SueTube – Let’s talk TV with critic Susan Young

We’re not saying anything against Mandy Patinkin, we’ll let his co-stars like Shemar Moore do that.

Shemar railed against Mandy when he decided to simply not show up for work, quitting and leaving the cast and crew in the lurch.

“I don’t think it’s right. He left us hanging… no warning, no nothing. We all showed up to work on Day 1, and he didn’t,” a testy Shemar told a group of reporters during a CBS party last month. “He needs to take responsibility for his actions. (We’re) an ensemble, a team. We just want the courtesy and the respect that we deserve. And we felt like if he had given us that initially, this would be much easier to deal with. He essentially just slapped us in the face.”

Mandy will never work in this town again. Except maybe. Because he quit CBS’ “Chicago Hope” in 1995 after one season, then returned in 1999 for the final season. And CBS execs say he’ll come back to do at least a scene that ties up his character.

But enough about the old, now we’ve got the new: Joe Mantegna will join the cast as FBI Special Agent David Rossi, making his first appearance in the fifth episode of the season.

Here’s our Joe!

“We are all THRILLED (yep, they used capitals in the press release) to have Joe Mantegna joining our family. He’s an incredible actor, a genuinely nice person and, as a fellow Chicagoan, I can tell you he makes fantastic Italian Beef sandwiches and Chicago Style Hot Dogs,” said Executive Producer Ed Bernero.

Special Agent Rossi is an original member of the Behavioral Analysis Unit who took early retirement to go on lecture and book tours, and has volunteered to return to the unit.

Joe wowed us this summer in the miniseries “The Starter Wife,” which earned him an Emmy nomination. He also won a Tony Award for her performance in “Glengarry Glen Ross.”

His credits include the CBS series “Joan of Arcadia,” and we’d like to note that he has never once walked off a TV series.

So you may have seen those pictures splashed across the tabloids of “Criminal Minds” co-star Shemar Moore.

NOT THE NAKED PHOTO OF SHEMAR

The story that goes with those tabloid photos is that Shemar was at a gay beach in Maui and flashing his equipment for all to see.

“There’s a nude beach that we went to that day. There were men, women, children, all there,” Shemar explains. “But as I understand it, there’s an area a little bit away from there that is known as a gay beach and we were in that area when the pictures were taken.”

Now, Shemar doesn’t deny he was naked on that beach about a year ago, but he says he was with two girlfriends who were cut out of the picture.

“I’m not gay,” says Shemar. “My godfather was gay and died of AIDS. So I’m not saying there’s anything wrong in being gay, I’m just not. I’m a straight man who enjoys being naked.”

While he pondered who could have possibly taken his picture on this very public beach in Kihei, Maui, he didn’t address the question if perhaps it could have been an angry girlfriend.

In any case, Shemar has a reputation for liking to take his shirt off at public events at every opportunity. And he says he likes to bbq for pals in his own backyard sans clothing.

Which sounds really dangerous to us.