Someone IS getting blown up.
When “Criminal Minds" ends its turbulent third season Wednesday, one of the show's seven FBI profilers will explode. Of course, who and why is a big, cliffhanger secret to be revealed next season. But the upcoming big bang is a fitting conclusion to a season in which the behind-the-scenes drama rivaled that of the show's on-screen investigators as they chased 19 episodes' worth of serial killers.
"I think we're now in Season 3.3," said actor Thomas Gibson, who plays Aaron Hotchner, the head of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, echoing the sentiment of other actors and producers who feel the season's fits and starts have made it seem as if three TV seasons -- not 10 months -- have passed.
But despite the writers strike and the sudden loss of one of the show's main stars at the beginning of this season, the CBS crime series has performed well and is one of the Top 25-rated shows in broadcast television. The Wednesday-night program has consistently drawn over 12.5 million weekly viewers this season by managing to retain much of its audience despite facing the toughest competition on television: Fox's "American Idol," which is often referred to as "The Death Star" for its merciless ability to kill off opposing programming.
Today's stable situation seemed unthinkable last summer when Mandy Patinkin, who played the show’s top profiler, Jason Gideon, abruptly left the show. The tremors began in July when Patinkin failed to attend the first table read.
The writers, who had seven scripts in the works, were forced to start from scratch as they also dealt with the creative challenge of replacing a character that had served as "the mom" of the investigative team.
"We had no indication this was going to happen," show runner and executive producer Ed Bernero said. "He called an hour before the read-through and said, 'See you in an hour.' And that's the last time we've talked with him. We thought he was in an accident. We even called the police. The minute we knew he was OK, it was, like, 'Uh, we have a problem.' "
With the clock ticking toward the season premiere, the writers also faced the retooling of an episode about a college campus shooting, which had been held out of deference to the Virginia Tech shootings in April 2007. The plan to air it sometime in the middle of the third season was made impossible with Patinkin out of the picture.
