The Bullpen

[Wilowy]

Well, it's run by the peeps on set (mostly Bruce and Rick), so I can see why it'd be off while they are, but you're right, the writers and staff have been back for a couple of weeks now. Also you'd think they'd let a PA run around and take pics when they first got back to generate interest, but nope. Sometimes, I just don't know.

 

I phoned the head of photo publicity last season because they took months to update the photo page on cbspressexpress, and she was all snippy and told me "Don't worry, we're still covering it!" Like how dare I ask for new pics, even though Route 66 were the last they posted and it had been three months since it had aired.

 

They need to hire a fan to do this stuff if the folks they actually pay to do it can't be bothered.  

[Wilowy]

Interview with Simon Mirren - whatta guy!

 

http://criminalmindsfans.com/exclusive-interview-criminal-minds-royalty-simon-mirren/

[normasm]

Nice interview, Willowy. It's interesting to hear him talk about the evolution of the characters, like why it was forbidden at first for there to be any inter-team hookups because they needed to establish each character as an individual, but that it might not be such a no-no later on. And how it evolved from each team member having specialties of expertise, but that everyone needed to learn as much as possible about everything. Makes sense.

[Wilowy]

Thank you, @normasm . TBH, he was far more diplomatic than I was anticipating, but I understood why. I was hoping for more insight about six. I get though, that everyone just wants to put it behind them. And he sent me a text saying he hoped I wasn't looking for one-sentence answers, then answers many of them with just one sentence, and he completely skipped over the 'word association' thing which is one of my favorite parts of the interviews. Still, I do feel lucky to have even gotten him to agree, as he also told me he seldom if ever does interviews.

 

My life is so weird. ;) 

[SSAHotchner]

Thanks for your efforts, Willowy. I thought your questions were great and well thought out, but Simon really sidestepped many of them. I really didn't think he'd say anything negative about anyone involved with the show, even if they're already gone. I suspect that he thinks Mandy is as big a prick as I do for all the crap he's said since he left the show, but he did give a very diplomatic answer. Still, he did take the time to respond to you. That's something. My impression is that he is out of there and doesn't really care what happens now. When you leave a job there's a grieving process because you're leaving a kind of family, but once you move on.... It was kind of him to say the current writers are doing a better job, but I respectfully disagree. That comment about him writing for the show and not the characters was silly. I wish the current writers would spend more time thinking about the characters. Oh, well...thanks for sharing.

[Wilowy]

YES @SSAHotchner! When I sent him the link to the finished interview, I specifically told him that I didn't agree with his answer that the writers are doing a better job now. He was really super nice in his return text but he again didn't answer that particular thing.

 

It occurred to me that maybe he had even run it by CBS before sending me his final draft. Which, I mean fine, y'know? He's Simon Fucking Mirren and he granted me an interview. Even if he was less than forthcoming, I have zero room to complain. :)

[mstaken]

t was kind of him to say the current writers are doing a better job, but I respectfully disagree.

 

He did also say that he hadn't actually watched the show in at least a couple of years, though, right? I thought that was rather interesting :) 

[ForeverAlone]

Yeah, I got the sense that Simon was being super polite and diplomatic in his answers, but that isn't surprising. You don't often find people who will truly say what they think, particularly in this industry. But either Simon really hasn't watched the show since he basically left the show, and he is in no position to judge the current state of the show, or he was very polite in his answer that the current writers are better than the original ones. And if he hasn't watched the show since he left, that alone is interesting, though not necessarily telling (I wonder if Ed has seen many of the current episodes). I did find it interesting he brushed off the idea of writing for the show again. It's like he closed that door on his life and in his career, and he doesn't care to revisit it, even as a hypothetical. It makes me all the more curious about what really happened behind the scenes in season six. 

[mstaken]

Still, I do feel lucky to have even gotten him to agree, as he also told me he seldom if ever does interviews.

 

I wonder why?! This and his comment about dinner with the queen makes him come across as kind of self-important and pretentious to me, which is amusing since the vast majority of the population has never even heard of him---he just happens to have a famous relative.  

 

 

 

But either Simon really hasn't watched the show since he basically left the show, and he is in no position to judge the current state of the show, or

 

Heh---yeah, I think he all but admits in the interview that he hasn't watched the past few seasons, so his compliment towards the current writers feels like a decidedly empty one! 

Edited July 8, 2014 by mstaken

[Wilowy]

@mstaken, his dinner with the queen thing was a joke because of Helen. Because she played her. 

 

I don't for a second believe he hasn't watched the show in years. He's a busy man, yes... but this was a huge part of his life for six years and it has only been three since he's been away. Him saying they were 'doing a better job than he ever did'? Seriously. The man knows better. He knows. 

[JMO]

Thanks for trying, Willowy.  I noticed you asked him one of the things I was interested in (creating characters vs. writing after they're established)---and I noticed he didn't really answer it.  Too bad.  But then, maybe he wasn't with the show long enough to live through that progression. 

 

It's also more difficult to probe deeply when you're not able to meet in person.  Especially considering that, I think you do a great job with these interviews.  Your questions cover a wide variety of topics, are always interesting, and have given several of your interviewees an opportunity to really educate us.  Thanks for doing them.  Hope you've got more planned!

[Wilowy]

Right? And thank you so much, JMO, for those words. I've found out it is a lot more difficult to do these via email than over the phone. On the phone you have the sponaneity, the give and take, and are able to immediately ask follow-up questions. When they do it through email the follow up isn't always possible, either because they've moved on, or are fatigued already by the questions, or just plain don't want to answer them.

 

Even if they pass on questions on the phone? We can easily keep up the rhythm of the interview by simply focusing on the next q, whereas if they are doing it at their leisure, they can edit, rewrite, and beat their answers to death before actually sharing, sometimes culling out anything remotely interesting. I don't think I'm going to do any more email interviews. Except for Breen. He gives GOOD words on paper, as FA noted (in the writer's thread I think? Also which I agree with), he does really well with chat questions. I can only hope how interesting an actual interview with him might be. 

 

There will be several more throughout the season. I've already lined up a few, though my next one might not have the widest appeal. He's a person that I'M SUPER INTERESTED in interviewing, because I had my own graphic design studio for six years, and he not only does all the print and screen stuff we see on the show, he also did everything for FIREFLY!!!! So look for my interview with Dylan Hay-Chapman in the coming weeks. *BONUS* - He's friends with Matthew so maybe there will be some cute anecdotal stuff. If not, that's okay too... he's a big geek like me so it will be interesting nonetheless! :D 

[zannej]

Thanks, Willowy. Those were some good well-thought out questions. Its a pity that he avoided directly answering some of them, but at least he answered at all. I noticed he said that people told him the show was still good. I actually think its completely plausible that he has not watched in years. He would be too diplomatic to say that he doesn't enjoy it now. But I could see him not watching because its not as good anymore and then trying to be diplomatic by saying the current writers are better than him. It makes me sort of wonder if there was a little tension when he parted-- perhaps some tension with Erica? Its all speculation on my part.

 

I really hope one of these days we can get one of the writers or producers to tell us just why they decided to do a "swan song" for Reid and why they thought Matthew was going to leave and what changed that.

[normasm]

I'm not religious and I depend on science for the things science explains, but there are people who are sensitive in a way that can only be described as supernatural, IMO. Not that they are magical or anything like that, but just that they can feel what is going on with a person without knowing them. It didn't stretch my credulity to portray Julio as one of these. It doesn't offend me to portray supernatural elements with fictional characters who mostly are nonspiritual but may be open-minded, or even to portray spiritual characters like Rossi, who profess a faith. Like you, zannej, i thought Reid was having auras with his headaches, and these can seem like hallucinations. I did not think he was having premonitions or channeling ghosts or anything like that...

[Cobalt Stargazer]

In the episode Demonology, which is on A & E as I type this, its IMO left kind of up in the air as to whether or not the priest performing the exorcisms was actually cleansing those men of evil. When the priest confronts the final target for "cleansing", the man speaks what I guess is Latin to him, saying "I'm stronger than you are." Its Morgan who plays the skeptic in the ep,mostly as to whether or not there's an unsub rather than if the exorcisms were pure in intention. Rossi seems more accepting, or at least he comes down on Prentiss' side when she insists that there's a plot at work. Was it the actual devil, or was the priest just using religion as a cover for his murders? I think it was left open to interpretation, which seems like a peculiar direction for the show to have taken. I love the episode and think it was one of Emily's many shining moments, but if you look at it in a certain way, it seems a little out of place.

 

Edited to add: the father of Emily's friend Matthew also tells her that he hadn't spoken to her other friend John in over twenty years, since they were children together, but John told Emily earlier that Matthew's father called him to say that Matthew had died. So maybe its more clear-cut than I posited, but why would the guy speak Latin to the priest when he calls him Belial or whatever?

Edited July 26, 2014 by Cobalt Stargazer

[normasm]

To me, being from that realm, it's not at all in the air if the "priest" is cleansing the men, as, to me, 1) they had no evil to cleanse, and 2) evil or dysfunction is in all of us, and can't be banished from us. Mental illnesses, which can make us vulnerable to bad acts and immoderate behavior, can be helped, moderated, sometimes cured - but not prayed away, or scorched off by a crucifix and prayers. 
 
Again, folks, these are my opinions, formed by a long life in religion and out, dealing with mental illness, etc., like many others, I'm sure. Of course, a TV show can't prove a case of exorcism, if the entire Church cannot. Exorcising demons requires faith. In the episode mentioned, Emily's friend didn't have faith, so, hey, guys, no demons if no gods.

 

The delusions of an operative of the church don't mean there was evil there, or that they banished it.
 
What I did like about that episode was Jimmy the priest, friend of Dave, who was very level-headed and pragmatic about the view of the church and of most priests in his purvey. I wish this was realistic for most priests, but in my experience, it is not.

[zannej]

normasm, I'm glad you mentioned the bit about people sensing things. I've actually been very in tune with other people and experienced sympathy pain and symptoms without even knowing that they were feeling ill and I felt it when people I knew died. I don't know how or why, but I was able to feel it. It was not a pleasant sensation at all. There have been some studies that showed that some people do have a sense of ESP and the brain reacts just before something happens without the person consciously having any way of knowing something was about to happen. There is still so much that we don't know about the world around us.

 

I have to agree that I felt Demonology was clearcut. The guy wanted revenge because the boys supposedly killed someone when they were younger (I think that was what happened). 

 

One thing I really did like about that was when the guy was flaunting his diplomatic immunity and Hotch called and asked them to revoke that immunity and INS picked him up at the end.

[normasm]

Yeah, zannej, that priest was a straight up unsub, using the cover of his religion to commit a serial retribution of perceived injustices. He was as deluded as any angel of mercy or injustice collector, he just was a priest with diplomatic immunity.

Edited July 27, 2014 by normasm

[idiotwaltz]

 

In the episode Demonology, which is on A & E as I type this, its IMO left kind of up in the air as to whether or not the priest performing the exorcisms was actually cleansing those men of evil.

 

 

I have to agree that I felt Demonology was clearcut. 

 

The way I've always seen it is that the writer was kind of wishy-washy about the whole thing. In the DVD extras, both Chris Mundy and Paget talk about Prentiss's transformative experience (I'm totally paraphrasing here) and though there is merit to saying that the priest had a psychotic break after his buddy was supposedly murdered by Matthew Benton and the others, causing him to kill by way of exorcism, there's also no explanation as to John Cooley's involvement, why he started randomly talking in Latin, or why he said to Morgan, "Don't protect him! They didn't protect you when you were a little boy," referencing the abuse Morgan suffered, which the character would have no way of knowing otherwise. 

 

So to me it's always seemed like the writer didn't really know what he wanted to do, or, in the alternative, wanted to let the viewers decide which version of events they preferred, depending on whether their own spiritual beliefs or lack thereof. It works for me, though in all honestly, I watch Demonology for immensely shallow reasons (so. much. Paget.) and everything else is just sort of there in the background. 

[Wilowy]

Pleased to share the good news that all 9 seasons of our show is now on Netflix streaming! 

 

[Cobalt Stargazer]

*scrambles over to Netflix*

[normasm]

Perhaps we should start a new thread on the 10 episodes you would put on your on-demand list from Netflix...

[Wilowy]

Only 10? 

[SSAHotchner]

Hotch looks especially yummy in that photo.

[Wilowy]

He does. I ran right over and watched The Edge of Winter, as I hadn't seen it since broadcast. Jesus, what an emotionally gripping episode. And there's a lot more Reid than I remember.

 

I'll go make that thread, @normasm.

[normasm]

Hotch looks especially yummy in that photo.

That was my random thought…. yummmmmm

[Danielg342]

Good to see Gideon and Rossi in the same photo. Now if we could only get them in the same scene...

[Cobalt Stargazer]

So after an entire rigamarole with Netflix (don't ask) I finally got to start watching the episodes, and I'm stunned at how young Hotch looks. Reid totally looks like he just graduated from high school. And Morgan in a suit! As minor side notes, I'm wildly amused that Aaron suggested naming the impending baby Sergio, while Haley said they should call him Gideon. Gideon Hotchner. It sounds like a circuit preacher from the 1920s. :-P

[zannej]

I can't use Netflix with my ISP. /cry

 

Oh well. I can get DVDs...

 

Also, interesting article with a brief blurb from Jeanne Tripplehorn

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2014/08/19/jeanne-tripplehorn-tells-off-mandy-patinkin-after-slammed-criminal-minds-for/

 

Although, in typical Fox News fashion, they don't seem to have all of the details right (such as, Jeanne is the one who left the show).

[Wilowy]

Exactly, and the sensational headline. She didn't exactly 'slam' Patinkin, did she? I was hoping for a really juicy tidbit when I saw that. Ugh, clickbait. 

 

Also, from what I heard I'm surprised to hear her defending the show at all. *raises eyebrows*

[zannej]

I wonder how old the article is actually, because whoever wrote it didn't seem to realize that Jeanne was the cast member that was leaving. 

 

I still wonder if CBS declined to renew her contract and if that made her not want to stick around or something. I also wonder if maybe she was irritated that they didn't give her much to do for the two years she was on and if that was a bone of contention. Given her comments about Mandy, I guess its unlikely that she would come out and say anything negative about the show.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Also, from what I heard I'm surprised to hear her defending the show at all. *raises eyebrows*

I'm surprised myself, given the king-sized dump Messer and Co. took on her, but as @zaneej says, its a little unclear how old the article is. And really, considering the aforementioned king-sized dump, it makes her look a hell of a lot better than Patinkin if she doesn't slam the people BTS.

[normasm]

I agree zannej and cobalt, it just makes her look like the lady I suspected she was that she hasn't said Bad Word One.

[zannej]

Oh, and I'm not surprised by the misleading title considering it was from foxnews. I'm not getting political, but independent groups have found that Fox News is known to just spout total BS at times.

 

It seems that the writer wasn't aware that Jeanne was the one leaving. I wonder if part of it was done awhile back before it was known who was leaving and then they tacked on the thing about JLH. Or maybe the writer was just obtuse.

[normasm]

It's called lying, I believe, zannej. No, I don't want to get too political, but I have to at times call it as I see it.

[zannej]

They do have a penchant for prevarication. Now I suddenly want to see JJ seeing something on the news and rolling her eyes and saying something about that particular reporter always being full of it-- and it would be someone she dealt with that misquoted her before. IIRC, Rosssi hated the press. Oh, and I also want to see Hotch tell Reid to go confuse people. You know he could do it.

[normasm]

"Reid, go confuse people."

I love this idea so.........

Edited August 21, 2014 by normasm

[zannej]

Reid has a couple of ways in which he could confuse people. 1. He could use logic and pick up on small points and flip things to make it seem like he's saying people were actually saying something different (sometimes this involves nitpicking on word choice and grammar). 2. He could just use large vocabulary words.

 

Or a combination of the two. My father used to do both of those all the time.

 

I can just picture Hotch telling Reid to go confuse someone and Reid smiling and cracking his knuckles before heading in.

 

And if the writers couldn't come up with something for Reid to actually say, they could show the footage of Reid in a room where you can't hear him, but you can see the person he's speaking with looking extremely confused.

 

and maybe Reid could get a pat on the back from Rossi and then Reid could say something and Rossi would be like "Hey, don't start that on me!" :P

 

I could actually see the confusing people thing as a way Reid could sort of get back at people when they annoy him. It's passive aggressive but can be a fun game for geniuses.

 

I also want to see Hotch bring out his lawyer side and really lay in to someone.

Edited August 21, 2014 by zannej

[Wilowy]

Here's a cute pic of some of the cast at the Pageant of the Masters yesterday. There's a ton more pics here too. 

 

I so love seeing Paget out with them. She just belongs.

[Wilowy]

A head's up for any who might be interested: In a few days I'll be putting up a CM trivia quiz on my site, http://criminalmindsfans.com/ . There are nine questions, one for each aired season, plus a bonus. There's a cool prize for the winner - an awesome autographed item (that I actually haven't seen anywhere else) sent from Criminal Minds studio just for this contest - so if you're into it, feel free to show your trivia-fu!

 

I'll post a link here when it's up. Good luck to all who enter! :)

[zannej]

Thanks for digging up the pictures from Pageant of the Masters. Thomas and Shemar were also listed as potential guests but I guess they were busy or not feeling up to it. Someone told me Shemar mentioned something about a bug going around. Looking at the pictures, I think Matthew was under the weather. I saw that someone posted a tweet somewhere about Matthew sneezing when he was out someplace. But I know one sneeze does not mean he was sick. But given the way he looked, I'd say he had a bit of a cold. His smile wasn't reaching his eyes.

 

It really is great to see Paget with the others. I like Joe's shirt.

 

I still feel like AJ's dress looks like its trying to strangle her. 

[Wilowy]

For those who haven't already submitted their entries, here's a link to the Trivia Challenge. A sweet prize awaits the winner! GOOD LUCK! :)

 

http://criminalmindsfans.com/contest-criminal-minds-trivia-challenge/

[Wilowy]

Here's a sneak peek at what the winner will receive - a cool visor signed by:

Jennifer Love Hewitt (she signed her married name, Hallisay)

Matthew Gray Gubler

Joe Mantegna

AJ Cook

Kirsten Vangsness

and Exec Producer Harry Bring

 

Contest is almost over, you have until Friday midnight to submit your answers, and again - GOOD LUCK TO ALL!

[Wilowy]

If anyone's been meaning to enter the Trivia Challenge but hasn't yet, now's the time. The contest closes at midnight central time tonight! Correct answers still number in the single digits so your odds are great! Come try to win that sweet autographed visor! :D http://criminalmindsfans.com/contest-criminal-minds-trivia-challenge/

 

Oh and I'm putting this gif everywhere for a while because awesome.

 

[missmycat]

Apparently CBS couldn't even be bothered with shooting a brand new cast photo. They are using last year's photo. All they did was crop JT out and insert JLH in her place. I guess the C in CBS must stand for cheapskates. :(

[Wilowy]

Harry said that's just the cobbled together CBS facebook header. He said the official cast photo has some different pics and is not as squished.

[zannej]

Well, I hope we can see the official photo soon.

[Wilowy]

Agreed. I need a current team picture for my site header. 

[missmycat]

Got anything on Criminal Minds-Janice 

Remember The Replicator from season 8? Don't worry- he's not returning,but season 10 will feature another long term unsub. Like The Replicator story line it will be introduced at the end of the premiere."You see that there is a bigger thing going on. It'll be a big case we touch on again midway through the season" executive producer Erica Messer tells us. And no they don't have a nickname for him yet. "We have our own little shortcut in the [writers] room, but we haven't landed on anything yet to be put out there".

 

There are no words to convey what I am feeling right now. Well actually there are- but they are all of the 4 letter word variety.

[normasm]

Stupid beyond words.