Criminal Minds

American Idol’s seventh season premiered last night - they’re at the stage where they audition all the freaks in the entire country. Tuesday’s two hour show will be followed up by another two hours tonight. If you’re already in need of a break from all the talent America has to offer, don’t worry. Criminal Minds is on CBS at nine. “Limelight” has the team investigating the contents of a storage unit which contains evidence of a serial killer. This is the last new episode for season three, and maybe the last for a while…make sure to check it out.
All hell is breaking loose with the WGA strike - writers’ contracts being terminated, production on new fall shows not taking place. I think we’re in for a lot more gameshows.

“3rd Life” helped propel CBS to a second place finish Wednesday night. CSI:NY also had a new episode. NBC was the top network, with new episodes of Deal or No Deal, which was more popular than CBS’s Power of Ten. The New York Times reports this morning that both CM and CSI:NY were tops in their timeslots. ABC was third, but had decent numbers for Wife Swap and Supernanny.

“3rd Life” was the first new episode we’ve seen in a few weeks and was much anticipated because of the guest appearance of Gina Mantegna. It was great to see a new episode, but it was disappointing in that that was one of the last new one for a while. I thought the episode was not one of the best CM has to offer. The whole plot twist with the witness protection thing was strange to me. I know it made sense because of the way they lived, how Lindsay was able to stay alive, and why her father faces no consequences for his actions. It just seemed kind of thrown in there. The character Gina Mantegna played also was odd to me. Again, this is because they were trying to show that she had a totally different view point than your average 15 year old, but it was still very strange seeing her. I know I have repeated the words Odd, Strange, and weird a lot, but that’s what this episode was for me. One bright spot was Spenser. I haven’t been loving his character much this season. Maybe that’s because they haven’t focused much on him personally, like they did last season. But two things stuck out in “3rd Life.” Just before the team finds out that Jack is in witness protection, they see that his buddy (aka a federal marshal) has a gun. Immediately, they all draw their guns. Spenser wasn’t hesitant at all. He looked like a real FBI agent. Not shaky or scared. Go, Spencer! The other was when Spenser happened to be the one to find Lindsay, Jack, and the kidnapper in the bathroom of the high school. He tries to talk Jack down from shooting the kid who took his daughter. Jack shoots him anyway. Spenser just looks shocked afterwards. During the whole scene he is very sure of himself, but after, he is just astonished. It made his character seem a little more grown up, like he could take care of himself and didn’t need the rest of the team to protect him.
Other than that, this was not one of my favorite episodes. Next week, “Limelight” will be on. The contents of a storage unit in Philadelphia are bought at an auction. Inside, there turns out to be evidence of a serial killer. The team must look at the items to profile the killer. A local agent becomes a focus of the investigation.

Trivia: The song that Katie is singing on her weblog and at the end of the episode is “Umbrella,” by Rihanna featuring Jay-Z. Here’s a Youtube of the song.

Tonight, Agent Morgan is in the spotlight as CBS replays “Profiler, Profiled.” He returns to his hometown for a visit only to have a murdered child show up. He becomes the focus of the police investigation, and his BAU team members are working to clear this up. He refuses to talk about his past, which leads them to the conclusion that he’s hididng something. This episode from season two is a good one if you missed it the first time around, and good for giving some background and depth to Shemar Moore’s character. “Profiler, Profiled” on on at nine tonight.

“3rd Life,” guest starring Gina Mantegna, will air on January 9. This has been pushed back a few weeks from its original airdate. This episode is eagerly awaited for two reasons: one, star Joe Mantegna is the father of Gina, who plays the missing teenager. Also, it’s the last of the new Criminal Minds episodes for the foreseable future.

(The picture above is from People Magazine - which named Shemar Moore as one of the sexiest men alive. He came in at a very respectable #10.)

Happy Day After Christmas!!
Tonight, CBS will reair an episode from season two. If you missed Mandy, this is a good time to tune in. “Distress” takes the BAU to Houston to investigate a series of murders surrounding construction sites, believed to have been done by a homeless person. This is the one where the homeless man turns out to be a former soldier. This was a sad episode, but good. There is a little more info at Criminal Minds Wiki.
Also, this is shortly after Reid was kidnapped and tortured so there are some differences in his character. This, by the way, is bugging me about season three. They have made very little reference to his supposed drug problem - so is it a problem? There’s not a lot going on with his character in season three. Anyway, hopefully, we can get some new episodes soon that look into him a little more.

This episode is at 8:00. At 9:00, the Kennedy Center Honors are on.

The Sun-Sentinal has a good article on the strike’s effects on programming. Negotiations, which were viewed optimistically, broke off on December 7. They won’t resume until after the new year. If there was an immediate end to the strike, we’d still have to wait months for new episodes because of production time. So the first few months of 2008 are going to be reruns, reality shows, game shows, and specials, regardless of whether or not the strike continues.

New shows that are out of episodes include Private Practice, Pushing Daisies, and Dirty Sexy Money. A lot of others are down to only a few, including Criminal Minds with only “3rd Life” left.

Fox is in pretty good shape, according to the article, because American Idol will be on soon, and that can take as much time as they need to fill. Also, its cartoon lineup on Sunday nights is fine because they need scripts to be written up to a year in advance.

There are some new shows to be seen: Law and Order and Medium will return to NBC with almost an entire season’s worth of new shows. Law and Order: Criminal Intent will return to NBC from USA, but they’ll reair shows that USA already ran. Reality shows will come in strong in the new year, and some new series will premiere.

CBS has Jericho episodes set to air in January. Shows like Criminal Minds, CSI, NCIS, and Without a Trace will continue to air reruns, which typically do pretty well in the ratings.

To read the entire article click here. It gives a rundown on what each network plans to do to get through the strike.

Even with a rerun, Criminal Minds won its Wednesday night timeslot. CBS won the night overall as well. “Clash of the Choirs” and “Duel” didn’t make huge waves, but they did about as well as they had for the previous airings Monday and Tuesday.

CM reaired “About Face.” This was a good episode, and seeing it again was cool because it was the first time Joe Mantegna made his appearance as David Rossi. At the end of the episode, he and Hotch have a little difference of opinion - Hotch says that they are a team, they think individually but share. Rossi refers to “group think.” Anyway, there was a definate need for adjustment. When Rossi started, they worked solo. They didn’t have all the support -no Garcias, no computers, no jet - so it is a big switch for old-school Rossi. In subsequent episodes, Rossi does take charge on occasion (like when he was interrogating Penelope about who shot her), but he hasn’t really overstepped the team’s boundries.

The story of “About Face” was pretty good. I liked the twist with the second victim, Enid, going missing. She actually bought a gun and is in hiding because the first victim reported seeing the missing fliers and no one helped her. But the killer finds her anyway. It was a rough first day on the job for Rossi - he has to shoot the suspect in the end, but he ends up saving Morgan.

The team dynamics are definately interesting with Rossi instead of Gideon. He gives the show an entirely different tone. Hopefully next week, we’ll see the new episode “3rd Life.” The last new one for a while, so it better be good!

I’m sad there is only one new episode of Criminal Minds. Shows like “Birthright” remind me how exciting and interesting the show is. The story involved missing and murdered young women in Virginia. As the team investigates, they find a victim of a similar crime that had happened 27 years ago. There was a series of killings in 1980, and this woman is the only survivor. She says she can’t help when the profilers come to talk to her, but she doesn’t appear frightened that the killer could be back. This leads them to believe the killer is dead, and they are led to his sons. They find out that the victim had become pregnant by her captor and had the child. They suspect him and go to talk to him. He knew about his father, but he cared so much about his mother that he never told her he knew - he played along with her lie.
The killer also had a son by his wife, who becomes the prime suspect. He doesn’t show up for work, and the BAU goes to his house.
There, they find a pregnant wife and a barn. As they search the barn, they find signs that he’d been torturing women there, but not holding them there. Now they need to figure out where the women are being held. They bring the only survivor of the 1980 crimes to the scene, hoping she can help in some way. She sees her captor’s wife and starts yelling at her…why didnt’s she stop him? Why didn’t she help her? She must have known what’s going on. The wife becomes so upset that she blurts out that she killed him. This kind of takes everyone aback. She said she came home - while pregnant, by the way - and saw all the blood. She figured out what was going on and killed her husband so he wouldn’t hurt anyone else. She didn’t want her son to know that his father was a murderer. But he does find out and continues his father’s legacy.
The surviving victim remembers walking to the barn, a long walk, uphill, with boulders along the way. The wife then remembers a piece of property that fits the description, and the team is led to the women. But not the killer.
Meanwhile, the killer’s pregnant wife goes to a spot where she knows he goes to be alone. She confronts him, and as the BAU is rushing to find him, they hear a shot. When they come to the scene, the killer is laying on the ground. His wife says that he came after her and she had to shoot him. She looks at the first killer’s wife, and it’s understood that that wasn’t exactly the case. She killed him for the same reasons his mother had killed his father.
It was perfectly symmetrical, and you kind of wonder what this unborn baby is going to turn out like.

Anyway, it was an interesting episode, and the story was entertaining. JJ gets a little more focus in “Birthright.” She is extremely bothered by this case. Hotch points out to her that the victims of crimes they investigate tend to be around her age. She identifies with them, and is wondering if she can stop caring so it’d be easier.
We also discover the mystery of the bracelet Rossi carries. He’s talking to the sheriff who investigated the 1980 crimes. This guy was haunted by the case, he knew every detail, but he couldn’t solve it back then. Rossi tells him that he carries this bracelet because he had a case where three children watched their parents get beaten to death on Christmas Eve. He promised them that he’d find their killer, but he need succeeded. This has bothered him for 21 years. And he notes, that every Christmas Eve, he calls to tell the children that he hasn’t forgotten and will find the killer. Last year, none of them bothered to return his call.
I liked how they used the former sheriff as a way for Rossi to tell his story. At the end, the former sheriff tells Rossi not to let it get to 22 - meaning not to let another year go by with his haunting case hanging over his head.
Hotch is also served with divorce papers at the end of the episode.

Criminal Minds repeat “Scared to Death” loss in the Wednesday night ratings war. A new episode of Private Practice won the nine o’clock time slot. Private Practice helped ABC win the 18-49 year old group. NBC led in total viewers. CBS rebounded with a rerun of CSI:NY at ten.
That’s to be expected. “Scared to Death” originally aired not very long ago, and Practice was new. CM does have a few more new episodes to offer, so I’m sure the ratings will be back up for those.

And speaking of new episodes, Joe Mantegna’s daughter, Gina, will be making a guest appearance on her dad’s show. Gina Mantegna plays a teenage girl, who is missing and whose best friend is brutally murdered in “3rd Life.”

Miss Mantegna is most well known for her role in the 2006 movie, Unaccompanied Minors.

Some info on upcoming episodes:
CBS will air an original episode of Criminal Minds next week. “Birthright” takes the BAU to Fredericksburg, VA to track down a killer who victimizes young women. He makes them pretend they’re at a party.

That would be too simple. The murders resemble ones that occured 25 years before. If you want to be surprised DON’T READ ANYMORE!! It turns out that 25 years ago, in similar circumstances, one of the kidnapped women escapes. But she has a child as a product of rape by her captor. The killer’s wife is also pregnant. She figures out what’s going on and kills him so he can’t hurt anymore people.
Anyway, now is the son taking after his father? That’s pretty twisted.

In “3rd Life,” the BAU visits the west coast. This is the episode Gina Mantegna plays in. The case involves two missing teenage girls. One of the girls is murdered, and the team has to race to save the other girl (the still-missing girl is Gina).

“Birthright” airs next week, December 12, and “3rd Life” is scheduled for December 19.

“Scared to Death” reaired last night on CBS. Because of the WGA strike, there are only three more new episodes of Criminal Minds for season three.
An end to the strike doesn’t appear likely. Tuesday, Les Moonves, CBS chief executive, said that both sides were still far apart. “I am hopeful, I’m not terribly optimistic,” Moonves said, as the strike goes into its fifth week.
He added:

We are certainly not going to go dark…Ratings will probably not be as high without the influence of original programming, but costs will be down.

Schedule space can be filled with sports, reality shows, or specials. I said last week that the strike hadn’t really affected me…then CBS aired the best moments in Grammy history. I was wrong. If I didn’t know there was a writers strike, I’d think that there was a contest among the networks for worst evening programming ever.
But there are new episodes, and shows like Criminal Minds, L&O, Cold Case, Without a Trace, and NCIS, tend to do well in repeats. This is part of the reason why CM has been successful - you don’t have to watch it each time to enjoy it. It’s not a serial, so it’s easy to catch up. It’s also easy to watch an episode from last season. Some cast changes may have been made, but you know what’s going on and the episode is self-contained.

In other strike news, Ellen Degeneres and Carson Daly crossed picket lines and resumed production of their shows. While criticised for not supporting the writers, I think this was a good choice. The other people involved in production get to keep working. Some big names have been paying their out-of-work support people. Jay Leno is paying his staff while they’re down. His brothers in late night have done the same. David Letterman, Conon O’brien, Jimmy Kimmel, and Craig Ferguson will continue to pay salaries even as their shows go dark. This essentially comes out of their own pockets.

Tonight, CBS is going to reair “Scared to Death.” This is the episode with the pshychiatrist who uses his patients’ fears to kill them.
Not to deter people from watching tonight, but I think this was the weakest episode of season three. If you’ve seen it before, tell me what you think. If you haven’t, definately tune in, because even a weak Criminal Minds episode is worth watching.

The Futon Critic reports today that Criminal Minds delivered its highest ratings since the post-Super Bowl show in February (”The Big Game”). CM was first among overall viewers, 18-49, and 25-54 age groups. The numbers were up from last week, and for the past three weeks, CM’s ratings have won their time slot.
The last three shows have been great - I especially liked “True Night,” with Frankie Muniz. Apparently a lot of other people did as well. He helped them attain their best ratings in almost a year.
This week, CBS will re-air “Scared to Death.” This was not one of my favorites, but maybe the second time around will be better. This is the one with the psycho psychiatrist who uses his patients’ biggest fears to kill them. Take a look on Wednesday night at nine on CBS.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, CM won the Wednesday nine o’clock rating race, beating Pushing Daisies and Bionic Woman. This pushed CBS to a second place finish in the 18-49 group and a victory in overall viewers. Good news for Pushing Daisies though. They rebounded from last week’s poor numbers and had higher than average ratings. Bionic Woman didn’t have the same luck - the show had its lowest 18-49 score of the season. CM had its highest ratings since February 7. Whether it’s Joe Mantegna or the dramatic “Penelope” episode, more viewers are tuning in to Criminal Minds.
The big winner of the night was “Shrek the Halls,” on ABC. The half-hour special had the highest 18-49 rating of the night.

P.S. If you’re a devoted CM fan but want to check out Private Practice or Pushing Daisies, ABC has the full episodes available online. You can also see Bionic Woman online at NBC.com.

Last night, I was watching Criminal Minds with my fiance, who can be at times the most insensitive person alive. But he surprises me on occasion. After the show, he said that something about the show is different. He said maybe it was just this episode but the mood was entirely different. So I tried to pump him for information, but that’s really all he said, other than that it was more action-based, where the others were more pensive. There is usually a race to save another victim, and this didn’t happen in “True Night.” There was also not a lot of profiling going on, which I didn’t really notice until he said something about it being different. This was an episode that focused on the killer instead of the BAU members. As the episode progressed, you could kind of profile him yourself. John’s (Frankie Muniz)flashbacks let the viewer understand what was happening. He kept calling his girlfriend’s phone and getting her message that she was out living her life. This was emphasized so much that of course she was dead. My fiance was right: the tone was very different. It almost made you feel crazy as John relived the attack on himself and his girlfriend but didn’t really seem to realize that it actually happened. And he had no idea that he was killing people (all gang members, who were responsible for the attack). He drew the crime scenes as pages of a graphic novel.

John’s agent talks to the FBI and tells them about the behavior he’s noticed in John - the erratic behavior, calling his girlfriend’s cell, the change in his work. When John’s led into the police station, he looks confused, and you can almost hope he didn’t do it.
When he’s being interrogated by Hotch, Rossi, and Prentiss, they have to convince him that he’d been attacked. A huge scar lays across his abdomen. It’s like telling him his girlfriend is dead all over again, and he finally remembers.

At the end of the episode, he is in a hospital/institution, and he’s surrounded by drawings of his girlfriend. Still calling her cell phone to listen to her voice.
On the plane home, Prentiss wonders if anyone is capable of this. John went from a writer and artist to a murderer in six months. If he could do that, anyone could.
I was kind of surprised that cute little Malcolm in the Middle could be a convincing serial killer. He was really good. He looked the part, but still managed to have an innocence about him.

I really did like this episode. It was different and more unsub-focused. The profilers played a very small role in “True Night,” which I wouldn’t really enjoy watching week after week, but it was a good change.
The more I think about it, the more that this episode is one of the ones I like best. It’s not often that shows can make you feel a certain way, but you definately feel John’s emotions and feel sorry for him at the end. Even my aforementioned insensitive fiance felt bad for him.
What did you think of the episode? Good, bad, ugly?

If your favorite show has run out of new episodes, it’s a good time to check out what’s new on DVD at TV on DVD. - I am still waiting anxiously for the second half of the last season of The Sopranos to come from Netflix.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday - it’s one of the only times I get to see my whole family. (Except for my brother - Happy Thanksgiving), so I love it.

Also, one of my favorite tv sites, Buddy TV, has some details on upcoming CM episode, “Birthright.” Birthright is expected to air on December 12 at nine. Sounds interesting…I guess you can inherit anything from your parents.

Anyway, on to our “Penelope” recap…

Good episode. This one was the best of the season, and the most exciting one since Reid was kidnapped. We got to learn a bit more about Penelope - losing her parents, how she was recruited by the FBI. It’ll be interesting to see if this episode did as well as last week’s, which topped Private Practice in the ratings for the first time.

At the beginning of the episode, she’s weaving in and out of consciousness. As the BAU, sans Morgan, gather at the hospital, Hotch tells Rossi that the EMT said it didn’t look good. Morgan is in church and isn’t answering his phone.
Pretty early in the episode, we find out that Garcia is going to be ok. But no one knows what happened. She tells them that her date shot her and that she should’ve listened to Morgan. The team is told not to investigate the case because Garcia has been suspended. She encrypted a program with the team’s info, and the internal affairs unit is investigating this. It comes out that she was hired by the FBI because she was a dangerous hacker. They wanted her on their side.
Morgan takes Penelope home from the hospital and stays with her. They patch up their friendship, which is a sweet scene. While he’s there, though, he’s awakened by gunshots. The officer guarding the door is shot by Penelope’s attacker. Morgan chases him but isn’t able to get him.
After this, the team gathers at Garcia’s house. They aren’t getting anywhere, and all of a sudden, David Rossi starts yelling at Garcia. Telling her to spit it out, what does she know, what was she working on. Morgan is telling him to stop, but he continues, while Garcia looks scared. Finally, she tells them that she counsels victims’ families. Sometimes she is asked how cases are going. So she’d flagged a few so the lead detetective would know the FBI considered them priorities. She doesn’t have authority to do this, which is why she didn’t want to tell them. But it provides the vital clue.
Meanwhile, Nicholas Brendan appears to try and crack Garcia’s system. It’s very cute when he’s in her office and she’s at home. They’ve never seen each other, but they are almost flirting as they try to beat each other into the system. (I really liked his character. He looked like he rolled out of bed, took a shower the day or so before, threw on some clothes that were on his floor, and left. Not like he was trying to look like he didn’t care, but really didn’t.)
Anyway, it turns out that a few cases Garcia flagged involved the same deputy sheriff - who is none other than her date.
So, he’s in the BAU, being questioned by internal affairs (they don’t know yet he did it). The computer tech (whose name I’ve honestly forgotten) and Garcia communicate with each other and he’s sending her video of the BAU. They see the deputy and call Hotch, who is there. The deputy starts getting suspicious. The team calls JJ, who is in her office. They tell her what’s going on, and she is able to get behind the attacker, who is holding the internal affairs guy hostage. She shoots through a window, getting the guy right in the head. It was an amazing shot, especially from JJ (who for some reason I didn’t expect to be able to shoot like that).
Anyway, at the end, Garcia meets the tech. She tells JJ that everything happens for a reason. So the two computer techies are gazing into each other’s eyes, impressed by the other’s abilities. It’s very cute and sweet.

I really liked this episode. I liked how Rossi went at Garcia. He knew it was the only way to get the information and that he was the only one who could do it because he was the one without all the ties to her. It was also nice to see how much Garcia means to the team. She’s so different from the rest of them, but also so important to the team and to their lives.
I wonder if Nicholas Brendan will appear in any more episodes…they’d make a cute couple.

I’m a little late putting this up. I really forgot it was Wednesday. My week is a little messed up so hopefully I’ll remember to watch Criminal Minds.
Tonight at nine is the continuation of last week’s episode, “Lucky.” “Penelope” will pick up where we left off - Garcia’s date just shot her. The rest of the team is working on finding her killer and wondering if it’s related to her work (awfully coincidental that this guy was in the coffee shop she always goes to and just happens to have a computer problem). Nicholas Brendan, of Buffy the Vampire fame, guest stars as a computer tech who is hired to try to interpret Garcia’s computer system and see if anything she was working on yields some clues.
Sounds good - I’ll definately remember to watch this one. I think it’ll be interesting to see the interactions of the rest of the team and how David Rossi fits into this. It’s an us vs. them type of situation, so we’ll see if he’s an us or a them.