Stars on screen
‘Criminal’ castings:
There are baddies on the loose, and it’s up to the non-criminal minds at the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit to deal with the fallout. CBS’s procedural hit “Criminal Minds” is back for a mindblowing 12th season beginning Wednesday, Sept. 28, with new faces, continuing plots and all the criminal profiling that the show’s many fans love.
The new castings were inevitable with two longtime cast members departing. Shemar Moore (“The Young and the Restless”), who had played Derek Morgan since the very first season, left partway through last season; Thomas Gibson (“Dharma & Greg”), who had also been with the show since the beginning, had a much-publicized falling out with the network and departed this past summer.
In the wake of the departure of these two juggernauts, a number of new actors have joined the BAU, and one of them should be very familiar to fans of the show. Paget Brewster (“Another Period”) was a “Criminal Minds” series regular for several seasons before leaving the show at the end of season 7. Now, she returns to the role of Emily Prentiss as a full cast member in the new season.
Also joining as full-time series regulars are “The Talk” and “Whose Line is it Anyway” host Aisha Tyler as Dr. Tara Lewis and former “CSI: Miami” star Adam Rodriguez.
The 12th season is expected to pick up shortly after the events that brought the last season to its intense conclusion. A shocking prison break has seen more than a dozen serial killers escape custody, and only the members of the BAU have the insight and the expertise required to round them up and get them back into the slammer where they belong.
After 12 seasons, “Criminal Minds” has seen plenty of casting changes, and it’s unlikely that this season’s changes will be the last.The series’ new faces spring into action to round up some serial killers when the 12th season premieres Wednesday, Sept. 28, on CBS.
Sunday night sizzles:
Sundays are going to be a hot night on ABC this season.The fall premiere season is well underway, and ABC is stacking three of its hit shows at the end of the weekend, beginning Sunday, Sept. 25.
First up in the night’s lineup is “Once Upon a Time,” back for a sixth season with two new classic Disney fairy-tale characters; the villainous Jafar and his nemesis Aladdin are finally making an appearance in Storybrooke. Jafar is played by Oded Fehr (“The Mummy,” 1999), while the role of Aladdin is played by Deniz Akdeniz (“I, Frankenstein,” 2014).
After the fairy-tale lead-in, “Quantico” steps up to the plate. The first season kept viewers guessing as to “whodunnit” until the very end, and the sophomore entry promises to do the same. New cast members include Blair Underwood (“L.A. Law”) and Russell Tovey (“Being Human”).
Finally, rounding out the night is the anthology series “Secrets and Lies.” The first season revolved around the death of a young boy and the man accused of his murder, while the new one involves a woman’s murder and the accusal of her husband. Juliette Lewis (“From Dusk Till Dawn,” 1996) returns to the role of Det. Andrea Cornell, but this time she’s investigating this very different case involving John (Terry O’Quinn, “Lost”) and Eric Warner (Michael Ealy, “Seven Pounds,” 2008).