TVSquad

If I were an executive at CBS, I would never want to do business with actor Mandy Patinkin again. Even though Mandy is a terrific actor and one of my personal favorites -- I loved him on Broadway in Evita and Sunday in the Park with George, not to mention on screen in The Princess Bride and Yentl -- his history with CBS is abominable.

He was an Emmy-winning star on Chicago Hope, then left after a couple of seasons to be closer to his family in New York. Okay, that was understandable. Then after getting Criminal Minds off to a great start, he walked out of that show, citing creative differences.

Apparently, someone has said let bygones be bygones because Mandy Patinkin will be a guest star on Three Rivers. Maybe because this is a very personal issue with Mandy, he's convinced the powers that be to let him return to the network, albeit for just a guest appearance.

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 secured even more celebrities to grace the stage at Radio City Music Hall next Sunday. Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment), Julie Chen (Big Brother), Harry Connick, Jr. (Will & Grace), Laurence Fishburne, Mandy Patinkin (Criminal Minds), David Hyde Pierce, Lily Tomlin and John Waters (Til Death Do Us Part) have been added as presenters. These actors and actresses (and, er, Julie Chen) will join an already stellar list of presenters and host Whoopi Goldberg.

I have to admit it. I'm getting a little excited for The Tonys. I usually find them boring. The performances are fantastic but the awards in between are a bit of a snore. However, this cast of presenters is intriguing. I'll at least be flipping back and forth hoping to catch the performances and my favorite stars.

The 62nd Annual Tony Awards will be held on Sunday June 15th from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m. ET on CBS.

Eat. Sleep. Pepto Bismol. Television. The four things that describe Thanksgiving for me. They all go hand in hand really, but let's be honest -- TV is the one that really matters. I can have turkey any time I want, but I can only watch my favorite shows once a week. Despite the WGA strike putting a wrinkle into my winter viewing plans, there's still plenty to be happy about.

Over the summer, I kept you in the loop as to the latest spoilers and info about the direct-to-DVD Dead Like Me movie. Since I last gave you news about the movie about three months ago and because the DLM posts here at TV Squad still get a good number hits, I thought it was time I check up on the movie status and see if I could get more dish. Thanks to the movie's IMDb page (it's been up for a while now but I had given up on it since usually IMDb creates pages before or during shooting and it hadn't done that for the DLM movie) I can bring you some news.

There have been a lot of stories floating around about Mandy Patinkin's departure from CBS' Criminal Minds. That he's only going to be in one scene of the show to wrap up his storyline, that his costars didn't like him. Turns out neither of those stories are true.

Co-star A.J. Cook says that Patinkin has actually been phoning all of his Criminal Minds castmates and explaining to them what happened. Cook says that the cast didn't know what was going on, and now that they know they "just want him to be happy."

This is becoming more of a soap opera than that whole "who is going to replace Rosie O'Donnell on The View?" stuff.

We reported yesterday that Joe Mantegna is going to replace Mandy Patinkin on Criminal Minds (Patinkin didn't want to return to the show). Now Michael Ausiello over at TVGuide.com reports that Patinkin will in fact return to the show...for one epsiode, to explain what happened to his character.

It's not going to be Harvey Keitel or Geena Davis or Michael Keaton or even Rosie O'Donnell. The new person in charge on Criminal Minds is Joe Mantegna.

The CBS show hired Mantegna over the weekend, ending speculation over who would replace Mandy Patinkin, who has already left the show and will not be making anymore appearances. Besides classic movies such as House of Games and Bugsy, Mantegna costarred on the USA series The Starter Wife earlier this summer, was on the gone-but-not-forgotten drama Joan of Arcadia, does the voice of Fat Tony on The Simpsons, and made a poor substitute for Robert Urich when they made those Spenser movies on cable (nothing against Mantegna, he was quite good, it just wasn't Spenser, you know?).

No word yet on how they'll write out Patinkin or how Mantegna's character will join the team, though some episodes are already done and Patinkin's abscence will be explained in the season premiere.

Thanks to Multichannel blogger Mary McNamara, we now have fresh casting news about the Dead Like Me movie. The blogger, who attended the MGM panel at Comic-Con, reports that MGM's Senior Executive Vice President Finance and Corporate Development Charlie Cohen confirmed that everyone, except Mandy Patinkin and Laura Harris, was back for the direct-to-DVD movie. That is old news for TV Squad readers. But what is new is that Cohen gave the names of the actors set to replace both actors.

When we first announced that Mandy Patinkin was leaving Criminal Minds, fans were pretty devastated. A lot of commenters felt no one could replace him and some even said they wouldn't watch the show without him. Today, there's word that actor Harvey Keitel is in negotiations to replace Patinkin on the popular series. Keitel is a pretty heavy hitter, but will he be enough to keep fans tuning in?

Keitel will no doubt bring a much different feel to the show. Patinkin's character was rather subdued and kind-of morose, but I don't see that coming from Harvey Keitel. And, who would want that anyway? A new character needs to bring something new to the table. (Geena Davis was reportedly in negotiations for Patinkin's role but those broke down last month)

Would Keitel make an adequate replacement for Patinkin?

**TV Guide says the deal is "no longer on the table." Keitel joins the long list of celebrities who considered--and then decided against--joining the show: Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, and Bob Hoskins.

Dead Like Me is still quite popular amongst the TV Squad readers even if the series ended a few years ago. The hype surrounding the canceled-too-soon Showtime series was revived this spring when it was announced that a made-for-DVD movie was in the works.

Not much has been revealed about this upcoming movie yet. However, we know that Ellen Muth will reprise the role of George and that Mandy Patinkin was written out since he was committed to Criminal Minds at the time the movie started shooting.

Earlier this month, Muth warned fans that the movie would feature a few changes mostly because Patinkin was not reprising his role but also due to a two-year jump between the series finale and the movie.

Spoilers after the jump!

After the executive session, CBS continued immediately with its jam-packed day of press tour, introducing four new shows and taking a look at returning hits Shark and How I Met Your Mother.

First up, the all-star cast of Cane, a prime time soap that's been compared to The Sopranos and Dallas, starring Jimmy Smits, Hector Elizondo and Rita Moreno, takes the platform.

Smits, who also serves as co-executive producer, stars as Alex, a man who's married to his "sister" (Alex is adopted), prompting executive producer and perpetual funnyman Jonathan Prince to call creator/e.p. Cynthia Cidre -- "Woody."

CSI: Miami's Horatio Cane is getting a son, those kids on How I Met Your Mother are getting a Mom and Jericho fans are getting seven more episodes -- for now.

CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler offered up some news and story tidbits and fielded inquiries from the press about the off-screen lives of Eye network stars as Wednesday morning's press session got underway.

First up: the story tidbits and other show-related news. "Viewers will get hints about the identity of the mother in How I Met Your Mother," Tassler revealed. (Me, I've always guessed it's Alyson Hannigan -- but I'm not sure I want to see Hannigan's Lily and Jason Segel's Marshall not live happily ever after.)

Last Friday intrepid TV Squad reporter Isabelle Carreau posted an item about Criminal Minds lead Mandy Patinkin not returning to the CBS drama. Now it has been confirmed by both ABC Studios and CBS Paramount Network Television that Patinkin is definitely not returning to the program for the new season.

In press releases sent to the hugely palatial TV Squad offices both ABC and CBS stated that Mandy left the show due to "creative differences" and not because of contract renegotiations or salary disputes. As Isabelle reported in an update to her post Patinkin will return for one episode early next season that will explain his departure from the series. In the meantime, a new character will be added to Criminal Minds to fill his spot.

Yes, you read right. It is possible that Mandy Patinkin, lead of CBS' Criminal Minds, be let go from the show. TV Guide's Michael Ausiello's reports that after he failed to show up for work, it was decided to write him out of the season premiere.