This week, there's a real buzz on the set and it has nothing to do with the upcoming episode or last week's ratings. This weekend members of our cast and crew are getting their Lance Armstrong on. Saturday is the 2007 Start to Finish MS Bike Tour. Twenty-three members of the Criminal Minds staff are getting up early and biking up the California coast to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. They've been looking forward to this for a long time.Last year 12 of our crew members pedaled, and this year the number has doubled. The 12 riders from last year did not take very much time off before getting back to training and are taking it very seriously. The newcomers all have a varied range of experience and ability but have been riding every weekend. Every Monday tales of training mishaps and misadventures make their way to set.However, the most important part of this ride has nothing to do with the performance of the cyclists. It's all to benefit NMSS. So in addition to those r...
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Whenever I bring guests to set, there is always one thing that amazes them more than anything else: the food. Scratch that. Two things. First, they comment on how the ladies of the show are even more striking in person... then they comment on the food. There's lots of food on set. Every day, there are two meals prepared by catering. For breakfast, our caterer Hannah makes made-to-order plates from the catering truck as well as an omelet bar, some sort of hot entrée, and an assortment of rolls, cereals, etc;. Even while the crew eats breakfast, they are already working toward the lunch that will be served seven hours later. Lunch is cafeteria-style with different meat options, a fish, sides, pastas and salad bars. In addition, two "snacks" are served. There is one between breakfast and lunch, and one five hours after lunch (the crew works very long days on set). The crew works 14 hour days — and sometimes much more. It's necessary to keep them fueled. I however work at a d...
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And we're off! Season 3 has officially started. The start of the season is always a very interesting time. As I stated in my first blog, in our minds we're in the middle of the season. Just yesterday, an outline came down for the 14th episode. And we're currently filming Episode 9. In the first few weeks of the season, it seems everyone is very interested in the ratings. There are preliminary numbers waiting for us when we arrive the morning after our airing, and then final numbers come down at lunch. It's almost like aliens landing on earth and looking into a time capsule. We get to see what America thought of an episode we shot many months ago. We have a white board up in the office and the writers' PA Mark has them all up and waiting for us.One of the reasons the first week is so weird is that we see how many people tune in for new shows. So many factors come into play. Obviously a big factor is promotion. No one has seen the new shows and have only small minute-long promotions t...
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Criminal Minds is back! Well, at least in the homes of America it is. It's been back for us since the start of June. While you guys were busy watching shows that judged whether people could dance, sing, spell and lose weight, we've been coming up with new ways to terrify America and rescue those in fictional peril. Currently we're shooting our eighth episode and have writers working on up to the 12th episode. So, in our minds it's the middle of the season. I had to think back a little to remember this season's first episode. Sitting in the writers' room and reading all the drafts, it's funny to realize how much has happened to our characters since we last left off. Oh America, are you in for a treat! A lovely, frightful treat! Not to give away too much information, but by the fifth episode every cast member will be replaced by a child and they will have to form their own society. Seems weird, but it's not. You'll love it. (Just kidding, that's the premise of our new lead-in Kid Nati...
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