Press Tour: "CSI" news, The Fox Party

The news this morning is happening away from the tour, as EW reports that William Petersen is finally easing himself out of "CSI," as expected. After the coming season's 10th episode, Petersen will become an occasional guest star rather than a regular, sez EW's Michael Ausiello. Not a huge surprise, after eight years on the show; Petersen already demonstrated his restlessness by taking several episodes off last season to appear in a play. But the real reason I can't work up much enthusiasm for the story is that it's the morning after the big Fox party, traditionally the roughest morning of the tour.

Check the geniuses in the picture at right: "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane and "The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening were among the gazillion Fox names who turned out for last night's bash at the Santa Monica Pier amusement park. And if you look in the right rear of the picture, the shadowy non-genius in front of the break-the-balloon game is none other than yours truly. All the arcade games were in business, as were the rides. Open bar, and all the food was free, so at one point I found myself holding both a glass of gin and a little cardboard basket containing - yikes - two deep-fried Oreos.

I did have a long conversation with "House" creator David Shore about last season and the one to come, and I'll unspool that for you soon. But it was hard to hear Joss Whedon over the pulsing dance music that a DJ was spinning, so I mostly settled for watching "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" stars Lena Headey and Thomas Dekker tackle the rides. Hugh Laurie strode brisky through the party, and David Boreanaz and his impossibly thin and beautiful "Bones" co-star Tamara Taylor were there. Robert Knepper - aka T-Bag from "Prison Break" - wanted to meet Groening.

A friend of mine ran into onetime O.J. Simpson tenant and future Fox Reality star Kato Kaelin in the men's room, and Kato greeted him thusly: "Dude." My friend thought of the joke later, which would have been to hand him a quarter and ask for a towel. We had a good laugh about that in the bus on the way back to the hotel.

This morning, we have "Damages," "Sons of Anarchy" and "The Shield," then we get back on the bus for a visit to the "Mad Men" set, which I think will be one of the highlights of press tour. I'll talk to you when we et back.