Oh, Mandy, You Came and You Quit Your TV Show Without an Explanation

It’s been a few days since Mandy Patinkin suddenly quit his role on the CBS hit Criminal Minds citing “creative differences,” and we still have no idea what those differences were. At a press conference yesterday, CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler elaborated, sort of: “Well, I think ‘creative differences’ is a euphemism for ‘personal issues,’” she said, winking. “I think you get it.”

We didn’t, so we looked for clues in Post columnist Michael Riedel’s 2000 behind-the-scenes report on Michael John LaChiusa’s Broadway musical The Wild Party, in which the actor starred as an abusive clown. According to the story, Patinkin, onstage, “ad-libbed bits of physical and verbal abuse, including smacking people in the head, shoving them, spitting water in their faces and making offensive remarks to them under his breath.” So, whatever actually happened at CBS, it’s a safe bet that his former castmates are enjoying the eternal sunshine of a Patinkin-less Minds.

CBS’s Patinkin Village [WP]
’Wild’ Behavior At ‘Party’ [NYP]