Discuss: CM's Spin Off

[dameange.livejournal.com]

When the spin-off was announced, I was excited.

Then I saw the character sketches. I was not so excited anymore.

Then the other night I was watching CM reruns. They were showing P911; this is the one where a little boy by the name of Peter is being auctioned off by his pedophile kidnapper.

As I was watching it, I realized that if they wanted to do a spin-off that I personally could believe, they already had the basis for a really good one with the characters of Katie Cole and Amanda Gilroy in the Crimes Against Children Unit.

Anyone else think so?

Comments

[elliptic-eye.livejournal.com]

I agree that Cole, Gilroy, et al. were great characters, but I wonder how many people would be able to watch that premise weekly—I know I couldn't. The sketches of the spinoff aren't doing much for me either, though.

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

I really like that concept. Heading into another show from characters who were on the first one in just a normal plotline works really well for me, as opposed to the usual shoehorned-in feel of There Will Be a Spinoff With Us So Please Like Us Oh Please that a lot of shows do.

But as for that specific setting . . . I have to agree with elliptic_eye, because there are some episodes of CM I can't go back and watch because they're just too dark or hit too close to home for me. A series where the entire premise is going after pedophiles and the like and that would showcase crimes against children week after week? Couldn't do it.

[liliaeth]

I don't know, I think the CAC thing might be interesting, but I'm afraid it might get a bit depressing after a while.

[weaselistic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the subject matter... I believe if you were to create a show about crimes against children, pedophiles, child murders, grieving parents, etc. every week, it would require a certain approach and tone, and the network is definitely aiming for a wholly different kind of show.

And while I agree it'd be more elegant to do a spin-off using pre-existing characters, using characters who were on the show in one episode four years ago wouldn't be very effective. Most viewers probably wouldn't recognize them, so it's essentially the same as introducing new characters.

I don't think it's realistic to expect a proper spin-off from Criminal Minds. There are not any recurring characters on the show who would be suitable for a profiler-themed spin-off, because the team aside, there are not many recurring FBI characters, let alone profilers, and I don't have the impression that they'd be capable of driving a spin-off...
The whole point of picking a familiar character is that the character is, well, familiar, so going back to Season 1 or early Season 2 probably won't have the desired effect... and that leaves, who...?

[cloudzrshibby.livejournal.com]

I think it'd be a cool concept, but I don't know how well a drama about child crimes would do. I can't imagin very many people getting into the subject matter enough to where they could continuously watch plots about child crimes happen week after week. :/

[scarredlove.livejournal.com]

I think we have come really far in things we can watch on television, but I think this would still be one of those things that not everyone would be interested in seeing on a TV show.

I like the premise of your idea and, I agree, it certainly would make the transition easier, but I think the subject matter is still one of those that is extremely sensitive.

Shows like Criminal Minds have to be very careful in just their one or two episodes dealing with children. They can't show the crime scenes like they do with other victims, they can't show the body, they can't show you what happens in most of those cases because people are so sensitive to the matter. So, imagine how difficult it would be to create an entire season of episodes about this subject.

If people DID happen to watch the show, by the time it reached broadcast, you wouldn't have much to show other than them talking about the case, and odd shots trying to show you what happened without really showing you.

Again, I like the idea of pre-existing characters for the spin-off, but I think the rest would be too difficult.

[reseda-3067.livejournal.com]

No, I don´t think that would be such a good idea. Too difficult a subject for most people to cope with on a weekly basis. I know I couldn´t.

[runriggers.livejournal.com]

I agree ... that would be a good spin off especially considering how prevalent Crimes Against Children are these days! All those missing children!

But I also agree that it would probably have a short shelf life .... it would be hard for a lot of people to watch week after week

[pinkpolarity.livejournal.com]

I know I'd be even less interested in that spinoff than I am in the actual one. I tend to find eps of procedurals that are about crimes against children to be very wince-worthy, because there's always what childfree people call "bingos" in there. Messages that anything is always worse when it happens to a child, characters saying how desperately they want children, characters being asked when they're going to have children, etc. Can't think of anything I'd less want to watch, other than shows about pregnancy or misbehaving children.

[imadoctornotalj.livejournal.com]

I think that'd be a really cool idea for a show, I just don't think a lot of people would be able to stomach it week to week (even the ones who can stomach some of the more brutal CM episodes.) It's really tricky when children are the victims, especially if they're going to be the victims every week. I would watch it, but I'm not sure too many other people would be able to.

[kellenanne.livejournal.com]

I agree with the rest: a weekly show on that sort of situation would get old fast simply because of the dark subject matter and because of the stereotypical plot lines and hooks we'd get week after week.

As for the spin-off, I frankly don't understand why people are so dead-set against it. Character sketches are just that: tiny sketches. Take your favorite shows and try to put the entire personality of all the characters into one/two sentences. A lot of it is gonna sound stupid, overplayed, or outright silly. (Try putting Reid or Prentiss through that treatment: I guarantee you, it'll sound bad, no matter how you do it.) I'm giving it chance and refuse to make a broad judgment based on two paragraphs and characters sketches -- I'll wait for the episodes to air. :)

[kallista114.livejournal.com]

You know, I was thinking the same thing. If I hadn't seen Criminal Minds and all I knew about Reid was: "REID - Awkward. IQ of 187. Eidetic memory. Went to high school at twelve. Has a schizophrenic mother whom he writes to every day..." - well, I don't think I'd be too interested. I wouldn't even think it was realistic (xD and maybe it isn't entirely...). And Garcia? I can only imagine how they could attempt to describe her like that. I would be like, "What the heck is this person doing working for the FBI?" But I love both of these characters! Heck I love all of them.

And you know, I wasn't a Stargate fan yet when Stargate Atlantis was coming out, but I hear things were just the same. People were like, "Wow guys, way to blow a perfectly good thing." And in the end, it ended up working out quite well, and I've met a lot of people on the internet who like SGA even better than SG1.

Also, I totally understand about how annoying the whole "shoe horn" thing is, and I feel like shows often do the same type of thing when they are introducing a new character rather quickly. I felt like they did that when Prentiss came in - "Look at me, I'm awesome, look at the awesome things I can do!" - but since she genuinely is an awesome character, I think it really all worked out in the end.

I have to admit, I'm a little skeptical myself about the whole thing, but you know, even if it doesn't measure up to CM in awesomeness, there's a good chance it won't be as bad as it sounds like right now.

[ladymalchav.livejournal.com]

I'm going to go against the grain and say I would watch a series about the Crimes Against Children Unit.

Yes, it would be depressing, and yes, it would be tough to watch at times, but so is Criminal Minds. Saying people won't watch a (hopefully) well-written, entertaining, interesting show just because of the subject matter is a bit naive. It wouldn't be for everyone, but how long has SVU been on the air? And that's all about rape, every week, often involving children in some horrifying way. But people watch and enojy.

It's a testament to the writing, the acting, and peoples' thirst for compelling, well-done drama that any procedural even makes it to our screen.

[iamtheliquorr.livejournal.com]

I do think that Katie and Amanda are good and interesting characters, but I agree that a CAC spinoff might be too dark to catch on with the general public. But you've hit on a great idea--rather than creating new characters that reek of trying too hard, they should've really tried to find some way to integrate the spinoff more organically into the show. If you look at the CM characters, they're really not so over-the-top--in fact, going just by the sides, they seem pretty ordinary. But it's the subtleties, the way they are portrayed by the actors, that make us love them. That's probably why we enjoyed and connected to Katie and Amanda as well. I'm sure they could find another unit of the FBI interesting enough to base a show around without having to all that ~*edgy*~ black-ops gunk, or whatever.

[felicity-c.livejournal.com]

Personally I don't think the CAC would be good for a spin off. The subject matter would never get on television because who wants to see crimes involving children? I certainly don't. Criminal Minds has a very nice way of handling the few cases that do involve children, but it's not a good premise to support a show with.

I don't think people should be so concerned with the character sketches. They are 'sketches' and shouldn't be used to base opinions off of, IMO. Casting call have been false before, and could very well be this time. Actually, I don't mind the sketches at all. Some seem a little out there but still fesible.