{television} criminal minds; season one (2005)

Mandy Patinkin plays Jason Gideon, the brilliant leader of an elite team of FBI profilers, in this police procedural drama that focuses on the criminal rather than the crime. Still recovering from a nervous breakdown inspired by a nasty previous case, Gideon gets help from team members Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson); sex offense specialist Elle Greenaway (Lola Glaudini); socially inept but brainy Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) and more.

ireviewnetflix.com rating: **** While I often enjoyed the psychological twists and drama in this show, for the most part it felt like just pretty good background noise at times. Most of the stories were pretty good, but there was something missing from this show that I just couldn't put my finger on. I really liked the show, but I just didn't love it. While Mandy Patinkin shines from moment one, the rest of the cast was marginal at best at first and the characters were a mix-match of seemingly stereotypical crime drama types which took awhile to grow on me. All except for Matthew Gray Gubler who immediately stands out as the nerdy, but sweet and loveable Dr. Spencer Reid. However, now I've grown to like much of the rest of the cast (especially Kirsten Vangsness who plays Penelope Garcia), but it took quite awhile to get there. There were some great episodes and a few boring stinkers, but overall it's a very good show.