One actor from was considered for a big role on . A role on a long-running and popular crime procedural is often thought of as a dream job in television, with pop culture often making jokes or storylines out of the stability that comes with the procedural format. Because of this, as a general rule, procedurals like generally tend to avoid casting the big stars in the main cast. The opposite is often true, in that procedurals make major stars out of actors who were previously not as well-known.

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Still, after the revelation that , the producing and network team behind the series told that Jennifer Aniston was considered for a significant role early on in the show's history. The remarks, which are delivered in the context of celebrating the 20th anniversary of the premiere, don't mention which role Aniston was up for. Based on context, it could have been a character similar to Caitlin Todd (Sasha Alexander), but that is not confirmed.

The quotes are below:

Bellisario: The kind of character he played in other roles made it fit for this.Johnson: Sasha Alexander wasn’t in the two-episode pilot. It was an actress by the name of Robyn Lively [who is Blake Lively’s older half-sister]. They liked her, but they didn’t think she quite worked. And so when the series got picked up, CBS said, “We’d rather move on.” And then we went in search of a character, and Sasha came in at the last minute.

I loved Robyn Lively, but those things do happen.Glenn Geller, former CBS Entertainment president: Don Bellisario really understands the particular attributes to put on a character that make them stand out. They are kind of stock characters, but he always infuses it with some attribute that really makes them special.Johnson: I think Jennifer Aniston was available at the time, and her name was floated.

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