Paget Brewster will not renew her contract

[gsyh.livejournal.com]

http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/66586834.html

Potentially unpopular opinion, now that Brewster is gone too, I kinda wish the entire CM cast would quit CM, and then meet up again in a comedy show. I just don't know what. Bunnies anyone?

ETA: What happened:
- CBS kicked Paget out
- Fans revolt
- CBS forced Paget to come back, because of the contract...
- Now that Paget's contract is up, she will leave.


...and wow, 121 comments, I thought this was unshocking news, ouch my inbox. I wish Paget the best.

ETA:



ETA: On the subject of awesome female characters and actresses, but terrible terrible bosses...any of you Star Trek TNG fans here? Remember when Dr.Crusher all of a sudden got replaced before the collective outrage of fans and Patrick Stewart speaking on Gates McFadden's behalf got her back? The rumoured cause of her leaving was that she refused to sleep with one of the producers - a rumor given merit since Grace Lee Whitney (Janice Rand, TOS), was assaulted by two producters she didn't feel comfortable naming, before HER character was given the sudden-off. Ditto for the career of the actress in The Birds, Tippi Hedren, she signed a 7 contract with Hitchcock, who used it to keep her from working after she refused him. The BS that actresses have to put up with and all the things thrown at them is deplorable. If I stopped watching Criminal Minds after Paget leaves, it will less because of No Emily (though I will miss her so), but because of WHY she left. It's a sour taste in my mouth accented by the last weekk's episode, where Garcia thought something sexual happened between her and Morgan even though she was so drunk she couldn't remember any of it, and the writer is unaware of the unfortunate implication of.

Comments

[philstar22.livejournal.com]

What do you mean gone too? Did anyone else quit?

On the one hand, this makes me really sad. I adore Prentiss, and the show won't be the same without her. On the other hand, considering what CBS did to her (both this time and last time), I can completely understand her decision.

[gsyh.livejournal.com]

Well, I still miss Gideon and I miss Elle, and the old quality of the show, it's just different. This is just one of those final straws. If they make more, I might still watch, but if the series end, now feels like a good time.

A lot of why I feel this way has to do with what I find about further CBS dickery from comments at the mothership. It kinda sound like CBS is the new MGM, drop someone from the spotlight willy nilly yet still tied them to a contract.


Plus, mostly I was thinking, if they end the series now, they can end the series with the team still together like a family.

[ohsillytwigg.livejournal.com]

I can't blame her, after all the crap last year.

[philstar22.livejournal.com]

Yes, this. Bad enough the way they fired her. But the fact that they basically told the other networks not to give her any pilots and are not allowing her to seek pilots this time is just crap.

[midgetnazgul.livejournal.com]

What do you mean she's gone, "too"? Did I miss something?

[alyssa22.livejournal.com]

No!! OMG. She's the reason to watch the show, IMO. She's gone, she's back and now she's gone again?

Ugh.

[dhae_knight_1]

In one sense I'm going to miss Prentiss, because she's awesome. On the other hand I haven't been too fond of the lately somewhat heavyhanded Hotch/Prentiss push.

I absolutely support her decision, though. I guess I'm just looking around at the women in Hollywood and wonder where she'll find another role as juicy as Prentiss. Female roles in Hollywood generally sucks. :-(

[philstar22.livejournal.com]

Really? The writers have been pretty clear that Hotch and Prentiss are friends only in canon and that no romance is going to happen. And considering that Hotch has a current romantic storyline with someone else, I'm not sure what you are talking about unless you don't want them to be friends at all.

[hitz-girl.livejournal.com]

They fired, brought her and now she quits. I'm sure what to make of that.

[emploding.livejournal.com]

I agree, I'd not be overly upset if they canned the show entirely. It's not what it used to be, and it's nowhere near as good as it used to be sad.

Sad, but true.

However, it will be interesting to see how they write her exit, because it will probably create a good Reid storyline, seeing as how he's still dealing with her death/comback.

[dhae_knight_1]

I agree. I miss the mystery-unsubs, where you only ever saw their hands or eyes or something. The ones where the unsub is shoved in my face in the first 30 seconds is just not the same, because - hey, then I already know who it is, and the team's playing catch-up. If I don't know who it is, it's much easier to create tension and follow the team's hunt on the edge of your seat.

One of the reasons I really, really enjoyed 'Unknown Subject'.

Then again, I like Prentiss and Rossi and the team with them far, far more than I ever liked the team with Gideon and Elle, so... there is that.

[rathanylakan.livejournal.com]

I agree that I don't want them to try and keep a fragmented show going. But, CM has elements that no other show has and I will miss it terribly.

[dhae_knight_1]

Among other things, CM has good women. And lots of women. I hope they 'replace' (terrible word, because no one can, nor should replace Paget) her with another female character. One of the terrible things about season 6 was that all of a sudden it was up to Garcia and new!girl to hold up the female end of the show.

[ayajedi.livejournal.com]

I was surprised at this latest development but given all that she has had to go through over the past two years, I cannot blame Paget for leaving. In fact, I fully support her decision even though I will miss Prentiss terribly. I did not know of Paget, the actress, before Criminal Minds but she has grown to be one of my top females on TV; she can do drama, action, comedy, tragedy,etc in a believable way whilst looking great.
I wish her all the success in the world.
p.s. I hope that they don't bring back Not!JJ, Rachel whatshername.

[dhae_knight_1]

I agree with that. :-)

[tragicllyhip.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure the series isn't ending. Its ok for her to leave if thats what she wants to do. I think the show will be fine. She'll be terribly missed :(

[chreesko.livejournal.com]

This is really sad, but if the show can manage to come out on the other side okay, it bodes well for their future because this probably isn't the only cast change they'll have if they're on the air long enough.

[teenagewitch.livejournal.com]

I find it rather disrespectful to the fans who protested and kept on CBS to bring her and JJ back. we all wanted her and now her ego is more important then her fans. I will more than likely not watch anything with her. Would hate to get attached to another show and have her pull a similar stunt.

[philstar22.livejournal.com]

Really? After all the crap CBS pulled on her, after they basically had her blackballed to force her to come back, and after now they weren't letting her do another pilot, I don't blame her at all. Yes, it makes me sad, but I don't think this is something she'd do again. It is just that after being treated so badly, she understandably doesn't trust them.

[watching-ghosts.livejournal.com]

Aw, no. I love Paget, and Emily is my favourite character, but I can't blame her after everything they've put her through.

I would totally watch the whole cast in a comedy :D

[gsyh.livejournal.com]

Dude, if you know anyone who is a Buffy fan, recommend them to check out Robot Chicken, it's a comedy puppet show written by Seth Green (Oz, Willow's werewolf boyfriend), and it has many times guest starred his former Buffy cast mates. I love it when Srs Show people get together on other projects that are the opposite end of dark and grim.

[citjara.livejournal.com]

https://twitter.com/#!/pagetpaget/status/169894718707204096 (https://twitter.com/#!/pagetpaget/status/169894718707204096)

As much as I want to understand and be happy for her, right now, I'm mostly bummed. I know, in the end, I will come around to understanding and being happy for her, but it'll have to sink in for a couple of days. It really hurts when they leave...

I just really hope they do not kill her off *again*, as I think this would be rather tacky. I do think that the current team is the best (though I like Gideon, too), however, I think they can survive without Prentiss. Both the team and the show. This show is still pulling pretty stable and good numbers for a show of that age, so I think it could go on for one, maybe two years (I'd love for them to go on for 2 and finish off with 200th ep in the 9th season).

Then, I don't know who else is up for contracts this year besides MGG..., Joe just twittered that he's not going anywhere... but Shemar, Kirsten? AJ? I know Thomas got a two year deal last time around, so he's safe. I don't think we could deal with losing another one of them, and I'm very torn on a replacement. I'm not sure whether this would be a good idea, or whether they should stick to six team members...

[dhae_knight_1]

I hope they bring in another woman. I like having a standing cast that's almost 50/50 men and women. So long as they don't bring in anyone as a 'romantic interest', I'd be happy. :-)

But, yeah. I'll miss her terribly. And yet I understand that gut feeling that it's time, perfectly.

[a_blackpanther]

NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No really, Emily has been my favourite ever since my first ever episode of CM, which incidentally was Lessons Learned. I'm so very sad. :(

[wordsinviting.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with you. I will miss the show; it's fun to have something to watch on Wednesdays but if I happen to miss the show these days I am not in a mad rush to find a way to watch it like I used to. Now with Prentiss gone I only have 2 characters I care anything about and even when they are front and center I am just not as engaged with them as much. Add to that the fact that I have really been BORED out of my mind with the unsubs etc. and yeah.

I do have several friends who just got in to it this season and LOVE it, so there is still hope for the show.

If it stays on I'll watch it when I get to it but if it were to go I wouldn't be bummed or anything.

[dhae_knight_1]

I miss the show where the unknown subjects were, y'know, unknown. These days we usually know who the unsub is before the titles, and it leeches the tension out of the show, becuase why should I care about the team chasing this guy? I already know who he is, and so I already know when they're on the right track. And I don't really care about the profiling, because I've already seen his face.

Unknown Subject was one of the best episodes for me, this season, because we weren't sure who the unsub was. Imagine if we'd know from the get-go. Then her capturing him and keeping him hostage wouldn't have been interesting because we already knew he was the bad guy. The tension came from her not knowing and the team not knowing AND us not knowing.

[winklevii.livejournal.com]

Can't say I'm surprised that the comments here are turning this into something about every character BUT Prentiss, and blaming everyone BUT CBS for this bullshit.

Paget got screwed. I am glad that she's getting out, because she deserves better treatment than this show has given her. Even if you look at this with the WRITING this season, separate from CBS's crap--they brought her character back in from a major arc and did nothing with her until after the winter hiatus. Why would she want to stick with a show that shows that little care for Prentiss that they would focus on every other character on the show before getting back to her?

Paget owes fans, CBS, and this show nothing. She has been nothing but incredible and professional through this entire thing and has been constantly shoved around for it. She is an amazingly talented actress who deserves WAY more than the treatment this show has given her, and acting like it's her fault that any of this has happened or voicing your disappointment in PAGET as an actress is not cool.

I say good for her for sticking it to CBS, and I will definitely be following her career after this, because she is going to do amazing things.

[wordsinviting.livejournal.com]

Just because people are upset her character is leaving the show doesn't mean we hate Paget as a person or not think she's totally within her rights (deservedly so even) to leave a show on a channel that treated her like crap.

I've only see a handful of people on here say they're upset with Paget and they have been promptly corrected with the facts. I don't know, this comment just confused me.

[thecowboycliche.livejournal.com]

I just.. why come back for a year when they had to overhaul the entire plot and go through this whole drama to bring you back, only to leave again. I'm so irritated. I respect Paget's decision but that doesn't mean I have to like it. I love Prentiss.

smh.

And this has me intensely worried about Gubler for some reason. I've BEEN worried for months. If he leaves too then I have no reason to watch CM, just being real with y'all.

[dhae_knight_1]

I'm... pretty sure it was CBS who wanted her to leave. Then they realized that they'd made a huge mistake and pulled out her contract to force her to come back after they'd basically forced her out.

With that kind of treatment I can't blame her for not wanting to renew.

Yeah, MGG occasionally worries me as well. I think he wants to direct more than to act (pity, because he is a damn good actor), and if he got a good offer I think he'd bail on CM with nary a look back. And I would miss him like whoa. :-(

[wonderssap.livejournal.com]

Worst news ever!!

Emily Prentiss is my favorite character on the show and I can't even say I blame Paget...it's all CBS's fault because they wanted her gone in the first place and now they got it.

Sadly I can't watch a show without my heart in it. As my wonderful Paget goes, so goes my nation.

[wagrobanite.livejournal.com]

I think it's extremely disrespectful to the fans who did so much work to bring her back. However, I get why she left. She's a genius at comedy so I'm excited to see what happens.

What annoys me the most? CT Howell (who played Foyet) basically dissed the show and said it sucks and should be canceled. To me that bothers me to no end.

[wordsinviting.livejournal.com]

MODS -- sorry I accidentally deleted instead of edited my last comment on here. Here's what it said essentially:

Is there any way we can get an edit to the thread saying how Paget was forced to work this season on a show she didn't want to be on?

My edit was going to be:

NM. I thought some people didn't know and that's why there was some drama but I guess I was wrong.

[lights.livejournal.com]

I.. hate this. I'm fully on Paget's side & don't blame her one bit.

That said, this won't make me stop watching the show. I marathoned 1x01 through 7x10 in about five weeks, and it's the only show where I've actively MISSED IT when it isn't on. I'm all about my girl Garcia & my boy Reid, and if anything happened to them, it would be harder to keep me around -- but as much as I love Prentiss, I still have faith the writers can pull the show back up again.

Although, please not with Agent Seaver. Nothing against Rachel Nicholls but I just never really liked that character.

[diemme.livejournal.com]

I'll miss Paget like crazy. Prentiss, Reid and Rossi are the main reasons I watch the show. I think the show is winding down a bit and it will either reinvent itself or end.

[wordsinviting.livejournal.com]

I am curious if the format will die out when CM does (IE shows like 24) or if someone, somewhere will pick up the basic ideas and run with it.

[sugakane-01.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't see how anyone could be surprised by this.

I remember when it was announced that she was coming back and there was a lot of discussion about how it appeared that she really didn't have much choice in the matter. I think that she was shafted and treated horribly and despite her love for her CM fans and co-stars is ready to move on to other things. I'll miss Prentiss, but I completely understand the decision Paget has made and wish her well.

CM has gone steadily downhill from a creative standpoint and I'll be surprised if next season isn't its last. I lost a lot of interest in it last season and this season has been kind of lackluster but I'm still watching and unless MGG leaves (nothing against the rest of the cast or the show but I get attached to characters and Reid is my favorite and I can't see myself enjoying the show w/out him) I'll keep watching until the end.

[wordsinviting.livejournal.com]

I thought Paget pretty much laid it all out there too. I am guessing some people were kind of in denial about it all until now.

Gosh, I am sucking at LJ, the comment above was supposed to be in reply to you.

[wordsinviting.livejournal.com]

I thought Paget pretty much laid it all out there too. I am guessing some people were kind of in denial about it all until now.

[hotch-fan.livejournal.com]

I agree with what most of you have said here already...

Sad to hear she's leaving, can't blame her for making this decision after last year's mess. Paget is a pretty good actress and Prentiss is definitely a great character.

That being said, I think it would have been better if she hadn't come back at all (I know it wasn't really her choice but CBC's), because of the writing. I think the way they wrote her off was great, leaving the possibility of her return, now I don't know how they are going to do it...