely."

So new night, new star -- and a whole new energy, Harper noted. "It challenges the writers to have to think more creatively," he said. "You get used to this character does things this way, this character does things that way. Now you have to create a whole new character [and] you have to create a whole new way that different characters interact. It's pretty special."

Ward loves her character, Det. Jo Danville," for "her humor and her smarts. And I think she's a little mysterious and I like that."

Danville is thrust into a case from her very first step -- when she trips over a corpse in the crime lab. "The character hadn't even been written when I got the phone call," Ward revealed. "When Melina decided not to renew her contract, this all went down very quickly. So we talked a little bit about the character and possibilities for the character and then off they went to write. I think I got a script three days before we started shooting, so it was a real fast track. We're still talking about Jo and who is she, and she's still evolving."