At first I thought Gideon's departure was a definite minus and even thought that I might not buy the season 3 DVDs because the show seemed to be lacking. I had no idea how important he was until after he left (since I'm infatuated w/ Reid of course). But Rossi is warming up to me and Gideon's departure has allowed other characters to shine. Hotch has really replaced Gideon, not Rossi as I think was the intention. And so I think the season suffered a bit but that's only because a major character left and the audience was left trying to recuperate. Now that everyone is used to Rossi, I think the show will be able to survive and seemed to do pretty well.
Though I do miss Gideon :(

Also unlike what the article said, I do think this idea for a show is original because it is about profilers. Forensic psychology is a new field and I don't think a drama that focuses on a team of profilers has been done before. Am I wrong? What I LOVE about this show (since I'm a psych major) is that they focus on the psychology of WHY the criminals do what they do, not HOW like CSI and those other shows do. They think like psychologists not cops and that makes a BIG difference. And that is what makes this show stand out and makes me hate all those other crime dramas.