Category: Funstuff

One of the shows that stays just outside my radar each week is Criminal Minds, yet another of CBS’s vast assortment of crime procedurals. I predicted in season one that Mandy Patinkin would bail out first chance he got if the show was showed any sign of success…and I was proven right once again. He has done this before on Chicago Hope and on many stage productions. I love everything I have ever seen Patinkin do (Dead Like Me was brilliant), but I just will not set myself up for disappointment any longer. DVDs of the first 2 years of Criminal Minds will have to suffice.

Tonight, however, Criminal Minds picks up a replacement for Patinkin who is every bit as good and much more dependable for the long haul. TVWeek.com reports:

Joe Mantegna makes his first appearance on the now Mandy Patinkin-less “Criminal Minds” this Wednesday (Oct. 31 at 9 p.m. on CBS). Mantegna plays David Rossi, a long-retired agent who once helped found the Behavioral Analysis Unit and now returns to action, sez CBS’ press, with “some unfinished business of his own.” (Why are we not surprised?)

Actually, Criminal Minds was doing very well during this transition without either actor, but Mantegna will up the ante with his presence, and his character sounds like the perfect answer to the loss of Patinkin’s Jason Gideon, a character I always thought was just a little too close to the edge for my comfort. Mantegna is one of our finest actors who has had little luck with the television projects he has been involved in. Criminal Minds may finally be his ticket to weekly TV success and Mantegna may be the shot in the arm Criminal Minds needs to get me watching weekly.

This post was Guest Authored by Rob Walley

Though you may be patting yourself on the back over your predictions about Patinkin, you might want to know the facts. Patinkin signed on to Chicago Hope while his children were small. He lives in NY and CBS was unable to accommodate the schedule they had planned, leaving him with few weekends where he could even get home. He chose his family over work and CBS, knowing they had made a promise they could not keep, wisely decided not to sue him for breach of contract.

After the second year of CM, Patinkin approached CBS about what he considered to be increasing violence against women in the plots and storylines of CM. The show had, over the 2nd year, become adept at raising the ante of violence in an effort to trump the now saturated public with enough violence to peak their sensitivity again. CBS negotiated with Patinkin but chose not to tell the cast, crew or producers of the show. Therefore, when the negotiations fell through, Patinkin looked like the bad guy. Bernero made it worse by choosing to vent on a fan blog before he had all the facts. The agreement CBS struck with Patinkin was that they would not talk about the negotiations. It was easier for them to drop contract negotiations and let him go than to have him working on a show he did not support. After having been a fan of this show for several years, I can say that I find it hard to disagree with Patinkin. The gore and graphic violence have gotten to unacceptable levels and it is hard to watch. Gibson has also begun to distance himself from the show, choosing not to participate in the 2nd season DVD talk reel. There is rumor that he will not stay on after this year.

I respect Mantegna, but I do not think he is a good fit for this show. If they want to continue, it would have been fine to do so with the existing cast, but perhaps they are worried that losing Gibson would kill the show next year. That remains to be seen. Though the show is doing OK in the ratings this year, Mantegna has only been on two episodes thusfar and fans are giving the show a chance. The decision to suspend the technique that allowed audiences to follow the BAU as they tried to find the killer (thereby involving the audience in the mystery) is a bad one. The fact that we now see the information before the BAU does reduces the search to a bunch of agents careening around the set finding dead bodies and looking worried. I had hoped for more for this show as it matured.

Whether you like what is happening to the show or not, it might be best if you got your facts straight about the background here and stoppedf listening to the media in an effort to support your own predictions. This is not about an actor who can't keep a commitment. It is about a network and production team that needs to realign and get some direction.

I did not "pat myself on the back" nor did I ever pretend to know what Patinkin's reasons or intentions were concerning leaving the show. I just know that he did leave, as he has before. His reasons may well be honest and justified, but I HAVE followed this story and you offered more explanation that Patinkin ever did for his leaving. I made it clear that I have enjoyed Patinkin very much over the years, but I am allowed to be frustrated when he leaves after a short term.

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