I've seen 2 and 3/4's of an episode of CRIMINAL MINDS and it is fast becoming a new favorite. This is the one with Mandy Patinkin playing the leader of an FBI criminal profilers unit (BAU, Behavior Analysis Unit).

It is morbidly engrossing in the CSI is, except that here the evidence is less concrete, and it's a more in-your-face battle of wits between the bad guys and the good guys. I'm a sucker for battle of wits plots.

I'm sure the psychological insight the agents exhibit is overdone in the way that the forensics of CSI are exaggerated (DNA results don't come back that fast, and computers aren't matching fingerprints yet). Still...it has me thinking.

Patinkin as an actor use to annoy me when he was younger, but either he's gotten more subtle or I've become less testy. I thought he did a beautiful job in DEAD LIKE ME, and I like his w**k in this show. But, he's not the only attraction. This is an ensemble piece with interesting actors abounding.

My favorite is Thomas Gibson who suffered manfully in DHARMA AND GREG. He has more facets to personify in that earlier show but here he successfully comes across as an scowling intellectual action-hero.

I'm also glad to see the pretty Canadian actress A.J. Cook (Tru's best friend in TRU CALLING) altho she is merely competent as an actress.

Oh, there's the obligatory youthful, bumbling genius, the obligatory black man with attitude. And there's another women agent who makes nary in impression on me.

The plots can be engrossing, but somehow the endings are a little disappointing, ie, conventional and/or against-the-clock. But I intend on tuning in next time anyway.