CRIMINAL MINDS

'''Criminal Minds''' is a crime drama that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005. The show follows the adventures of a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) at Quantico, Virginia. It stars former ''Chicago Hope'' actors Mandy Patinkin as Jason Gideon and Thomas Gibson as Aaron Hotchner. ''Criminal Minds'' differs from many criminal system procedural dramas by focusing on the criminal rather than the crime itself.
On July 17, 2007, it was announced that Patinkin had been granted a request to be released from his role on the show. His departure will be explained to audiences in an episode to be filmed in the near future and broadcast early next season. Joe Mantegna has signed on as his replacement.^[1]
The series' third season will premiere September 26, 2007.

Contents

Themes and plot devices

Characters

Current characters

Recurring characters

Former characters

Episodes

Trivia

DVD releases

Ratings

International Broadcasters

Notes

External links

Themes and plot devices

Each episode has a voice-over in one of the early sequences, and again in the concluding one, discussing a quote by a well-known author or poet. The quote ties in to the case in the episode and by revisiting it at the end of the episode a sense of conclusion is achieved. The voice-over is most often given by Gideon, but occasionally Hotchner, Reid, Elle, and even JJ have done so, as well. These quotes, along with others, can be found .

Characters

Current characters

;'FBI BAU Supervisory Special Agent David Rossi': Played by Joe Mantegna, David was in early retirement until his voluntary return to the BAU. He had retired in order to go on lecture and book tours.
; 'FBI BAU Supervisory Special Agent Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner': Played by Thomas Gibson, Hotch was formerly assigned to the FBI Field Office in Seattle, Washington. Currently, he is the head of the BAU team. He and his wife are parents of a baby son. Hotch's attempts to balance his family life and his job successfully is an ongoing theme on the show.
; 'FBI BAU Senior Special Agent Derek Morgan': Played by Shemar Moore, ''Derek Morgan'' is a confident and assertive everyman character, the son of an African American father and Causasian mother. He has a black belt in Judo and runs FBI self-defense classes. He and his two sisters (Sarah and Desirée) grew up in a tough urban neighborhood. After the death of his father, Morgan struggled somewhat, youthful fighting earned him a juvenile criminal record. He was taken under the wing of a local youth center coordinator, Carl Buford. Buford acted as a surrogate father to Morgan, leading Morgan to a college football scholarship, but also abused him, and one episode focused on this.
; 'FBI BAU Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid': Played by Matthew Gray Gubler, Doctor Reid is a genius who graduated from high school at age 12. In his youth, his father left him and his mother, no longer able to deal with the paranoid schizophrenia of Reid's mom. Reid grew up learning nearly everything he knows from books, with his mother often reading to him. Still, Reid knew the way his mother was living wasn't healthy. When he was eighteen, he had his mother placed in a mental institution. She is still there, and Reid has stated that although he sends letters every day, he is afraid to visit her. Reid is also worried about the fact that his mother's illness can be passed on genetically; he once told Morgan that "I know what it's like to fear your own mind".
; 'FBI BAU Special Agent Emily Prentiss': Played by Paget Brewster, Prentiss is the daughter of an ambassador. In her first appearance, she recognizes Hotch from one of his first commands: security clearance for her father. Her arrival surprises both Hotch and Gideon, as neither of them had signed off on the transfer. Prentiss insists her parents have not pulled strings for her. Ultimately, she joins the team at the end of episode 2x09 ("The Last Word") on a probationary basis. She replaces Agent Elle Greenaway. She is a graduate of Yale and has been working for the FBI for little under ten years, primarily in the Midwest.
; 'FBI BAU Special Agent Jennifer "JJ" Jareau': Played by A.J. Cook, JJ often acts as the team's liaison with the media and local police agencies. She once went on a date to a Washington Redskins game with Reid, but little has come of it romantically. JJ graduated from East Allegheny High School near Pittsburgh, PA, where she was the captain of the varsity soccer team her senior year and earned an athletic scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh.
; 'FBI Audio/Visual Technician Penelope Garcia': Played by Kirsten Vangsness, Garcia is the team's Audio/Visual Technician at BAU Headquarters in Quantico, VA. When she speaks with Morgan they use pet names such as "hot stuff" or "sweet cheeks". Although they haven't pursued a romantic relationship, Garcia did show mild jealousy at the sight of Morgan dancing with two other women. She is into online games, specifically MMORPGs.

Recurring characters

;'Haley Hotchner':Played by Meredith Monroe, she is the wife of series regular Agent Hotchner. She and Hotch have a newborn son, Jack. Jack's name was revealed in episode 2x04 ("Psychodrama").
;'Agent Kramer':Played by Gonzalo Menendez, he runs the FBI Field Office in Baltimore, Maryland, as well as the Organized Crime division in that city. As such, the two episodes which take place in Baltimore, "Natural Born Killer" (1x08) and "Honor Among Thieves" (2x20) both have him liaising with the BAU.

Former characters

; 'FBI BAU Special Agent Elle Greenaway':Played by Lola Glaudini, Elle was formerly assigned to FBI Field Office in Seattle, Washington; recently assigned to the BAU, expert in sexual offense crimes. Her father was a police officer but was killed in the line of duty. She is half Cuban and speaks Spanish.
; 'FBI BAU Supervisory Special Agent Jason Gideon': Played by Mandy Patinkin, Gideon is the BAU's best profiler. He helped Morgan and Reid through their nightmares. Prior to the series, he is said to have had a "nervous breakdown" after he sent six men into a warehouse with a bomb in it. All six agents were killed, and he was heavily criticized about the event. Gideon is also skilled at chess, continually beating Dr Reid.

Episodes

Trivia

★ The BAU team is on call 24/7/365 and is frequently called out around the country at a moment's notice.

★ The airplane the BAU team uses to travel to the various crime scenes has the airplane registration number N550GA, which in reality corresponds to a Gulfstream Aerospace G550 demonstrator owned by Gulfstream Aerospace Corp, Savannah, Georgia.^[2]

★ In the episode "The Popular Kids" (1x10), there is a character called Mike Zissou, a reference to the movie ''The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou'', in which Gubler played a part.

★ Gubler was once photographed by famed photographer Mia Grace who had a small part in the series' pilot episode.

★ Criminal Minds aired after Super Bowl XLI. The episode featured cameos by Super Bowl announcers Jim Nantz and Phil Simms.

★ Mandy Patinkin's characters in both ''Criminal Minds'' and ''Dead Like Me'' have many similar interests. They are both shown to be capable and enthusiastic chefs, and they both have an affinity for art.^[3]

★ The pilot was filmed in Vancouver, with the working title, "Quantico"

★ In the time between Lola Glaudini's departure from the show and Paget Brewster's arrival, footage is used in the opening credits that originally featured Glaudini. The footage, from episode 1x03, is digitally altered so that Glaudini does not appear.

★ At the end of the theme sequence, a mug shot of serial mail bomber Ted Kaczynski, among other criminals, is seen behind the show's cast.

★ The episode "Doubt" (3x??) was pulled from the 2006-2007 line-up due to similarities in the plot and the tragedy at Virginia Tech University in April, 2007. It was re-scheduled to air on September 26th as the season premiere for 2007-08.

★ The episode "Legacy" (2x22) has several things in common with the film ''Hostel'' and the ''Saw'' series of films.

★ Both Mandy Patinkin's son and character in the serial are called Gideon.

★ Mark Gordon (''The Day After Tomorrow'') is the executive producer.

★ Jeff Davis is the creator

★ Other actors that were rumored/considered as Mandy Patinkin's replacement were Geena Davis, Michael Keaton and Harvey Keitel.

DVD releases

In late July, Paramount Home Entertainment pulled ''Criminal Minds'' Season 1 from their fall schedule, but it was released on November 28, 2006. [1] Meanwhile, Buena Vista Home Entertainment released an R2 set on February 12, 2007. [2] At the time of the region two DVD release, the season had not had a complete run on national television. The DVD set was released with the season finale set to be aired 3 days after the release, on February 15, 2007.

DVD Name	Region 1 release date	Region 2 release date	Region 4 release date	Region 2 release date
The Complete First Season	2006-11-28	2007-02-12	2007-04-18	2007-06-07
The Complete Second Season	2007-10-02[3]	'TBA'	'TBA'
The Complete Third Season	'TBA'	'TBA'	'TBA'	'TBA'

Ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of ''Criminal Minds'' on CBS:

Season	Timeslot (EDT)	Season Premiere	Season Finale	TV Season	Rank	Viewers (in millions)
''	Wednesday 9:00 P.M.	September 22, 2005	May 10, 2006	2005-2006	'#27'	12.8[4]
''	Wednesday 9:00 P.M.	September 20, 2006	May 16, 2007	2006-2007	'#22'	14.0[5]'

International Broadcasters

Notes

1. Mantegna Joins 'Criminal Minds' Dawnie Walton
2. http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNumSQL.asp?NNumbertxt=550GA
3. http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-vanderbeekcriminalmindscasting,0,7387815.story?coll=zap-news-headlines
4. 2005-06 primetime wrap
5. Hollywood Reporter: 2006-07 primetime wrap

External links

★ Official website

★ "Criminal Minds" at Yahoo! TV

★ [4] The Exclusive Criminal Minds blog

★

★ Criminal Minds Episodes Transcripts

★ Profiling Criminal Minds
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