Mantegna in for Mandy on Minds

Reports that movie legend Harvey Keitel was about to replace Mandy Patinkin on the CBS drama Criminal Minds seemed too wild to be true and they were.

The more TV-appropriate actor Joe Mantegna has signed to fill the Mandy-void on Minds after talks with the 67-year-old Mean Streets giant failed to turn him into the next James Caan (Cheapskates!).

Showrunner Ed Bernero confirms the Mantegna deal on the Criminal Minds Fanatic blog.Joe Mantegna gets a lot of work on CBS. He played a cop on CBS’s Joan of Arcadia for two seasons, starred in the short-lived CBS Supreme Court drama First Monday in 2002, and appeared in the hit CBS mini-series The Last Don and its sequel (also on CBS). He also showed up in the USA Network miniseries, The Starter Wife but is best known as Fat Tony on The Simpsons.

Mercurial Mandy quit his successful show suddenly last month.

–Tabloid Baby