New York ? Actors George Eads and Jorja Fox will both be back on the job next week at “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” after learning a lesson in hardball network politics.

Eads reached an agreement Friday to return to television’s most popular drama after he was fired for skipping work in what CBS believed was a contract dispute, CBS entertainment spokesman Chris Ender said.

He rejoins Jorja Fox, who came to her own agreement to come back on Thursday.

A spokeswoman for Eads did not return a call seeking comment on Friday.

The actors portray investigators Sara Sidle and Nick Stokes on the Las Vegas-based forensics drama. Actors in a successful Hollywood production angling for more money is a long-established Hollywood tradition.

But CBS boss Leslie Moonves, who said the actors’ deals had already been renegotiated after two seasons, played tough. “There comes a point where we feel a contract is a contract,” he said.

In a similar situation last year with “Everybody Loves Raymond” actor Brad Garrett, CBS kept him on the job and gave him more money.

Eads was hired back at his old salary, a reported $100,000 per episode, said an executive who requested anonymity.

This week, Eads had essentially pleaded for his job by apologizing before a group of reporters. He said that he had overslept on the first day of filming for the new “CSI” season and wasn’t trying to apply pressure.

“It’s a big misunderstanding, straight up,” Eads told the Television Critics Assn. on Wednesday. “I want all this to work out. ‘CSI’ is a part of who I am.”