Not long ago, it was easy to dismiss Criminal Minds as one of the 600 indistinguishable crime procedurals on CBS, but as it has quietly become the highest-rated show on Wednesdays, a major change in its cast is big news. After the loud departure of Mandy Patinkin over the summer, the powers that be apparently felt the ensemble that remained was insufficiently weighty, and Joe Mantegna was brought on board beginning last night. Mantegna plays Rossi, one of the Behavioral Analysis Unit's founders, who has decided to return to the fray for some deep personal reason we'll no doubt be hearing more about.

Last night's case -- which was about a man who leaves "Have You Seen Me?" flyers and then kidnaps the woman shown on them -- wasn't especially involving. The main purpose of the episode was setting up Rossi's relationship to the rest of the crew. While technically serving underneath Thomas Gibson's Hotchner, Rossi primarily followed his own hunches and seemed uncomfortable with the collegial nature of the BAU. Right now it seems like an ill fit, especially the disconnect between Mantegna's new role as the show's titular star and his subordinate role on the team.

Elsewhere:

Pushing Daisies:
Ned rewoke a dead jockey, who told him that the one responsible for his death was the ghost of another jockey, killed several years before. This news disturbs Olive, who it turns out is a former jockey herself, and one who knows what happened to cause that first death.

Kid Nation:
The town council was informed of a cache of buffalo nickels hidden in a cave, which they found and ended up spending on communal goods rather than distributing them to the other kids. To my surprise, no one disagreed with this. Divad attempted to persuade the kids to recommend her for the gold star by baking potato chips for them. Pathologically hardworking Nathan received the star instead. [Bottomless Chips]

Private Practice:
A woman didn't want her husband to know that the reason she wasn't getting pregnant was that she feared passing on the gene for Huntington's disease. Sam and Cooper argued over a case of possible child abuse. Charlotte got some help for her insomnia. Addison and Pete got busy (you knew this wouldn't take long on a Grey's Anatomy spin-off).

Dirty Sexy Money:
Tripp and Simon Elder played poker aboard a yacht, a game that ended with Nick urging Tripp to put up Darling Plaza, which he promptly lost. Karen and Freddy went to apply for a marriage license only to find out that Karen never actually divorced her last husband. Tripp hired paparazzi to embarrass Patrick with Carmelita, which only infuriated Patrick more. [TV with Abe]

Life:
Dani met a seemingly nice guy at an AA meeting, only to discover that he's a rapist. Charlie suspects Stark is embellishing his role in a notorious robbery. The lieutenant was embarrassed by a "people's journalist" with a grudge against the department. Ted became furious when his old partner in crime wrote a memoir and put Ted's picture on the cover. This episode was a revelation for anyone who ever thought Sarah Shahi was just gorgeous window dressing. [Mostly Movies]

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