<![CDATA[Gawker: defamer, patinkinwatch]]> http://tags.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gawker.com.png <![CDATA[Gawker: defamer, patinkinwatch]]> http://gawker.com/tag/defamer/patinkinwatch http://gawker.com/tag/defamer/patinkinwatch <![CDATA[Mandy Patinkin To Return To 'Criminal Minds' (Sort Of)]]> Once CBS chief Nina Tassler used her platform at the TCA's to clarify that the "creative differences" that drove Mandy Patinkin to bolt Criminal Minds were more of the "personal issues" nature (to her credit, she refrained from pandering to the assembled critics by making comically exaggerated cuckoo noises and twirling a finger around her temple), we thought our PatinkinWatch feature had seen its last update. But this morning, TVGuide.com puts the actor back on our radar, reporting that he'll return to the Minds set to make a final appearance in a single, closure-providing scene:

Strange as that may sound, though, that isn't the really odd part: He'll only be in one scene, and he'll essentially be the only one in it.
Why? Well, duh! My spies tell me that no one in the cast wanted to work opposite him again after he brought production to a standstill by pulling a no-show without even calling in (cough, cough) sick. What's more, Minds' producers were forced to use a special crew to shoot the pariah's scene because the show's regular staff refused to be on set with him.

"Pariah" seems like a harsh assessment and a ceremonial walkout by the crew a cold kiss-off, but we won't pretend to know how painful it was for his TV family to realize that their star never intended to return after ditching that fateful table read. Still, their poignant absence is a classier and more professional way to say goodbye than turning up to work only to ruin every take by coughing Asshole! and Quitter! into their fists each time Patinkin opens his mouth to deliver his dialogue.

]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=289398&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Mandy Patinkin Is Missing!]]> Advancing the story of Mandy Patinkin's unexplained absence from yesterday's table read for CBS procedural Criminal Minds [Ed.note—Is that the one with David Caruso and the sunglasses or the one with Vincent D'Onofrio and the perverts? Have an intern look that up.] broken on E!'s Watch with Kristin blog, TVGuide.com's Ausiello Report says that the show's producers are retaliating by writing the actor out of their episode:

Multiple sources confirm that Mandy Patinkin is being written out of the season premiere of Criminal Minds after he failed to report to work.
Reps for the show declined comment, but it's safe to assume that the actor/chanteuse is embroiled in some kind of nasty contract stand-off with the network. (The work stoppage was first reported by the sleuths over at E! Online.)

Coincidentally, Minds' just put out a casting call for a character that fits Patinkin's description. What odd timing, eh?

Indeed, it is odd that CBS is issuing a casting call just as their star has come down with a debilitating case of contractitis; stranger still is that the notice is seeking "a less fucking greedy Mandy Patinkin type, who appreciates how easily replaceable the leading men on second-tier FBI dramas truly are, and who doesn't want to spend the rest of his life signing headshots at Princess Bride conventions."

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