TONIGHT

• Home
• Video
• Podcasts/RSS 
• Local Showtimes
• Past Shows
• Blogs
• About the Show
• Tell Tavis
• Features
• Mobile

RELATED LINKS

• Ms. Procter's official site
• CSI: Miami
• Ms. Procter's bio

E-mail a friend

Actress talks about a 1997 movie that she filmed on Tavis' set and invites Tavis to the set of "CSI: Miami." (3:06)
 

Full Interview (11:16)
 

Tavis: I'm pleased to welcome Emily Procter back to this program. She stars, of course, on one of TV's most popular dramas, "CSI: Miami," which will be back for its seventh season this fall. The show airs Monday nights at 10:00 on CBS, as if you didn't know, given the ratings. Here now, a scene from "CSI: Miami."

[Clip]

Tavis: So I didn't get a chance to talk to you before the season finale aired, but some of your friends were a little scared when those bullets started going off.

Emily Procter: I tell you what, I was always scared. I'm like, someone needs to tell me if I shouldn't go on vacation or not, what's happening? (Laughter) They're very tight-lipped about it.

Tavis: So you had to know, though, as one of the stars - you had to know, as we now know from the way the show ended, that you are okay on the show and in real life.

Procter: I'm fine. (Laughter) I went on vacation -

Tavis: You didn't know, going into that?

Procter: No. I went on vacation and I called several times, I was, like, did I get picked up? Okay. (Laughter) Because Khandi has left, which, as you can imagine after all of us being together for so long and especially - because she and I have been the two girls that have been together the longest.

Tavis: Khandi Alexander.

Procter: Khandi Alexander, who played Dr. Alexx Woods, and I tell you what, I could barely hold that together when we were shooting the scenes. I was, like, what are you doing? Don't do it, don't do it. And they were like "Emily, we can see your mouth moving." (Laughter) I was, like, okay, okay, okay, so.

Tavis: When you get - how do I say this? There are two sides to this coin. On the one hand, people in this business die for, would do anything for a series that runs for a couple seasons, much less five, or your case, now coming back for your seventh season. You can make a decent - you can set yourself up for life, you get the right series for a number of seasons. That's the good side.

The down side is that some folk are always concerned that you can get typecast staying someplace too long. So you were talking about being a little emotional that your friend Khandi Alexander is leaving; how do you know, or think you will know, when the time comes, for you to step away?

Procter: God, Tavis, can I just take this moment to say - and I don't know if you remember this about me, but my college degree is in journalism. I have so much respect for you for being a true journalist, there are so few, and you are to be applauded. No one's ever asked me that question, and I think it's - whenever people ask me questions about the show, I always try and come at it from my own experience, because that's really the only way I know how to answer.

And so when I think about certain scenes, I think about my true relationships with everyone - the crew, the cast, the writers, the producers. "CSI: Miami," to me, what has made it truly special is I think we had a very difficult time, initially. Our first year was very hard. We were sort of the younger child of a huge show, and none of us really expected it to be a hit.

We didn't know if people would watch or not, we didn't know if we would be able to set ourselves apart in a way that people would find interesting or entertaining. And so we struggled creatively, and then we struggled with each other because all of a sudden you're working 90 hours a week with people who were strangers two weeks before.

And what I truly love about "CSI: Miami" is we have all developed these very special bonds with one another. For example, I've not seen this show that we just saw the clip from, and I didn't realize that Adam and I held hands in that scene. But I have such a dear place in my heart for him and such tremendous respect for him, and I feel like it is a show that when your time there is finished, it's very organic.

And that was a conversation that Khandi and I had. I said first of all, I was, like, "I can't believe you didn't call me." And she said, "If I'd called you, I know you would have talked me out of it." And we just had the conversation of there is a finite amount of time in those relationships, and it's individual.

Tavis: You mentioned something a moment ago that I want to go back and get. I guess for those of us who are not trained or learned in the ways of Hollywood, we might tend to think that being spun off of a series that's already successful would be the easiest thing in the world to do, that you'd want to be on "CSI: Miami," being spun off by this enterprise that obviously already works.

What I thought I hear you suggest to me, though, that there are challenges, though, with being on the spin-off.

Procter: Oh, it's terrifying. It's terrifying, because the original show was such a monster. Like, it didn't matter where you put it, it was going to be number one. And then the producers were like, "We have a great idea, let's make a second one and set it in Miami," and we all went and did the pilot and we're like, wahoo, wahoo, this is great.

And when they picked it up we thought what are we going to do? There's no way that we can follow that giant show. And David I felt like was really very clever in creating this sort of unusual persona of the lead investigator, and I think it really helped us. And then we sort of collectively got together and said, well, if we could do anything, what would we do?

And we thought, well, it'd be nice if it had sort of a guilty pleasure aspect to it. If it was really a slice of Miami, because that's how we feel when we're there. And then it's just become a really good time for us. And so I haven't really experienced what I think is sometimes common in series television, which is people have a tendency to get bored. I haven't really gotten bored. In fact, I have more fun, usually.

Tavis: How much time do you actually spend in - you don't live in Miami.

Procter: No, I live in Los Angeles.

Tavis: How much time do you actually spend there?

Procter: About a quarter of the time. We're getting ready to go. We always start the season there; we usually end the season there. We didn't last year because of the strike, but we love Miami. It's really fun. (Laughter)

Tavis: Yeah, it is a great place. It's having, like, a renaissance, too. Miami's really coming back in a lot of ways.

Procter: Yeah, and it's gorgeous. It's really gorgeous.

Tavis: Speaking of the strike, particularly now that we are hearing that there may be another one of these around here, let's keep our fingers cross that doesn't happen, how did the strike impact this show, your show?

Procter: I noticed (laughs) - this seems trivial, but in fact I found it to be quite a substantial sort of moment. I'm the person who's in charge of buying all the gifts from the cast to the crew and producers and sort of filtering out to networks and things like that, and this year we didn't buy anything because we weren't there.

And that's a lot of investment. That's a lot of people, it's a lot of gifts, it's a lot of money out there in retail, and the fact that that didn't happen, and if you think about that with lots of shows all over, that's quite a bit.

Tavis: Yeah. Speaking of quite a bit, I think I recall from the last time you were here you have quite a bit of family. So we're both from these large families. How's your big family doing?

Procter: (Laughs) I was, like, and we also covered that I may or may not be in your family, we don't know.

Tavis: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Procter: Your family's bigger than mine.

Tavis: Yeah, only barely, though. Only slightly.

Procter: Oh, good lord. Well, Tavis, to be honest with you, I'm about to embark on my family, my two weeks of family vacation, (laughter) which is going to be - everyone's all worked up anyway, because there are, like, 4,000 of us, and we're all completely different.

But it's on, because we're, like, completely divided. Like, it is, like, half McCain, half Obama.

Tavis: Ooh.

Procter: And it's already, like, people are already angling, and it's going to be - you should maybe cover it. (Laughter) You should maybe come down and -

Tavis: Yeah, that might be a reality show. That might be a nice summer reality show for CBS, just going to cover Emily's family for two weeks about this McCain-Obama divide.

Procter: And there's some swings. There's some swings in there. And so all of us are already angling. We're like - I'm on the Obama side, and I'm like how am I going to get the swings over to my side? And my aunt and I had this long conversation, because we were, like, we have got to get so-and-so and so-and-so and so-and-so in there, and I think we can do it. (Laughter)

Tavis: Let me ask if your big family is like mine; that is to say that - how might I put this - the more exposed you become, the more well-known you become, you discover you have cousins that you didn't know you had?

Procter: I found that I have to buy a lot more presents than I - I was, like, "Who is that?"

Tavis: Yeah, that's funny. I think Holly, my producer - I didn't realize this. Was there a movie that you did some years ago that you actually filmed in this studio?

Procter: I can't believe it was not your favorite movie of mine, Tavis, it was "Breast Men." (Laughter)

Tavis: Well. And just played myself on that one, but anyway.

Procter: I covered myself up this time; you were so polite the last time because I wore that sweater, and I was, like, oh, no.

Tavis: Nice sweater, as I recall, but anyway, go ahead.

Procter: (Laughs) I was, like, "Why did I have that on?" I did - it was a movie that was a very big deal for me because it was a bit controversial for me with my family, who is very conservative, and I played the wife of David Schwimmer and his partner was Chris Cooper, and they were doing theirs.

Tavis: He was just here not too long ago, Schwimmer was.

Procter: Oh, he was? Talking about his movie?

Tavis: Yeah, mm-hmm.

Procter: Did he bring this up? Because we were married on (unintelligible).

Tavis: No, he did not. He did not bring this up. Shame on you, David.

Procter: I know, I have to call him.

Tavis: Go ahead, finish your story, though.

Procter: But we did a talk show with Chris and David and myself and Fred Willard, and -

Tavis: Wait, wait, wait, wait, a talk show on my set?

Procter: A talk show on your set, and I sat basically right here. David was there. You were in Fred Willard's seat, and a girl named Kathleen Wilhoite, who's very talented. And it was the first day on this movie for me, and I was supposed to stand up and walk off, and my mic got caught and I panicked. And I just kept pulling at it and pulling at it and I though oh, no, this is the worst thing to happen, I'm going to be fired for sure because I can't get my mic off and walk off stage.

And it actually made it into the movie. And that was the first time I was, like, oh, okay, maybe there's a little bit of room here.

Tavis: See how life works? And now you're back here being interviewed on a real talk show.

Procter: It's true.

Tavis: I think it's a real talk show.

Procter: And I'm not wearing a giant fake brassiere.

Tavis: And your mic will not fall off as you leave the stage. I'm glad to have you back.

Procter: Oh, Tavis, I always love seeing you.

Tavis: I'm praying for you and your family reunion. Yeah.

Procter: Will you come with me? (Laughter)

Tavis: I don't know - I could moderate. I guess I could moderate. Wouldn't that be cool? So I'd have your family, we'd all meet on the lawn, all the Obama folk over here, the McCain folk - and I could do my best Oprah impersonation and we'd just have a good talk show.

Procter: Well, then we'd know what side you'd be on.

Tavis: No, I wouldn't, I'm just moderating.

Procter: Okay.

Tavis: I'm just moderating. Anyway, you don't need me, you got this covered.

Procter: Well, I'm so glad to see you.

Tavis: Have a great summer.

Procter: I always love to see you.

Tavis: Good to see you.

Procter: It's been too long. Every time I'm here, I'm like, what -

Tavis: Come back. You can come.

Procter: Yeah, my schedule -

Tavis: You can come back any time. What you doing tomorrow night? (Laughter)

Procter: I'm like, I'm not doing anything, actually.

Tavis: Come back any time you want.

Procter: I'm really not.

Tavis: I love Emily, and many of you do, too, of course. And we love "CSI: Miami," check it out, season seven, in just a few - when do you guys go back to work? How long before you go back to work?

Procter: July.

Tavis: July? Yeah, it's almost time to start taping again. Have a good summer.

Procter: You should come down there.

Tavis: Now that I'll take you up on. (Laughs)

Procter: They'd put you in a bathing suit and shoot you.

Tavis: Well, no bathing suit. (Laughter) How about I'll come down and I'll do a cameo - I'll do a cameo. I'll do a cameo, just let me - send me my sides and I'll work it out.