Laurence Fishburne joining "CSI" cast

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So the acclaimed actor better known for playing dark, brooding characters says he looks forward to his new TV gig as a forensics investigator with disturbing tendencies on the hit CBS detective drama "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."

Not that he had ever seen the series before his first meeting with the show's executive producers, Carol Mendelsohn and Naren Shankar.

"I felt a little stupid and embarrassed that I hadn't watched the show prior to having a meeting with them," Fishburne, 47, acknowledged in a conference call with reporters for the announcement that he is joining the show's cast.

"But I'm happy to say that the episodes that they sent me to look at were really, really engaging and really wonderful, and kind of dark and moody, like a lot of the work that I've actually been involved in," he added. "So I'm very excited."

Famed for his movie work as Morpheus in "The Matrix" trilogy and his Oscar-nominated role as Ike Turner in "What's Love Got to Do With It," Fishburne is slated to make his "CSI" debut in episode nine of the show's upcoming ninth season.

"CSI," which averaged 17 million viewers last season, ranks as CBS's top-rated show and the third most-watched scripted series in all of U.S. prime time.

Mendelsohn and Shankar hailed Fishburne as their "dream" casting choice.

He was hired to replace actor William Petersen, who has starred since the show's inception in 2000 as Gil Grissom, the brainy head of a Las Vegas police crime scene unit, and is leaving the series to follow other creative pursuits.

PROFESSOR WITH 'DISTURBING' PAST

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