Criminal Minds

Here’s a recap of last night’s episode, “Children of the Dark.” (CBS 9:00)

There has been a series of home invasions in Denver suburbs in which entire families are killed. The parents are tied up and beaten to death while the children watch. The children are then taken into their bedrooms and given a lethal injection, the killer’s idea of mercy.
Hotch and the team travel to Colorado to investigate. They conclude the two unsubs are working together. As they try to find the killing team, another family falls victim to them. This time, however, there is a survivor. A teenage girl is left alive by one of the killers (as it turns out, she reminded him of his sister). In the course of the investigation they figure out that the killers were in foster care, and through this are able to track one of them down. He refuses to tell them who his partner is, until the girl he left alive came in to talk to him. She is able to get him to talk. This is a sad scene because she reaches out to the man who killed her family, and then after is kind of disgusted by it.

Hotch and Prentiss go to talk to the foster mother who raised these two killers. As she talks with them, a young boy comes into the kitchen. He finds the refridgerator locked and asks for some milk. She will not give it to him - she wears the key around her neck.
The killers are killing parents who they see as abusive (even though they are not). They kill the children to spare them the horror of going into foster care. Gary, the other killer, shows up at a school. We see him talking to the young boy from the foster home and another little girl. He says he grew up where they live and offers them a ride. At the time, the team has learned who he is and who he is targeting. They follow him to a donut shop where he is inside with the boy. They figure that Gary plans to kill his former foster parents. He’s inside with the boy and Hotch talks him into coming out. Hotch thinks something is wrong because he gave up so easily. They then figure out that Gary gave the little boy a gun (they did not search the boy) so he could shoot the foster parents when he got back home.

Prentiss and Morgan drop the children off at the home and are in the car about to leave when they hear gunshots. Running inside, they find the boy with the gun. The foster mother is on the floor, unharmed. The boy didn’t shoot her, which gives hope that he won’t turn out like the killers.

This is a hard episode to summarize shortlly. It was a good one and very sad. It was hard for the agents to send the children back to that foster home, but they had no choice. There was no where else for the kids to go, and until an investigation by child services was concluded, they had to stay where they were. And it’s also sad because you can see that the killers were trying to help the children, in their very twisted way. This makes it no less painful for the surviving teenager, and in fact, probably makes it harder because her hatred is tempered by knowing they were so abused by the people who were supposed to take care of them.

“Children of the Dark” did not focus much on the characters’ lives - at one point Emily tells Hotch that she will take the teenager home with her. Hotch tells her he needs her to be objective, and she tells him that she needs to be human. On the plane home, JJ tells Emily that she would be a good mother. At the same time, Hotch is on the phone, asking someone to wake his son up so he can hear his voice. I’m assuming this is Haley, but they never said a word about her in this episode, so I don’t know what’s going on with that situation.

Also look for Joe Mantegna’s CM debut in two weeks - the team will be introduced to Agent David Rossi.

Criminal Minds made the top ten last week, this time in the US. The show was #9 according to the Nielsen ratings. Hopefully this week’s episode, “Children of the Dark” can continue their winning streak.

In the highly competitive nine o’clock Wednesday time slot, you can add another few million to the ratings numbers. Bionic Woman, Private Practice, and Criminal Minds could count a few more fans because of DVR. Millions of people recorded shows to watch later, thus boosting the ratings. Thursday is also a tough night, having CSI, Grey’s Anatomy, and The Office vying for viewers. This prompted ten million people to watch one or more of the shows later.
This was amazing to me: 17% of Grey’s Anatomy’s viewers were not watching the show when it aired. Early ratings put the show at 19.1 million viewers. Adding the DVR viewers brought the total up to 23 million.
These new numbers changed the network rankings. CBS won the first week, while ABC had claimed that honor based on initial viewers.
USA Today’s Gary Levin writes:

The new figures “are very reassuring for us,” says CBS research chief David Poltrack, by reducing year-to-year viewership declines from 7% to a “more manageable” 4% for the Big 4 networks

.

Shows like Bones, Family Guy, Prison Break, Smallville, and The Reaper were most benefited by the DVR numbers - about 17% of their audiences were watching the shows at a later time.

USA Today also reports that DVR usage is more common in younger viewers, and they tend to record returning shows rather than new ones. Also, more digital recording was probably going on during the first weeks of the season until people could decide on a favorite.

I’m still at the point where if I want to watch a show and I’m not home or am watching something else, I have to miss it or dig out some old VHS tapes. Sad. But it looks like a lot of other people are digitally recording and boosting viewership for all the networks.

To read the complete top ten list, click here. (more…)

Last night, “Scared to Death” aired on CBS. This was Criminal Minds first Mandy-free episode, though his character was mentioned several times. When the show opens, Spencer is sitting at his desk rereading his letter. They quickly move on to other matters - a serial killer in Portland, Oregon. The team travels there to investigate and eventually figure out that the deaths had to do with phobias. From there, they need to figure out who is responsible. Through a lucky spotting of a flier in a laundromat, they are led to Dr. Howard (aka Dr. Goodman), in time to save his latest victim from being buried alive.

I really like Criminal Minds, I write a blog about it. But did anyone else think “Scared to Death” was kind of…boring?
The doctor was torturing these people, recording their responses, while having flashbacks to his mom making him sleep in the dark. Michael O’Keefe as Dr. Howard was kind of creepy, but it seemed like they crammed all of his motives into 45 minutes, and it didn’t quite work. It did cover all the bases; his abusive childhood, his naggy wife, his change in behavior, his treatment of his daughter. But it seemed like they hurried to put this all in so it’d make sense at the end.
Criminal Minds can be very creepy - like in “Revelations” or “North Mammon,” from season two. This one didn’t have the same feeling to it. It also felt like the characters were kind of wooden; they didn’t seem as dynamic as they usually are - with the exception of Spencer and Morgan getting stuck in the elevator…that was pretty funny.

What was interesting, though, was their response to Gideon leaving. Spencer is clearly upset. He talks to Emily at one point and says that Gideon confronted the most violent, dangerous criminals in the world. If he had enough courage to do that, why did he just leave a letter? Emily tells him to read it again and figure out why the letter was written to him. Out of all the people he left behind, why did he only bother to explain to Spencer?
Morgan also brings him up. On the flight home, he says that the team is doing just fine without Gideon.
Besides Gideon leaving, the only personal note was when Hotch tells Morgan that Haley has left, and he didn’t know if she was coming back.

“Scared to Death” was all right. It wasn’t one of their best episodes, but it was still entertaining. I’m looking forward to Joe Mantegna’s debut (on October 31 - Halloween) to bring some tension to the team and move some action along.

In the second week of the new television season, CBS is leading the other networks in primetime. CSI was the most-watched show, with 20.97 million viewers. CSI:Miami, NCIS, and Criminal Minds were in the top ten, according to the Associated Press. Criminal Minds brought in 14.56 million viewers.
CBS averaged 11.41 million viewers for the week. ABC was second at 10.78 million, followed by NBC (9.24) and Fox (7.01).
Frazier Moore of the AP writes:

With nearly all the new fall shows on the air, viewers last week had a powerful response: We still like the old shows.
Maybe old habits are just hard to break. Or maybe viewers haven’t yet stumbled on the freshman crop.

So far, CM seems to be a solid show for CBS. In its third season, it delivers consistently entertaining episodes. And all the publicity surrounding Mandy Patinkin’s departure and Joe Mantegna’s arrival doesn’t seem to have hurt.

Tonight’s episode, “Scared to Death,” has Hotch and his BAU profilers tracking down a serial killer. Not just your average ordinary killer - he may a psychiatrist. The team thinks that hte doctor finds out what his victims fear most and uses that fear to kill them. The victims have all recently moved to Portland and have not developed strong ties to the area. (Michael O’Keefe plays Dr. Stan Howard.)
“Scared to Death” will air on CBS at nine tonight and will be Criminal Minds’ first Gideon-free episode.

Frankie Muniz, of Malcolm in the Middle fame is set to appear on an episode of Criminal Minds to air on November 28, sweeps week. The episode will feature Muniz as a famous comic book artist who becomes involved in the team’s investigation of a serial killer. Zap 2 It writes in an October 4 article, “First Dawson now Malcolm? Oh “Criminal Minds,” why must you keep toying with our favorite child stars?”
James Van Der Beek (Dawson) appeared on two episodes of CM in season two. Those were my two favorite episodes! The former Dawson’s Creek star was in “The Big Game” and “Revelations,” in which he was a religious fanatic with multiple personalities who killed people and used a webcam so he could put videos of their deaths on the net and then kidnapped Reid and pumped him full of drugs after his other personality tortured him. (I know that’s not properly written but it’s as succinct as I can get.)

Pushing Daisies is always described as “quirky” by reviewers. It debuted last night on ABC and was indeed quirky. And popular. The show about Ned, a pie maker who can raise the dead with a touch, was first among viewers 18-49 for the eight o’clock hour on Wednesday.

In Wednesday’s highly competetive nine o’clock hour, Media Life Magazine reports that while Private Practice won the timeslot with the 18-49 group, Criminal Minds was first in overall viewers - 12.8 million. (The 18-49 year old age bracket is the most sought-after. Advertisers put their money where those people watch as they have more expendable income.)

Media Life also noted that digital recording also scews numbers a bit.
As a reminder, the increase in digital video recorders this year in Nielsen’s sample could have a big impact on ratings. Some shows may see their declines lessen when those results are out, which will be several weeks.

So people may be watching the show but not at the time it airs.

Channel Canada reports that Criminal Minds was the show to beat at nine o’clock.
Criminal Minds

nearly tripled the audience of Bones nationally, was the most-watched non-sports program of the night in Toronto/Hamilton and Vancouver; was nearly three times stronger in Toronto and more than double the speed in Vancouver of Bionic Woman on NBC.

CSI:NY, immediately following CM, was Canada’s second most-watched show on Wednesday night.

If you want some good Criminal Minds spoilers, check out Buddy TV. If you don’t want to know anything until you see it, don’t read any further.
Later in the season, Garcia is in a diner and helps someone unfreeze his laptop. They go on a date, which apparently doesn’t go well. He shoots her. Yes, that’s right, he shoots Garcia. He leaves her and that’s where the episode ends.
In the next episode, emergency teams try to save her, as we see flashbacks to different points in her life. (In two, she’s a child with her parents. In another, she is at a funeral with two caskets, which may be her parents.)
No, no more stars are leaving the show, so Penelope lives.
Nicholas Brendan -aka Zander from Buffy - will play Kevin, who the team hires to help crack Garcia’s system. They hope that something she was working on will give them a clue to her shooting. He finds something “shocking” and drama ensues. At the end, a possible love match between the two techies is hinted at. Nicholas Brendan will appear on the one episode definately and may appear more if his character is well-received by viewers.

Sounds exciting. This show keeps the surprises coming. Garcia goes on her date November 14, and Nicholas Brendan makes his CM debut on November 21.

Hotch is gone, Prentiss is gone, Gideon is gone. The team goes to Milwaukee. Hotch comes back. Prentiss comes back. They arrest the serial killer using his son as bait. Gideon’s still gone. And Haley’s gone. Just a quick recap for “In Name and Blood.” This episode wrapped up some loose ends from last week and also gave us some new loose ends. Hotch and Prentiss are back with the team. Section Chief Erin Strauss travels with the team to Milwaukee to work the case. While there, she actually sees what the BAU does. She can’t do it. She insults the local detective, takes control when she shouldn’t, and then finally, breaks down at a crime scene when she steps on a victim’s hair. Having seen the reality of their job, she relents. Hotch is back but cannot move up in the chain of command. This is a big deal as he wanted to become FBI director.
Spencer worries about Gideon and finally goes to check on him at his cabin hide-away. Inside, he finds empty shelves and a gun, badge, and letter on Gideon’s desk. He tries to explain to Spencer why he’s leaving - not committing suicide as was implied last week. At the end, we see him traveling alone, trying to find hope again.
The new loose end - when Hotch gets back from Milwaukee, Haley is gone. Earlier in the episode, the phone rings. When Hotch picks up, the caller hangs up. Seconds later, Haley’s cell rings. She ignores it. When she leaves the room, she grabs her purse. Hmmmmm.

I thought this was a good episode - the big huge deal that was Mandy Patinkin’s leaving the show was quietly dealt with. The case the team was working on was interesting, and you can feel the itchy, tense feeling when they’re racing to find the unsub before his victim dies. Also interesting was that Hotch mentioned - fleetingly - that one of his team members has a possibly serious drug addiction. Hmmmmm again. Spencer seems to be functioning pretty well for someone addicted to heroin, but I guess I wouldn’t really know. Maybe this comes up in future episodes.

Tonight’s episode of Criminal Minds is “In Birth and Death.” Originally scheduled to the the season opener, it was pushed back to number two after “Doubt” was taken out of season two’s lineup and edited to fit in Mandy Patinkin’s departure.
“In Birth and Death” finds Hotch requesting a transfer and Prentiss resigning, presumably because of her refusal to help oust Hotch. Gideon is missing, and the three remaining team members have to investigate a serial killer in Milwaukee who abducts women in public places by using his son as bait. Sounds like a full episode. The mystery of how Gideon is going to leave the show will be solved - at the end of “Doubt,” he was finished writing a letter and was holding his gun. It looks like Spencer is going to be the one to go look for him, so we’ll have to see what happens.
“In Birth and Death” airs on CBS on Wednesday, October 3, at 9:00.

According to SyFyPortal, the premiere of Bionic Woman beat out Criminal Minds in the ratings Wednesday night. First was Dancing with the Stars, then Private Practice. Criminal Minds came in a surprising (to me) fourth place. Overall, CBS finished second for the night, behind ABC and ahead of NBC.
Michael Hinman of SyFyPortal writes:

In terms of audience demographics… “Bionic Woman” was a big winner, according to Variety. In the key demographic of adults 18 to 49, “Bionic” was a big winner with a whopping 5.5/14, the best rating in that timeslot since the premiere of “The West Wing” in 1999.
“Bionic Woman” clearly won the night in the key demo categories, even beating out “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff “Private Practice,” and was able to build on a poor lead-in from “Deal or No Deal,” which has seen better days.

Criminal Minds faced tough competition Wednesday.
Dancing With the Stars has been insanely popular with viewers worldwide. There are a bunch of different versions based on the English Strictly Come Dancing, and the format was the most popular type of programming in the world in 2006. It is shown in countries such as the US, Australia, Austria, Chile, South Africa, Sweden, Poland, India, Israel, Japan….and many more. I had no idea it was this popular - I have never seen an episode and I’ve never heard of any of the celebrities they have on this year. Kind of takes the fun out of Dancing with the Stars when you don’t know the stars.

Private Practice is also a highly anticipated show as it’s a spinoff of popular Grey’s Anatomy.

Criminal Minds is one of those shows that just quietly does its business. I think it has a loyal following and will attract new viewers with the Mandy Patinkin-leaving drama and the addition of Joe Mantegna. Hopefully, as the newness factor fades for Bionic Woman and Private Practice, more people will tune into CM. This season is off to a good start, and it looks like it’ll be as exciting and dramatic as usual. E!Online reports that the 2007 premiere of Criminal Minds was down three million viewers from the season two premiere. And CSI:NY, while the most watched show of the ten o’clock hour, was down 3.5 million viewers. Maybe they’re stronger in reruns? But these shows do have an advantage - you don’t really need to see the premiere to watch the show. Both are pretty self-contained, and viewers who missed the premieres can definately catch up next week.

So that’s how they’re going to write Gideon off the show. Criminal Minds third season started off with Gideon alone in a cabin writing a letter to the one he knew would go looking for him - he is talking about the death of his friend Sarah and the case they worked on immediately after. That case, of course, is the killings of several women at a small college (which was held over from last season). As the flashback unfolds, Gideon sees his murdered friend in the crowd, watching him. The episode was entitled “Doubt,” and that is exactly what Gideon feels. He isn’t sure of himself anymore, in both his personal and professional life. As he writes the letter, he discusses this, as well as the horrors that he can no longer live with. At the end, he is holding a gun.
Meanwhile, the section chief, Erin Strauss, is out to get Hotch, and is extorting Prentiss to help her. The campus situtation is resolved when the killer is killed by a suicidal copycat, who then plunges a knife into her stomach. Strauss takes issue with Hotch’s handling of the case and suspends him.
So that’s where it’s left - the next episode, “In Birth and Death,” has Gideon missing, Hotch requesting a transfer, and Prentiss resigning. The remaining team members struggle to catch a serial killer in Milwaukee who abducts women from very public places.
I thought that the season premiere was excellent. It was exciting, and I liked how they wove Gideon’s eventual departure into the pre-existing show.
There is something wrong with the layout of this page - sorry. I couldn’t get into it last night to work on it. Of course, on the night of the premiere. I’m surprised my power didn’t go out or something. Anyway, I apologize and will see what I can do to get it fixed.