What Happened to Gideon on Criminal Minds? And, More Questions Answered

In this week’s Ask the TVaholic column, we had four questions come in. Readers wanted to know about a song that played during Army Wives, what that one show that played last summer was, why Mandy Patinkin left Criminal Minds, and if Old Christine will be back for another season.

Julia left a comment on the Army Wives second season premiere review asking: I would like to know the name of the song (female artist) that was played at the end of the first episode of the season when they were all sitting at the table with the Mom thinking of her daughter who was killed. I think a portion of the lyrics was “I can’t find the light so I think of you.” Beautiful music! I live in Charleston where the shows are filmed and wouldn’t miss an episode! Great actors and actresses!
I think you meant the second episode, but at any rate, I believe the song you are looking for is “I Will Think of You” by Laura Browne Sorenson. You can listen to a clip of it on her MySpace page.

TVargas, in a comment on the Ultimate Guide to the Summer TV Schedule, inquired: I was wondering about a summer show CBS had on last year. I can’t remember the name but it was about three friends just out of college and they go to New York for vacation and one of their friends ends up framing the other two for a bomb in a museum and then they find out while they are on the run from the law that their friend is a super secret agent…anyway do you know if that show will return? It was pretty good.
The show you are trying to remember is Traveler. It ran for eight episodes last summer on ABC. It was a lot of fun, but unfortunately they decided not to continue on with it. If you would like to find out what would have happened had it got the chance, you can read this story by the show’s executive producer and writer David DiGilio over at TV Guide. He was keeping a blog about the show and when it was cancelled he answered many fan questions about the show. Plus, he outlined what the major story arcs for future seasons would have been, including how it would have ended.

Adrian asked: What happened to Gideon on Criminal Minds? Why did he leave? I did not know that he left the show. Is he dead on the show?
Guess you didn’t watch this past season. Mandy Patinkin, who played Jason Gideon, quit. He didn’t show up for the first day of shooting. He said he left due to “creative differences.” It took the producers and rest of the cast by surprise. They had to do some serious scrambling to rewrite episodes that had already been written and included the Gideon character. They didn’t kill him off though, he filmed a couple of scenes and Gideon was last seen leaving a roadside store and driving off in the first episode of season three. You can read this story at TV Squad for more details. Unfortunately, TV Squad became AOL Television and then was swallowed up by the HuffingtonPost and past articles were no longer made available. But, you can read the Mandy Patinkin article referenced above via the Internet Archive.

Update 1.31.2015: On Wednesday, January 28th, 2015, CBS aired an episode of Criminal Minds S.10 called “Nelson’s Sparrow.” This episode opens with the BAU team standing around a covered body at a cabin that is said to be Gideon. The team then sets out to solve the murder of their old friend and colleague, which leads them to find that he was hot on the trail of one of the first cases he and Rossi worked back in the 1970s when the unit was just being created. We see flashbacks of the original case with Ben Savage (Boy Meets World) playing the young Jason Gideon.

Adrian also asked: Is the Adventures of Old Christine coming back next season?
The New Adventures of Old Christine will be back next season, but not on Monday nights. CBS will be using it to kickoff Wednesday nights with a new one-hour comedy block. It will lead off the night and be followed by the new Jay Mohr (Ghost Whisperer) vehicle Project Gary.