CBS Plots ‘Criminal Minds’ Spinoff From Showrunner Erica Messer

Erica Messer - P 2014

Craig Sjodin

Erica Messer

CBS is looking into making another spinoff. In the middle of a season that’s seen the cable network order new iterations of NCIS and CSI, The Hollywood Reporter has learned that CBS is now prepping a potential companion to Criminal Minds.

The ABC Studios drama, produced in association CBS Television Studios and The Mark Gordon Company, will film a planted spinoff in February — written and executive produced by Criminal Minds showrunner Erica Messer. (Messer is joined as EP on the project by Gordon and Nick Pepper.)

Read More CBS Sets CSI Spinoff Premiere

The spinoff, which will air as a Criminal Minds episode later in its tenth season, focuses on a division of the FBI that helps American citizens encountering trouble abroad. No casting choices have been made yet.

It’s no real surprise that CBS would consider stretching the Criminal Minds brand even further. It remains one of the highest rated dramas on broadcast TV, even now that it has passed the 200-episode mark. Criminal Minds is currently averaging a 3.9 rating among adults 18-49 and 14.6 million viewers.

This is not the first time CBS has tried to get more life out of Criminal Minds. The first spinoff, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, started as a backdoor pilot itself during the series’ fifth season. Though ordered to series, it did not catch on and only 13 episodes were produced for a midseason 2010-11 run.

In addition to her work on Criminal Minds, Messer served as a writer on Alias, The OC and Charmed. She originally worked as a development assistant at Fox, before she took her first job on a series with Party of Five.

Messer is repped by UTA.

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TV Land Pulls ‘Cosby Show’ Repeats

Bill Cosby 2 - H 2014

AP Images/Invision

Bill Cosby

Decades-old rape allegations against Bill Cosby have not just sidelined his current projects. The controversy is now spilling over into repeats of his iconic NBC comedy. The Hollywood Reporter has learned that TV Land has pulled all planned repeats of The Cosby Show, effective immediately.

Finishing its eight-year run in 1992, it’s been more than two decades since The Cosby Show last aired. But the Emmy darling and longtime ratings champ has enjoyed an exceptionally healthy life in syndication. TV rights are currently owned by TV Land parent Viacom — and though the nostalgic network’s airings have been infrequent, several marathons were planned between Thanksgiving and Christmas. A TV Land rep declined to comment.

TV Land isn’t the only home for Cosby. Fellow Viacom property (and BET sibling) Centric also airs repeats of The Cosby Show. It’s not immediately clear if they’re follow suit.

On the streaming side, both Amazon and Hulu have rights to The Cosby Show. As of Wednesday afternoon, it’s still available on both. Representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and neither did Centric.

Weeks of bubbling criticism over sex abuse claims against Cosby seemed to come to a head on Tuesday night when Netflix postponed plans to air a comedy special about the 77-year-old. Then, on Wednesday morning, NBC followed suit by expectedly scrapping a comedy it was developing with the actor and comedian.

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AMC Abandons Unscripted Fare, Cancels Most Current Reality

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Ben Leuner/AMC

“Comic Book Men”

AMC is making a major shift in focus, abandoning nearly all its unscripted fare with a renewed emphasis on rebuilding its thinning scripted portfolio. 

“Scripted originals are at the core of the AMC brand. Iconic shows like Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead have driven AMC’s evolution into a must-have television network,” an AMC spokesman said in a statement. “We are proud of our efforts in unscripted programming and the unique worlds we have been able to introduce, but in an environment of exploding content options for viewers, we have decided to make scripted programming our priority.”

Read more AMC Backlash: Budget Squeezing, Producer “Bake-Offs” and Post-‘Breaking Bad’ Challenges

With the shift, only Walking Dead companion series Talking Dead and Kevin Smith‘s Comic Book Men will remain on AMC’s schedule. Gone are all other current reality shows: Game of Arms, Small Town Security and Freak Show. All otherunscripted programming that was in development — including two other projects with Smith and one from Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick — are now dead. Producers will now have the option to find other homes for the projects, with AMC’s full cooperation.

AMC currently has a beefed-up staff of unscripted programming of about 10 in New York and L.A. — appointing Marco Bresaz and Tracey Lentz to vps of unscripted on the East and West Coast, respectively. The cabler does expect some staffing reductions in the department to come soon as it renews its focus on scripted.   

The two remaining series owe their success almost entirely to the strength of The Walking Dead, TV’s No. 1 show in the coveted adults 18-49 demographic.

Renewing its focus on scripted comes as no surprise given the network’s thinner output of scripted originals in the wake of Breaking Bad’s conclusion and Mad Men’s 2015 end date.  

The network this week renewed The Walking Dead for a sixth season — ahead of Sunday’s season five return — as it focuses on rebuilding its roster of original scripted fare. AMC’s original programming roster includes the second seasons of low-rated dramas Halt & Catch Fire and TurnBreaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul (already renewed for a second season after it was bumped from the fall to early 2015), as well as martial arts drama Badlands, which was picked up straight to series and eyed for late 2015 or early 2016. Western Hell on Wheels, which hasn’t yet been renewed, could join that roster. Also in the works Humans, a co-production originally developed for Xbox. 

On the pilot side, AMC has dramas KnifemanGalyntine, White City and a Walking Dead companion series as well as comedy We Hate Paul Revere, in the works. Beyond that, AMC has high hopes for developing controversial comic adaptation Preacher.

AMC has not been alone in struggling to find a new reality hit. All cable networks have come up short in trying to duplicate even a fraction of Duck Dynasty‘s success on A&E — now, decisively in the rear view. 

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