Criminal Minds

New episodes are coming, but you can check out what CBS stars were up to on their forced vacation at ET online.

It looks like Criminal Minds is off for a week. Tonight, CBS is playing Survivor, Big Brother 9, and CSI:NY. Next week, CM will reair “Birthright,” the episode of father and son serial killers (which was pretty good). I doubled checked and both CBS and TV Guide have those listings -so no CM tonight

But, April 2, we’ll get to see a brand new episode. “Damaged” will have Rossi going to Indianapolis to work on the case that has been haunting him for twenty years.

You’re in luck if you like comedy - CBS is airing NEW episodes of its Monday night comedies tonight. The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, The New Adventures of Old Christine, and Two and a Half Men are all new, starting at eight. (CM fans will have to hang in a little longer for new episodes, but April 2 is coming soon!) Ratings aren’t expected to explode, however. This from The Hollywood Reporter:

“We’re certainly excited to have some shows back, but I don’t think we’ll be at full strenght right away. It’s going to take awhile for people to realize original programming is back,” said one CBS executive.

No surprises in the Wednesday night ratings - American Idol and Moment of Truth beat out the competition. NBC came in second with Deal or No Deal at eight, and won the ten o’clock slot with Law & Order. CBS’s not so popular season of Big Brother placed sixth in the 18-49 group, which didn’t help Criminal Minds or CSI:NY, which ran after Big Brother. Overall, CBS was fourth in the 18-49 group and third in total viewers.

CBS is airing Criminal Minds on a special night - “Identity” will be on Saturday at nine. This is the episode that features a serial killing duo. One partner kills himself, and the BAU has to find the remaining member before a victim dies. (Not one of the greatest episodes but still worth watching.)

Also, CBS has redesigned their Criminal Minds website page. There are tons of photos, episode recaps, and a section where fans can chat about different topics. One thing I notice they don’t have at the moment is Kirsten Vangsness’s blog - hopefully she’s just too busy with work!

The National Ledger has a little story about Joe Mantegna’s thoughts about going back to work after the writers’ strike. Here’s an excerpt from the story (for the rest, click here):

Joe Mantegna reports that since his “Criminal Minds” series returned from its strike-induced production break, the team has been putting in extra hours, including Saturdays, “to put us back on track. We’re under the gun, but it’s a good thing. To tell you the truth, I don’t mind it. I like this pace. There’s a saying that we work for free and they pay us to wait. For every minute you’re on camera, you spend 59 waiting. That’s not the case here. There’s not a lot of waiting, which I appreciate, especially coming from theater.”

The show returns with seven new episodes beginning April 2. And, according to Mantegna, the show has “been picked up already for the next season. That’s the game plan, let’s say. We’ll take a short hiatus and do extra episodes to catch up.”

Criminal Minds is on tonight at nine on CBS. “In Birth and Death,” has the team in disarray and trying to catch a serial killer who uses his son as bait.

Thanks to Diane - CM isn’t on tonight (I would like to take this opportunity to blame it entirely on the CBS CM website!); it’s on at its usual time on Wednesday.

Scroll down a bit to find out what you need to do to be a BAU agent.

Marilyn Says:
March 9th, 2008 at 7:57 pm e
KATIE THAT SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD BOOK. When did the FBI start the criminal profiling? MY STUDENTS AT SCHOOL WANT TO KNOW WHAT KIND OF EDUCATION THEY WOULD NEED TO BE A PROFILER–IT LOOKS SO GLAMOROUS
?? ANY IDEAS? THANKS

The FBI’s BAU was established in the early seventies by a group of agents who interviewed scores of offenders to try to figure why they committed their crimes. Among the criminals interviewed were Charles Manson, Sirhan Sirhan, John Wayne Gacy, James Earl Ray, and the Son of Sam - David Berkowitz. The founding agents included John Douglas, a well known author and speaker.

There is a lot of work and education that are required to become a BAU agent. The FBI used to look for people with accounting and law degrees, but now a variety of education and experience is acceptable. The FBI looks for at least a college degree with three years experience. Candidates with military, piloting, computer programming, forensic science, or police experience are preferred, as are people who are fluent in other languages. Proflier coordinators (sort of like JJ) are also given preference should they want to become profilers. In order to become an FBI agent, you have to be between 23 and 37 years old, at least a bachelor’s degree, and experience as a professional in some field. The BAU is an elite group of the FBI, and there are about 25 members, so competition is fierce and agents have to be the best of the best.

To check out what’s up with the rest of your favorite shows, check out 451 Press.

Joe Mantegna is keeping himself busy, even with production of Criminal Minds continuing. He is going to star in the upcoming movie, Fifth Mafia. The movie also stars Eric Balfour and Armand Assante, and James Van Der Beek (who played in two season two episodes of CM) is in negotiations currently. The movie is about the son of a murdered mafioso (son is Eric Balfour). The son isn’t involved in the mafia, but plans to avenge his father’s death - which his Uncle Dominic (Assante) is responsible for. James Van Der Beek will play an FBI agent, whose life the son “ruins” (though no details on how). Joe Mantegna will play a member of the Dominic Lucido family.
The independent movie is directed by Vito J. Giambalvo. No production date has been set yet.

There actually is an Italian mafia-like organization called the Fifth Mafia - or the Stidda. Members supposedly are able to identify one another because they are often tatooed with a green five-pointed star, which is called “i punti della malavita” or “the points of the criminal life”. “La stidda” means “star” in Italian. The Fifth Mafia has expanded its power base to include the United States, Canada, and Germany.

Paget Brewster celebrates her 39th birthday today, and Matthew Gray Gubler turned 28 on Sunday, March 9.

This week, CBS is reairing “In Name and Blood,” in which the team is in turmoil - Gideon is missing, Emily quits, and Hotch asks for a transfer, leaving Morgan, Reid, JJ, and Garcia to investigate a serial killer in Milwaukee. The CBS website is saying that this episode will be on Tuesday at eight instead of its regular Wednesday night spot.

I just finished a book that reminded me of Criminal Minds. The Alienist, by Caleb Carr, is a fictional story of one of the earliest attempts at criminal profiling. The story involves a killer who targets young boy prostitutes in New York City in 1896. The Police Commissioner (who happens to be Theodore Roosevelt) assigns the case covertly to an Alienist friend of his, Doctor Kreizler. An alienist used to be the term for a psychologist or psychiatrist.

Anyway, they assemble a team made up of a NY Times journalist, a police headquarters secretary, and two detectives to solve the case. It was interesting though because the thought that they could look at the victims and the crimes and determine what type of person killed these boys was absurd in that time. Now, a special, elite unit of the FBI is devoted to doing just that. In the book, the team goes through many of the same things the BAU does in Criminal Minds - they discuss the case, hypothesize, and find out more and more informaiton about the man responsible.
(Wikipedia has a summary of the book.)

It was interesting to see how much investigation of crimes have changed, and yet some things still are the same. Garcia could have come in handy several times in the book - they had to travel to distant cities to look up records (yes, paper records) that could be easily done now on computer. Yet, they still manage to find this person, who they had no phsyical evidence from. It’s an interesting book, and if you’re bored with reruns and looking for something to do before the new shows, check it out. (Warning: it’s a little slow in the beginning, but it does pick up.)

Wednesday night ratings were about as to be expected: Fox won again with a combination of Moment of Truth and America Idol. Next was NBC with Deal or No Deal and Law & Order. CBS was third - the new season of Big Brother isn’t proving as popular as CBS probably hoped, but numbers rebounded with CM and CSI:NY.

According to Media Life Magazine, the ratings for ABC, NBC, and CBS are down about eleven percent since the strike, especially more recently as people get more and more sick of reruns and reality shows. But new shows are on the way, so there is good news for both viewers and the networks.

“Doubt” reaired last night, and it makes me want to see new episodes even more. In new ones, it looks like David Rossi is going to investigate the twenty year old murder case that has haunted him, and Nicholas Brendan (computer geek extraordinaire) will be back for at least two episodes, the first of which is April 2. That should be exciting.

TV Guide.com has an interview with AJ Cook, as well as with Thomas Gibson and a story on Shemar Moore. If you’re craving some CM news, check that out.

Tonight, CBS reairs “Doubt,” the first episode of season three. This is my absolute favorite of season three, so I’m excited. It occurs when Hotch is still in danger of losing his job, Emily is being recruited to help fire him, and Gideon is MIA and plays as a flashback. I liked how the show creatively adapted to Mandy Patinkin’s leaving and redid some parts of the episode. Don’t forget to tune in at nine on CBS…I don’t even think American Idol is on opposite it this week…so maybe ratings will pick up!

There is no beating American Idol - even with three shows a week, two of which were an hour and a half, people are tuning in. At its peak, thirty million people were watching. Idol ran from 8-9:30 on Wednesday, which cut into Criminal Minds. CBS was third in total viewers for Wednesday, beat out by Fox and NBC. Hopefully, when there are new episodes of Criminal Minds, the ratings should go back up.

Tonight is the episode that follows up on the cliffhanger of last week’s episode. With “Penelope,” we not only get the answer to why Garcia was shot, we get more information on her character and her background. This was one of my favorite episodes - very exciting.

“Penlope” guest stars Nicholas Brendan (who we like even though he messes up Garcia’s office). Tune in at nine tonight on CBS.