Original recipe CSI isn’t nearly the powerhouse it used to be – in its new Wednesday 10 p.m. timeslot, it’s getting all it can handle from ABC upstart Revenge – but the franchise is still enough of a draw to attract name stars to its cast.

The latest example is onetime Oscar nominee Elisabeth Shue, who is coming aboard in February to replace Marg Helgenberger. Shue’s character is described as a veteran CSI who has recently finished an anger management class (possible crossover with the new Charlie Sheen show ahead?). Another part of her backstory is a tense past professional relationship with Ted Danson’s  character, D.B. Russell, according to executive producer Don McGill: “The first time things didn’t go so well between the two of them. Maybe the second time’s the charm, or not.”

The 48-year-old Shue had a brief fling with series TV in the 1980s with the Reagan-era military show Call to Glory, but this will be the first time since that she will have been the regular member of a television cast. After The Karate Kid became a hit in the summer of 1984, Shue gravitated towards films and nabbed an Oscar nomination in 1995 for Leaving Las Vegas.

And now, thanks to CSI, she’s back in Las Vegas. Isn’t life ironic?

Tags: csi, elisabeth shue, marg helgenberger, ted danson