Criminal Minds

Criminal Minds is an American Crime Drama on the CBS network. The show originally aired on September 22, 2005.

Creation/Premise
Criminal Minds was created by Jeff Davis and is produced by the Mark Gordon Company in association with CBS Television Studios and ABC Studios. The show follows the investigative lives of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit at Quantico, Virginia.

The unit itself is based entirely on the real-life BAU built by FBI Profiler John Douglas. The show's former main character, Jason Gideon, and new character, David Rossi are both partially based on John Douglas himself--with respect to different aspects of their personalities. . The show abandons the common format of procedural dramas by focusing more on the criminals and their victims instead of the main cast.

Throughout the episodes, quotations from famous philosophers are often recited by the cast. These quotations are relevant to the episode's plot and help to bring the "pieces" of the case together. Previously, it was always Jason Gideon who recited them, but, since his departure, the rest of the cast have taken over; quotations mainly being quoted by the prominent character of that episode.

Opening Credits
For the first five seasons, they had changed just enough to reflect the changes in the main cast, keeping the original theme song created for the show intact. In season six, with AJ Cook leaving the series, the theme song has been subtly updated, with electric guitars added that play the main four-note motif, along with the sound effect of an explosion towards the end.

Seasons
The series' third season, which premiered on September 26, 2007, was interrupted in late 2007 by the industry-wide Writer's Guild of America strike. It aired its last pre-strike episode on January 23, 2008. Following the resolution of the strike, the show returned to air on April 2, 2008. On May 14, 2008, Criminal Minds was renewed for a fourth season, which premiered on September 24, 2008. Season Five premiered on September 23, 2009, Season Six on September 22, 2010, Season Seven on September 21, 2011, and Season Eight on September 26, 2012. The show was again renewed for a ninth season, which premiered on September 25, 2013. This will later be followed by a tenth season scheduled to premiere on September 24, 2014.


 * Season One
 * Season Two
 * Season Three
 * Season Four
 * Season Five
 * Season Six
 * Season Seven
 * Season Eight
 * Season Nine
 * Season Ten

Season Ratings Averages

 * Seasonal rankings based on average total viewers.
 * Ratings averages Live + 7 of first and reruns (on its timeslot) airings.
 * Season Eight: Reruns ratings NOT included

Spin-off
The spin-off, Suspect Behavior, was introduced in The Fight and, after being green-lit by CBS, premiered on February 16, 2011 with a 13-episode order. Due to mildly to bad ratings, all of its episodes were aired but was canceled on May 17, 2011.

It revolves around a new group of profilers, led by Sam Cooper (Forest Whitaker), who work outside the FBI bureaucracy. Beau Garrett played Gina LaSalle, a tough girl and recent FBI recruit who is loyal to Cooper and the object of flirting from Mick Rawson, an arrogant former military sniper who was portrayed by Matt Ryan. Michael Kelly played Jonathan "Prophet" Simms, a former criminal-turned-FBI agent. Kirsten Vangsness continued her role as Penelope Garcia, who was the team's technical analyst. Richard Schiff portrayed FBI Director Jack Fickler and Janeane Garofalo played Beth Griffith, the only BAU agent that didn't appear in The Fight.

Syndication
Criminal Minds is syndicated for broadcast on several channels from all over the world, including:



Current

 * Aaron Hotchner - Thomas Gibson
 * David Rossi - Joe Mantegna
 * Derek Morgan - Shemar Moore
 * Dr. Spencer Reid - Matthew Gray Gubler
 * Jennifer Jareau - A.J. Cook
 * Penelope Garcia - Kirsten Vangsness

Recurring/Minor

 * William LaMontagne Jr - Josh Stewart
 * Kevin Lynch - Nicholas Brendon
 * Diana Reid - Jane Lynch
 * Jack Hotchner - Cade Owens
 * Henry LaMontagne - Mekhai Andersen
 * Beth Clemmons - Bellamy Young

Former

 * Haley Hotchner - Meredith Monroe
 * Jason Gideon - Mandy Patinkin
 * Elle Greenaway - Lola Glaudini
 * Ashley Seaver - Rachel Nichols
 * Emily Prentiss - Paget Brewster
 * Maeve Donovan - Beth Riesgraf
 * Erin Strauss - Jayne Atkinson
 * Alex Blake - Jeanne Tripplehorn

Episodes
See the list of episodes.