Criminal Minds

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.