A Criminal Minds Reboot-- Already?
The Show
First, I'll talk a little bit about the show overall for those of you who haven't seen it. The show follows a team of FBI agents in the Behavioral Analysis Unit, or BAU for short. The show started out with Aaron Hotchner and Jason Gideon leading the team. The team members were Dr. Spencer Reid, Jennifer Jareau, Elle Greenaway, Derek Morgan and Penelope Gracia as the technical analyst.
The team travels the country solving heinous crimes by studying the criminals' behavior to predict what the criminal will do next or where he is keeping some of the victims. Over the first few seasons the only real casting change was Elle Greenaway.
Elle survived a shooting, but then upon her return to duty shot a suspect and Hotchner suspected that there was foul play and instead of letting the matter unfold, Elle resigned her position and they brought in Emily Prentiss. This casting change, in my opinion, didn't really change the show because Elle wasn't one of the more central figures. I always got the impression that she was just more of a support character in the show.
After they brought in Prentiss, the cast had some regularity for awhile and the show just kept getting better and better. The cases are always interesting and the dialog is fantastic; it all just keeps you glued to the edge of your seat.
The next major cast change came after Jason lost one of his college friends to an old nemesis, Frank. Frank returned to D.C. to find the woman he "loved". Upon his arrival to D.C. he goes to Gideon's apartment and find's Sarah, Gideon's friend, waiting for him. Frank kills Sarah and by the time they finally put the Frank saga to rest, Gideon is ultimately changed.
The start of the following season Jason leaves a note for Spencer explaining why he left. Gideon's replacement ends up being David Rossi, one of the founding agents of the BAU. Rossi quit the FBI to write books, but after Gideon left he decided to return to the BAU because he had unfinished business. I thought Rossi was nice addition to cast, but no one was going to replace Gideon.
The cast again stays pretty regular until Derek Morgan finds himself kidnapped by a team of mercs hired by the father of a man he helped put away. During the whole ordeal Derek realizes that he wants to be there for his family and he can't do that working with the BAU and so he leaves; Enter Luke Alvez.
Now, this is the first casting change that I wasn't too sold on. Luke did eventually grow on me, but it was only until after they brought in Matt Simmons. Matt came in after the death of Stephen Walker. Walker was brought in to help catch Mr. Scratch, the guy who made Aaron Hotchner go into witness protection. I can't say that I was sad to see Hotch go, but I always liked Prentiss and I thought the character was a natural fit for that leadership role and it was Prentiss who would bring in Walker to help catch Mr. Scratch. Anyways, Luke didn't grow on me until they brought in Matt because Luke didn't really have a connection to the team like everyone else did.
J.J., Spencer and Penelope were all around the same age and they all had a bond. Morgan and Spencer had a bond as well that Luke never picked up or replaced so when they brought in Matt it really helped bridge that missing bond to the group.
I know I missed the addition of Aisha Tyler and Rachel Nichols to the cast but the reason I left them out was because they were good on their own and honestly, I wish Aisha Tyler had joined the cast sooner because she was a great addition to the cast.
The End of the Road
While I was watching that final episode, I kind of felt like they could do really do another season or at least a spin off because I know some of those actors would love to carry on their roles and I know the fans would love it because even after all the casting changing the show still kept high viewer ratings.
Now that the show has been off the air for a season or two the idea of a reboot floating around has me excited. I can't speak for everyone else, but the only way I would be against the idea is if they don't have any of the cast from the original show.
In my mind, the reboot should feature the majority of the cast from the last season even if that means that J.J. is head of the BAU, Prentiss is now the director and they have a new technical analyst to replace Garcia. I know some people might want to keep the characters in their previous roles, but character progression is a vital part to any good story and to see some of these characters move into new roles, and face new challenges would keep the show fresh and exciting.
Even if they only brought back, Spencer, J.J., Alvez, Simmons, and replaced the others I think they still have a very viable show and according to the reports the show will take on a new format. The cases will span multiple episodes, maybe even a whole season, versus solving one case per episode. I actually love that idea because now it gives the show longevity again. Now the cases are more involved, we'll have to pay a lot closer attention to who is doing or saying what because now we might have 10 episodes of one case versus figuring out who done it mid way through the show.
Overall, I think it's great that they are exploring a reboot and I am all for it if they can get some of the cast to stick around and be apart of the project but if they don't, I think it'll end up being just like the Crminal Minds spin offs that didn't do well and were ultimately cut short.
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