Why Paget Brewster Simply Had to Join Criminal Minds

As Gideon's squad of serial crime fighters adds sexy Paget Brewster to their ranks, TV Guide debriefs the former Mrs. Huff on what exactly her Criminal Minds(Wednesdays at 9 pm/ET) mission entails. (Psst... it apparently involves "fancy footwork" with the boss.)

TV Guide: What convinced you to sign up for Criminal Minds?
Paget Brewster: I was in New Orleansshooting a movie, and I called my agentand said, "I've been doing my laundryin hotel bathtubs for three months, andI'm lonely. I haven't seen my family orfriends. I want to be on a TV show — Iwant to be home at five." He called aweek later and said, "Would you meetwith Criminal Minds?"

TV Guide: So it must have gone well.
Brewster: I met with [executive producers] Ed Bernero and Mark Gordon and a bunch of the writers, and they asked me if I knew anything about profiling. I'm personally obsessed with it, so when they started talking about a particular case, I said, "Oh, that's David Ray, the Toolbox Killer." And they were silent. They said, "Do you really know about this stuff?" And I said, "Yeah, I really do."

TV Guide: Please explain!
Brewster: I did a talk show in San Francisco [The Paget Show, 1994-95] that was on at 1:30 in the morning, a time when delusional schizophrenics are watching TV. And I had a couple of stalkers. Once one of them broke into the station, and I was locked into a bathroom while they were looking for him. He got away.

TV Guide: What was your emotional response to that?
Brewster: It wasterror. It changes youcompletely, the way youthink. I learned as muchas I could about paranoid schizophrenicsand obsessive derangement. It's thatold saying: Know your enemy.

TV Guide: So you fit right in on Criminal Minds as Special Agent Emily Prentiss?
Brewster: Theywere looking to bring in a female agentwho was unknown to the unit. Ed said,"As writers we've grown complacentabout who these people are, and we needto shake it up." It's the nicest way tojoin a cast because my character is feelingexactly the way I'm feeling, whichis, "Please accept me, because I wantto be here." And it's just heaven. I get todance with Mandy Patinkin in betweentakes, and he sings in my ear.

TV Guide: You also have a TNT movie, A Perfect Day, with Rob Lowe (encoring tonight at 10 pm/ET). Compare Lowe to Patinkin.
Brewster: Thisis the second time I've worked with Rob! [They costarred in 2000's TheSpecials, a low-budget superhero comedy.] Rob has a dirtier sense of humor — he and his wife are just bawdy and sexy. Mandy? He's so talented and quiet, but then he fires off these jokesthat are so funny, you don't even knowwhere they came from. And he's a betterdancer than Rob.

Rob Lowe recently raved about Paget Brewster to TVGuide.com. Check out that Q&A here.

Criminal Minds' Shemar Moore reflects on the year gone by in the new "My Big Year" issue of TV Guide.

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