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UPDATES CBS’ ‘Criminal Minds’ Cuts Female Cast
The controversy over CBS’ decision not to pick up Criminal Minds co-star A.J. Cook for next season and to reduce the episode load of another female cast member, Paget Brewster, is not blowing over as fans’ campaign to reinstate them is growing. An online petition in their support has garnered 15,500 signatures, with the number rapidly growing. Among those who have signed it are Criminal Minds co-star Kirsten Vangsness, who is returning full-time next season, as well as Kevin Pollak and Paul Tompkins.
Several other Criminal Minds cast members have voiced their opinion via Twitter. Brewster was the most blunt, taking an issue with the network’s description of its reasons for the casting changes as “creative.” ”"Creative Reasons” has been an Executive Bullshit excuse for DECADES,” she wrote. “It IS financial. AJ is a dreamboat. And yes, I am hurt, too.”
Here is Thomas Gibson’s tweet: “To say we’re all mystified and disappointed is an understatement…” Cook, who had been silent since I broke the story on Monday, sent out a thank-you Tweet today: “Your kind words and support have made me feel wanted and loved!” Meanwhile, fans are also emailing CBS executives and have called CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
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So does this mean that the guy from Buffy isn’t gonna be added as a series regular? (Seriously, Paget and AJ are among the prime reasons I watch. I’m gonna go sign that petition now.)
I was going to reply to Grace, but Rob Jensen said it for me. Thanks, Rob.
I started watching Criminal Minds by accident a couple months ago, and got so addicted to the show, within two weeks I watched every episode. This is absolutely the best and most intelligent show CBS has in this genre by far (including NCIS). But what makes it the best show has everything to do with the cast.
Cutting out A.J. Cook and Paget Brewster is not only completely sexist, it is taking out a third of the cast thereby killing the show. Does CBS even realize what they are doing? They are making a HUGE mistake and if they don’t reconsider, I too will jump on the wagon and ban the show altogether.
If money is the issue, get rid of CSI:Miami. That is the worst show I’ve ever seen and has no redeeming qualities as a serious crime drama series. It might do better as a comedy. Does David Caruso ever say anything that sounds even remotely believable?
I’ve signed it too. I hate shows that go and cut their cast, that’s also one of the things I loved about Numb3rs. They didn’t fire a single cast member, one only left when they wanted so themselves.
I can not find words to describe such sadness and injustice. We want our show complete, Paget and AJ`s characters are special to Criminal Minds as much as the talent of both, their charisma and the importance of each character. we Learned to love and admire each actor and character and they are doing this show to be the success that it is. Criminal Minds only exists today because of this wonderful group that must be maintained. Paget and AJ, we love you.
To the Crimanal`s mind family A.J. Cook, Joe Mantegna, Kirsten Vangsness, Matthew Gray Gubler, Paget Brewster, Shemar Moore and Thomas Gibson.
@lizzietobias #SaveTheCMLadies #SaveAJandPaget #WeSupportAJandPaget
So the other stars will be quitting in protest to support AJ?
What? No?
Oh. So much for sticking their necks out. Well, you can always tweet.
Flood them with snailmail as well as signing the petition!
Seriously, I’ve made flyers, and I’ve printed tons of them out for myself to send. Help me out, lets show them what we can do! We will not sit silently and watch what they’re doing – we will speak up and fight!
So go to my site, and print the flyers out. Leave comments, show your support. Lets show them what we’re made of!
I’m a casual fan and I think it’s odd that they’re getting rid of the two lead female roles as a “creative decision”. The two actresses are probably the better actors on the show. However, the writers haven’t given them much to do compared to the men. The majority of its viewers are women and I don’t think that move is going to go over well with them.
If they want to go for a real shakeup, reduce the number of episodes Thomas Gibson appears in. He’s a terrible actor and probably gets paid the most per episode. Plus, it would make sense for his character’s storyline if he went to recurring status.
Last season to save money, they cut several writers. The decline in quality as a result became noticeable around mid season. The writing has been getting lazier and if you’re a regular viewer, you know what’s going to happen within the first 25 minutes now.
It’s live ratings are down but that’s expected. It consistently beat Law and Order: SVU when it was on opposite it.
I don’t think very many of CBS’s shows are big sellers on DVD. I think Big Bang Theory is the exception. CBS makes money on them the old fashioned way – syndication and selling reruns to cable networks.
Criminal Minds, Exec’s,
Well I want to say, Criminal Minds has specific talent, with all it’s actors. Each episode depicts specific crimes, in today’s history & happenings, that the potential, itself, too remains options, with each in specific spotlight to bring creativeness & personal understanding, in the legal sense, of each episodes case, & pinpointing character~!
To take away one, regardless of which one that may be, would have an everlasting effect on the series, each cast member, & Do Not Forget the Fans, which Support the show, the time slot, & Make Funding Available, in the first place.
All networks need to be reminded, the viewers’ support, is what pays the bills, & the actors. Because without us, the networks would be p_ssing in the wind~! You would be second guessing what the viewers what, what you think they want, etc., & doing such things as this, for your own pet peave game, & personal (I hope) network politics.
I’ve got a real good idea, what’s going on here, & if word got out, that ‘politics are involved in these actions to produce turmoil’, & deemed Totally Unnecessary, due to support reasons, & personal Nationality gains were the reason, then we the viewers can agree, that Katy Barr the Door, exists.
A simple reminder is, we can shoot the tv & get away with it. The question remains, how are you, the networks, going to cook the books for budget, reprimands & time slot economics, with an altered ego, budget, & loss of financial pocket money? My local radio station works fine, & is very inexpensive~! Even in power outages.
Please, reconsider your options,
Grow a Backbone,
& Keep What You’ve Got.
InTime2
No one on this show is being paid in line with the success of the show. No one has renegotiated. The amount of savings by letting go of these two wonderful women is negligible.
This is not CSI or NCIS or any show like that – none of these actors are getting paid what they should be getting paid
Lena Freund is my hero for starting the petition! I have signed it! We need these two women on the show, no one is ever good enough to replace them. Please CBS, listen to us!!!!
Frankly, I’m just as happy to see AJ Cook off the show. It was much more interesting when she was on her maternity leave and Meta Golding was filling in for her. Wish they’d bring Meta back.
Paget Brewster is another story. To lose her, even if only for a few episodes, is insanity. I’d do without Gubler sooner than I could do without Brewster. She has a unique quality that really makes the show.
CBS appears to be shaping up as the misogynist network. It feels toxic to watch CBS, so we don’t (which isn’t difficult as there’s little worth watching unless you like douche and booby “jokes” or women brutalized by sex crimes.) The guy who runs this show comes across as an adolescent misogynist in an interview. Hollywood seems to detest women but wants female viewer dollars. The thing is, women are such a vast demographic, they generally don’t have loud protests like other smaller groups. Instead, it seems they’ll erode a business quietly but effectively, and then men scratch their heads and wonder how to improve business. They write anemic parts for women and then use it as justification to fire them. This show went downhill after Mandy Patinkin left anyhow. The only memorable and irreplaceable character is Vangsness. The male characters are no more memorable and irreplaceable than the female characters. You can always get another hunk, another geek, another stern authoritarian, etc.
“The guy who runs this show comes across as an adolescent misogynist in an interview.”
Really? Have you actually ever read an interview with Ed Bernero?
CBS is misogynistic. I am going to stop watching CBS. The four male characters aren’t being asked to lower their salaries. Mark Gordon, Ed Bernaro, Deb Speara, Les Moonves, Nina Tassler all are an active part of this act of unequal employment practices. Women on Criminal Minds are paid less than Thomas and Joe and now being asked to leave by them.
CBS has no new shows picked up for fall with female leads. None. Zero. Zip.
Women should stop watching CBS. Maybe then Les Moonves might value them as viewers and even program for them.
You know what? I’m not going to start being snide about the rest of the cast who haven’t done anything wrong. I won’t challenge them or say they should prove themselves. If I feel the need to be snippy towards people, I’ll be snippy and snide towards the people who are to blame in this.
I’m also not going to say anyone else should be dropped in their place. I have characters I don’t like, but in a situation like this, I don’t feel the need to turn on them. Financial reasons? Find another way. Creative shakeups? Getting rid of cast members isn’t creative. The show doesn’t need shaking up. They should all stay. I support the entire Criminal Minds team. No division in the ranks.
Well said! This isn’t a matter of who is better than who, or which cast members would be “better” or “worse” to drop, etc. This is about the entire cast. The ENTIRE cast makes the show. Regardless of each individual’s favorite character(s), it is an ensemble, and not a SINGLE member is expendable.
Here is a link to the petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?cmwomen
Last count was over 23,000 in TWO days!
@ Angela:
I’ve been meaning to discuss this one for the past couple of days because a couple of other commentors besides you have also brought up the subject of supporting Cook and Brewster at the expense of other actors — and I was one of them.
I think that a lot of us fans definitely got into something of a combination of blind panic and rage and defensiveness and didn’t quite think through some of the implications of what we were saying as thoroughly as we did about — like, say, the clear-cut sexism behind CBS’s recent decisions to fire a lot of women from their shows (and to unexpectedly cancel a couple of shows headed by women, to boot). These points we’ve made about sexism were strong to begin with and remain strong — but we also inadvertently gave CBS some credibility it didn’t deserve in taking their word for it that the shows’ budgets do need to be cut. We love our actors and our characters and our shows, but we panicked and got into a “please take my other baby, not THIS one” sort of mode.
The reality is that as fans, we should be taking the stand that it doesn’t matter what CBS thinks the budget should or should not be — we want the comings and goings of the actors on our shows to be due to the creative choices of the showrunner/writers and the actors and for the stories that come out of these choices to be the best that they can be.
And like I said, some of us panicked about the situations of Cook and Brewster more than others. And I’m going to be straight up about it — my instant reaction was, “Well, I like Joe Mantegna — a lot, but Rossi doesn’t seem to be going anywhere as a character lately, so why don’t they get him to take a pay cut?” And I said so in the first thread here about Cook’s firing and Brewster’s demotion. Oh, sure, I said that I like Mantegna a lot (and I do), but that’s almost entirely beside the point other than being a sign from my conscience that, well, I was going waaaaaaaay off-target.
I conflated my concerns about the creative direction of the character of Rossi with the far more significant concerns of the fates of Cook and Brewster on the show, hypocritically disregarding Mantegna. I think those of us who have brought in other actors have been entirely offbase for our reasons in bringing them up. We may have legitimate concerns about the characters that they play — for instance, I think that they need to come up with another reason for Rossi to be on the team than just as a mentor/Obi-Wan/cool Dad figure because Hotch by necessity has been growing into that role himself over this season — but just because I sensed a flaw doesn’t mean it’s automatically unfixable and therefore that doesn’t justify suggesting that Mantegna/Rossi should be held up as a sacrificial lamb.
Quite simply, I was wrong and I think that any and all other persons who thought that Mantegna or any other actor on the show should step down (my words) or get fired or get fewer episodes were flat-out wrong.
As fans, we should never even think of pitting actors against other actors in financial situations like these, even if it’s just in our own heads or just offered passive-aggressively as some sort of hypothetical — that’s what the suits at the networks do.
The simple fact of the matter is this: from a fan’s point of view, cutting an actor for purely budgetary reasons is a fundamentally larger budget mistake than paying them the reasonable raises they deserve (based on whatever the industry standards for raises are as balanced with their individual deals). Cutting Lauren Lee Smith from CSI at the end of the 2008-2009 season (Oooo, look! Another woman fired from a crime procedural with nary a thought from CBS.) was money badly saved because 1) they began to focus even more on Laurence Fishburne’s Langston character (a character who deserves to be in that ensemble, but not in a capacity larger than the leader of an ensemble usually gets and 2) they brought back Jorja Fox, the original cast member who, uh, is waaaaay more expensive than the actress who replaced her and she then replaced back.
And mind you, Fox had left the show not for budgetary reasons but because she was wanting to move on. At least, that’s the official story. I wouldn’t be surprised if Fox had been nickeled-and-dimed the way Cook is on Criminal Minds. Which, if it were to turn out to be true, would prove my point even further: CBS’s attempts to nickel-and-dime the actors should not ever work.
And we shouldn’t make it any easier for them to go after any actor on the show even by giving them a new name to shoot at.
Rob Jensen,
somewhere in Central Missouri
I really don’t get why people are attacking other posters for a business decision. Yeah I think it stinks that the female cast members got axed for this but I don’t for a second think it’s any more than a busines decision. People get cut at corporations all the time for financial reasons. Why should cuts not impact the entertainment industry. Hollywood has been hit hard in terms of advertising revenue down and the writers strike hit the industry as well. While I like both actresses, it’s business. I’ve seen faves of mine axed for similar reasons. Money. So be it. It happens. I can’t do anything except turn the channel to voice my protest and I do that.
So if a company which is in trouble decides to fire one third of its employees, and then only fires female staff it’s just a business decision?
While it stinks they picked on the actresses, hard for me to feel sorry for folks making a boatload of cash when people out there have gotten their livelihoods destroyed by Wall Street, Hurricane Katrina, and now the Oil Spill in the gulf. If you want to feel sorry for folks, feel sorry for the millions of people impacted by those events not by being dropped from a TV show. At least these ladies have the ability to find other work and have a good amount of money while they are doing it. Tell that to the fishermen in the gulf who got a $5000 payout from BP only to have their ships taken away from them anyway due to liens and debt they can’t pay off now because they can’t work.
Way to change the subject. Not.
Yes, the actors make a lot of money, but the corporations they work for make a lot more money, a LOT more money. No, a lot more money than THAT, too. To the 86th power.
So you’re not exactly being populist (or even just anti-elitist) by attacking actors — who, let’s face it, won the actors’ lottery by getting cast on a show that turned into a hit[1] — or the fans who support them. For most actors, getting even a supporting-lead role is really going to be the only time in their careers as actors that they’re going to have a dependable salary from acting, to be able to supoprt themselves *just* from their acting gigs. The careers of even many regular, everyday, normal, non-Charlie-Sheen-ish actors who have been leads on TV shows are in general just as short as those of football players. They’ve got the five or seven years of the life of their series to make the money that they’re going to have to live on for the rest of their lives (and even to pay off expensive college loans from before they hit it big). And they get very little from DVD sales, nothing from foreign sales and what residuals they get (those on basic cable essentially get no residuals) has gotten smaller and smaller simply because DVDs have cut into the profitability of after-market syndication. And a substantial portion of what they do make goes to taxes (primarily) and agent/management percentages. So at very best, they might have around 40-45% of their salaries left to both live on now and to put into some sort of a nest egg to last for the rest of their lives after their normally short careers are over.
So hell, yeah, we’re going to be concerned about actors being screwed by corporations. Especially when there’s no good reason to dismiss the actors in question and ESPECIALLY when there’s clearly sexist behavior involved. That doesn’t mean that we don’t have other concerns. It’s just that this is the forum to discuss our concerns about showbiz.
— Rob
[1] And Mantegna and Gibson are even luckier than most actors to have five or six lead-actor credits for TV series including CM between them. 99% of even lead actors on TV shows live in dwellings other than (and far smaller than) ginormous mansions.
“It’s just that this is the forum to discuss our concerns about showbiz.”
Exactly. Just because people are voicing their displeasure here in an article about showbiz doesn’t mean we aren’t concerned with people in worse circumstances. It isn’t an either/or issue.
Hey I like Criminal Minds too and would like to see the full cast return. I guess CBS thinks they’ll make more $$$ this way for some reason, and it’s their obligation and prerogative to follow the money, not be loyal to their employees (actors). That doesn’t make them evil, just capitalists. I’d sign the petition if it didn’t couch it all as sexism, which I doubt it is (the President of the freakin’ network is a woman!). But I can’t help but wonder how much good could be accomplished if everyone in this thread spent as much time thinking about and talking about something that really matters.
You’re wrong. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.
You mean a show cuts two thirds of its female cast and doesn’t even think about doing the same with any of the guys and it doesn’t sound even a little bit sexist to you? If this is implemented it will mean Garcia, who has about 5 minutes of airtime will remain on the show and most of the episodes she will be the only female presence! And when someone calls them on this they quickly change this to “but we’ll add another female character!”, and it basically translates to “Here, have another younger hotter blond, you won’t even be able to tell the difference!”.
It may get them more money (although, when has screwing with a good think worked like that?) but it is sexist! And women can be sexist towards other women too. And she’s not the only executive.
Go get informed on sexism and feminism and try again.
how dare you cut A.J. COOK FROM THIS GREAT SHOW, & REDUCE PAGET BREWSTER’S ROLE IN THIS SHOW. these 2 strong, vibrant, independent characters make this show what it is. creative shake-ups & financial reasons are just poor excuses. if you bring in another actress, that is just going to take away from the goodness(quality of this show) this show works because of these 2 girls, it makes it less of a boys club,& gives women the chance to be empowered & respected, for who they are. if you cut them, this show won’t last much longer, nothing against the guys, but there needs to be a balance in terms of characters, & these 2 character J.J & Emily keep these boys on their toes.
Is AJ Cook really being cut because she’s blonde, like so many of the female fans of the show, like so many of the victims of the show’s creep psychotics? Blonde, a mother, a compassionate woman who deals with media, who’s not a computer geek genius…JJ is just like a lot of us and if she gets cut, so will CM & every CSI there is.
I’ve been reading this and i think it’s extremely funny. The people here that are defending Cook and Brewster because of teir possible (In Paget’s case it ain’t possibile, it’s obvious) geek appealing are beeing even more sexist and racist then CBS! No offense meant in this, i love both of the girls,but it’s far more truth to say that they should stay because we love them (and because without them there is no series, having in mind that they are two pillars of it) then just speaking about the geek aspects of the question. That is labelling the question and i hate labels.
However, though i strongly disagree with CBS’ bullshit, i strongly doubt that they will change their mind. Why? For the same old reason: when they are done with the destruction of Criminal Minds, (a show that i love) they will just cancel it and move on to a new and cheaper show. Why? Because they can. THey can afford to screw up their shows, because the only consequence is the necessity to replace it with a new one. And no matter what we do, that won’t change.
THis is why you all have to realize that these changes may not be acceptable by the cult fan basis but will be completely passable fot most of the viewers who will eat anything that the TV netwroks throw at them. So…no matter how much the Internet TV community dislikes it…it doesn’t mean it will fail, cause the majority of the viewers don’t even understand what they are watching. But yeah…it will probably fail. And i hope that we can get a lot of people boycotting CBS. I for one will not be watching Criminal Minds for sure!
And the spin-off? Good Lord…ridiculous! I am getting a little sick of the networks idea of a spin-off, wich is: Let’s use a show’s popularity to create a new one, only needing to sign a big name, then filling it in with low life talentless pricks and then to end it in style we can destroy the concept of the original show with poor writing that has nothing to do with the original purpose of the original show. Isn’t it wonderful? I mean…look ant NCIS. LA. Isn’t that the most…empty thing you’ve ever seen? It has nothing to do with the clever,funny and well structured originaç NCIS,wich by the way is much better then JAG; the parent series of the franchise. If we really want to teach the suits a lesson…let’s stop watching their shows AND let’s make sure that everyone we know does the same thing. Afterall….we are still the reason why they do those shows! Power to the people!
“The people here that are defending Cook and Brewster because of teir possible (In Paget’s case it ain’t possibile, it’s obvious) geek appealing are beeing even more sexist and racist then CBS!”
Not trying to be smart-alecky or anything. This is an honest question. How is saying someone has geek appeal sexist or racist? I’m honestly asking because I had no idea that the term geek was racial or gender related. Could someone explain in what way saying someone has geek appeal could possibly be either? Just because it’s a label doesn’t mean it’s sexist or racist unless the label itself has something to do with sex or race. Unless maybe the geek appeal means they’re physically attractive to geeks? I might see how that can be seen as sexist (but racist? Really?) but not if people are saying the characters are geeks.
And, as far as saying they have geek appeal I’d say that people *are* saying that they love them. They’re simply giving *reasons* for that love. What they love about them. I can’t see how it’s a bad thing to go beyond saying you love a character and find them important to detailing *what* precisely you love about the character.
I have feeling the ratings will continue to decline unless the female actresses get back on the show.
I see it as a discriminatory thing. They are more then that, and are loved by others,not just by the geeks. Some geeks speak like they were their national flags.loool I mean no offense, but the way the ytalk it seems that liking them is a geek exclusivity. I’m not geek and i like brewster, and cook btw. And even Spencer. But the geek factor has nothing to do with why they think cook and brewster should stay. I’m sorry, but imo it is not a valid argument.
I see it as a discriminatory thing. They are more then that, and are loved by others,not just by the geeks. Some geeks speak like they were their national flags.loool I mean no offense, but the way the ytalk it seems that liking them is a geek exclusivity. I’m not geek and i like brewster, and cook btw. And even Spencer. But the geek factor has nothing to do with why they think cook and brewster should stay. I’m sorry, but imo it is not a valid argument.
@Ariel 4:10 pm – Have YOU read the interview? Or do you just toss out pointless troll comments? Stomping your foot doesn’t change the truth which has clearly hit a nerve.
It seems obvious CBS does not like women. If journalism have any power, this would be spreading like wild fire. Unfortunately, CBS seems to have better PR than any blogger, journalist, news caster, reporter, or even investors and fans.
It’s sad to see how CBS can cut someone who has been on the show since its inception.
Hey, maybe this time power of the media will work . . .but I doubt it.