CBS defends "Criminal Minds"

[kuriadalmatia.livejournal.com]

From EW.com:

“It’s a much-maligned show,” [Nina] Tassler said of Minds.

“I happen to enjoy the show. It’s not for everybody. It’s an adult show.
It’s a suspense thriller. And within that it’s also a character crime
procedural. It’s given an appropriate rating. I don’t let my
[14-year-old] kid watch it. I do. It’s a genre show … I think we’re
making a huge mistake — and I’d say it to Bob to his face — to let any
of the [violence] conversation devolve into ‘my show vs. your show.’
This is a much bigger issue.”

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/01/12/cbs-defends-criminal-minds/

Comments

[thecowboycliche.livejournal.com]

Castle is my favorite show, so I'm right there with you, but I think CM and Castle are different shows. There's that fundamental relationship between Castle and Beckett that's the core of the show. And while the team on CM kind of has a core relationship, it's not like it is with Caskett lol. Castle gets so much more personal than CM does. And it's always been a lighthearted show, which CM hasn't. It has moments, sure, but Castle has whole episodes. And I can't see CM making that switch now without fundamentally changing the way the show is.

[thecowboycliche.livejournal.com]

Yeah tbh, I wasn't in the mood to watch that night and my friend kind of told me not to, so.. I didn't. But I heard it was rough. I just went and found Reid's scenes with Maeve online because I wanted to see those.

I absolutely agree with you, I just think they're different kind of shows. Castle is preferable to me these days as well because it's not so.. heavy. Well, I shouldn't say that, sometimes it's emotionally heavy because DAMMIT Caskett, you give me the feels. But I'm never worried that I'm going to see some torture porn on there. The worst body I can remember was the one from this season where they thought Castle was the killer... I won't say anymore because I'm not sure if you're at current canon or not lol.

It'd be nice if CM was more like Castle, I just can't see there being a paradigm shift in the tone of the show after 8 seasons.

[thecowboycliche.livejournal.com]

I understand what you're saying, for sure. The show has gotten much more torture porn-ish in the last few seasons and that hasn't been a good thing. It's supposed to be a psychological show, not a horror show.

[thecowboycliche.livejournal.com]

*nods* This is why I don't watch "American Horror Story" lol

[diemme.livejournal.com]

I found The Lesson very difficult to watch. It really objectified the victims as the UnSub's playthings, far more than other episodes.

[blue-sunflowers.livejournal.com]

"The Lesson" IMO was one of the best episodes the show's ever done, and outstrips anything else this season by far. Made you uncomfortable in a psychologically intense way, not a fake-we're-throwing-in-maggots-just-to-squick-you-out way. I really felt for the victims and the unsub in the episode. Under another's hand other than MGG's, it would have been terrible.

[blue-sunflowers.livejournal.com]

I disagree. That's what made the episode so artistically perfect. You're supposed to be uncomfortable. I like how Gube described it: beautiful, but horrifying when you realize the full impact. Honestly, IMO, he deserves an Emmy nod for that episode.

[lythinae.livejournal.com]

I think it'd be kind of unrealistic to not have any violence/blood shown at all, but I'm a little bored with how the show has used it over the last couple of seasons. It's being done for shock value, and in the place of good storytelling ('Lucky' vs. omg lookit how evil he is *throw buckets 'o blood*).

[luscious-words.livejournal.com]

There are some details we don't need to see to get the full impact. In fact, some things can have more impact by not being shown. Some violence is one thing, but the amount of violence shown in the past few seasons has surpassed what's needed and does seem to have gone into the shock value range.

[thecowboycliche.livejournal.com]

Interesting article. I didn't realize the show was getting flack, but then again I'm not surprised.

There are definitely some eps that are too torture porn for me. If it contains various women screaming their heads off for more than 10 seconds at a time, I'm squinked out. "God Complex" and "The Lesson" were both squinky for me (which sucks because they were both Reid eps). I do have to be in a certain mood to watch CM. If I'm particularly stressed or depressed or anxious then I usually don't watch.

Although I'm glad the network is defending it. Stunned, actually. It'd be nice if they would actually promote the show though.

[aim2misbhave.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I definitely noticed the show has been going in a different direction in the past few seasons - I loved when it was more into the psychology, finding connections between people and victims, and the kind of cases that might happen semi-regularly. But now there's much more focus on the UNSUB and what (s)he does to the victims, and yeah, I find it kind of disturbing. As with other people, I found "The Lesson" to be really going too far with the torture, although unlike other people, to me it seemed to cross into so dark and bizarre and soooo far past the point that the victim should have died that it crossed another line into unintentional black comedy. And I feel like it's being a bit too liberal with their use of the "Oh the UNSUB is completely disconnected from reality and this is just their world" thing recently, rather than focus on more psychological cases.

That said, it clearly advertises what it is and what it's about and what kinds of stories it has, so yeah, if people don't like it they're free to turn it off and if people don't want their children watching it they're free to take whatever steps are necessary to make that happen.

[wagrobanite.livejournal.com]

I've been saying this for the last 2-3 seasons. The show, in all honesty, has gone off it's rocker. It doesn't following the true BSU (Behavior Sciences Unit) any more which about why people pick the victims and/or understand why they committed the crimes. And frankly If I wasn't such a fan of Thomas Gibson, I wouldn't watch. It's not what it use to be.

[blue-sunflowers.livejournal.com]

The show's always been into "torture porn" and been unnecessarily violent and/or gory. A recent article just came out that even people within the CBS network were concerned about the pilot. Then you have Mandy, leaving for that reason during the first two years. Joe Mantegna just told Zap2It that their FBI consultants are all "oh please, you haven't even scratched the surface of what's out there". Nothing IMO, will ever go past the "Blood Hungry" episode, which was just flat out disgusting. And "100" is one of the most violent episodes ever produced.

I like watching the show for its profiling, and psychology of why the unsubs do what they do, not to mention the personal stories. Since none of that's changed, until they kill off Reid, I'm good.

[chreesko.livejournal.com]

I don't know, the show has always been violent, but I've noticed a distinct difference in the kind of violence they portray and how long it goes on. I'm not a squeamish person, but I couldn't watch all of God Complex because something about it was so gross. I skipped all the parts with the unsub and just watched the team scenes. Same with a couple of later eps. That has never before happened to me in seven seasons of watching the show.

Obviously, the show is clear about what it is, even now, and if people don't like it, they should stop watching, but the difference is there.

[blue-sunflowers.livejournal.com]

I didn't find "God Complex" any worse than "No Way Out" myself.