‘Criminal Minds’ season 12 will become much more serialized in coming weeks

When you are a show that has been on the air for more than a decade, shouldn’t you be afforded the opportunity to mix things up here and there? Obviously, the folks over at “Criminal Minds” seem to think so, given that for much of the remainder of the season, we will see a story play out that lasts far longer than a single episode.

Before we offer up some of our own analysis on the subject, here is what showrunner Erica Messer had to say on the matter to Entertainment Weekly:

“This is something our team has never had to deal with … After 12 years of telling stories about our heroes, we are entering into the unknown. We are not a serialized drama and yet the back nine of season 12 will be heavily serialized. I think the audience will be shocked that we went in this direction with one of our heroes. They won’t see this coming.”

If there is a close parallel to what “Criminal Minds” is planning at the moment, it’s probably “Burn Notice,” a show that was incredibly successful at telling individual stories every week while also threading them into a larger narrative. (Messer also said to the publication that there would still be individual cases.) The clear benefit that comes with this is that it allows viewers further motivation to watch the show every week; otherwise, they may miss something that turns out to be valuable down the line. In still keeping the individual cases, meanwhile, you are also allowing the show to still preserve some of its identity, which plays very well in syndication.

After a brief hiatus, the series will be returning on February 1 with an installment entitled “Surface Tension,” one that will feature the return of Jane Lynch as Reid’s mother for the first time in years. If you have not seen too much in the way of details on that, you can do so over at the link here.

Meanwhile, tell us what you think about this switch in format for “Criminal Minds” in the comments! Given that we always appreciate it when television shows choose to be a little bit bold, we applaud them for taking the risk. (Photo: CBS.)