Short-lived drama. They're both back on the show, with NO pay increase.
From
E! International:
Fox, Eads Back on "CSI" Beatby Lia Haberman
Jul 23, 2004, 6:35 PM PT
The evidence is hard to ignore.
All clues point to Jorja Fox and George Eads rejoining CSI next week following a scuttled bid for a salary hike.
As previously reported by E!, Fox was tapped to return to CBS' forensic science thriller earlier this week. By late Friday, the network also confirmed that Eads, too, will be back. Both actors are due on set next week after reaching agreements with the network.
However, the actors will return without the salary boost she'd been hoping for. Both Fox and Eads had been offered an extra $20,000 on top of their $100,000-per-episode paychecks, according to the Hollywood Reporter, but the duo had pushed for more.
Instead, CBS pulled the plug on Fox and Eads last week after he skipped the first day of shooting for CSI's fifth season and she failed to sign a document promising she'd show up for work.
Now, they will return to work for the same money they had been earning before CBS called her bluff, per the Reporter.
Fox was said to be "mystified" by her firing, according to Variety, because she thought she'd met CBS' letter-sending deadline.
E! News Live sources said the Fox matter was ruled a misunderstanding, clearing the way for her return. She was officially invited back on Thursday.
Eads' situation was resolved Friday, following a goofy public mea culpa.
Speaking to TV critics while promoting the TNT biopic Evel Knievel, Eads blamed a faulty alarm clock for his tardiness.
"I overslept...I woke up white as a sheet three-and-a-half hours after I was supposed to be on the set," said Eads, who claimed to have "apologized nine ways to Sunday."
"It's a big misunderstanding, straight up," Eads said Wednesday. "I want all this to work out. CSI is a part of who I am."
Initially, the lovefest wasn't echoed by network honcho Les Moonves, who, earlier this week, called the pink-slipping a fair business decision. "There comes a point where we feel a contract is a contract," he said.
Moonves also pointed out that the network had been prepared to give Fox and Eads a raise even thought it was under no contractual obligation to do so.
Proving that it doesn't always pay to be the squeaky wheel, one of the show's secondary stars, Eric Szmanda, who plays DNA geek Greg Sanders, has quietly been given a raise and is expected to spend more time in the field and out of the lab next season.
Also being added to the show's payroll is former 24 star Reiko Aylesworth, who'll join the cast as a new lab technician--an arrangement in place before the firings/rehirings. Aylesworth could become a recurring character.
CSI, the most watched drama on televison, will premiere Sept. 23.
