Attention TV Addicts: Come September, assuming you’re still living in the stone-age (translation: unlucky enough to not own a DVR) you’re screwed you’ve got some fairly big decisions ahead of you. CASTLE versus HAWAII FIVE-0! PARENTHOOD versus THE GOOD WIFE! THE BIG BANG THEORY versus COMMUNITY! Suffice to say, it’s the TV Addict equivalent of Sophie’s Choice. And why, as we inch closer and closer to our favorite time of the year (read: Fall TV!) we’ll be spending some time shining the spotlight on a few of the week’s most compelling time-slot showdowns. Tonight we tackle Wednesday’s at 9PM where CBS’ gruesome CRIMINAL MINDS will face-off against NBC’s often more-chilling LAW & ORDER: SVU.
In CRIMINAL MINDS’ favor: Despite making headlines over the summer with the incredibly high-profile firing of AJ Cook and demotion of Paget Brewster, heading into its sixth season CRIMINAL MINDS remains one of CBS’ most consistent performers. A performance that we have a feeling will only get stronger as more fans tune in to discover how MINDS deals with the impending cast changes and media interest grows in the mid-season CRIMINAL MINDS spin-off SUSPECT BEHAVIOR. That, and having a resurgent SURVIVOR fresh-off one of its strongest seasons to date as a lead-in certainly won’t hurt matters.
In LAW & ORDER SVU’s favor: Assuming loyal fans can find the show — which has seen more timeslots than we can count in a failed effort by NBC to plug countless holes in their schedule courtesy of the failed experiment that was JAY LENO — SVU should see a bump in viewers thanks to the interest surrounding its Wednesday lead-in UNDERCOVERS. The highly-anticipated new series from JJ Abrams which should provide for a far more solid lead-in than last season’s little watched MERCY.
The Winner: Is for you to decide in the comments below, particularly since we’ll be busy watching MODERN FAMILY, COUGAR TOWN and possibly recording HELLCATS. That said, in sticking with the gruesome criminal theme we’ve got going here — gun to our head — we’d give CRIMINAL MINDS the edge in the ratings department. After-all, what CBS viewers lack in internet savvy, they more than make up for in viewer loyalty. 
