Criminal Minds was included in a very interesting article about TV and crime. Here is an excerpt and the link:
It's a sentiment that's shared by the folks at CBS's creepy "Criminal Minds," which consistently features the twisted minds of serial killers at work. Creator Edward Allen Bernero, a former Chicago cop, draws from cases suggested by consultants, found on the Web or gleaned from the pages of "Sex Related Homicide and Death Investigation" or "Practical Homicide Investigation" - textbooks so horrific that producer Simon Mirren moves them to his car before going to bed.
However, "they're so different by the time that they make it to the air that I don't think anybody would realize what [the origins] were," Bernero says. "I'm not interested in ripped from the headlines because there are victims to those things, it's not just about the bad guys."
Which is why fans who enjoyed Jason Alexander's turn as a narcissistic serial killer whose MO involved videotaping women trapped in an underground bunker before killing them and dumping their bodies probably didn't know that the character was modeled after California duo Charles Ng and Leonard Lake.
Or why later this month, when you watch "Criminal Minds" episodes about exorcism fatalities and a killer who starts up again after a lengthy hiatus, you'll only see traces of their original cases: and "Robbie Doe," the Washington, DC, boy on whom "The Exorcist" movie was based and the Zodiac Killer.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02042009/entertainment/real_life_trauma_meets_tv_153516.htm?page=0
