CRIMINAL MINDS Christmas Break Coming Just In Time?

Thomas Gibson (center) with co-stars Shemar Moore and Paget Brewster.

From THE NATIONAL LEDGER

November 17, 2009

Criminal Minds" starts its holiday production break around Dec. 18, and from the way Thomas Gibson makes it sound, it might be just in time. Gibson, who stars as Unit Chief Agent Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner in the CBS drama about an elite team of FBI profilers who analyze the country's most twisted minds, stresses that he loves the series, but says, "It does get kind of depressing."

"In fact, when we sit around for readings of scripts about the most dark and depraved side of society, we think, 'Wouldn't it be nice to do a comedy?' The thing that keeps us going is the fact the profilers we're portraying are incredibly heroic people -- and it's our responsibility to show the work they're doing in a positive light."He adds, "I've gotten to know quite a few actual FBI profilers. I asked one, who just retired after 20 years, how he had kept it from getting to him, and he said he felt he had been very lucky to work with some of the most fascinating minds imaginable."

Gibson says his years of work on the show have made him understandably fascinated about the mind of Maj. Nidal Hasan, the alleged gunman responsible for the horrendous Fort Hood massacre Nov. 5. "I wouldn't be so presumptuous as to assume I knew what was going on in his mind, but from the coverage, it seems he didn't expect to survive, and the fact he did means they may be able to find out his motives from him. It's a horribly tragic thing.

"The personable actor is looking forward to happy times during his series' holiday break with his wife, their three children … and Ursa, the dog that wandered into the Gibsons' back yard last Christmas Eve and proceeded to make himself part of the family. Thomas relates, "He was our best Christmas present. He's very smart, very sweet, a very good watch dog and we cut out the middle man -- we didn't even have to go to the animal shelter for him."

~Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith

CRIMINAL MINDS airs on Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. on the CBS Television Network. For more CRIMINAL MINDS/SHEMAR MOORE news, visit www.shemarmooresparadise.yuku.com/