Laurence Fishburne: Up For Musical Chairs With Potential TV Gig

By Karu F. Daniels, BlackVoices.com

Is Laurence Fishburne up for a game of musical chairs?

Apparently so.

The Academy Award nominated, Emmy and Tony Award winning thespian is reportedly readying a role on the hit CBS drama series, 'C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation.'It's the classic case of one actor out, and another one in.

We've seen this with 'Law & Order' when Jesse L. Martin departed from his longtime post to make way for Anthony Anderson to join the long running Dick Wolf series.

And when Mandy Patinkin abruptly departed the CBS drama 'Criminal Minds,' Joe Mantegna stepped in on the scene as the show's ringleader.

This fall, Academy Award nominated beauty Angela Bassett will join the cast of NBC's 'E.R.' Mekhi Phifer, who starred on the series as Dr. Gregory Pratt for a few seasons, will depart shortly after.

Fishburne, who has won raves on Broadway for his portrayal of late civil rights pioneer Thurgood Marshall in the play 'Thurgood,' is reportedly in talks to replace William Petersen who recently exited the show.

Ironically, Gary Dourdan – who portrayed Detective Warrick Brown for eight seasons – was let go from the show towards the end of last season.

He was the lone black lead character on the series.

Fishburne, known as a bankable box-office star, has starred in the films 'Apocalypse Now,' 'What's Love Got to do With it?,' the mega-successful 'Matrix' trilogy, 'Akeelah and the Bee' and '21.'

The Augusta, Georgia born actor won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in the 1992 August Wilson play, 'Two Trains Running.'

No official word if the 'C.S.I.' deal is set in place, but all roads are pointing towards that.

According to 'Reuters,' the search for a new lead has been shrouded in secrecy, but Fishburne is being heavily courted to play the new character, described as a doctor/scientist outsider to the CSI unit who has the same genetic profile as a serial killer but hasn't previously acted on any homicidal impulses.

Other top choices for the role include John Malkovich and Kurt Russell.

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