Criminal Minds

It's not clear how seriously Patinkin takes the whole thing--it's the same actorly mystery that makes David Caruso's whispery bitterness such a kick on CSI: Miami. [31 Oct 2005, p.39]

It's kind of good.

May well be worth a look.

Viewers certainly like this sort of thing. CBS has become the No. 1 network with an incessant stream of it, and Criminal Minds is as well-made as any of them.

Solidly plotted and filmed.

It has a few points going for it: Mandy Patinkin's onscreen magnetism; some truly eerie episodes; and a smartness that it wears on its sleeve. On the downside, it draws on too many other recent hits -- "CSI," "Crossing Jordan," "Medium," "House," "Law & Order: SVU""Law & Order: SVU" -- for visual style, character tics, mind games and an ability to find the truth in confounding evidence.

Now and then, there are instances in which the profilers, and Gideon in particular, literally walk out of one scene and into another. It's a nice touch and a visually creative change of pace, but it's not enough -- not even with frequent shots of Patinkin's expressive face -- to distinguish this series in a particularly crowded genre.

The problem with "Criminal Minds" -- other than there are 48 series in a similar vein, 39 of them on CBS -- is that every person in this cast has an area of expertise, and they spend the hour telling you about it in the most unrealistic workplace conversations you'll ever hear.

Do yourself a favor and read some Nietzsche instead of watching this junk. [23 Sep 2005, p.82]

It's not a cool-science show, but its crimes blur together with what we already see on the ''CSI" series, and its supporting cast is indistinct.

"Criminal Minds" doesn't present any spin on the crime TV genre you haven't seen before, save for taking savagery against female victims to new heights.

The problem with "Criminal Minds" is its many confusing maladies, applied to too many characters. As a result, the cast seems like a spilled trunk of broken toys, with which the audience - and perhaps the creators - may quickly become bored.

Patinkin looks especially unnatural in these scenes — just give that man a song to sing, I say, and let him do what he was born to.

Unfortunately, Criminal Minds confuses critical thinking with supernatural abilities.

"Criminal Minds," which generates almost no creative energy of its own, has the aura - or is it odor? - of being patched together from scraps of failed CBS dramas of the past.

Everything about Criminal is patched together from other shows, from the FBI setting to the tired visual gimmickry.

Big talent meets weak script and every TV crime cliche known to prime time.

A slick 'n' grim crime procedural piled high with deadly dull cliches

CBS' crummiest imitation of CSI yet.