criminalxminds | An alternative perspective

EDIT: This is a post for people to talk about WHY THEY WILL STILL WATCH. This isn't for people to reinterate sexism, why CBS sucks, etc. Please keep that in consideration!

I want to try something, and I'm sure it might not go over well. Mods...use your powers if you feel it right. But I think we need this here.

There are some of us, while sad AJ is leaving, who aren't going to stop watching the show. We may have thought some of the protests went too far. We may be excited for the change in team chemistry. Basically, we're gonna give it a shot.

We're also afraid that however calm and articulate we are, we'll be seen as flamers or we'll be flamed. I thought this could be the post for those of us who need to get this off our chests. Need to vent in another direction.

Feel free to be anon. I'd urge nobody to slam other fans, just talk about what they hope for season 6, why they aren't going to stop watching, etc. I don't want ANYONE ON ANY SIDE to feel insulted.

Whadda ya think?

EDIT: This is a 'Why I will watch' thread, not yet another place for people to state 'why they won't watch.'

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm not really sure why you believe that you guys will be flamed. I haven't seen any flaming on this comm, just respectful disagreement. Sure, people are venting, but most of their wrath is directed at CBS, not other posters. And I think that's fair. It's fandom--if there's one thing that's pretty consistent about fandom, it's that people will make a big deal out of anything.

That said, I have issues reading CBS's actions as anything but sexist. It is suspect that the targets of their budget cuts just happen to be female characters. I'm sure online fandom has little if any impact on TV execs' decisions; the bottom line is profit. And profit is directly related to ratings, most of which come from casual fans with Nielson boxes. The departure of any character--male or female--likely will not affect casual fans very much. So if it had been say, Morgan or Rossi (the least explored male characters) let go instead of JJ or Em, I doubt that would've made a huge difference to casual fans. So why zero in on the female characters?

My decision not to watch isn't about me being butthurt over Em and JJ. It's because without strong female characters, I simply am no longer interested in CM anymore. Even if JJ amd Em weren't my favorites--Hotch is--having them there is important. They balance out the team dynamic and in many incidences (sadly, mostly in the earlier seasons), have played crucial roles in solving the cases--roles that are unique to a female character. Losing that dynamic would be a huge detriment to the show. I am uncertain if JJ's replacement will be a series regular or just a recurring guest star (like Kirsten was on S1), but assuming the latter plus the reduction of Paget's role, that means less presence of female characters, meaning less presence of me as a viewer (this doesn't even mention the precedent being set here that female characters are interchangeable). I may be weak and try giving the new season a trial run, but my hopes aren't high, and I'm certainly not excited.

My decision not to watch isn't about me being butthurt over Em and JJ. It's because without strong female characters, I simply am no longer interested in CM anymore.

This.

I was upset at the cuts, but the thing I am most upset by is the lack of strong female characters. There was an article circulating around that said (please forgive the paraphrasing) that the author didn't want his kids growing up in a world where the strongest female character on network TV is Meredith Grey.

I know that AJ and possibly even Paget will go on and get other jobs and be successful, because they're phenomenal actresses. But I am saddened by the message it sends to viewers that female characters are at best interchangeable and at worst, disposable.

I would like to read this article. You wouldn't happen to have a link, would you?

Honestly, some of the comments on this post are making me D: so hard. Thanks for proving CBS right, guys. I just love the smell of internalized misogyny in the morning (well, it's evening here, but sentence had a nice ring to it).

article is here (http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/popcornbiz/Criminal-Minds-Cutting-Loose-Female-Cast-Members--Isnt-That-Kinda-Wrong-96385974.html)

There's also the point that CBS just signed Charlie Sheen's 2 million PER EPISODE contract (which I'm pretty sure is more than AJ and Paget make in a season COMBINED) and yet they need to make budget cuts on CM?

Thank you for the article! It sums up a lot of my issues very well.

Not to mention the absurd amount of bank they must be giving Forrest to appear in the spinoff. The spinoff itself has only one female character who had what, three lines on the backdoor pilot?

Guys, CBS isn't sexist! Stop trying to be offended!

I love this: 'Stop trying to be offended!'

Other peopel co-opting things to be part of their cause. Now let's put it this way:

IT'S A TV SHOW. EVERYTHING ENDS EVENTUALLY. Even MASH ended.

OK!

My decision not to watch isn't about me being butthurt over Em and JJ. It's because without strong female characters, I simply am no longer interested in CM anymore.

This. My favorite character is Morgan, followed by Reid and Garcia. That simply has nothing to do with my objection to what CBS is doing; it's a matter of principle, not a matter of personal fancy. I think that's what the OP is missing, and I don't know how he/she could have missed it.

My decision not to watch isn't about me being butthurt over Em and JJ. It's because without strong female characters, I simply am no longer interested in CM anymore. Even if JJ amd Em weren't my favorites--Hotch is--having them there is important.

ITA with everything, but this especially. Reid is my favorite character on the show, but I can't watch a show where the male perspective is going to be the one we see 24/7. Yeah, there are more males than females, but the female characters balance out the testosterone. We get to see Hotch and Morgan kick ass, but we also get to see JJ and Emily sympathize with the characters as well as being bad asses.

I'm going to watch JJ's two episodes and then probably two more episodes. If I don't like what I'm seeing, then I'm not watching after that. I'll have the first 5 seasons to go back through and watch.

An alternative perspective

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject