You see... this ain't... c'mon now
The internet has just informed me that CBS is looking to revive Criminal Minds after the show officially ended in 2020. The rumor has been confirmed by some of the ex-cast on social media and comes a few months after the late Harry Bring (executive producer) teased about a "reboot" on his Twitter account.
The best response I've seen to this so far is a fan saying that CM made like character Emily Prentiss: pretended to be dead for a year then came back.
As a fan who has made A LOT of fanworks for this show (and was about to retire from it, if I'm being honest), I don't know what to think about this news. Obviously, there are no details. There are no confirmations about casting or if/when production could start. It could be one of those rumors that gets put out there to see if there's an appetite for the idea, and nothing comes of it. The financial drawbacks to CM were always that it had good ratings but never great ones, and, as a procedural crime drama, it was expensive to make. The title was also jointly owned by both NBC and CBS, which was problematic from the get go in terms of creative direction, distribution, and profit sharing. <- NONE of these issues have gone away - just sayin'.
If you read between the lines of the TV Guide article, it seems like CBS is nervous about the streaming business model and wants to leverage existing titles that can bring eyeballs to them because their ship is old and has lots of holes in it. CBS All Access ain't no Netflix. They haven't actively generated new content and seem nervous about proposing new shows that haven't been tested in their 60-year-old network TV model. Who knows how they'd tackle creating new content in a COVID-19 world. They seem to be scrambling to survive in a streaming/pandemic reality. Innovation through desperation has never worked out well in the entertainment industry, and this smells super desperate to me. (I won't go into the licensing problems that NON-U.S. services have with companies like NBC and CBS - Criminal Minds isn't available on any streaming service in my country and I'm unsure that CBS/Paramount+ has thought about market penetration beyond America)
Other fans are excited about seeing their favorite characters again, but there are problems there as well. A revival/reboot doesn't mean they'll start up production where they left off. Some actors may not want or be available to participate (Joe Mantegna is basically retired, Matthew Gray Gubler has moved on to other projects, Thomas Gibson was fired in S12 despite being a huge fan favorite, Shemar Moore has his own very successful show etc.). One of the executive producers is dead and many of the writers have moved on to other shows. And finally - I'm gonna address the biggest problem with this show - the writing was exceptionally stale in the final five seasons. If we're being honest, I'm not sure there's a lot left to explore in that canon without tossing out the formula that made it work in the first place. And there's no assurance that they won't just recast and retool the whole thing - like a CSI or Law & Order spin-off instead of a true revival - which will turn off those who might have come back to CBS's streaming service to watch new episodes of an old favorite.
In short: I'm pretty skeptical about this.
But also: WTF Criminal Minds? How am I supposed to quit you when you pull shit like dis?!?
Such is the conundrum of a fan on a Saturday afternoon. Thank you for attending my TED Talk.
The best response I've seen to this so far is a fan saying that CM made like character Emily Prentiss: pretended to be dead for a year then came back.
As a fan who has made A LOT of fanworks for this show (and was about to retire from it, if I'm being honest), I don't know what to think about this news. Obviously, there are no details. There are no confirmations about casting or if/when production could start. It could be one of those rumors that gets put out there to see if there's an appetite for the idea, and nothing comes of it. The financial drawbacks to CM were always that it had good ratings but never great ones, and, as a procedural crime drama, it was expensive to make. The title was also jointly owned by both NBC and CBS, which was problematic from the get go in terms of creative direction, distribution, and profit sharing. <- NONE of these issues have gone away - just sayin'.
If you read between the lines of the TV Guide article, it seems like CBS is nervous about the streaming business model and wants to leverage existing titles that can bring eyeballs to them because their ship is old and has lots of holes in it. CBS All Access ain't no Netflix. They haven't actively generated new content and seem nervous about proposing new shows that haven't been tested in their 60-year-old network TV model. Who knows how they'd tackle creating new content in a COVID-19 world. They seem to be scrambling to survive in a streaming/pandemic reality. Innovation through desperation has never worked out well in the entertainment industry, and this smells super desperate to me. (I won't go into the licensing problems that NON-U.S. services have with companies like NBC and CBS - Criminal Minds isn't available on any streaming service in my country and I'm unsure that CBS/Paramount+ has thought about market penetration beyond America)
Other fans are excited about seeing their favorite characters again, but there are problems there as well. A revival/reboot doesn't mean they'll start up production where they left off. Some actors may not want or be available to participate (Joe Mantegna is basically retired, Matthew Gray Gubler has moved on to other projects, Thomas Gibson was fired in S12 despite being a huge fan favorite, Shemar Moore has his own very successful show etc.). One of the executive producers is dead and many of the writers have moved on to other shows. And finally - I'm gonna address the biggest problem with this show - the writing was exceptionally stale in the final five seasons. If we're being honest, I'm not sure there's a lot left to explore in that canon without tossing out the formula that made it work in the first place. And there's no assurance that they won't just recast and retool the whole thing - like a CSI or Law & Order spin-off instead of a true revival - which will turn off those who might have come back to CBS's streaming service to watch new episodes of an old favorite.
In short: I'm pretty skeptical about this.
But also: WTF Criminal Minds? How am I supposed to quit you when you pull shit like dis?!?
Such is the conundrum of a fan on a Saturday afternoon. Thank you for attending my TED Talk.