History Trivia / CriminalMinds

* RealLifeWritesTheHairstyle: The [[https://www.looper.com/395621/the-real-reason-garcias-hair-turns-red-in-criminal-minds/ reason]] why Garcia's hair is red in the second half of season 5 and the first half of season 6 is because her actress Creator/KristenVangsness, who is a natural blonde, had dyed her hair to this colour for her role in a webseries called ''Vampire Mob''.

* StarMakingRole: For most of the show's cast with the exception of Creator/MandyPatinkin, Creator/ThomasGibson, Creator/JoeMantegna, Creator/JeanneTripplehorn, Creator/JenniferLoveHewitt and Creator/AdamRodriguez, all of whom were already big names prior to the show.

* ActorSharedBackground:

* {{Jossed}}: During the summer between Season 4 and 5, a small number of fans proposed the theory that the person that shot Hotch in Season 4's final moments was not George Foyet, due to the fact that he wore his signature mask, an unnecessary measure considering that Hotch already knew his identity. The theory went that it would be revealed in the Season 5 premiere that the Reaper we saw was actually a copycat, and possibly that the real Reaper would show up as well. Of course, the shooter really was Foyet, and he gets away again.

* BillingDisplacement: Creator/PagetBrewster became the third highest billed actor on the show upon her first appearance in the third season, rather than receive an AndStarring credit. Similarly, when Creator/MandyPatinkin left the series & Creator/JoeMantegna arrived in the second season, Mantegna became the highest billed actor whilst Gibson received an AndStarring credit. Every addition to the cast following this would be billed by order of their first appearance on the series, with the exception of Creator/AdamRodriguez & Creator/PagetBrewster, who received AndStarring credits in season 12, after Gibson’s departure.

* BillingDisplacement: Creator/PagetBrewster became the third highest billed actor on the show upon her first appearance in the second season, rather than receive an AndStarring credit. Similarly, when Creator/MandyPatinkin left the series & Creator/JoeMantegna arrived in the second season, Mantegna became the highest billed actor whilst Gibson received an AndStarring credit. Every addition to the cast following this would be billed by order of their first appearance on the series, with the exception of Creator/AdamRodriguez & Creator/PagetBrewster, who received AndStarring credits in season 12, after Gibson’s departure.

* TheDanza: Subverted. Although A.J. Cook jokes that the character was named JJ so she'd be able to remember it (being a blonde), the producers swear they came up with the name before Cook was cast.

** British actress Jayne Atkinson playing the German-American Erin Strauss.

* CastTheRunnerUp: Creator/LukasHaas was offered the role of Dr. Spencer Reid. He agreed to guest star as the stuttering Footpath Killerin the opening two-parter.

* HideYourPregnancy: Subverted - both of AJ Cook's pregnancies were written into the show proper (JJ's sons Henry and Michael are even played by Cook's own real-life sons), and the same rules were applied to Creator/JenniferLoveHewitt's pregnancy (and her going on a year-long maternity leave) towards the end of Season 10. The one variable is that the characters became pregnant at a later point than their respective actresses, but this is excusable given the time needed to write them in (and the fact that early pregnancy can vary to an extent in how much it shows).

* TalkingToHimself: Elisabeth Harnois in "Broken Mirror", when the Davenport twins briefly talk on the phone.

** The original plan for season 11 was to have Tara Lewis as a temporary replacement for Kate, who was in maternity leave in the end of season 10, which would allow Kate to return in season 12. However, it was discarded when Jennifer Love Hewitt decided to depart than returning for season 12, which led to Lewis becoming a temporary replacement for JJ and then joining the BAU after JJ's maternal leave ended, resulting her being a FakeGuestStar for that and then PromotedToOpeningCredits in season 12.

* ActorSharedBackground: Creator/JoeMantegna agreed to become the new lead actor on the show on the condition that his character be Italian, just like him. Thus, his character was named David Rossi.

* NamesTheSame: Billy Flynn, serial killing [[Theatre/{{Chicago}} tap-dancing lawyer]].

** Gideon left the BAU due to emotional distress; Creator/MandyPatinkin left the series due to the emotional distress the role was putting on him.

** JJ was written out and Prentiss' screen time was reduced for season six, due to budget cuts, leaving Garcia as the only regular female cast member. Naturally, the fans were not pleased, and neither were the entire cast and crew, as expressed with, among other things, pointed double-meaning lines in "JJ". It was only exacerbated when a [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute new female lead]] came in after the departure, but this dispute has fortunately been resolved.
** In light of the producer's comments about always intending to bring JJ and Prentiss back, an alternative explanation from industry workers has appeared on several sites. That explanation being that the producers wanted to more heavily focus on Prentiss for at least part of the season and explore her mysterious past. As part of this they needed someone to have the access that JJ's new job gave her for story reasons. However, experts in union contracts say that AJ Cook was cut as a regular because keeping her at that rank would mean paying her for all episodes of the season even if she was not in them, at a huge expense. Same with cutting back Paget Brewster's contracted number of episodes given that they knew she would be missing from several. But they had always left open a way to bring back Emily at any time both in story and contract.
** More recently and as confirmed by showrunner Erica Messer, Damon Gupton was directly hired by the network to play Stephen Walker in season 12, following their dismissal of Thomas Gibson for his involvement in an on-set altercation before his departure after the end of the season.

** Bizarrely averted with Season 8's "Restoration," which features several returning characters from Season 2's "Profiler, Profiled," but not the same police station.

* HostilityOnTheSet: Thomas Gibson got fired after he fought one of the episode writers while filming Season 12. As a result, Aaron Hotchner left the BAU and is PutOnABus.

** JJ's sons Henry is played by Mekhai Andersen and and Michael is played by Phoenix Sky Anderson, AJ Cook's sons and the actual result of the pregnancies that put JJ into maternity leave in the first place.

** The team must have caught more serial-home-invader-family-annihilators-with-daddy-issues in ten years than they are recorded in human history.

* {{Transplant}}: It's been [[http://tvline.com/2017/06/20/criminal-minds-season-13-daniel-henney-cast-series-regular/ confirmed]] that ''Series/CriminalMindsBeyondBorders'' regular Daniel Henney would be moving to its parent show in season 13 as a series regular, after Damon Gupton's departure.

* RealitySubtext: "JJ". So much it practically bleeds into the context.

* ActorSharedBackground: Joe Mantegna agreed to become the new lead actor on the show on the condition that his character be Italian, just like him. Thus, his character was named David Rossi.

** Recently Matthew Gray Gubler got to take the directing skills he's honed on other projects and direct episodes of the show ("Mosley Lane", "Lauren").
** Thomas Gibson directed episodes "Gabby", "Boxed In" and "Lockdown".

** ActorSharedBackground: Joe Mantegna agreed to become the new lead actor on the show on the condition that his character be Italian, just like him. Thus, his character was named David Rossi.

** Reid was said to have been planned as canonically bisexual as far back as the first season, but it was never mentioned and he has since only been provided with only female love interests due to this.
** JJ was written out and Prentiss' screen time was reduced for season six, due to budget cuts, leaving Garcia as the only regular female cast member. Naturally, the fans were not pleased. Especially the female fans. And neither is the entire cast and crew, as expressed with, among other things, pointed double-meaning lines in "JJ". It was made worse by bringing in [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute a new female lead]] to replace JJ (though she doesn't have the same job). Thanks to the fans, they were brought back as regulars for season seven and the ReplacementScrappy went bye-bye.

** More recently and as confirmed by showrunner Erica Messer, Damon Gupton was directly hired by the network to play Stephen Walker in season 12, following their dismissal of Thomas Gibson for his involvement in a minor on-set altercation before he departed after the end of the season.

** Jayne Atkinson, a British actress - from Holdenhurst, Dorset, England - playing German-American Erin Strauss - [[MindScrew confusing]]! Of course, "Strauss" is probably her married name.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: The reason J.J. left. And the bitch of it is that in the episode directly preceding her exit, "The Longest Night", A.J. Cook does some of the best work of her career. She was even more screwed than usual: Cook wasn't let go because of ratings or a dispute with the cast or crew; she was let go because CBS was pinching pennies to make a spinoff (which failed) and was too cheap to renew her contract.

* WriterRevolt:
** In "JJ", listen very closely to the dialogue. AJ Cook was let go from the show for purely financial reasons, a decision that the cast and crew obviously reviled, and the subplot is about how her promotion is being forced by "people above their pay grade" (the network). She really lays into them in her closing monologue in place of the usual ending quote.
** Considering how the writers, the cast and the ''entire'' fanbase '''hated''' [[ScrewedByTheNetwork what the network executives did]], there is a general consensus that the TakeThat against them was entirely justified[[note]]and cathartic[[/note]] (and one of the few times when a WriterRevolt has been fully supported by more than just fanbase splinter groups).
** Fortunately there is a happy ending to all this as Cook became a series regular again at the start of season seven. The main reason she was let go was so the execs would have money to do that [[Series/CriminalMindsSuspectBehavior spin-off]], [[LaserGuidedKarma but it got cancelled after only 13 episodes]]. With their funds now freed up, CBS soon rehired Cook, perhaps knowing that there would be a good chance of a sharp drop in ratings if they didn't bring her back.
** [[http://www.tvguide.com/news/criminal-minds-kirsten-vangess-aj-cook-may-be-leaving-1065089.aspx Old habits die hard, though.]] But, fortunately, it was resolved before the season began.

** ActorSharedBackground: Joe Mantegna agreed to become the new lead actor on the show on one condition...that his character be Italian, just like him. Thusly, his character was named David Rossi.

** The team must have caught more serial-home-invader-family-anhilators-with-daddy-issues in ten years than they are recorded in human history.