‘CSI’ cast shakeups leave shows a little paler

Losing Sara Sidle was one thing. Come Friday, two more long-standing citizens of "CSI" nation will have packed up their forensics gear. Their exits will leave voids not just in their casts, but in television.

On May 5, "CSI: Miami" said goodbye to Khandi Alexander's cooing medical examiner, Alexx Woods. Thursday, Gary Dourdan likely made his last regular appearance as investigator Warrick Brown on "CSI."

Both Alexander and Dourdan have been with their respective shows since their inceptions, and while it's worth noting how these characters' departures will affect the two procedurals, it should also be mentioned that these actors' departures leave their shows a little paler. Both were the sole African-American regulars in their casts.

Miami morgue fixture
"CSI: Miami" fans, at least, are used to cast shakeups.

Kim Delaney lasted only 10 episodes in the show's first season after being shoehorned into the cast after the pilot. Original cast member Rory Cochrane stuck around two seasons. Sofia Milos came and went.

Throughout those changes, Alexx had been a fixture in the Miami morgue. Being the medical examiner on a crime procedural is a thankless job, as screen time is usually limited and scenes can be repetitive. That's why so many TV MEs are given quirks. On "NCIS," Ducky rambles about the old days. Dr. Robbins keeps a scrapbook of the dead and plays in a coroner rock band on "CSI." And Alexx made an art out of talking to the dead.

Almost every victim she worked on was a "baby" or a "sweetie," and she had the best bedside manner of any ME in TV history — even if the bed in question was a cold metal slab.

Alexx injected a bit of compassion into a show full of flashy science and sun-kissed violence.  For a woman working with death every day, she never showed the kind of immunity to tragedy TV MEs usually exhibit.

Her relationship with "Mr. Caine," as she called him in her last episode, was always wonderfully cryptic. They seemed to share an almost sibling-like relationship—- Caine the overprotective older brother and Alexx the empathetic and proud younger sister. With Alexx gone, we might lose some of those more tender Horatio moments.

For her part, it's hard to blame Alexander for wanting something more. General buzz seems to indicate that the exit is her decision, and after six years talking to dead bodies, wanting change is understandable.

Soul of ‘CSI’
She'll be missed, but not as much as Dourdan.

Warrick Brown has always been the soul of "CSI." No character better embodied Las Vegas. Sure, Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) used to be a dancer, but Warrick had a gambling problem and recently developed drug problem, played music at local clubs, and had a sudden, short-lived marriage.

And while Warrick's marriage existed mostly off-camera, Dourdan's on-camera chemistry with Helgenberger sparked a fan frenzy that rivaled the Grissom/Sara Sidle fever. Perhaps it exceeded it, as Warrick's and Catherine's sexual tension was never resolved — at least as far as we know.

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