The One Criminal Minds Character That Really Bothered Fans

"Criminal Minds" is a police drama that premiered on CBS in September 2005 and enjoyed a tremendous run of 15 seasons and 324 episodes before its finale aired on February 19, 2020. As many long-running television shows tend to do, the show had (and still has) a loyal fanbase that is very motivated and very, very opinionated.

It's nearly impossible that everyone will like everything about a TV show, even when that show is their absolute favorite. When it comes to the characters on "Criminal Minds," this certainly applies. Some though, like Spencer Reid and Aaron Hotchner, will likely always be crowd-pleasers no matter what era the show is streamed in, which is good news. As Adam Rodriguez told CBS Watch Magazine, the show already has a brand-new wave of fans.

"I meet young people all the time, teenagers, who love the show and say they love the game of it all — figuring out how these processes work and the skills that go into solving crimes," he said. "I think we've probably inspired a generation of people to go into this important work — on the good-guy side, not on the bad."

Of course, in 15 years, it's impossible for that fandom and fervor to apply to every character that's ever been on "Criminal Minds." And it turns out there's one character in particular that fans had a very difficult time responding to.

Jennifer Love Hewitt joined the cast of "Criminal Minds" in Season 10. Hewitt came on board to play Kate Callahan in the wake of the departure of series favorite Alex Blake, which may have made things quite hard for her. Fans were pretty much immediately displeased with Hewitt, and several petitions circulated calling for her removal from the show. In the end, Hewitt departed the show at the end of Season 10, but not for the reasons fans might think. It turns out the new mom just wanted to spend more time with her baby.

Showrunner Erica Messer explained to Entertainment Weekly that the departure just made sense. "Jennifer wanted to be able to give this second baby everything she gave her first, and that's taking time off to be a full-time mom. Because she's due in July, when we would start shooting Season 11, timing-wise there was no way for her to do both, to be able to give that baby everything she wanted to give that baby and still be on our show."

Interestingly, fans aren't the only people who have had their problems with Jennifer Love Hewitt. In 2011, Slate published a piece that claims critics dislike Jennifer Love Hewitt more than any other leading actress. The publication pulled stats from various reviews and websites to prove their point.

"Hewitt has the rare distinction of never having made a single 'fresh' (above 60% on Rotten Tomatoes) film. Her average score of 18.9 owes to such duds as 'Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit' (7%), 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' (35%), 'I Still Know What You Did Last Summer' (7%), and both 'Garfield' movies (15% and 11%, respectively)," Slate reported.

However, it seems that over time some fans of "Criminal Minds" grew to appreciate Hewitt's place on the show. This is in part due to help from co-star Joe Mantegna, who took to Facebook to encourage fans to get over their misplaced anger at Hewitt. In his post, Mantegna reminded fans that another actress (Jeanne Tripplehorn) was actually hired to replace fan-favorite Paget Brewster, and being mad at Hewitt wouldn't change that (via Liberty Voice).

For her part, Jennifer Love Hewitt enjoyed and appreciated the opportunity to be on "Criminal Minds" in the first place. She explained to Entertainment Weekly that she was able to enjoy one huge first: "It's the first time I've been on a show that I'm not producing and didn't put together. I'm just a cast member. It's their house and I'm just really honored to be invited in. It's fun for me. It's different in every way possible, but it's really great."

Hewitt also really liked her character's demeanor and presentation. When asked what Kate Callahan brought to the team, she immediately had an answer. "She has a really fun sense of humor. She's very sarcastic, and sometimes makes a joke when it's inappropriate to make a joke," she said. "She loves to have zingers with the bad guy, like land something right as she's leaving the room. It's a fun part to her. I was really excited that Erica let me bring a sense of humor into this world."