Thursday, October 2, 2014


                          NO MORE GORE

I have been remiss in blogging, I admit it. Retirement, especially with a book to write, has that effect on me. But I promise to do better, and today I need to vent, so my first blog in months is a rant.

Did you see Criminal Minds last night?

I watched the first 15 minutes of it. Then I gave up and swore never to tune in again. It's been one of my favorite shows for years. The cast is great. I love all those folks and root for them to win. The past couple of years, however, it has gotten harder and harder to watch. The writers are obsessed with body parts. Body parts not attached to bodies. And weird perps. Not just killer weird but gross weird.

Now I'm a former police reporter who writes true-crime books. I have seen people ejected from cars in bloody traffic accidents. I have seen (parts of) people hit by trains. I have seen crime scene photos that sicken the mind, not to mention the stomach. But I can't take any more of Criminal Minds.

I gave it up last season when a deranged woman planted her sick daughter and used a wood chipper to turn men into fertilizer for her little one-girl garden. But last night was the opener for this season and I thought maybe the writers had run out of gore.

Nope. People in Bakersfield started finding random legs. Then we see a nice guy who is leaving the legs displayed. Caught too early in the show to be the real villain, he explains that, oh no, he doesn't kill people, he just buys the limbs from another guy who tortures and kills them. And off we go to a scene where the pretty girl is tied down and the real villain is sharpening his knife.

Off went my TV. Not gonna do that anymore. I can't root for my fed friends on Criminal Minds when they are dealing with limb loppers or wood chippers or any of that sickening sludge they are substituting for drama.

And I wonder, if I can't take it, are those people who used to throw up when I mentioned "skin slippage" still watching?
What do you think?

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