Criminal Minds

I received an email today informing me that Watching Criminal Minds has been ranked #35 (out of about 1200, so I’m happy!) among entertainment blogs in the category of Movies (I’m not sure why it’s movies) at Show Hype, which is a relatively new entertainment site. You can search for your favorite shows and movies and other entertainment news. You can also vote on stories you like. It’s a very cool site. Here’s a quote from louisgray.com: Silicon Valley Blog:

The latest “Hype” in the family aims to take the mantra of “The best stories, the biggest fans” and apply it to a world where people are more familiar with movie scripts than JavaScript, and the box office is more closely watched than the NASDAQ. ShowHype users can log in to view the most popular entertainment news, videos and blogs of the day, submit new articles or even create unique ShowHype stories for what’s sure to become a focused audience trading in the latest Hollywood dirt.

Check out ShowHype and find out even more about your favorite stars and shows.

Other good places to check out info is TV Bender, Watching Bones, or another one of 451’s great tv sites.

The New York Daily Post is reporting today that CBS will fill up some airtime with Dexter. This show features a sociopathic serial killing blood analysis tech who kills other serial killers. I love it!! He’s a good serial killer. The show is actually really interesting if you like that kind of thing. He’s not completely sociopathic - though I don’t know if there are degrees to that sort of thing. I’m surprised CBS is going to play it…it’s like having The Sopranos on a network.
Dexter is played by Michael C. Hall, and CBS will air the entire first season starting on February 17. One episode per Sunday. CBS hopes this will help retain viewers during the WGA strike. Dexter will have to be edited down for language and time. It usually runs a full hour on Showtime but will be cut to about 48 minutes, which is still five minutes longer than the average network crime drama.

Here’s a YouTube from Dexter, in which he explains his attitude towards his “work.”

Here’s another. I don’t like the tone or music of this video, but it does give a little rundown of Dexter’s jobs. Skip if you want to be surprised by season one.

A little off track, but since there aren’t many new episodes of Criminal Minds, I wanted to take the time to talk about another great crime show, The Women’s Murder Club.
This show is based on books by James Patterson (who wrote books on which movies Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider are based on). Click here for a description of the show.

In November, an episode of the Women’s Murder Club aired. In one of the final scenes star Angie Harmon is talking to her ex-husband and current boss, Tom. I loved the song in the background, which is by Abra Moore. The song is called “Family Affair.” There’s been a great reaction to the song, so it’s up at her record label’s website. You can go there, listen to the song, and even download it for free.
The site is http://sarathan.com/lp/familyaffair/ if you’re curious. Abra Moore’s first album, Strangest Places ,earned a Grammy nomination, and she has a new album called.
From her website:

On The Way finds Moore completely at ease in her own skin and voice. It’s a ferociously quiet album that unfolds gently but packs an emotional wallop with its unwavering honesty. It’s an album full of subtle moods. There’s always been an atmospheric quality to Moore’s writing - maybe that’s why Hollywood keeps seeking out her music. Moore’s songs have appeared in more than 25 films and television shows including Cruel Intentions, Sliding Doors (with Gwenyth Paltrow), Happy Texas, Party of Five, Dawson’s Creek, Felicity and Melrose Place. Her song “Big Sky” was used in the super-hot video game The Sims with one little twist—she had to rerecord all the vocals in Simlish, the language used in the game.

I always like songs I hear in shows but never think to look them up. This is a good chance to hear more of the music that makes it on tv.
The Women’s Murder Club airs on ABC, Fridays at 9:00. This week, there’s a bonus episode on Saturday at 10:00. Definately a show to watch. And don’t forget a new episode of Criminal Minds is on tomorrow at 9:00.

The Chicago Tribune’s entertainment section, “The Watcher,” has a rundown on strike-related programming today.
First, Jericho will return with seven new episodes on February 12. CBS was going to cancel Jericho last year, but fans mounted a strong blog campaign and kept it on the air. Their reward is coming soon.

Law and Order is coming back - don’t worry. There will be some cast changes, but new episodes will start airing on January 2. Sam Waterston will still be on the show, and some new talent will arrive. Law and Order: Criminal Intent moved to USA network. NBC needs them back because of their lack of new content. LOCI returns to NBC on January 9.

Also making comebacks are The New Adventures of Old Christine, with Julia Louis Dreyfus, which begins its third season January 28 on CBS.

CBS has announced more scheduling changes and additions for January. Coming back:

*Power of Ten with Drew Carrey
*New episodes of 48 Hours Mystery
*Survivor 16
*The first ever winter edition of Big Brother
*A six part miniseries called Comanche Moon
*A new sitcom called The Captain, with Fran Kranz (”The TV Set”), Chris Klein (”American Pie”), Jeffrey Tambor (”Arrested Development”), Raquel Welch (”The Three Musketeers”), comedian Al Madrigal, Valerie Azlynn (”Two and a Half Men”) and Joanna Garcia (”Reba”)
*A new game show, Do You Trust Me, has also completed production and is awaiting an air date.

CBS will replay its strong shows -Criminal Minds, the CSIs, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, NCIS, Without a Trace, Cold Case, 60 Minutes, and Shark.

I’ve read again and again that Criminal Minds is the darkest crime show on tv, that it’s extreme with its creepy villains and crimes. Honestly, I never really saw that it was so much more terrible than other shows, CSI for example. One particular episode of CSI that was especially memorable to me was when an older lady died and her cats became hungry. Not a pretty picture (and yes, they showed the picture).
I don’t know if I’m a product of over-exposure to crime shows and violent images, but the show didn’t really seem outrageously over the top.

Last night, I had a different perspective. Jamie Kennedy played Floyd Feylinn Ferell, a former mental patient who took a large bite of his baby sister when he was seven. He seemed pleased with himself when he’s being interrogated by Morgan with Fr. Marks. When he reveals that he’d fed one of his victims to search volunteers, he looks like he made a joke and is happy with the reaction.

With all the violent shows, movies, and videogames, I don’t know why this was especially vivid to me. It disgusted me, and I could begin to see why Criminal Minds was said to be more dark than other shows. On other crime procedurals, there is almost a light tone as the officers and detectives go about their business. Sometimes they are affected by their cases, but the tone is very different. Criminal Minds is always dark. Even when they’re joking around, there is an underlying tension and pervasive unease. Garcia provides a break from all this with all her color and charm, but even she is affected by what she sees.

The reason why I’m writing about this is that a reader commented that she won’t be watching the show anymore. A little aside: I really value the comments that people make. I appreciate the time they take, and I take respect everyone’s opinion. I just wanted to say that so the person who wrote the comment doesn’t feel singled out. Anyway, she said that the show had taken a morbid turn. There were images that she didn’t want her children to see. This is a person who has watched CM from the first episode.
It’s ironic that I’d just been thinking of the disgusting image of the volunteers eating the victim, and this reader made the comment.

Has Criminal Minds taken a turn for the worse as it gets more and more graphic? Is the tone of season three more foreboding than the previous two? I really don’t know. I do feel like something is different this season - besides the obvious cast change.
Is there another change in the characters? Are the shows gruesome, but at the same time predictable? What do you think of the cases and profiles that are being shown?

This was an interesting and welcome comment, so I thank the reader who wrote it. When I watched “Scared to Death,” I felt like it was a step backwards for the show. It seemed rushed and not fully developed. With “Seven Seconds,” I feel like the show was back in top form. There was a lot of family dynamics and relationships to investigate, and there was the suspense of finding the girl - and even whether she was still alive. I did enjoy “Lucky,” though I found it to be repulsive. But I think that being repulsive is what seperates CM from other shows. These aren’t average, ordinary killers (if there is such a thing). They are depraved. I have to admit that is why I watched the show in the first place. The crimes are different, the atmosphere is different. Some episodes are like mini horror movies.
The humanity is supposed to come from the profilers - their reactions and interactions. I don’t know why other people watch Criminal Minds and other crime procedurals, but I’m willing to guess that a lot of people are drawn to the sick and depraved cases. It’s fascinating to us.

I certainly understand, though, why this reader will not be watching the show anymore. Maybe there comes a point when you can’t absorb so much sickness and ugliness. What do you think?

To read some reviews of CM from back when it premiered, check out Metacritic.

IF Magazine listed Criminal Minds as its #4 show to watch for the week of November 12. In the upcoming episode, Jamie Kennedy plays a cannibalistic serial killer. If you’re looking for something else to watch this weekend, check out IF.

The Sydney Morning Herald is sassy again this morning. David Dale writers about the Hollywood Writers Strike. Since a lot of us Americans are egocentric (not me, though), it’s interesting to see what other places think of the strike.
It doesn’t seem Sydney will be affected too much in the short-term. According to Dale, Australia’s favorite US shows, Criminal Minds, House, The Simpsons, Ghost Whisperer, CSI, and My Name is Earl, have plenty of new episodes to last through the end of Australia’s ratings season, which ends in three weeks. Shows more affected by the strike, Heroes, Bionic Woman, and Prison Break, are not getting big audiences anyway.
Dale sees three big advantages to the US writers’ strike. First, better shows:

In the case of Heroes, which has been slow this season, the creator, Tim Kring, phoned Entertainment Weekly magazine from the picket line promising to make good use of his time off: “The message is that we’ve heard the complaints and we’re doing something about it.” According to EW, “The cliffhangers are back. Narrative purpose has been discovered. Old favourites such as Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) and Horn Rimmed Glasses (Jack Coleman) take centre stage.” A good omen for other strike-affected programs which have been disappointing us lately.

Second, Australia will start shopping around for shows in Canada and England. Dale believes this will “widen our understanding of the world,” while at the same time diverting funds directed to US shows. Hopefully, he says, the Australian networks, Seven, Nine, and Ten, will produce more Australian-made shows. Shows such as Kath & Kim, and City Homicide are home-grown successes.

Third, television writers will have a precedent for demanding more of a share in digital revenue, and “Australia’s best writers will be able to give up their part-time jobs as waiters and cleaners.”

Variety writer, John Dempsey, has an interesting article today about networks selling shows to cable so they can play the reruns. Shows that typically do well in the ratings for the networks are getting only small prices per episode compared to a few years ago.

Lost and Heroes are big ratings boosters during the week with new episodes but were sold for only $200,000 per episode. This is compared to at least a million similar shows would have gotten even last year.
One reason for this is that Lost and Heroes are serialized. You have to know what’s going on to like the new episodes…you can’t jump right in. These shows typically don’t do well in reruns. Big shows like Alias, 24, and The Shield are not pulling in big numbers of viewers on cable.

CBS pushed back the cable release of Criminal Minds from 2009 to 2010because they can’t get the price they want, which is mid-to-high six figures.
Dempsey writes, “Scott Koondel, exec VP of CBS TV Distribution, says, however if a cable network showed up with a solid offer for 2009, he wouldn’t hesitate to make the accommodation.”

The reason for the lackluster price for popular shows: too much competition. Dempsey writes:

The cable-network grids are so clogged with these shows that they end up cannibalizing one another.

For your viewing pleasure, I have found another crime procedural show. I really like this show, and I just stumbled upon it. Please don’t think I watch tv all the time! I watch Curious George with my daughter, Criminal Minds, and really not much else. My fiance works nights on Fridays, so I stay home and hang out. A few weeks ago, I was flipping through the channels trying to find something to watch because I just cannot watch Moonlight anymore. I found Angie Harmon in The Women’s Murder Club. The title sounded familiar - it’s based on a series of books by James Patterson.
The show centers around four successful women working in San Francisco.
Angie Harmon plays Detective Lindsay Boxer. She’s a divorced workaholic. Ironically, her ex-husband becomes her boss. They get along for the most part, but there is a lot of awkwardness - especially when Linsday meets his new fiance. Tyrees Allen plays Lindsay’s partner, Warren Jacobi. He’s a father-figure to Lindsay. His cool demeanor balances Lindsay’s hot head. I wasn’t a fan of Angie Harmon’s when she was on Law & Order. But on this show, she shows a lot more personality.

Paula Newsome plays Claire Washburn, the Medical Examiner. She is the only one who is married and has kids. Her husband is a retired cop. She is kind of the responsible, sensible figure to turn to for the other ladies. She’s a good character because you see her working with dead bodies all day and then she goes home to her husband and kids. That must require quite a bit of seperating in her mind.

The lawyer in the club is Deputy DA Jill Bernhardt, played by Laura Harris (pictured below). In her job, she has to anticipate problems with a case. In her personal life, she does this too. This makes it hard for her to committ to her boyfriend, Luke (an ER doctor) or be happy with her life.

Rounding out the Women’s Murder Club is Cindy Thomas, a reporter for the San Francisco Register. Aubrey Dollar plays the young, eager journalist. Cindy wants to work the crime desk for the paper. She is persistent and finally gets Lindsay to talk to her. She continually shows up wherever Lindsay is, and often gives her valuable pieces of information.

This show is entertaining. The cases are serious, but then there are moments when the women talk about themselves, their lives, their days, whatever. It’s different to see that on a crime show. Their personalities mesh well together, as do their professional abilities.
There is a sub-story continually running through the show. There is a killer whom they call the Kiss Me Not Killer. He continues to elude them. I missed the first few episodes, so I’m not entirely sure what that’s about, but again, it’s different to have an unresolved case being brought up again and again. ABC has a good site for this show, with episode/cast/character info if your interested. You can also watch an episode online if you’ve never seen the show before.

James Patterson has written a billion books - five in 2007 alone. He wrote Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls, which were made into movies starring Morgan Freedman. There are six Women’s Murder Club books, with a seventh due out next year. James Patterson’s website is full of stuff - there are contests and reading discussion clubs. Very cool. So if you find yourself at home on a Friday night, don’t despair. Watch The Women’s Murder Club. It airs on ABC at nine.
Find out what else is good on tv at 451 Press.

It’s a harsh world we live in when television shows are awarded because of their portrayal of torture. Human Rights First chose to create their Excellence in Television award because of the prevalance of torture on tv. According to their statistics, incidents of torture on tv have increased greatly since 2000.

I became aware of this because of its connection to Criminal Minds. Of course, the episode that was recognized was “Lessons Learned,” in which Gideon interviews a Guantanamo Bay detainee. Also nominated were The Closer, The Shield, Lost, and Boston Legal. On HRF’s website, you can view clips of each of these shows, as well as a 14 minute feature on torture in television. (This is very interesting.)
What I found equally as interesting was all the criticism surrounding 24 and torture. I should say that I have never seen 24 - in which a season follows the course of events of one single day- so this was surprising to me. Everytime I would read about torture and television, 24 inevitably showed up.

Joel Surnow is the executive producer of 24. In his office is an American flag that once flew in Iraq. It was presented to Surnow by soldiers who had shared a collection of 24 DVDs.
In a recent New Yorker article, Surnow says:

The military loves our show. People in the Administration love the series, too. It’s a patriotic show. They should love it….Isn’t it obvious that if there was a nuke in New York City that was about to blow—or any other city in this country—that, even if you were going to go to jail, it would be the right thing to do?

24 creates a sense of urgency - each hour of the show represents an hour in the lives of the characters. Without a digital countdown clock, split screens, and immenent disaster, tension builds until it seems logical, patriotic, and even necessary to torture information out of people.
Surnow acknowledges that the show is formed from people’s anxieties, their fear of being attacked. “America wants the war on terror fought by Jack Bauer. He’s a patriot.” Of course he always saves the day. Why wouldn’t we want someone like him working on our side?
This attitude reaches all the way up - as Surnow says, the Bush Administration loves the show.
From the New Yorker: “Not long after September 11th, Vice-President Dick Cheney alluded vaguely to the fact that America must begin working through the ‘dark side’ in countering terrorism.”
This dark side is sanctioned by the Bush administration. Through secret memos and decisions, harsh interrogation tactics have been authorized. They found that “combined effects” were allowed. This means that the interrogators could use physical measures along with psychological ones to extract information. Among the physical tactics are head slapping, simulated drowning, and frigid temperatures. “Enemy combatants” are sometimes short-chained to the floor or in a fetal position with out food or water. Sleep deprivation and extremely long interrogations are also allowed. The New York Times has an extensive article on this.
But still, if a little sleep deprivation and a day without food or water is necessary to prevent an attack, why not? Professional interrogators agree that it does not work. It is not an effective means of getting information. And, oh yeah, it is inhumane. But concentrating on the effacacy: even the co-creater of 24, Bob Cochran, acknowledges that the situations in the show are not true to life.

Most terrorism experts will tell you that the ‘ticking time bomb’ situation never occurs in real life, or very rarely. But on our show it happens every week

Col. Herrington, a veteren interrogator, said on NPR that in his entire career he’d never come across a “ticking time bomb” type of situation. They simply do not happen, he says.

By using talking and nonviolent techniques, and by treating the detainee as a person, information is more forthcoming. This may sound naive but it’s said again and again by military interrogators who have done this for decades.
It is true that it is entertainment - it’s a television show. But the harm comes when young soldiers or recruits watch 24 and shows like it and think that’s the way the world works. And they do watch it, as Surnow proudly states. In Rachel Thomas’s TV Dramas blog, she writes:

Some U.S. soldiers have even gone so far as violating the Geneva Convention, citing the entertainment industry as the catalyst.

U.S. Army Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan, the dean of the United States Military Academy at West Point, flew to California in November to meet with the producers of 24. He believes that the show adversely affects American soldiers.

The kids see it, and say, ‘If torture is wrong, what about “24”?’ ” The disturbing thing is that although torture may cause Jack Bauer some angst, it is always the patriotic thing to do.

Another interesting point that I read was that extremists will not talk. If they are willing to die for their cause, they will not break down during torture.
Jane Mayer, in her New Yorker article writes:

Cochran (24’s co-creator) demanded to know what the interrogators would do if they faced the imminent threat of a nuclear blast in New York City, and had custody of a suspect who knew how to stop it. One interrogator said that he would apply physical coercion only if he received a personal directive from the President. But Navarro (an FBI expert on questioning techniques), who estimates that he has conducted some twelve thousand interrogations, replied that torture was not an effective response. “These are very determined people, and they won’t turn just because you pull a fingernail out,” he told me. And Finnegan argued that torturing fanatical Islamist terrorists is particularly pointless. “They almost welcome torture,” he said. “They expect it. They want to be martyred.” A ticking time bomb, he pointed out, would make a suspect only more unwilling to talk. “They know if they can simply hold out several hours, all the more glory - the ticking time bomb will go off!”

This is why, in “Lessons Learned,” Gideon has to lie to the detainee. He knows that he will not give up any information otherwise. Not through talking, and definatley not through torture.

There is a lot of information out there on this topic - it’s so important. How the US treats detainees influences the rest of the world’s opinion of us. It seems like the current administration thinks that life is a tv show and that they have to get the bad guys before they get us - and so they can use whatever method they want, including severe physical and emotional pain to get answers to their questions. It’s a scary world that we live in and we live in fear of a terrorist attack. We should also fear losing our humanity.

I read an essay in college on why torture should be allowed in certain situations. Say the suspect has a victim who will die unless the police get information from him. Or if a bomb will go off and kill many innocent people. If it can prevent a larger loss, why not? The essay was persuasive, and I found myself thinking, “Yeah, why not, if it will save people?”
Why not? Because it doesn’t work. This year Human Rights First created an award for awareness of human rights and torture on television. This award is intended to combat the image of torture we get from tv. Mentioned specifically is 24. In shows like this, torture is almost glamorized. The good guys need information and a few minutes of torture gets this for them so they can save the day. In reality, this intense, agonizing pain lasts and lasts.

Nominated are:
Criminal Minds episode “Lessons Learned.” In this episode, Agents Gideon, Prentiss, and Reid travel to Guantanamo Bay to interrogate a detainee who has information on an imminent terrorist attack. The CIA had been unable to get the detainee to even speak to them, even though they used violent measures. Gideon talks to the man, and by using his intellect, is able to get the man to talk to him.
Human Rights First nominated “Lessons Learned” because it depicts sophisticated techniques garner more information than torture.
The Closer is also nominated for this reason.

On the flip side, The Shield is nominated for depicting torture in a realistic way. Vic Mackey, the show’s main character, is a cop who on occasion bends the rules (by “bends,” I mean he kills people and works with drug dealers and stuff). Anyway, he is torturing a man whom he believes has information on who killed his partner. He beats him with a chain. I haven’t seen this episode, but The Shield can be very disturbing, so I’m sure it’s hard to watch.

The winner of this award will be named on October 15, so I’ll update you on who wins. Among the judges are two former interrogators: Joe Navarro (formerly with the FBI) and Tony Lagouranis (formerly with the Army). So when they say that the nonviolent techniques are more effective, they have the experience and knowledge to know what they’re talking about.

The Human Rights First website is very informative - and they have a section called “Take Action,” where you can read about Human Rights issues and actually do something about them.

National Public Radio also had a story on this subject, with the producer of The Shield episode which was nominated, Adam Fierro, as well as intelligence expert Col. Stuart Herrington. If you go to the NPR website, you can hear the story (just click on National Public Radio above). One interesting thing on this program was when they talked about shows like 24. In them, there is always an emergency and they need the info right away, so they have to resort to torture. Col. Herrington said that he had never been in a situation like that during his entire career. It just didn’t happen like that, he said, but young recruits watching the shows get the idea that is exactly how it happens. That’s another reason Human Rights First created this award - in reality, talking and nonviolent strategies will get more information than torture.

(I had no intention of insulting 24 - check out Watching 24 for more info on the show)

Without a Trace and Numb3rs are two more CBS procedurals. Like Criminal Minds, they chug along in their time slots, doing well, but not, for the most part, shows that are greatly talked about. Are they worth watching?

Without a Trace follows the NY Missing Persons Squad of the FBI. They use advanced profiling techniques to reconstruct the missing person’s last day. They investigate every aspect of the victim to try and figure out where they are - if they’ve been abducted, murdered, committed suicide, or run away. The team, led by Anthony LaPaglia, needs every second to find the missing person. As the show continues, more and more details of the characters’ lives come out. CBS seems to make a point of saying that about each of their procedural shows - the characters’ lives are an intregal part of the show. I’m not a regular watcher of this show - possibly because I go to bed ridiculously early most nights.
Thursday night, Without a Trace featured a case in which an 18 year old girl and her father are missing. The father’s job is to clean up crime scenes, and they wonder if this has something to do with their disappearance.
As the episode continued, you could see some of the personality of the victims coming through, which doesn’t always happen. The show was interesting, and the characters were as well. The only part that was kind of odd for me was when a suspect is plied with soda and coffee. During his trip to the bathroom, the head guy, Anthony LaPaglia, meets him and does a little interrogating there. He puts his head in the toilet and flushes a few times. He terrifies the young suspect into a confession. I wondered would an FBI agent put someone’s head in the toilet? Maybe I’d like to believe that wouldn’t really happen. Other than that, I liked Without a Trace. There was even one scene, when an agent had to inform a mother that her child was murdered, that gave me chillls. This never happens, but something about the scene was very striking to me.

Numb3rs is CBS’s third FBI procedural. In this one, Rob Morrow plays Don Eppes, and FBI agent in LA. He recruits his younger brother, Charlie (David Krumholtz) to help solve the more complex crimes. Charlies’s contribution is his brilliant mathematical mind. This show about a mathematician solving crimes for the FBI seemed weird to me, but then I found out it is based on actual events. Anyway, Charlie and his CalSci coworkers work their magic, while the other team members use more traditional methods. The cases in this show are interesting, and the math angle does make it unique. It’s actually entertaining to see Charlie solve complex mathematical equations (yes, it really is!). The characters are also interesting - and even though Charlie is often lost in his own world of numbers, he actually has a girlfriend. The brothers’ relationship to each other, as well as to their father (Judd Hirsch) seems pretty realistic.
In the recent episode, the team is trying to solve the murder of a young woman who is found dead at the home of a movie star. The show has some twists and turns (such as that the victim had plastic surgery performed so she and another woman would look like identical twins. This gave the woman an edge in their call girl careers). I like this show - math is hot.
Texas Instruments even teamed up with CBS to promote math. Their website, We All Use Math Everyday, offers teaching tools and suggestions as to how to use Numb3rs episodes in the classroom, as well as showing students and parents who relevant math is to everyday life. Very cool.

After watching all of CBS’s crime procedurals, it’s still the characters that make a show worth watching. All of the shows might have similar crimes but their approach to them makes them unique - or not. Why do I like Cold Case, Criminal Minds, and Numb3rs, but not CSI:NY or NCIS? It’s the characters and the way they tell their stories.
For more info on your favorite crime shows, check out Crime Drama TV.

Kirsten Vangsness plays Penelope Garcia, the keeper of all knowledge for the BAU. Her character is the antithesis of a typical FBI agent. She has an eclectic sense of style - everything from her clothes to her hair to her pens shows her personality. She’s a little sunshine for the BAU team.

In an interview with Matt Romanada from Inside Pulse, Romanado asks Kirsten if she had ever met an FBI agent through her work on the show.
Kirsten, having met two, replied:

Yeah the other guy is awesome. But yeah people would always say that my character wasn’t realistic. Then one day I get this note on my desk saying “We appreciate you.” And then one of the profilers came up to me and said, “I want you to know there is a whole basement of people like you at the BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit) and they worship you.”

It’s interesting out of all the characters on Criminal Minds, there is a basement full of Garcias.
Here’s a little Youtube of Garcia working her magic on the computers and phones, as well as her teammates. All the while with a smile.

I watched NCIS for the first time in a long time recently and noticed a character - also quirky and weird. Abby Sciuto, played by Pauley Perrette, is a forensics specialist. Like Garcia, her character is a direct contrast to the investigators around her. And like Kirsten Vangsness, Pauley Perrette writes a blog on CBS.com.

Even though NCIS has been on longer than Criminal Minds, I feel like Garcia is the more original character. She seems more natural in her quirkiness. You know how some people are just weird? That’s just who they are and who they act. Then there are other people who like to think they’re original and eccentric and have to really try. It does not come naturally. Abby seems to be one of those people that have to try - who knows…she could be a whacko in real life, but she just comes off as trying to hard to be different.
Criminal Minds was definately lucky to find Kirsten Vangsness. She’s definately the queen of all knowledge and of all weirdness. For some spoilers regarding Garcia, click here.

Today, I’m going to look at three more of CBS procedurals - Cold Case, CSI:Miami, and NCIS.

I like Cold Case. Why Cold Case and not CSI:NY? I don’t know. The really pale detective kind of intrigues me. Kathryn Morris plays Detective Lily Rush, who works in the cold case department. I don’t watch this all the time but more frequently than any other crime show besides Criminal Minds and CSI. I like how they use flashbacks in the show, as well as music from the time period the crime occured in. It’s kind of interesting that when they’re speaking to witnesses, they show them older, and then show them as they were when they were younger. The crimes in this show are not particularly different than any other show but since they are all cold cases, it makes it a bit more original. On the season premiere Sunday, the team investigates the 1998 murder of a fifteen year old girl. She was known to be promisicuous in high school and so joined as club called Heart Wait, which was an abstinence club. The show was pretty interesting. At the end of last season, the main character, Lily, was shot. They barely mentioned it in the new episode - it came up very briefly twice, so I think it may become a bigger issue later on. Cold Case also depicts the detective’s personal lives, which makes it more interesting.

CSI:Miami was spawned after the incredible success of the original CSI. Starring David Caruso as Horatio Caine, the Miami team also uses amazing technology to track down criminals, but they tend to focus on one crime per episode, instead of the typical two on the other CSI’s. Miami is the most watched U.S. series in the world. It’s Monday night’s highest rated show, and one of the most watched in America. Wikipedia has a run-down of the characters. I like this one better than NY but not as much as Vegas. I don’t know why! I love David Caruso, so that might be it. Emily Proctor is also a good actress and was a cutie on West Wing.
I just read in a blog on a hockey website (not sure what that has to do with CSI but whatever), “I watch CSI and CSI:NY but i can’t stand Miami. i think it’s David Caruso… i’m not sure. i think i heard it has the best ratings of the 3, though. ”
David Caruso must be a love him or hate him type of guy. The season opens with some suprising news for Horatio - he’s a father. Surprise - you have a teenager! And he is a suspect in the murder of a parole officer. CSI Files has a good synopsis of the episode. I’m behind on the back stories of the characters, but I could be persuaded to be a Miami fan.

NCIS(Navel Criminal Investigative Service)follows a team who investigates criminal activity in the Navy or Marine Corps. I’ve seen this once or twice. Like CSI:NY, not bad, but I have no urge to watch it really. Mark Harmon plays NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, who leads the team and seems kind of grouchy. I do have to say that I don’t know the characters or their stories so I don’t care about this show at all, regardless of the quality.
I watched the new episode on Tuesday. It was pretty good. I liked the story, but the characters made me lose interest half way through the show. Mark Harmon is the alpha dog, and the other two male team members constantly try to one-up each other. It doesn’t seem like friendly competition - it’s just mean. The quirky weird lab girl, Abbie, seems a little forced - like she really has to act for it, and the female team member, Ziva, is a former Moussad agent (sort of Israel’s version of the CIA). Her accent is a bit inconsistent. They all treat Mark Harmon - Gibbs - as a god and try to impress him, fearing his disapproval and glowing when they win his approval. That was kind of strange to me. Anyway, the story was interesting. I just didn’t like how the characters interacted - but that could be because I don’t really know them.

Characters for me are so important to the show. If I don’t like them, I won’t watch it, no matter how interesting the cases they investigate are. In the crowded field of crime procedurals, they have to have strong people to carry the story.

Do Numb3rs and Without a Trace have these strong people? I’ll talk about them next time.
One of the best procedurals is on tonight. Catch CSI at nine on CBS.

There are critics who say that Criminal Minds is just a rehash of other crime procedurals. CBS alone has eight other crime shows that air on primetime. Cold Case, CSI, CSI:NY, CSI:Miami, Numb3rs, Without a Trace, and NCIS. We’ll also throw in Moonlight because it’s about a private investigator vampire. It’s interesting that some of these shows are enormously popular while others go by seemingly unnoticed. It’s also interesting to me that I like some of these shows and not others. For instance, I love CSI, but will not watch CSI:NY or Miami. My sister loves Miami. I like Cold Case and Numb3rs but don’t care for NCIS. And I’ve only seen Without a Trace once or twice.
I wanted to see if these shows are really as similar as critics seem to think they are. And if they are, how can you prefer one over another?

I started with CSI. This is kind of the mother of all forensic procedurals. It’s on its eighth season and has retained its top stars throughout the show (but is soon to be minus Jorja Fox). This gives it an edge over the competition because it’s established. It doesn’t have to measure up to anyone else’s standards - it has set the standard. They have interesting tools to solve crimes and they delve a little into the characters’ lives, which is interesting. The season premiere was great - the last episode of last season left millions of CSI lovers wondering about the fate of one of the investigators. The premiere resolved that and moved the action of the show ahead.

I watched the series premiere of Moonlight Friday night. My fiance commented that he didnt’ think the show would last that long. I replied that it was the type of show that is on (or should be) at two in the morning. You can’t sleep so you turn on the tv; it’s a choice between an infomercial and a show about a vampire P.I. That’s exactly what it seemed like to me. It’s just the typical good guy vampire struggling to live without killing innocent people, while solving crimes. It didn’t seem to have anything special about it - at least Buffy was funny.

CSI:NY had its season premiere Wednesday, September 26. In the episode, the Statue of Liberty is the scene of the crime. This episode was OK. Not bad. I still think that this show isn’t as interesting because of the characters, but this could definately be because I don’t watch the show regularly. I don’t find them that interesting. On the CBS webpage’s description of the show, they hint to the dark pasts and secrets of the characters, but I’ve never seen the episodes that show this. I guess I haven’t given this show a chance, but I have really no urge to watch it again.

To me, Criminal Minds is very different from these shows. Instead of focusing on forensic evidence like the CSI’s, the profilers look at the crimes scene to gather behavioral evidence. Obviously, none of them are vampires. While the cases on CM might be similar to those on other shows, at least they have the whole human experience to draw from. Moonlight has vampires - and there are only so many plotlines for that, many of which have been done and redone.
Next, I’m going to check out CSI:Miami, Cold Case, and NCIS.