“Criminal Minds is about the heroes who protect men, women and children everyday. Mandy is an outstanding actor and we wish him continued success with Homeland."
Criminal Minds - Erica Messer responds to Mandy Patinkin's comments
Sep 16, 2012
Criminal Minds
UPDATE: Below is a statement released to EW from Criminal Minds‘ executive producer, Erica Messer:
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LOL, I don't know why, but something about this just screams passive-aggressive response, so A+, Erica.
ReplyDeleteThey're pissed, and they are right to be. His statement was unnecessary and another shameful act to add to his career. This behaviour is not acceptable.
ReplyDeleteI watch this show only every once in a while for the exact reasons Mandy stated. I started watching this show because it covered a lot of the criminal psyche, but over the last few seasons it has become obsessed with rape stories.
ReplyDeleteThey're showing such a limited view of criminal psychology. Might as well start calling it "Criminal Minds: SVU" considering that 80% of their cases are about rape victims. A tv show should be entertaining, not consistently depressing.
Yeah... saying Criminal Minds is all about horrible murderers (not quite what he said but that was the gist of it) isn't much different than saying Homeland is about terrorists and traitors. He focused on the negative with Criminal Minds yet focuses on the positive at Homeland - I'm half expecting him to walk off the homeland set saying that looking inside the minds of terrorists is too dark for him.
ReplyDeleteyou are right!
ReplyDeleteI missed the comment from Mandy. I enjoy the show and love the actors that work on it. I don't find it depressing, Though it can be difficult to watch at times. However in the end it is about the people on the team working to solve a crime and protecting each other.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what show you have seen recently, but it's not Criminal Minds. The stories have always varied from different types of Unsubs. Anyway, you're free to find it depressing, no problem, but there's no need and it's absolutely unprofessional to shoot it down to make light on your new show which, I'm sure DngnRdr is right, he will walk off from making similar complains.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you!
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
ReplyDeleteAt its best the show was in fact about the criminals being chased, not the BAU. When they changed the format to be more about the team it short-changed the criminal psychology and became something less than it was.
I can easily understand Patinkin's point of it playing on his mind. Even if he knew the basis of the show going in, it is something different to live inside the character and experience those gruesome crimes over and over. Especially for a method actor.
Not much of a response--so I guess Erica doesn't want to prolong the discussion. Mandy is talking about his dislike that "Criminal Minds" focuses on acts-of-violence and inflicting pain & suffering on victims (often women)--and the effect it had on him (and possibly the viewer). While she responds that the focus of the show is the FBI Team. OK, different points-of-view.
ReplyDeleteHe could very well walk out... it is part of his pattern, but the shows are VERY Different.
ReplyDeleteIn Criminal Minds he dealt with the crimes on a very personal and visceral level. In Homeland it is an administrative job and he does not deal with the crime scenes , he does not need to inhabit those criminals psyches as he did on Criminal Minds.
Completely different things.
Thanks Erica... You made the Point!
ReplyDeleteYet he walked off Criminal Minds w/o considering changing roles... he could have been given a promotion to desk duty or whatever. And his role in Homeland is administrative but the show itself goes to some dark places - even if he's not involved in those scenes.
ReplyDeleteAnd he didn't distinguish his comments between his role in the shows.. he referred to the shows themselves. Don't get me wrong, I think he's a brilliant actor but he's just media event waiting to happen ;-/
While I think Mandy Patinkin was way off-base with what he said about Criminal Minds, getting this statement from Erica Messer is laughable.
ReplyDeleteMandy was off-base because the show's focus, in his day, was on the team, not on the unsubs and violence. At the same time, there was obviously going to be violence in a show about FBI agents who chase serial killers. What was he expecting?
The statement from Erica Messer was laughable because she's describing what the show used to be before she took over. Sadly, that's not what it is anymore. During her reign, she turned the focus away from profiling and the team, as FBI agents, and gave the focus to the unsubs and gore. The focus the team gets now is secondary and often on their social lives instead of their protection of men, women, and children.
So what was so damaging to his psyche that he had to walk off Chicago Hope? Dead Like Me? Face it. This is what Mandy Patinkin DOES. He signs on to a series, then he blows it off. Every time. I hope Homeland has a replacement on retainer, ready to go at a moment's notice. Because when Mandy decides it's time to leave, he's not going to give you the courtesy of any notice.
ReplyDeleteAgreed! I stopped watching both shows for that reason.If the show isn't about rape one week its about child porn,kidnapping,or murder..I can see this anytime by turning on the news,i don't need to have it in my face week in week out!
ReplyDeleteWhy'd he leave Chicago Hope? Why'd he leave Dead Like Me? Any reason he gives for leaving a show HAS to be suspect, because he's left EVERY SHOW HE'S EVER BEEN ON before his contract was up.
ReplyDeleteOh I agree with everyone... Mandy Patinkin is a walk--off waiting to happen.
ReplyDeleteHowever if looking at only Criminal Minds and his comments, I can understand what he is saying. I can see how for a method actor delving into the mind of violent criminals may prove to be more than some people can handle. There is a reason so many profilers or abuse counselors burn out, it can be a traumatic job.
That said, this is not a defense of Mandy Pantikin's pattern of walking off shows. Just me saying I understand how working on a show like Criminal Minds could be too much for some one.
Mandy read the scrips he knew what criminal minds was going to be about so why didn't he just turn it down. But i am glad that he came on criminal minds or we would not had meet david Rossi so i guess it was half and half.
ReplyDeletelol agreed
ReplyDeletelol
ReplyDeleteshe is so polite after he ripped criminal to sheds
ReplyDeleteBasically she said "you missed the point of the show, so fuck off"... but in a VERY polite way.
ReplyDeleteShe couldn't have said anymore than she did because 1) Showtime is part of the CBS group, so both "Homeland" and Patinkin belong to the house by extent. and 2) Criminal Minds hasn't been in the best of terms with the network especially after the whole on-again-off-again affair with Paget Brewster. Erica was very active in bringing both Paget and AJ back and now she's getting it all in the head so, her hands are pretty much tied. And so is her pen.
As for Patinkin's atitude I'd say that regardless how legit his opinion of the show is, it was quite unethical of him to bring back the matter of his exit as a way of favoring the show he is currently in. What he said about the show is perfectly understandable but it doesn't give him the right to say the Criminal Minds is shit comparing to the awesomeness that is Homeland. Because basically that is what he did. It was both rude and unprofessional and the CM people (me included) have every right to be pissed at him.
I don't really watch CM anymore cause the writing took a nose dive after S5 (IMHO) and I do watch Homeland. However Mandy's excuse doesn't stand when you look at his track record (leaving both Chicago Hope and Dead Like Me) and he didn't negotiate out of his contract on CM or ask to leave- he just didn't show up for filming and screwed over the cast and crew. Much as I like MP, that's unacceptable and a douchey move.
ReplyDeleteBooyah, in your face, Mandy!
ReplyDeleteThat was a classy statement. Nevertheless, I can imagine her writing it while using Mandy's picture as a dartboard.
Where did Patinkin say CM was shit compared to Homeland? I didn't read that,did i miss something?
ReplyDeleteIMO, Mandy is the kind of person who wakes up one morning, checks the press and sees that no one is saying anything about him, so he decides to give everyone a reason to be talked about, and he's done this several times already. He is a self-centered a-hole who prefers to have a bad reputation than no reputation at all.Also, Criminal Minds has lost nothing with his exit, on the contrary, its best seasons were seasons 4 and 5, when Mandy/Gideon was nowhere to be seen.Now, on what Erica said, a lot of time has gone by since the show was like she described up there, because since when she took control over the show, it had never before been such an exact description of the reasons why Mandy left.
ReplyDeleteeventually he will walk out of homeland too, he always does it, so why would this be any different, maybe his way of thinking is changing if he walks out of this one, he won''t get any more work on tv. He is probably a very good theatre actor, but as a tv one not too good
ReplyDeleteThat was extremely restrained. I get the feeling she didn't want to say anything at all but EW wouldn't let it slide. Mandy Patinkin has a right to feel however he wants to feel about a job. He has the right to quit. However, given his reputation for...um..(what I was taught was) immature behavior on jobs and in exiting jobs. I am constantly surprised he's ever hired again.
ReplyDeleteWhy does he need to say anything. He is on a new show doing very well in the ratings. He knew when he joined Criminal Minds - back when - what the subject matter could be. Why say anything years after leaving a show. Leave your regrets, comments and arrogance at the door. Let the other fine actors and actresses who work on that show and who take pride in the job that they do, not be subject to your comments and hostility. I will always be a fan of CM - have not really caught on to Homeland.
ReplyDelete