Criminal Minds: Ed Bernero, Exec Producer of Criminal Minds, gives a shout out to the Criminal Minds Fanatics.
EB: We have a very strong base of Criminal Minds fanatics. And they were very important during the strike. I think that all those sorts of online fan site played a very important role in putting pressure on the networks and it was interesting. It’s a very interesting time because nobody ever knew the names of the writers and show runners before. Now, when something happens, they are among the first people that we think of to tell.
We had a pretty famous incident where somebody left the show [Mandy Patinkin, replaced by Joe Mantegna] before the beginning of the season, a star. And it was online that I saw some people start blaming the show, "they should have given him what he wanted". I went right to the fans to say, you don’t understand. I wrote a long letter to the fans about what happened and how surprised we were. You go right to the fans. You used to go to TV Guide or The Hollywood Reporter and sort of dance around subjects and not say things. I had a lot of people in the industry who would call me up or whisper: “Way to go," because I was pretty nakedly upset by what I considered a very selfish act by somebody. But I went right to the fans of the show.
- article here: http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/terrifying-tv-showrunner-ed-bernero/
