Oh, no. Please. CBS, please don't. I know it's tempting when you see the NCIS: LA ratings -- number two for last week, topped only by NCIS! -- but please, refrain. What am I talking about? CBS is pushing a spinoff of Criminal Minds, asking the show's executive producer Ed Bernero and executive producer Chris Mundy to come up with a variation on Criminal Minds. Hmm... Criminal Minds 2.0? Son of Criminal Minds? Criminal Guts?
CBS has a lot of spinoffs already, including NCIS, NCIS: LA, CSI: NY, CSI: Miami, and they have all been successes. So, naturally, why wouldn't the powers that be contemplate one more spinoff? This is business. They're all about making money. Clearly, all these spinoffs are a safe bet and less of a financial risk because audiences are predisposed to like something that looks and feels familiar.
The idea would be that this new Criminal Minds wouldn't actually have any of the characters from the current show. It would be a new team of FBI agents chasing heinous killers and bad guys. Presumably, it would be another procedural. One thing is for certain, after the way Mandy Patinkin walked away from the show, he will not be asked back.
CBS is not listening to me, but if anyone there happens to read this, here's an idea when it comes to dramatic series. Give us more of The Good Wife and The Mentalist, original and unspun, and less of the safe spinners. Sure, it's more of a risk. You may have another Cane or Viva, Laughlin -- expensive flops -- but if you don't keep trying new things, you'll never come up with a CSI to spin two shows off of in the first place.
For some clips from Criminal Minds, check out the new AOL site, Slashcontrol.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-01-2009 @ 11:04AM
JWB said...
I for one can't wait. Criminal minds is a great show and I would welcome a spin off if it's done right.
8pm on Wednesday would be a good time slot.
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10-01-2009 @ 11:15AM
Gina said...
Please no!!!!!!!!
Why must they do this. Instead of stealing from a show why couldn't they have left The Unit on if they need to fill a timeslot. Do not do this.
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10-01-2009 @ 12:34PM
sid said...
What is america's obsession with these cop shows? Are they all so simple minded that they can only comprehend shows with clear cut good vs evil? How many more ways can they think up to kill someone and then have a couple of good looking cops catch the weasley bad guy in the last five minutes of the show?
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10-01-2009 @ 12:46PM
irerancincpkc said...
The Mentalist, original? I'd tell that to the creators of Psych...
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10-01-2009 @ 1:11PM
ac said...
How many freakin spinoffs does CBS need?
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10-01-2009 @ 5:44PM
ArcLight said...
Love Criminal Minds. Will not watch a spin-off. I didn't stick with either of the CSI spin-offs and didn't even care for the introduction of the LA NCIS team on the original series much less their official pilot.
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10-07-2009 @ 8:30PM
piscribe said...
It seems to me that instead of a full blown spin-off a series of franchise movies with a new squad might be helpful. I'd like to see that with Goren and Eames of L&O: CI, a series of movies.
And mentalist is a spin-off of USA's Psych, I think it could be argued. Or is that rip-off?
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