"CRIMINAL MINDS" GETS SUPER SUNDAY TIME PERIOD

Television's Fastest Growing Drama To Be Broadcast Immediately Following CBS Sports Coverage of Super Bowl XLI on Sunday, Feb. 4

CBS announced today that its sophomore sensation CRIMINAL MINDS, television's fastest-growing drama, will get a special broadcast immediately following CBS Sports coverage of Super Bowl XLI on Sunday, Feb. 4.

"In just a couple of months, 'Criminal Minds' has gone from our unsung hero to a Top 10 series," said Nina Tassler, President of CBS Entertainment. "Millions of viewers are discovering it every week and obviously they like what they see. This is an outstanding opportunity to expose a series that is young in its life cycle and on the rise to an enormous universe of potential new viewers."

CRIMINAL MINDS, which revolves around an elite team of FBI profilers who analyze criminals minds and anticipate their next moves before they strike again, ranks No. 7 among all primetime programs and averages 16.8 million viewers, a +25% increase versus its comparable freshman season performance (13.78m), the largest increase among all returning dramas.

Broadcast in the highly-competitive Wednesday (9:00-10:00 PM) time period opposite "Lost," CRIMINAL MINDS has surged ahead of the ABC series in its last two head-to-head match-ups, even beating "Lost" 's highly promoted fall finale.

In key demographics, CRIMINAL MINDS is up +23% in adults 18-49 (4.8 vs. 3.9) and +24% in adults 25-54 (6.3 vs. 5.1) versus a year ago.

On Wednesday (Nov. 29), CRIMINAL MINDS delivered its largest audience with 17.95 million viewers and matched its second highest adult 18-49 rating (5.0/13).

CRIMINAL MINDS stars Mandy Patinkin, Thomas Gibson, Paget Brewster, Shemar Moore, Matthew Gray Gubler, A.J. Cook and Kirsten Vangsness. Mark Gordon, Ed Bernero and Deborah Spera are executive producers for Touchstone Television in association with CBS Paramount Network Television.