long runners

CBS Juggernaut Criminal Minds Will End After 15 Seasons

Photo: CBS

Criminal Minds, the ION Network and your aunt’s favorite show, is ending its tenure on CBS after an abbreviated 15th season. “It is the quintessential CBS hit. We are so proud to have aired it,†CBS VP of current programs Amy Reisenbach told Deadline. Criminal Minds is quintessentially CBS in another way: accusations of on-set harassment. Eighteen former and current crew members told Variety in October that they witnessed DP Greg St. Johns touching male crew members inappropriately. St. Johns kept his job, but Criminal Minds has seen plenty of on-camera staffing shake-ups. Mandy Patinkin left the show after two seasons. Thomas Gibson was fired in 2016 for an on-set altercation, and Shemar Moore left to star in S.W.A.T.

Criminal Minds will match ER and CSI in number of seasons, and will only be behind Gunsmoke, Law & Order: SVU, NCIS, and Grey’s Anatomy on the list of longest running dramas. No plot details have been released for the 15th season besides that it will be more serialized than in the past, and that the entire cast will not die in a plane explosion.

Criminal Minds Will End After 15 Seasons