Ted Danson is now D.B. Russell. Ashton Kutcher is now Walden Schmidt. Two famous faces are making familiar shows fresh again this fall on No. 1-viewed network CBS.

Kutcher didn't "do" press tour for his new Two and a Half Men character. (Too busy shooting the first ep, they said.) But TV standby Danson made the CSI panel Wednesday, seeming substantially refreshed himself.

"Two weeks ago, I was staring at the ocean on Martha Vineyard and humming to myself. And within a week I was at my first autopsy -- a real one -- in Las Vegas," the silver-haired sitcom hand told TV critics of his lickety-split hiring. "It's all happening incredibly fast, but it's some of the most fun I've had, this last couple weeks. I feel at home in a funny way. I feel like I've walked into a perfect situation for me."

And for the show. CSI may have been feeling a wee bit weary lately, too dour with last season's serial killer saga and mis-fit replacement star Laurence Fishburne. And just entirely too been-there done-that after 11 seasons.

"I think this season will be lighter," said showrunner Carol Mendelsohn. Supporting star George Eads felt the show "got so dramatic for so long, it seemed like every scene was fire and brimstone. Just having him [Danson] around -- I mean, you can see Marg and I laughing at him. He's just fun to have around." Agreed remaining original co-lead Marg Helgenberger (who in 2000 launched CSI alongside William Petersen), "Ted's character so far is pretty endearing. He really has a unique way of looking at a crime scene, with kind of a fresh perspective."

Danson proved his dramatic power in his three-season (and three times Emmy-nominated) guest arc on Damages, as well as his self-deprecation on Curb Your Enthusiasm, after all that '90s sitcom success with Cheers and Becker. So there's no need to get dark or droll again. As the new supervisor of a squad strung-out from all the show's recent plot agita, Danson says Russell is "sort of the Phil Jackson coming in to handle a group of people on a slippery slope," similar to coaching brawling basketball teammates. "He's brought in to make the team work as well as possible, and that rings a bell with me. Kind of trying to hold together a crazy group of people, whether crazy bright people or crazy silly people, is something I've done before."

In other words, Danson's character has his (bleep) together, and wants to impart same to the show's cynical CSI-ers. "It's the idea of balance in life," says series executive producer Don McGill. "Here's this character who has things really, really in balance -- family, work, job, life."

If that sounds a little like Ted Danson in his mellow middle-age, well, yeah. He admits he looks at things "through rose-tinted glasses," leads "a blessed life," and tries to "avoid the dark side." CBS showed a two-minute clip to critics from this fall's first CSI episode -- see it here -- and Danson just radiates through the screen in a way no one else there does. He brings a bracing gust of warmth -- a level of comfort to his presence -- for which this show feels in desperate need right about now. Russell's backstory has him as the laid-back son of "left-coast hippie parents" who's now got four kids of his own, and "chooses to go in the direction of celebration," Danson says.

Hey, it's enough to make Helgenberger stick around. "I was planning on leaving after last season," she said. But between Danson's arrival, the show's new energy and "me having a hard time letting go," she decided, "I'm not done yet playing this character. I'm not done yet letting go."

CSI has another challenge this fall. It's also moving on the CBS schedule, from its longtime Thursday perch to Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET.

And don't think we forgot about mentioning Kutcher in that lead paragraph (even though he didn't show up here, the bastard!). His Two and a Half Men character -- replacing Charlie Sheen's, a contretemps about which you may have heard a thing or two -- is not only named Walden Schmidt, but, said CBS programming chief Nina Tassler, "he is an internet billionaire with a broken heart."

Want more details? Too bad. Tassler was not forthcoming. You'll have to tune in when the show returns in September. CBS likes to keep in balance, too -- you know, between promotion and profits.