# Has Mandy Patinkin ever completed a TV show? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 15, 2009, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131 "2009-09-15T02:34:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131/21 "2009-09-15T15:59:09Z")
Patinkin finally explained this year his real reasons for leaving _Criminal Minds_. > [@](#): > > Patinkin, in an interview with TVNZ (New Zealand) has revealed how deeply traumatised he became by the show’s dark subject matter. > > ‘‘It’s (violent TV) a curiosity, I don’t get it,‘’ he said. > > ‘‘In America, it’s hour after hour on each network. There’s one show after another like it. People love it, that show remains very successful. > > ‘‘My mind has to be in that place to play those parts, that very dark place. Imagine that, as a TV show you’re there 16 hours a day, year after year. And it was destroying me. It was destroying my heart and my soul. It’s not the place I want to visit every day. > > ‘‘I’m very disturbed by the fact that at the end of a long day this is what people go home to watch to unwind. They watch horrible, mysogynistic, violent activity. It saddens me. There is so much else to do, so many other ideas to put into our consciousness. I’m very disturbed by it.‘’ [Herald Sun](http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/tv/why-mandy-patinkin-pulled-plug-on-criminal-minds/story-e6frf9ho-1225758701174) ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131/22 "2009-09-15T16:16:31Z")
It’s not like he didn’t know the show had a dark and violent premise when he signed on, or during the first season, or during the second season, or during the hiatus leading up to the third season, or any time leading up to day he chose not to show up for the table read the day before the show was to go back into production. That was incredibly unprofessional and inconsiderate of everyone else involved with the show. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131/23 "2009-09-15T16:22:43Z")
I don’t have time to find a cite at the moment, but I’ve heard that Patinkin is incredibly difficult to work with (I believe this was from people who worked with him in theater). I also read an interview with an agent or lawyer that worked with him directly and they said that Mandy would call the them constantly, at all hours of the day and night, with mundane questions and concerns. Just really strange and annoying behavior, basically. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131/24 "2009-09-15T16:34:26Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > No, you misunderstand. The series was great. The follow-on direct-to-DVD telefilm: sucktastical. Regardless, Patinkin completed the show, and elected (sagely, as it turns out) to decline on the film. I liked it, it was pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131/25 "2009-09-15T18:27:11Z")
> [@HelloNinja](#): > > I don’t have time to find a cite at the moment, but I’ve heard that Patinkin is incredibly difficult to work with (I believe this was from people who worked with him in theater). Yeah, I have always heard that about him from people on theatre message boards, but I’ve never actually read what those stories were supposed to be. ---
**Author:** ![Ann1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ann1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann1)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131/26 "2012-04-22T22:36:40Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > He didn’t bail out of “Dead Like Me.” The show had already been canceled when they decided to make the movie. Didn’t they cancel the T.V. show _Because_ Mandy left to play on “Criminal Minds”? I recall reading the other actors on the show found out the show was canceled because Mandy left. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131/27 "2012-04-22T23:13:53Z")
> [@Ann1](#): > > Didn’t they cancel the T.V. show _Because_ Mandy left to play on “Criminal Minds”? I recall reading the other actors on the show found out the show was canceled because Mandy left. Oh if that’s true I’ll join the hate side. Bad Mandy, Bad! ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131/28 "2012-04-23T00:59:12Z")
> [@Ann1](#): > > Didn’t they cancel the T.V. show _Because_ Mandy left to play on “Criminal Minds”? I recall reading the other actors on the show found out the show was canceled because Mandy left. They found out that they weren’t getting renewed by reading that Mandy had signed on to Criminal Minds, but they weren’t cancelled because he left. But Patinkin has a point about the nature of Criminal Minds. I just did a rewatch of the first season with a bunch of other fans. (Gotta love fan comms.) As the first season progressed the violence was moderate, we’d see and hear the gunshot, but not the impact, we’d see the woman grabbed, kicking and screaming, but we’d only _hear about_ the crimes committed on her person. But by the end of the first season, we were seeing bloody blowback from gunshots, women being drowned, there was a decapitated head in a shipping box, a body run through with a sword and a teenage girl chained in a dungeon. Second season, the shown violence was toned down a bit, but the _stories_ got progressively darker, so even the imagining of what _wasn’t_ shown was worse. By the end of the season, Patinkin’s character’s love interest was _dissected_, and we got to see the end result, as well as a suicide-by-speeding-train. By last season, we got to people being set on fire, no panning away, no cut to outside. We saw it all. As much as I enjoy the show (because of the actors) the violence is really, quite frankly, disgusting. And yes, most often channeled toward women. It’s realistic, but problematic. I cannot blame any actor that didn’t want to live with that all day, every day. They’re actors, not actual FBI agents. ---
**Author:** ![Satellite\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Satellite\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satellite_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131/29 "2012-04-23T07:23:29Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > They found out that they weren’t getting renewed by reading that Mandy had signed on to Criminal Minds, but they weren’t cancelled because he left. > > But Patinkin has a point about the nature of Criminal Minds. I just did a rewatch of the first season with a bunch of other fans. (Gotta love fan comms.) As the first season progressed the violence was moderate, we’d see and hear the gunshot, but not the impact, we’d see the woman grabbed, kicking and screaming, but we’d only _hear about_ the crimes committed on her person. > > But by the end of the first season, we were seeing bloody blowback from gunshots, women being drowned, there was a decapitated head in a shipping box, a body run through with a sword and a teenage girl chained in a dungeon. > > Second season, the shown violence was toned down a bit, but the _stories_ got progressively darker, so even the imagining of what _wasn’t_ shown was worse. By the end of the season, Patinkin’s character’s love interest was _dissected_, and we got to see the end result, as well as a suicide-by-speeding-train. > > By last season, we got to people being set on fire, no panning away, no cut to outside. We saw it all. > > As much as I enjoy the show (because of the actors) the violence is really, quite frankly, disgusting. And yes, most often channeled toward women. It’s realistic, but problematic. I cannot blame any actor that didn’t want to live with that all day, every day. They’re actors, not actual FBI agents. Not to mention the zombies. \ ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131/30 "2012-04-23T07:30:40Z")
I hope all Patinkin fans have watched the first season of _Homeland_ and will tune in for season 2. It’s a great show and Patinkin is–as usual–excellent. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131/31 "2012-04-23T12:05:50Z")
He also bailed on **Boston Public** , where he played a home-schooling father who Principal Harper pressed into service as a math teacher, but he disappeared. I think Dennis Miller might have been brought in to replace him. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131/32 "2012-04-23T14:04:35Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > he should never work in television again. There’s only one consideration in entertainment – how much money someone believes or hopes you’re going to help them make. So if they think you can make them a profit, you’ll work. People who have done far worse things than this have managed to “work in television again” and that’s not going to change. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131/33 "2012-04-23T14:10:33Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I’ve talked to the wrong sort of people, and I enjoy Joe because of how he plays someone who Mom would direct as Not a Mate. IRL, she knew my tastes, so I’d be looking for Joe Montegna’s sister, but she still held hope for the second Italian girl next door. In the end I have looked at her older sister since 1960. I now realize that this is a zombie, but I have to say that I can’t understand a word of this post. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131/34 "2012-04-23T15:02:21Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > There’s only one consideration in entertainment – how much money someone believes or hopes you’re going to help them make. So if they think you can make them a profit, you’ll work. People who have done far worse things than this have managed to “work in television again” and that’s not going to change. Yes and no. Money is important, but you have to factor in risk. If you believe that there’s a non-negligible chance that your star will bail without warning leaving you with several million dollars in the hole, that will most certainly affect your decision-making process. There’s a reason investments are rated. ---
**Author:** ![Christopher\_Robin\_Davies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8dc957/32.png) [@Christopher\_Robin\_Davies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Christopher_Robin_Davies)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131/35 "2012-04-23T16:56:42Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I now realize that this is a zombie, but I have to say that I can’t understand a word of this post. Dropzone is female. Dropzone’s mother would have believed that (a) Dropzone would be attracted to someone like the characters Joe Mantegna plays, and (b) that such characters would be bad mates, so (c) she would have urged Dropzone to resist that attraction…except that Dropzone’s mother also knows that Dropzone is female, so DM would instead have been advising DZ to avoid JM’s sister, that is, the female version of a JM character. Instead DM would have urged D to the second Italian girl next door, that is a nicer girl. But D has always been attracted to the more dangerous types. That’s how I read it. ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131/36 "2012-04-23T18:25:23Z")
> [@picker](#): > > Doesn’t he do a lot of theatre work as well? Didn’t he used to keep running on stage at The Late Show to rehearse for a musical that he couldn’t get to because of traffic? > [@tumbleddown](#): > > But Patinkin has a point about the nature of Criminal Minds. > > As much as I enjoy the show (because of the actors) the violence is really, quite frankly, disgusting. And yes, most often channeled toward women. It’s realistic, but problematic. I cannot blame any actor that didn’t want to live with that all day, every day. They’re actors, not actual FBI agents. I agree with you, I was watching Criminal Minds, but stopped at some point (I forget which season it was, possibly 2) because of the level of violence aimed at women that was being shown as though someone somewhere was enjoying what they were doing. I remember one episode where they had a video of a girl being violently raped, which was playing in the background, with the screen facing the camera, as the team discussed what they were going to do. It was just vile. There was no need for that. I also remember Patinkin’s character asked someone to “turn that off” and it sounded a bit like he’d ad libbed the line. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131/37 "2012-04-24T00:31:57Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > I don’t miss Mandy Patinkin on _Criminal Minds_. They replaced him with Joe Mantegna, which is awesome. It’s like the BAU is being run by Fat Tony! > [@dropzone](#): > > I’ve talked to the wrong sort of people, and I enjoy Joe because of how he plays someone who Mom would direct as Not a Mate. IRL, she knew my tastes, so I’d be looking for Joe Montegna’s sister, but she still held hope for the second Italian girl next door. In the end I have looked at her older sister since 1960. > [@Acsenray](#): > > I now realize that this is a zombie, but I have to say that I can’t understand a word of this post. > [@Christopher\_Robin\_Davies](#): > > Dropzone is female. Nope, he’s a male. As to explaing, I’ll pass. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131/38 "2012-04-24T07:33:18Z")
Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up: Dropzone think Mantegna is sort of bad boy he would be attracted to if he like boys. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131/39 "2012-04-24T14:14:41Z")
I don’t have a cite but I either read or heard somewhere that Mandy Patinkin is a real pain in the ass to work with, and kind of loony. Not just on the set, but all of the time. The stories I heard involved Patinkin calling the person (a director, or manager, or something like that) at all hours of the day and night with ridiculous questions and issues. I wish I could remember specifics of the story but it sounded pretty legit and seemed to shed a lot of light on the question of Patinkin’s tendency to leave jobs early. Anyone else remember a story like this? ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131/40 "2012-04-24T14:31:43Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > I don’t have a cite but I either read or heard somewhere that Mandy Patinkin is a real pain in the ass to work with You made this accusation almost three years ago without a cite. If you still have none, I don’t think it’s fair to bring it up again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-mandy-patinkin-ever-completed-a-tv-show/510131.md?page=3)