In the News: Criminal Minds slashes female cast for next season
yeah, so, this happened:
Criminal Minds Cuts A.J. Cook, Will Add New Cast Member, Source Says.
The producers essentially fired AJ Cook (JJ) and are trying to cut Paget Brewster to a limited number of shows. All the male actors are coming back.
Oh no they didn't.
There are a bunch of reactions from fans and even the actors on Twitter ( ajcookofficial, Pagetpaget, JoeMantegna, Vangsness, Gibsonthomas) but the reason I broke my LJ radio silence (which I have been maintaining because of a severe case of creative block) is because I'd like to share the following:
An open letter to the Producers of Criminal Minds
Sirs,
In a show that features, at its very core, extreme and sadistic violence against women at nearly every turn, it is vital to the balance of Criminal Minds to have strong female characters. For five years, Jennifer Jareau has given Criminal Minds a strong centering influence, a level of humanity, that consistently provides a balance against the violence in the show. It has been recognized more than once on the show that JJ is the first one to filter all cases and all the violence sent the BAU, and she works as a grounding point to the team by virtue of her character and actions. What AJ Cook has built with a character that could have been little more than a puff piece is astonishing, and I urge you to reconsider your decision to not bring her back for the next season of Criminal Minds.
Emily Prentiss portrays a strong, capable female character who is action-oriented, pragmatic, and also capable of a level of empathy with female crime victims that cannot be realistically taken on by any of the male characters in the show. Paget Brewster has taken a character that, in other hands (and even 10 years ago) could have been a shrill caricature, a woman trying to get in the "boys club", with a chip on her shoulder and something to prove, and made Prentiss into an incredibly strong character who adds tremendous value to the show. Sadly, characters like Prentiss are thin on the ground even in 2010, and to lose her presence on the show would be a step backwards for Criminal Minds and CBS.
It is my opinion that the background and history that both Emily Prentiss and Jennifer Jareau have built on the show, and the incredible acting that Paget Brewster and AJ Cook have brought to the ensemble over the years, are invaluable to the success of the show. The loss of JJ, and the reduction of Prentiss's role on the show, will hurt the show beyond what may be sustainable on the long-term, in terms of both gaining new fans and keeping existing ones.
It is also being reported that there are decisions to bring in a new female character to the show. By all means, please bring in new characters to complement the existing cast. The hallmark of a great show is the ability to add and grow. But please don't think that the fan base will be willing to accept the firing of AJ Cook, and the demotion of Paget Brewster. A show as consistently violent as Criminal Minds requires a certain level of trust from its audience, a trust that has built up over the last five years by the entire ensemble of characters, of which JJ and Prentiss (and Ms. Cook and Ms. Brewster) are a vital and irreplaceable part.
Sincerely,
[my name]
I'm going to polish this up over the next few days and then ship it snail-mail off to CBS. But the core of my message can be summed up as:
In a show that features extreme violence against women at every turn, you need strong female characters to play the hero, to show/tell that not all women are victims, that sometimes we can be the strong ones.
So yeah, those are my thoughts on this mess. If you're a Criminal Minds fan and would like to send a message to CBS, please do so (in snail mail format - harder to ignore). Or else you can sign the online petition, or pass around the message. (Sending a message of support to AJ and Paget would not be amiss, either).
And if you're not a Criminal Minds fan and you made it this far down... how are things going with you?
Criminal Minds Cuts A.J. Cook, Will Add New Cast Member, Source Says.
The producers essentially fired AJ Cook (JJ) and are trying to cut Paget Brewster to a limited number of shows. All the male actors are coming back.
Oh no they didn't.
There are a bunch of reactions from fans and even the actors on Twitter ( ajcookofficial, Pagetpaget, JoeMantegna, Vangsness, Gibsonthomas) but the reason I broke my LJ radio silence (which I have been maintaining because of a severe case of creative block) is because I'd like to share the following:
An open letter to the Producers of Criminal Minds
Sirs,
In a show that features, at its very core, extreme and sadistic violence against women at nearly every turn, it is vital to the balance of Criminal Minds to have strong female characters. For five years, Jennifer Jareau has given Criminal Minds a strong centering influence, a level of humanity, that consistently provides a balance against the violence in the show. It has been recognized more than once on the show that JJ is the first one to filter all cases and all the violence sent the BAU, and she works as a grounding point to the team by virtue of her character and actions. What AJ Cook has built with a character that could have been little more than a puff piece is astonishing, and I urge you to reconsider your decision to not bring her back for the next season of Criminal Minds.
Emily Prentiss portrays a strong, capable female character who is action-oriented, pragmatic, and also capable of a level of empathy with female crime victims that cannot be realistically taken on by any of the male characters in the show. Paget Brewster has taken a character that, in other hands (and even 10 years ago) could have been a shrill caricature, a woman trying to get in the "boys club", with a chip on her shoulder and something to prove, and made Prentiss into an incredibly strong character who adds tremendous value to the show. Sadly, characters like Prentiss are thin on the ground even in 2010, and to lose her presence on the show would be a step backwards for Criminal Minds and CBS.
It is my opinion that the background and history that both Emily Prentiss and Jennifer Jareau have built on the show, and the incredible acting that Paget Brewster and AJ Cook have brought to the ensemble over the years, are invaluable to the success of the show. The loss of JJ, and the reduction of Prentiss's role on the show, will hurt the show beyond what may be sustainable on the long-term, in terms of both gaining new fans and keeping existing ones.
It is also being reported that there are decisions to bring in a new female character to the show. By all means, please bring in new characters to complement the existing cast. The hallmark of a great show is the ability to add and grow. But please don't think that the fan base will be willing to accept the firing of AJ Cook, and the demotion of Paget Brewster. A show as consistently violent as Criminal Minds requires a certain level of trust from its audience, a trust that has built up over the last five years by the entire ensemble of characters, of which JJ and Prentiss (and Ms. Cook and Ms. Brewster) are a vital and irreplaceable part.
Sincerely,
[my name]
I'm going to polish this up over the next few days and then ship it snail-mail off to CBS. But the core of my message can be summed up as:
In a show that features extreme violence against women at every turn, you need strong female characters to play the hero, to show/tell that not all women are victims, that sometimes we can be the strong ones.
So yeah, those are my thoughts on this mess. If you're a Criminal Minds fan and would like to send a message to CBS, please do so (in snail mail format - harder to ignore). Or else you can sign the online petition, or pass around the message. (Sending a message of support to AJ and Paget would not be amiss, either).
And if you're not a Criminal Minds fan and you made it this far down... how are things going with you?