Melina Kanakaredes

Gary Sinise returns as Detective Mac Taylor in this Friday's season premiere of 'CSI: New York.' There are a few changes for the season ahead: Not only a brand new time slot but long time star Melina Kanakaredes is out, replaced by Sela Ward. PopEater spoke to star Gary Sinise about the changes to expect for the upcoming season, what goes through his head when he hears The Who, what it's like being mentioned by Ari Gold on 'Entourage' and considers new trademarks in an attempt compete with Caruso's sunglasses.

'CSI: New York' has a big cast member change this year. Melina Kanakaredes left the show, and Sela Ward is replacing her. On a character driven show, this can really hurt.
Well, the franchise is strong. It's a very solid formula on our show. People loved Melina on the show, and I think they're going to love Sela. It's going to be a very seamless transition. I've seen the first episode, and while it's different, it's really, really good. Sela comes into the show as if she's been doing it for a long time.

How often do you actually shoot in New York? I've stumbled upon a shoot here and there, but not anywhere near the amount of times I seen a 'Law and Order' being filmed -- which is almost impossible to avoid.
We only come once a year. We used to come twice a year, but then they started cutting the budgets down, so now we come once a year. We love coming to New York and shooting there. I wish we could do it more, but we are based here in Los Angeles and it's expensive to come.

Do you ever get jealous of David Caruso on 'CSI: Miami' because he's got the whole sunglasses shtick and want to try something of your own? I was thinking that right before it goes to the opening titles, you could say your line and then spit out a piece of gum, or something...
[Laughs] Yeah, I could eat a lollipop like Telly Savalas. Look, he made that into a thing and God bless him. He's turned it into an Internet sensation. No, I'm not jealous of him or anything. We've got a good show going, and people seem to enjoy the characters on our show. Who knows? If our show stays on the air long enough, I might have some funny little thing I come up with.

Posted in: csi,csi new york,csi ny,gary sinise,sela ward