Why Mandy Patinkin Rocks

Okay first of all, have you all seen a little film called "The Princess Bride"? If not, you may as well just leave now because I'm a little disgusted...j/k!!...well a little bit. Mostly I'll just clutch my heart and feel sorry for you...and then I'll watch it FOR you. It's that good. Mandy plays Inigo Montoya, as in "My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!". Yup that's my Mandy, and while I thought this guys rocks, it wasn't until later that I became a Mandy Patinkin fanatic.

I saw this commercial for a tv show on dvd soon, a few years ago. It was about a girl who dies and becomes a grim reaper. It was a showtime series, which we don't get, so I emailed my local library and put in a request that they buy the Season when it was released, because it looked SO good and FUNNY. A little series, called Dead Like Me. The day finally arrived, and I began watching it with my baby sis Sandy. We couldn't stop watching, it was that good. That first night we saw like 5 episodes, until it was like 3 am and Sandy was barely alive. We watched the entire season in about 3 days.

And while walking by, my mother mentioned "Hey Mandy Patinkin", and I was like who? She's looking at me (I am the movie knowledge Queen!) and says you know, Alien Nation (never saw it before, of course I have NOW...MANDY!) and Princess Bride. I was like what?, Princess Bride, who'd he play, and she was like, HELLO...Inigo, and my jaw dropped. I was like NO WAY! Because I am looking at Rube (Mandy's character on Dead Like Me) on the tv screen and thinking about Inigo, and I'm like nooooo, even though part of me is starting to see it in the face. So I press play for a minute and I can totally SEE it!! I was like HOLY COW! I loved Inigo and I loved Rube, and they were the same guy! Sweet!

Okay, I admit it, this show is FULL of swears, but I LOVE it. Every single one of the main characters is friggin' hilarious, they are all grim reapers stuck on Earth. Rube gives them post-its with their daily marks, with an E.T.D., estimated time of death. Now they don't DO the killing, they just pop the souls out before it happens, so the person feels as little pain as possible. Gravelings, evil little creatures, do the evil deeds, though they follow a specific list too. We never get to see the list, only Rube does, and he has never seen the "one" who leaves him the list. And of course the main character, the young girl George, being so newly dead and only 18, isn't too thrilled with her new (death by space shuttle's toilet seat) status, that she can't visit her family, and that reapers are not payed so they need JOBS,etc! Oh she tries to visit her family, but someone wise made it no one recognizes you, only fellow reapers see what you actually look like. To the outside world, you look different now. And so with a teenage reaper who's being rebellious, one reaper being a slacker stoner, one being a flighty reaper who likes to photograph her reaps before they die, and one being an angry meter maid, Rube has his hands full. Many highjinks and catastrophe's ensue. Priceless!

And of course, we couldn't get Showtime for one show, so we had to wait a year, for Season 2 to be released on dvd. Meanwhile, my Mom decided to try it because I now owned the first season, and Sandy and I were getting ready to watch the whole season again, so she and Katie sat down, deciding to give it a one episode shot. And they fell for the show too. My Mom especially! She loves Alien Nation SOOOO much, that I ended up buying it for her, and she had me watch it, and I was like MANDY!! And I like it now too. And then Season 2 was given to me for my birthday, pre-ordered so the day it was released, I'd own it!! And it was as good as the first, but with a new Reaper, Daisy, who was once a starlet and had...well...slept with most of Hollywood, and died making Gone with the Wind.

And then they CANCELLED it!! I was heartbroken. No more Rube/Mandy!! No more Dead like Me!! I was pissed too. Nothing will ever console me, this show was so good.
But not that long after the heartbreak, I read that my Mandy would be returning to TV in a new show called Criminal Minds. Yeah I think most of you have heard of this lil gem. He was the reason I tuned in for that first episode. Sure, the premise was interesting, but it was the show being LED by MANDY PATINKIN! And I fell in love with Criminal Minds. Shemar Moore and Matthew Gray Gubler didn't hurt either! I grew to love every character, even Hotch, who was on that stupid Dharma and Greg show. He was so good, I actually was able to forget that. And so C. Minds became a tv fave. And then after Season 2, Mandy decided to leave, because of creative differences...oh the pain!! I was losing my Inigo/Rube/Gideon again!! My Mandy who can sing opera, seriously, he is wicked talented! My Mandy who just puts so much heart and humor in every character. I was so upset (kind of like reading Billy Peterson is leaving CSI upset!!).

I admit, I have not given up my Criminal Minds. You fall in love with ALL the characters, I couldn't abandon them. But Joe Mantegna is NO Mandy Patinkin, and him shooting a bird when we first see him (Mandy's Gideon loved birds) just pissed me off. And I had loved Joe when he was on Joan of Arcadia, but on C.M.? No, he still doesn't fit for me. When they said maybe someone had died in last seasons finale, i was a-okay if it had been his character...he's still here though...dang.

But these are the many reasons I LOVE Mandy Patinkin. He is an amazing actor, a scary crazy amazing singer (he sings HIGHHHH), and he CAN cook. He did it in Dead Like Me, he did it in Criminal Minds, that is something Mandy can do!! And he believes in his craft so much, that he leaves a wildly successful show after only it's second year because while he knew the show would contain violence, he felt "the actual level of violence portrayed was unacceptable". The man is amazing. When Cheers was casting, HE put in Kelsey Grammar's name for Frasier because they were friends from Julliard!! He loves to collect and play with model trains to THIS day. He says Inigo Montoya was his favorite role EVER! And he supports many groups including Doctors without Borders! He does concerts for them.

These are the reasons I proudly wear a t-shirt with his Princess Bride's Inigo on it, and the saying ""I don't mean to pry, but you don't by any chance happen to have six fingers on your right hand?" " on the front. On the back "You seem a decent fellow, I hate to kill you". And these are my reasons why Mandy Patinkin ROCKS.



And guess what? They are doing a direct to DVD movie out in Feb. but Mandy is not in it!! I am SO sad there will be no Rube...although I am ecstatic to revisit George, Roxy and Mason...they are bloody hilarious and Callum Blue (Mason) is HOT...and British!! Accents, gotta love 'em. Now just do ANOTHER movie and get Mandy and my life can be a little bit shinier!! Puh-LEASE!!