Criminal Minds
Each character on the show has actually experienced a personal trauma. The co-executive producer, Breen Frazier explained that “the personal story has to have the same emotional weight as the case in darkness or intensity.” It’s no wonder the show is so successful.
Criminal Minds
Too Much To Handle
Actor Mandy Patinkin decided to leave Criminal Minds after he realized just how disturbing and gruesome the show was. He later revealed that if he had known just how extreme the TV series would be, he would never have taken on the role.
Too Much To Handle
Shooting Ducks
It seems like a completely random act when Rossi first appears on Criminal Minds and shoots a duck. However, the truth is that this action had a very relevant and specific meaning. Joe Mantegna took the place of fellow actor, Mandy Patinkin, whose character was a bird lover.
Shooting Ducks
Back From The Dead
This one is really funny, especially if you noticed it at the time. In season 6, Garcia shoots a man in the head, but in season 8 he (actor Stephen Simon) miraculously becomes her boyfriend.
Back From The Dead
Better Than Expected
When the casting team discovered Penelope Garcia, they thought she would do for just one episode. They were quite surprised when audiences gave heaps of positive feedback, leading her to join the main cast.
Better Than Expected
To A Degree
Dr. Reid has an MIT degree entirely by accident actually. What Breen Frazier actually intended on doing was give Dr. Reid a degree from CalTech while he was writing an episode of season 7. Well, hardly anyone noticed that there was a mistake.
To A Degree
True Faces
During the opening credits of the show, the faces you see are actually real mug shots of prolific killers. Some of the faces you can see are: Charles Manson, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Wayne Gacy and Theodore John Kaczynski AKA the Unabomber.
True Faces
The Scoop
When someone asked Matthew Gray Gubler to describe Dr. Spencer Reid (his character), he put it like this, “He’s an eccentric genius, with hints of schizophrenia and minor autism, Asperger’s Syndrome.”
The Scoop
Hypnosis Interviews
Although the show claims to conduct “cognitive interviews”, they are in fact something else. This only matters if you’re someone who cares about little details like this. In short, what they are doing is hypnosis and a witness cannot be put on the stand if they were formerly hypnotized.
Hypnosis Interviews
Smarty Pants
Dr. Reid has an IQ of 187 and he can read about 20,000 words per minute, and to top it off he has an eidetic memory. But that’s only a part of it. He has doctorate degrees in Chemistry, Mathematics and Engineering and if that wasn’t enough, he has Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Sociology.
Smarty Pants
Shot In The Leg
Do you remember when a bullet hit Dr. Reid’s leg in season 5? Well originally the writers of Criminal Minds didn’t intend on this being in the story and there’s a reason it happened. Matthew Gray Gubler seriously hurt his leg by dislocating his knee off the screen and he couldn’t walk without assistance.
Shot In The Leg
Baby Girl
Isn’t it just wonderful to see good chemistry both on and off the screen? A perfect example of that kind of relationship is that of Morgan (Shemar Moore) and Garcia (Kristen Vangsness). When he called her “baby girl” when no-one else could remember the new girl’s name, he was quick to come up with one. What most people don’t know is that it was totally unrehearsed, but look how catchy “baby girl” has become!
Baby Girl
The Safety Wig
Yes yes, we know what we saw and what we heard, but the fact is that Haley Hotchner’s dark wig wasn’t for her ‘own safety’. The real reason Meredith Monroe had the dark wig on was because she had a special role in the show Californication which meant she had to change her actual hair color.
The Safety Wig
Mismatched Socks
If you ever paid attention to the feet of Matthew Gray Gubler, you might have noticed something strange. The actor believes that wearing matching socks is bad luck and therefore he wears mismatched socks.
Mismatched Socks
Not Fit
You’ve heard it a million times before, “if you don’t make it the first time then try again and again.” This could not have been more true for Matthew Gray Gubler who heard that he wasn’t fit for the role of Dr. Reid. It took a good few auditions for them to realize the greatness they had been missing. We can’t imagine Criminal Minds without him.
Not Fit
