The Bullpen

[Wilowy]

Here's where we come talk about things other than specific episodes or characters. Gab about the writers, provide links to interviews, and news items about the actors, or just shoot the proverbial merde. The Bullpen is our Criminal Minds catch-all.

 

New mini-interview with MGG:

http://nypost.com/2014/04/01/gubler-guides-criminal-minds-from-both-sides-of-camera/

[zannej]

Thanks for the link. Between frequent power outages and being busy, I haven't been keeping up on things.

I don't know if you guys can embed a countdown timer, but if it can be put on the page somewhere, I can supply the code for one that won't crash the page like the countdowntwo one.

Matthew seems pretty excited about the upcoming episode. He barely spoke about the last one IIRC. I'm hoping he got some encouraging responses last time.

Of the actors who have directed thus far, I have liked his directing the best. He knows how to elicit the right emotions and I generally like his camera style and pacing. There have been some moments where I felt the music wasn't right or the scene went on too long, but overall his episodes are visually appealing and I tend to like his music choices.

I didn't like some of the music choices Thomas made when he directed "Gabby" but felt he did get some good emotion. 

I haven't seen all of Joe's episode yet so I haven't really formed an opinion on much, except to say that I wish they had given Reid some sort of reaction to the suicide at the end. Instead he just acted like nothing happened.

I've been told that Rick Dunkle is no longer doing the second to last episode solo-- its going to be Breen Frazier and Janine Barrois writing it too. So I'm guessing it will have multiple unsubs and have some silly moments with Morgan and Reid and possibly Garcia.

I really wish they wouldn't have Erica write the finales because I have not liked any single finale she has written. I really wish she could get her writing partner back. She might surprise me though, so I will give it a chance. 

I just hope that despite the title that they will keep actual religion out of it. It tends to get clunky and preachy and they can't seem to NOT offend one group or another when religion comes up.

[Wilowy]

Here's an interview with Hanelle Culpepper, the director of 9x19, The Edge of Winter:

http://criminalmindsfans.com/exclusive/

ICYMI, Matthew's doing a live chat today, starting at 11p/2e. Here's the link:

http://www.cbs.com/connect/events/1000210/

[Wilowy]

Aaaand, here's the chat: <3

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1lhawe_chatm_shortfilms

[IndependentMind]

Here is an article regarding writers' guild new deal.

http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/writers-guild-new-deal-addresses-tv-writer-problems-1201151977/

[zannej]

Thanks, I'll have to load the video later. Bandwidth restrictions are almost enough to make me go unsub on someone.

Good interview. Its better than a lot of the ones I see online. I really think you could have a career-- or at least side job-- in journalism if you found the right contacts to get you paid for doing the interviews and such.

Hanelle seems interesting. It was especially interesting to read about her struggles with having written something that was considered so unpopular at the time. It is a sad fact that Hollywood tends to outright reject some ideas without even considering their merit just because its not the "in" thing.

I am wondering if her episode is a Morgan heavy one.

[Wilowy]

She said they don't even know the title yet, so I don't even think it's been bandied about the writer's room.

And thank you, zannej, that's very kind. Hanelle is an impressive human being. I have all the admiration in the world for her.

[zannej]

Hopefully they will come up with a good title. I also hope that CBS doesn't pull any more dick moves on them. Season 6 was such a mess. I've heard that allegedly the writer firings in season 5 was Les Moonves' way of getting back at the writers for going on strike. It is a shame that we lost so many good writers. I admit that Ed's season 5 finale and the following episode didn't work for me. The timing was off and there was a lack of a sense of urgency.

Hanelle had good and thoughtful answers to the questions. Even though I'd never heard of her or spoken to her, I got to get a little bit of a feel of who she is and what her journey has been like.

I'm hoping the next episode by the new writer turns out to be good.

[IndependentMind]

Here's a great article about casting and this is definitely something Criminal Minds can learn from. This is something EM needs to learn in casting unsubs and not just going for big names.

The Replicator, Mark Hamill was one, if not the worst casting done on television. Horrible. And EM made so much hype about it only to fall flat on her face. 

How “Law & Order: SVU” Mastered The Art Of Casting

 http://www.buzzfeed.com/jarettwieselman/how-law-order-svu-mastered-the-art-of-casting

[Wilowy]

Got an email from Harry this a.m.: 

Harry Bring   

kicking butt and taking names.

---------------------------------------

April 3, 2014

“CRIMINAL MINDS” SWEEPS TIME PERIOD WITH ACROSS-THE-BOARD GROWTH FROM LAST ORIGINAL EPISODE

“Criminal Minds” is Wednesday's Most-Watched Program

CBS Sweeps Every Hour on Wednesday in Viewers, Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54

CRIMINAL MINDS swept its time period in viewers and key demographics and was Wednesday's most-watched program, leading CBS to a nightly win, according to Nielsen preliminary live plus same day ratings for April 2.

From 9:00-10:00 PM, CRIMINAL MINDS was first in viewers (10.37m), adults 25-54 (3.3/08) and adults 18-49 (2.5/07). Compared to the last first-run episode on March 19, CRIMINAL MINDS was up +6% in adults 25-54 (from 3.1/08), +14% in adults 18-49 (from 2.2/06) and added +230,000 viewers (from 10.14m, +2%).  CRIMINAL MINDS was the night's #1 program in viewers.  If ratings hold, CRIMINAL MINDS beat “American Idol” in their common hour for the first time ever in adults 18-49 and adults 25-54.

Updated Wednesday ratings will be available later today.

------------------------------------------------------

Woo-hoooo!! I'm loving that this is happening more and more all the time!

[Wilowy]

Matthew Gray Gubler attends the Vogue ‘Jean Stories’ dinner hosted by Sally Singer, Lisa Love, Greg Chait, Jennifer Meyer & Scott Sternberg at A.O.C on April 2, 2014 in Los Angeles, California.

[Wilowy]

[missmycat]

I don't know if this is the right place for this are not, but wow just wow. Criminal Minds is finally on demand I wonder what took them so long.

And why now I mean fans have only been screaming about this for the longest time to no avail,but I do worry this could drive down the live ratings even more.

Edited April 10, 2014 by missmycat

[Wilowy]

Nice to see it finally made it.

[Wilowy]

Here's a vid of Joe, Shemar, and Matthew promoting a charity event. Cuteness!

[ForeverAlone]

I just spotted a very firm tweet from Jim Clemente telling people to stop complaining because in strong willed people PTSD shows itself in different ways and at different times. I think the lack of love for JJ is starting to niggle!

You should check out the rest of the tweets from Jim concerning JJ. Either they worship at the altar of JJ and are truly incapable of seeing or caring why many people dislike JJ these days, or they were winding up the tweeters who were protesting about JJ.

[normasm]

Forever, I just read through Jim's tweets, and, although many of them have to do with things other than CM and JJ, he really does not like being called out for anything! Granted, some of these yahoos are trolling fools, but they should be calmly and politely ignored, not flamed in return. I just lost most of the remainder of my respect for him, as it seems if you don't bow down and tremble in the face of his vastly superior knowledge, U're an idiot and a hater!!

[IndependentMind]

I find him cocky. I think that just because he used to work for the BAU he is "Mr Know It All" and that we are just fans and we don't know anything.

When he said what he said about JJ going to Afghanistan with not having the qualifications needed to interrogate the wife associated with the Most Wanted Man in the world, I made up my mind that he is full of you know what. I wanted to tell him "I guess this is why we are losing war against terrorism" because we are sendung unqualified people there." But instead, I decided to just ignore and unfollow all of them. I no longer follow SM and will probably soon unfollow KV and CM Set Report which I think is RD because I cannot stand him and his awful writing. I only follow MGG, JM, AJC and of course, PB.

[Wilowy]

Well, it did get heated, but one in particular person was calling him and Harry 'stupid' and even when Jim tried to tell her to just 'be patient' because JJ's PTSD would likely hit her later, they wouldn't let up. It seemed to me that most of the JJ criticism was because of that (her lack of PTSD).

I respect Jim's writing, his career with the FBI, his triumph over cancer, his charity work, and his availability to the media. I guess if he chooses to engage the trolls that's his business, though to what end, I couldn't say.

And people telling him they 'hate' his hats? Really, people? That's just beyond the pale. The false-familiarity that twitter is conducive to doesn't exactly bring out the best in some tweeters.  

IndependentMind it used to be Rick but lately (the past year) it's been Zimmerman.

[IndependentMind]

Willowy - Thanks for that info. The dosage of Kim Harrison praises and pictures was nauseating so I stopped caring who is running it now.

I have learned from experience that just because a doctor is a doctor, he knows everything because it once almost cost me to probably be bed ridden or possibly dead. The same way I view the case with " we have an FBI consultanr" on the set to make sure its accurate. I get that Jim has this resume and all that but I don't think he was ever in a room with a General or high ranking officer in the military at war in Afghanistan interrogating someone who is associated with Osama Bin Laden, was he?

When Osama was captured and shot dead, who was in that room watching it unfold? The President, The Secretary of State, and those who were privy in the operation. And how many were in the Special Op? I believe there were 8 with very, very special skills and who has been in many operations. So what Jim Clemente said about JJ was in my opinion outrageous and I don't blame the fans for saying it so.

But I hardly doubt they care because 200 is their highest number of viewers amd ratings since season 7. Hitting 12M viewers for the first time since season 7.

[Wilowy]

I don't blame Jim for trying to defend his bread and butter, even though he didn't write the awful 200, because I imagine his loyalties came into play. These are his friends, co-workers, and the people that sign his paycheck coming under fire, and doubtless he felt indignant on their behalf and obliged to defend them. 

I can totally vouch that he is not an asshole, really. He's a kind, very kind guy who maybe felt a little ambushed by that twitter tirade. Most I can say is that he was misguided in defending JJ's 'mission' - common knowledge is that it was a horrible mistake by Rick to take it there - and he let the Bronx boy come out for a bit. 

[IndependentMind]

In my opinion Willowy that is the problem with the writers of CM. Maybe not only CM but writers interacting with fans too much. All they have to do is say watch the episode, they wrote it. End of it. By doing a "Q & A", they open themselves up to criticisms. They think they are all that and the fans will like and appreciate what they write. Some fans might not take but us fans who have been around since day 1, care. We know what the show was about and what it represented. This was a show about the elite BAU, and about profiling. The show wasn't perfect but they have become careless with what they put put. And the writing, I don't know where they are getting them but I think that the unsub heaviness tones for the past three seasons have to do with the writers not knowing the characters. It is the job of the writers to k now these characters. 

Social media helps but overdosing yourself on social media is never good. Look what happened to Thomas Gibson, he quit Twitter. 

Shemar Moore is an example for me. i liked him better when he wasn't o Twitter and Facebook. Once he got on, his self promotion was too much and his constant tweet of his body or himself, turned me off.

Erica Messer should tell her writers to lay off a bit on social media. Erica Messer is smart to not be on Twitter. I remember this happening to Bones creator Hart Hanson. I think the same thing happened to Janet Tamaro. There was a backlash on how she was responding to the fans and her attitude of "My way or the highway", well, she was replaced by TNT.

Criminal Minds isn't NCIS. That show has always been like a comic book. It was always outrageous. JJ isn't Ziva so they shouldn't even try to make her one.

Erica Messer needs to start listening to the fans and not to her writers. 

It's a business. She needs to get rid of the writers who can't write.

Edited April 11, 2014 by IndependentMind

[Wilowy]

 

She needs to get rid of the writers who can't write.

 

Kim, Bruce, and if they must keep Rick, leave him to the fillers. I don't care if he has been there since the halcyon days. I'd put Janine on the list too, but despite her predilection for gore overload, she CAN write when she wants to (The Edge of Winter). 

Oh and find Andrew Wilder and Chris Mundy and PAY THEM WHATEVER THEY WANT.

[IndependentMind]

Yes!!! I agree with you 100%. Kim is at the top of my list of writers to get rid of.I don't care much for Bruce either and definitely Rick Dunkie. Wasn't he co-running the show with Erica Messer when EB was running the spin-off?

I'm not a big fan of Janine. Wasn't she supposed to run a show on CBS along with Erica Messer? What happened to that show? '

[Wilowy]

She was. IIRC, that show was shelved when there was protest against Erica leaving. A lot of the cast/crew wanted her to stay, and apparently CBS made it worth her while. I guess the deal didn't include Janine without Erica, so there it is. 

At this point, as long in the tooth as CM is, I wouldn't want anyone besides Ed or Simon coming back as showrunner. Some new upstart could very well fuck things up even worse. That's all we need. 

Can you imagine if they could get 'the old gang back together" for the final season? Ed, Simon, Andrew, Chris, Oanh, Deb??

I might die from the joy.

[IndependentMind]

I thought it was clear that Erica will still run CM but she will co-run the new show. 

I would love for Ed to come back and the rest of the writers before.

[zannej]

I think one of the reasons Thomas Gibson left Twitter was because of some horrible stuff that happened in his personal life.  He'd been trying to safe his marriage but then it didn't work out so he was separated from his wife and got "catphished". Some woman sent him fake pictures and pretended to be someone else and got his hopes up only for him to find out that she was a liar and he had to get his lawyer involved-- so she went to the tabloids with a video of him. Then he got arrested for drunk driving. I didn't see the tweets, but apparently Thomas was getting some very threatening tweets-- like someone threatening to have his wife and children harmed. I can completely understand why he chose to leave social media with that sort of crap.

Have they done a catphising episode on the show? It can really be something devastating. A guy who lives down the street from a good friend of mine up and murdered his own grandfather (walked in and shot him in the bathtub). Turns out he wanted money to go meet some woman he'd met online and the grandfather wouldn't give it to him. And the kicker was that the woman wasn't even "real". She was catphishing him.

As for the stuff with Jim Clemente, I do believe that he is a warm and caring person, but I do believe that in order to have had the job he had, there has to be a little bit of arrogance (or at least enough confidence that people may perceive it as arrogance). My father worked in federal law enforcement and his assessment of many FBI agents was that they were arrogant and ineffective. He particularly disliked profiling because he saw people who's lives were ruined by it. Obviously he was viewing it from a different perspective. He had a lot of problems with the FBI not wanting to share information and wanting to hog all of the limelight to the detriment of the cases. There is a reason the FBI had the nickname "fuckin' feebs". Apparently they would come in and just mess things up. Granted, that didn't always happen, but it happened enough to piss off other agencies. Nobody is perfect though. I think most of the writers that interact with fans come off as a bit defensive whenever they are challenged by fans. I've noticed a particular hostility toward Reid fans. Once they know someone is a Reid fan they tend to be like "Oh, you're one of THOSE" and then feel that anything "those" fans say doesn't matter. It's probably because there had been some rabid fans that just went overboard and ruined it for the rest of the fans.

I agree that I do think there is also a sense of loyalty. Jim does not want to say anything negative about Erica and company since they are his friends and if he did speak out against them there is the very real chance that they might stop consulting with him. He also doesn't want to hurt their feelings and there is the thing that they are the writers and he's the consultant so he may defer to what he considers their expertise.

Kim Harrison is someone who needs to go-- unless they can pair her with a writer who can actually do dialog and turn some of her weird ideas into something more intelligent. I would say that a lot of the writers need a co-writer to balance things-- but it has to be the right co-writer. The Messer/Dunkle pairing is a flop.  I'm still not happy with Janine's writing, even though I think she has actually made an effort to try to accommodate the fans more. She has shown improvement, but I wish she would stop doing teams of unsubs.

[Wilowy]

Cool paper art via themysteryvanishing on tumblr:

[Wilowy]

Hey all, Rick Dunkle has deleted his twitter and Instagram accounts. 

Hmmm.

[ForeverAlone]

Yeah, well it's not the first time he has done that. So now it just remains to be seen if he will reactivate his accounts.

[Wilowy]

Wonder if he's sick of all the bad feedback from 200...

[missmycat]

Speaking of writers and twitter. How in the hell did Kim Harrison end up with nearly 15,000 followers. That is way more than any of the other writers.Unless of course many of those people are following her in order to tweet her and let her know that a lot of what she writes just plain sucks.

Edit: If you ask me Dunderhead deserves a lot more than some negative feedback for that travesty known as "200" he perpetrated upon us.

Edited April 13, 2014 by missmycat

[ForeverAlone]

Damn!!! The worst writer has the most followers? Now that is some bizarro world thing. I can't feel bad for any criticism Rick received from 200. I tore apart the writing, though I at least tried to not make it personal to him. But that episode was bad fanfiction and should never have made it to air. Hell their joke episode for The Replicator would have been a better episode. I can only imagine the presumed back patting the writers gave each other, because they clearly think they hit a homerun with 200. Rick should feel bad for writing it, but Erica should be hanging her head in shame that she ever approved it. She is the ultimate gatekeeper, and she was cheerleading that episode until the end.

[Wilowy]

Hmm, well Harry did confirm that he left the social platforms for a specific reason, but declined to say what it is. 

Speculation says:

Bad feedback for 200

Not coming back for season 10

Personal reasons

That's all I can think of, any others?

[IndependentMind]

100 was about the team and 200 became only about JJ and that rght there was the biggest problem and Erica should have never approve such an episode on such a monumental event.

[Wilowy]

It's funny too, because Rick WAS IN ON 100. He knew how that episode worked, he knew what made it great and why it was great, and there was no trace of that kind of craftsmanship in 200. None.

I do blame Erica for letting 200 air as it was - if she needed to do that story so damn bad then it should have been blended into the season, not the focus of the benchmark 200th episode - but I also blame Rick for writing it the way he did. 

Is anyone else getting a vibe that there may be some writer shake-ups next season?

[Old Dog]

I surely hope so! Dunkle and Harrison need to be the first to go! I guess this is why we are getting 3 writers for #23 - Dunkle not deemed up to doing it alone anymore.

[missmycat]

"100" was actually Hotch centric,However, the team also played a major part in that milestone episode. I'm guessing many people thought it would be the same way with "200".But instead we got JJ getting a whopping 27 minutes of screen time vs 4 minutes for the team. Morgan and Reid's individual screen time was only about a minute. How in the world did MESSer and Dunderhead ever think that this would be ok with the fans of the other characters.

I'm still of the opinion, and always will be, that JJ did not merit this milestone episode. But if they just had to give it to her,you'd think they'd have come up with something that would've allowed the team to be more inclusive. 

Well if we do lose Rick at least it'll be one less of EM's "Alias" cohorts we'd have to put up with. 

Edited April 14, 2014 by missmycat

[IndependentMind]

I know MMC "100" was Hotch centric but the fact that Foyet kidnapped both Haley and jack, it was about family. And what he had also done to Hotch prior to "100" they were all affected and involved. 

With "200" it was only about JJ and Cruz. And then Emily coming back to help her friend the way JJ helped her.

[Old Dog]

There are lots of pictures floating around of the shoot of the finale episodes. Anyone else notice that none of them feature AJC although she was on set?

[Wilowy]

She was on set? I didn't see her in any of the bts overnight shoot pics, either.

I saw Shemar, MGG, Jeanne... but no TG, AJ or Joe.

And both Matthew and Shemar had gunshot wound makeup (Matthew gave his 'bloody' bandage to a fan).

Their shooting schedule this week is supposedly 4pm-midnight so maybe we'll see some pics from the other half of the team. 

Another night episode, I see. Sometimes I can't make out everything when they shoot it so dark. Blerg. 

[Old Dog]

I saw one pic with what looked like a back view of AJC in a pink sweater and I also read somewhere that everyone was on set except TG and JM. Maybe they are playing JJ down a bit for this finale - certainly hope so!!

Edited April 14, 2014 by Old Dog

[normasm]

Old Dog, I think her part is being kept under wraps, which means to me that it's big. 

Don't know what to make of Dunkle deleting his sm. I do hope that, if they are shaking up the writers, he will be the first to go, followed by his buddy and BZ. Hire back a few of the oldies-goodies.

[Old Dog]

Oh dear heavens! They cannot surely be thinking of making JJ the main part of the finale after ramming her down our throats all season??? I've had enough JJ to last me till the show folds.

[IndependentMind]

The show definitely needs to do some cleaning up, as far as writers go. 

[ForeverAlone]

Yeah, Matthew, Shemar, Jeanne and AJ were doing night shoots on Thursday and Friday, and apparently there are several days of night shoots this week as they wind down the season. We saw a plethora of pictures of Matthew and Shemar, and even Jeanne on set from the producers (and even more fan pictures that gives hints about what happens to them in the scenes they were shooting), but nothing concrete about AJ. They just mentioned she was on set, but did not post photos or give any sorts of hints. That too makes me nervous, because that means to me that the producers want to very much hide what is going on with JJ. That makes me think they are planning something big about the finale, and it involves JJ. The producers are remaining mum, but considering how much I think they cocked up the 200th episode, it wouldn't shock me if the finale was JJ centric. And unless that thing is something that takes her out of commission at the beginning of the finale (doubtful), I am not sure if I want to see what it is.

Edited April 14, 2014 by ForeverAlone

[IndependentMind]

Since we don't know if JT will renew or not, I hope it is about Blake.

Enough of JJ already. 

[IndependentMind]

What is sm?

[missmycat]

I'd like to think what with the negative reaction over "200" and this character in general that they'd shelve any idea about making JJ centric to the season finale.But even if EM and the rest of them are too damn enamored with this character to exercise any sort of common sense,I would've hopped that  CBS itself would be able to.  

 

 

Edit: sm is social media

Edited April 14, 2014 by missmycat

[IndependentMind]

Thanks MMC. He deleted his Social Media accounts? That is really weird and suspicious.