Since A.J. cook is expecting a baby, she will only be around for about the first 8 or so episodes of the new Criminal Mind’s season. She will be replaced by a new female agent, who has not yet been cast (or at least, not announced yet!). There isn’t word if her departure will be permanent or not, though.

What do you think? Would you love to see her come back, or are you happy she’ll be leaving?

Joe Mantegna has signed on to join CBS crime drama Criminal Minds. He will be replacing hissy-fitter Mandy Patinkin.

Many names had been attached to this role, most recently Harvey Keitel.

No word when Joe will first appear or more details on his character, but it is assumed he will be taking over as an FBI profiler.

Harvey Keitel is in talks to join his first television series, Criminal Minds. He would be filling the void left by Mandy Patinkin. There has been no official confirmation as of yet, but I must admit, he certainly is an interesting choice by the Criminal Minds team. We will keep you posted one way or the other. No word on any role specifics at this time, other than it is to fill the gap left by Patinkin’s departure.

Well, Mandy Patinkin - whose failure to show up last week at the Criminal Minds season premiere table read sparked widespread publicity - is leaving the show, citing creative differences. Yeah, like creative differences because Patinkin thought he was worth so much more money than CBS was willing to pay for him.

He had already been written out of the season premiere after his hissy fit led him to be a no-show last week, but now he will be completely written out of the show, without any further appearances. Instead, his exit will be explained in an upcoming fall episode. But Criminal Minds will now be getting a new character… let’s hope he’s a hottie!

And yet another example of an actor trying to play hardball with a network… and losing.

Looks like Mandy Patinkin has decided to throw a hissy fit by not showing up on the set of Criminal Minds this week. Patinkin, who is apparently peeved that he didn’t get a sizable salary bump for the new season, didn’t show up for the table read, which is the initial runthrough of the script.

The season premiere of Criminal Minds didn’t have a lot of scenes with Patinkin, feuling rumors he didn’t show up because the show was possibly planning to have him exit the season early…. but when you don’t show up on the set, it is pretty much a forgone conclusion you will definitely be asked to leave the season early.

Sheesh, when will actors learn you can’t play hardball if you expect to keep your job… remember Suzanne Sommers?

Sheesh, another celebrity is picked up for drunk driving, this time Shemar Moore who plays FBI profiler Derek Morgan on the CBS show Criminal Minds.

Moore, who was released on $5,000 bail, was doing over 65 mph on Santa Monica Boulevard around 1 a.m. Friday when he was stopped by the California Highway Patrol, officers said.

“Mr. Moore displayed signs of alcohol impairment and a DUI investigation was conducted,” according to the CHP arrest report.

Moore was arrested a half hour later and taken to a nearby station where he took a breath test and was later booked.

The bad boy is due back in court on June 26th.

Michael Ausiello has some great scoop about the season finale cliffhanger, and in involves Gideon, the return of his nemisis, and his life being held in the balance. Which means, he’ll probably be shot, we’ll see him flatline, and we won’t get the situation resolved til the season opener in the fall!

And Gideon’s life will hang in the balance when his nemesis returns in the season finale.

Gotta love cliffhangers!

Looks like Spencer will be looking back to events that happened in the Super Bowl episode and the one following it in an upcoming episode, and it seems he will be feeling a wee bit guilty over it. From Ausiello:

Spencer will have a crisis of conscience stemming from the hostage situation in the Super Bowl episode.

It will be interesting to see how the show handles the situation with Spencer, as it was definitely talked about (even if hardly anyone watched the show in its juicy post-Super Bowl spot!)

There was speculation on just how well Criminal Minds would perform when it aired in the post-Super Bowl time slot. After all, 38 million viewers watched Grey’s Anatomy post-Super Bowl episode last year, and catipulted it to superstar status. So how did Criminal Minds too in the same slot?

Well, it had its highest number of viewers for the show ever - 26.2 million viewers, up about 10 million from usual airings of new Criminal Minds episodes. However, it fell far below the huge 38 million strong audience that Grey’s Anatomy pulled in last year.

Maybe Criminal Minds needed to start off the show with a sexy multi-girl shower scene to kick it all off and entice the guys to stick around. However, I suspect that just as many women last year only indulged their boyfriends or hubbies watching the Super Bowl if they then watched Grey’s Anatomy, but I am sure that the shower scene was all the guys needed to convince them to follow through!

Source

Many people have linked Grey’s Anatomy’s last surge in new viewers being a direct result of showing directly following last year’s Super Bowl. Well, CBS has announced that their pick for that apres Super Bowl XLI timeslot is sophomore drama Criminal Minds. Criminal Minds has done very well, despite being aired against powerhouse Lost, and actually won the last two head-to-head matchups of new episodes.

It sounds like CBS made a good choice, especially since it will not only be facing Lost, but also American Idol come the new year.

Criminal Minds currently stars Mandy Patinkin, Thomas Gibson, Paget Brewster, Shemar Moore, Matthew Gray Gubler, A.J. Cook and Kirsten Vangsness.

Friends fans will remember Paget Brewster as Joey’s girlfriend Kathy, who stole the heart of Chandler, creating a love triangle that nearly cost Joey and Chandler their friendship.  Now Paget Brewster has signed on to Criminal Minds.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Brewster will play a new profiler joining the show’s central team of FBI behavioral experts led by Mandy Patinkin’s Special Agent Jason Gideon.

Paget also starred in the Emmy award winning Showtime series Huff, which has been cancelled. 

And on a side note, I can’t be the only one who keeps reading it and thinking PUNKY Brewster…