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Go Inside Gary Sinise's Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders Midseason Bash

Featuring the Lt. Dan Band

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Joyce Eng

Most shows wait until the end of the TV season to throw a party. Not Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders.

Beyond Borders star Gary Sinise famously throws an annual Midseason Bash, featuring his Lt. Dan Band, to mark the halfway point of production on a TV season. It's a tradition that started during his nine-year run on CSI: NY and one he resurrected last Friday for his current CBS show -- and we've got your exclusive look at it.

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Monty Brinton, CBS


"When I was on CSI: NY, [during] the second season, I offered to do a concert party to boost everybody's spirits halfway through the season and give everybody a little fun," Sinise tells TVGuide.com. "We ended up doing it eight years in a row on CSI: NY and now that I'm back at [CBS] and working on Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, I wanted to do something special for this cast and crew and the people at the lot."
Why Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders' Gary Sinise returned to TV
Friday's show featured the Lt. Dan Band -- which, if you live under a rock, is named after Sinise's Forrest Gump character -- performing its usual cover tunes, and guests from TAPS (Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors), a nonprofit that provides support to families of fallen veterans, who were brought in on behalf of the Gary Sinise Foundation and American Airlines. "I started the band to play for the military and I wanted to play something that all the troops and all their families would enjoy, so it's a little something for everybody," Sinise says.

When he first thought of the concert, which is held on the CBS lot, Sinise says he mainly wanted to do it to show his appreciation for the "hundreds and hundreds of behind-the-scenes folks" who make a TV show happen. "It's a way to give a little something back to the people who work on our show and let them invite their families and their kids and relax a little bit. It's a thank you show."

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Monty Brinton, CBS


Over the years on CSI: NY, the event grew from one specifically for the CSI: NY cast and crew to an open invite to everyone on the lot and their families and friends.
"We made it available to folks who work at the studio and work on the lot and other shows ... and it ended up being an event that everybody looked forward to every year," Sinise says. "The last time I did it was in 2012 [during CSI: NY's final season]. A lot of the people there now weren't there before, but there's certainly a lot of security folks, people who work at the studio who have been for a long time who remember it, and when we announced we were doing it again this year, they were looking forward to it. It's just a fun way to give everybody a little thank you. ... We [the actors] might be the faces of the shows, but it takes a lot of people to put it together."
Season 2 of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders will premiere midseason.
(Full disclosure: TVGuide.com is owned by CBS.)