LOLA GLAUDINI, PATINKIN, and SHEMAR MOORE

CRIMINAL MINDS: Nigel Parry/CBS

Criminal Minds

CONCEPT Mandy Patinkin is a Silence of the Lambs-style FBI profiler; fellow agent Thomas Gibson (Greg, as in Dharma &...) provides backup.

THE SCOOP Hmmm...this sounds familiar. But, swears creator Jeff Davis, Criminal Minds is different from all those other CBS procedurals. ''When I pitched it, I said: 'Other crime shows are doing Agatha Christie, we're doing Alfred Hitchcock.' It's the difference between knowing the bomb is under the table and seeing the bomb explode.'' Okay, but any worries that Minds may get Lost in its time slot? Patinkin refuses to indulge: ''We just do the best we can do. It can be exhausting, that other garbage — we don't have to participate in it.'' Minds over matter, we guess.

BOTTOM LINE The pilot was pretty standard...until the last two minutes. Still, Hitch doesn't have anything to worry about.