Criminal Minds: An interesting article about the 100th episode and history of "Criminal Minds."
-Early on in his tenure as showrunner for the CBS drama "Criminal Minds," Ed Bernero came up with a standard to help him quickly gauge when a story line was right for the show. He realized all of the stories needed to be what he called "Arthurian."
Despite the fact that "Criminal Minds" follows a team of 21st century FBI agents who make up the elite Behavioral Analysis Unit -- the bureau's weapon against serial killers and other deadly predators -- Bernero discovered the ancient legend or King Arthur and his Round Table of knights served as the perfect template. The structure is surprisingly simple: The knights meet, there's a call to adventure, then a journey to the dragon, the slaying of the dragon, and the return home.
"That's what these guys are," Bernero says of the series' regulars, comparing them to knights in shining armor. "They're battling the only real monsters we have left in the world."
Bernero's Arthurian standard seems to have served the show well. Despite tough competition, "Minds" was an immediate ratings performer when it premiered in 2005. For the first six weeks of the 2009-10 season, the show ranked 16th among adults 18-49 and cracked the top 10 in total viewers, which explains why it's easily cruising past the 100-episode mark Tuesday. At first glance, "Minds" might appear to be just another solid procedural in a TV landscape where audiences crave to play along with the crime solving on their screens, but CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler describes the show as "much more character-based."
"Ed was very smart in pointing out you needed to have characters that brought a unique point of view on each crime and each criminal," Tassler says. "If you watch how the characters have arced over the season, certain crimes become personal to them." -
More Here: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3ie595ec28836e2d88f8e326006bc2e387