Does "Criminal Minds" Hate Its Female Characters?

I apologize for the inflammatory title of this post, but that was the first thought that came to mind upon hearing that A.J. Cook, who plays FBI Agent Jennifer "JJ" Jareau on the CBS crime drama "Criminal Minds," will not be returning for the show's upcoming sixth season. Additionally, Paget Brewster, currently second-billed in the show's opening credits for her role as Agent Emily Prentiss, will only appear for a reduced number of episodes. A new female principle will replace A.J. Cook, but details haven't yet been forthcoming. There are conflicting reports as to why this is happening - the early ones mention budget issues and the more recent ones indicate it's a creative decision. Now "Criminal Minds" only has three female cast members to begin with out of the seven principles, the third being Kristin Vangness as the show's resident hacker goddess Penelope Garcia. Clearly there's something going on behind the scenes beyond simple "budgetary reasons" that would require the elimination of half of the show's female cast, especially this late in the show's run.

It's a real blow because one of the reasons I still watch "Criminal Minds" is for these ladies. The characters of JJ and Prentiss come across as far more natural, genuine, and believable as professional women than a lot of the other female leads on similar crime dramas. I've never had to suffer through any grating histrionics, overtly sexual vamping, or affected ice-queen bitchery from either of them. And since the premise of "Criminal Minds" is so centered on serial killers, many of the stories involve young women in peril, and the counterbalance provided by Cook and Brewster is invaluable. They haven't gotten big story arcs the way some of their male co-stars have, but the odds and ends of character development we did get were always enjoyable. JJ got married to another agent and had a baby, working A.J. Cook's pregnancy into the show. Prentiss had less happening onscreen, but we'd occasionally get hints about more interesting bits of her backstory waiting in the wings. I can imagine the show without the two of them, but I don't particularly want to.

It's hard not to read more into this. Meredith Monroe's recurring character, Haley Hotchner, was killed off earlier this season. Jane Lynch hasn't been on the show since "Glee" went supernova. There were at least two attempts to introduce a love interest for Shemar Moore's character, Agent Derek Morgan, that ultimately went nowhere. Jane Atkinson as FBI Section Chief Erin Strauss had a bigger role this season, due to an internal investigation storyline, but her role's always been very limited. At the end of the day, it seems the only one left standing will be Garcia. While I think she's a wonderful, positive, fun vision of a girl geek, it's sad to think that she's going to be much lonelier in her little girl-power bubble at the end of the day. I know this sort of thing happens when shows hit their fifth seasons, and contracts are up for renewal, people get tired, and sometimes there's just not enough money to go around. If the network's official line isn't some sort of smokescreen, and the actresses aren't leaving for personal reasons that they don't want known, I sincerely hope that they can hammer out some sort of deal - Paget Brewster is reportedly still in talks - and we don't end up losing both of them.

"Criminal Minds" has had casting woes before, most notably when Mandy Patinkin abruptly quit at the end of the second season and Joe Mantegna was brought onboard. The show was never the same. Also Lola Glaudini, who portrayed the show's primary female lead Agent Elle Greenaway in the first season, was replaced by Paget Brewster part-way through the second. "Criminal Minds" has always had very decent ratings, and this year saw only a minor dip in numbers after significant gains during the past several seasons. A spinoff with Forrest Whitaker, "Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior," is being readied to premiere next winter, though from the cross-over episode I saw a few months ago, they could use more estrogen in their cast too. Maybe if A.J. Cook and/or Paget Brewster were to join up, I'd be more willing to watch. Just saying.