On 'The Rachael Ray Show' (weekdays, syndicated), Rachael Ray pointed out that actress Sela Ward has a portion of a street named after her in Meridian, Mississippi, the city of her birth. Then, Ray asked if Ward has the right to speed with impunity on her namesake roadway.

"I want to know. Can you speed on that thing?" asked Ray.

Sela Ward may fit in well in her new digs as part of the 'CSI: NY' cast, but she told 'The Early Show' (weekdays, 7AM on CBS) the transition has been a tad jarring. Ward only had three days to prepare before hopping in to replace departed cast member Melina Kanakaredes, playing an investigator from Washington. Her previous roles on 'Once and Again' and in 'Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights' didn't give her the best foundation for a crime procedural.

"All these other shows I've been on, I understood what love was all about, and breaking up and getting married and being a mama," she said. "And all of a sudden I had to learn about gunshots and murder and bludgeoning. It was quite an adjustment."

It was much tougher than she expected, but she enjoys having Gary Sinise as a co-star, and said, "I'm having a blast." This is, after all, a woman who sparred with 'House.' How tough could murder be after that?

On the first day of her new job, former FBI agent Jo Danville (series newcomer Sela Ward) arrives to find a dead-quiet crime lab on 'CSI:NY' (Fri., 9PM ET on CBS). Emphasis on the dead. No one else appears to be around -- except a dead woman, discovered by her hand print smeared in blood across a glass balcony.

Mac and the rest of the team shuffle off the elevator. Standing over the body, she says, "Hi, I'm Jo. Danville. I'm your new crime scene investigator. And this young woman is dead."

Unfazed, Jo later makes a crack to her new colleagues about the victim, saying she thought the office had a "BYOB" policy. (That is, Bring Your Own Body...)

When 'CSI: NY' returns for its seventh season, it'll be the new kid on the block -- the Friday night block. The series has moved from its former Wednesday timeslot to air Fridays at 9PM ET on CBS.

And that's not the only big change to take place: Original star Melina Kanakaredes, who left the series this summer, is being replaced by Emmy-winning actress Sela Ward. The only thing not changing, it seems, is the location -- still New York, New York.

During a location shoot in Central Park, Ward told us how happy she was to join the veteran hit series. "I'm loving being on the show. I love the character, love Gary Sinise, love all of the cast," she said, adding "It's very different for me, so I'd be lying if I didn't say this may be the hardest thing I've ever done ... but slowly but surely, I think I'll get my sea legs."

Welcome back to primetime, Sela Ward!

Yes, after resurfacing on 'House' for a handful of episodes, Ward has signed on the dotted line to replace departing series star Melina Kanakaredes in 'CSI: NY,' according to Ausiello Files.

CBS described her character as an empathetic and experienced investigator from Washington.

"We are delighted to have Sela joining 'CSI: NY,'" said 'CSI: NY' executive producer Pam Veasey in a statement. "With the exciting stories planned for Season 7, she'll be a dynamic addition to the cast and the team."

"I am thrilled to be working with Gary [Sinise] and this terrific group of people," Ward, who will make her debut in the show's season 7 premiere this fall, said in a statement. "I'm a huge fan."

Ward is best known for her Emmy-winning performances on acclaimed dramas 'Once and Again' and 'Sisters.' In 2009 she appeared in the 'The Stepfather' with Dylan Walsh and Penn Badgley.

Way back on September 30, 2005, the web site TV Shows on DVD announced that the third season of one of my favorite TV shows, Once and Again, would be available for sale in a 19-episode, multi-disc set, complete with actor commentaries and a blooper video. They even released an image of the DVD box.

Then a funny thing happened on the way to the DVD shelves. Disney pulled the plug and indefinitely suspended the release of the award-winning show's (premature) final season.

Welcome to TV Squad Lists (formerly 'The Five'), a feature where each blogger has a chance to list his or her own rundown of things in television that stand out from the rest, both good and bad.

Being newly single, I've been spending a lot of time these days thinking about the perfect woman. More often than not, my thoughts end up drifting into the realm of television and all of the perfect women there. So I decided to compile a list of the ten hottest moms on television. Unfortunately, there were way too many to fit on a top ten list, so I expanded the list to fifteen. This was a tough list to compile and I'm sure many of your favorites are absent, but I doubt that anyone can refute the fifteen below.

Susan Mayer - Desperate Housewives (Teri Hatcher) Hatcher has always been smoking hot but it wasn't until Desperate Housewives that she became a TV mom. The best part of her character is how Susan is continually clumsy, awkward and unsure of herself and still manages to be hot.

Boy, it sure feels like it's been a while since we saw Dr. House and his band of merry ladies and gentlemen, and by peeking at the last time we had a new episode, it most certainly has. But, as usual, the intro to the show leaves off pretty much hours after the last episode closed, with House & Stacy attempting to leave Baltimore in the throes of a snowstorm. Hearing Wilson and Cuddy talk about the new skip in House's step was kind of amusing, in an "omigosh did he just lose his virginity?" kind of way. And smartly, we're reminded of the fact that it's just about time for Cameron to get her HIV test and that Foreman's time as the "boss" is almost up.

Seeing that survey on the FOX page asking whether or not Stacy and House should "get together" for such a long time stay stagnant in the 50% each way also had me thinking whether or not we'd ever see these two actually hit the sheets - not that producers are influenced by the outside world, per se - and as it turns out we'd find out what would happen this week, all with a tidy little bow tied up around the story. Who knew?

When I was doing my post about the lovely Bonnie Hunt, I realized that there are more more sexy women over 40 all over the entertainment spectrum than at any time I can remember. I don't know if it's better diets, the advent of Botox, or something else, but 40 no longer seems to be the career killer it once was. Here are the five women on TV who are old enough to remember the Nixon administration but still make even young guys' hearts go pitter-patter.

Some caveats: I am excluding Hunt because she's mainly in movies now. I am also including women who have been on TV recently, but not necessarily this year. Finally, everyone on Desperate Housewives only makes Honorable Mention because I want to give others their due for once.

By the way, this took me a while to do. I just kept remembering people who could fit in this category; some of whom you'll see are quite surprising. I was going to include women who were over 50 and over 60, but I decided to give them lists of their own, you'll see those in the coming days.

Click on the link for the picks.