I'm not getting all the Sara-hating. I like both Nick and Sara -- they're a good part of a cast that maintains a good level of variety and character complement. Or something like that (sorry, sleep-deprived). I'd be bummed if they left. I don't know what the money issue is -- if they were making less than Marg Hegenberger or what -- but I wish it could have been resolved in a different way.
I also disagree with the "they were both replaceable/nondescript" stuff. Nick was there as a good quality cornfed white guy with a bit of a hero/badass complex. Watching him get shown up by Griss and then slowly learn the ropes and earn Grissom's respect has been cool. And Sara, aside from being the romantic interest (which I never really went for), has been a good example of a Grissom-in-training, somebody who has no life outside the office but who has the critical flaw of not being able to distance herself emotionally from the victims (which Grissom can do). Nick can't do it either, but Nick embraced it, telling Grissom that he didn't want to be like him, that he wanted to be the best CSI that he himself could be, and this was the way he was going to do it -- and that's why Griss gave Nick the promotion. Nick is making his own way now (he's more like a Catherine-in-training), while Sara is a flawed version of Grissom.
They're both important characters. Heck, they're all important characters. I don't think of anyone in the show as unnecessary.
Ou peut-etre c'est seulement moi, as the French don't really say.
My day has been made.
