Sophia Garcia

5 December 2022

Intro to Contemp Media

Criminal Minds: A Deep Dive into a Twisted Show

Criminal Minds is a television show that aired for 15 seasons, it has just landed a renewal

16th season through Paramount Plus. The show follows the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit as

they use profiling to help find serial killers around the USA and bring them to justice. The show

cycles through main characters as the story progresses, and is considered an anthology series.

One of the more interesting parts of the show is that troughout the episodes, quotations from

famous philosophers, authors, and more are often recited by the cast. These quotations are

relevant to the episode's plot and help to bring the "pieces" of the case together.

The show was created by a man named Jeff Davis. He wanted to quit his day job and

make movies, but it is said that his impatience led him to television. He was inspired by

psychology and the idea of bringing the thriller genre to television. He created the show and

based the unit off of famous profilers, John Douglas and Robert Ressler. John Douglas is a

retired special agent and unit chief in the FBI. He was one of the first criminal profilers and has

written books on criminal psychology; In fact, one of the show’s main characters, David Rossi, is

said to be entirely based on Douglas.

Criminal Minds was filmed mostly in California. Using on site locations in Glendale, such

as city hall and the actual police station. Most of the offices for the main characters were built
in studios, however outside of the BAU headquarters, Criminal Minds shot all over the states.

Since it’s first season, Criminal Minds has been distrubuted through the network television

channel CBS. This channel had the rights to the drama series from season one to season fifteen.

The cable network ION also aired episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but there is no

information as to what they paid, or how they got those right. It wasn’t until the 16th season

revival that anoter comapny took over, that being Paramount Plus. But even then, CBS still airs it

on television on Thursday nights.

In the early weres of the show, the showrunner was a man named Ed Bernero. He

worked with the show up until its revival in 2020. He decided very early on what the show

needed to be successful and went from there. He referred to the show as “King Arthur and his

Round Table of knights,” in which there is a meeting of the group, a call to battle, the go on an

adventure, and then slay the dragon. In creating this vision, he created a long-running,

successful show. Since the revival of season 16 from Paramount Plus, a new show runner has

taken the seat. A woman by the name of Erica Messer. Before becoming a showrunner, Messer

had written for the drama series before. Writing a total of 46 episodes, it clocked in at around 3

or more episodes per season. Not only is she the show’s current showrunner but she also wrote

the first episode of the revival season.

From the beginning, CBS Studios was involved with Criminal Minds. Most scenes that

were not locational were shot in a studio setting. Even though Jeff Davis wrote the show, he was

only the executive producer for the show during it’s first season. After which he moved on to

Teen Wolf.
 Criminal Minds is a beautiful show because it doesn’t shy away from the dark and scary.

While it is a live action show about very real things, it allows for an escape from reality for 45-50

minutes at a time. Not being afraid to show the world what’s uncomfortable is what I want to

do with my work. Life isn’t rainbows and puppy dogs, it’s messy and sometimes it won’t go the

way you need when you need. So yeah, to some, liking Criminal Minds might be a giant red flag.

But to me, it’s inspiring and something to be loved.

 Works Cited

Cotter, Padraig. “Where Was Criminal Minds Filmed: All Locations.” ScreenRant, 28 Aug.

2022, https://screenrant.com/where-was-criminal-minds-filmed-locations/.

“Criminal Minds.” Criminal Minds Wiki,

https://criminalminds.fandom.com/wiki/Criminal_Minds.

“Criminal Minds.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Dec. 2022,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_Minds#:~:text=The%20series%20follows%20a%20

group,the%20unsub%20(unknown%20subject).

“Interview: Jeff Davis.” The Script Lab, 1 Nov. 2011,

https://thescriptlab.com/features/indie-film/tales-from-the-trade/1519-jeff-davis-intervie

w/.

Lisotta, Christopher. “'Criminal Minds' 100th Episode.” The Hollywood Reporter, The

Hollywood Reporter, 27 Jan. 2011,

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/criminal-minds-100th-epis

ode-91565/.