Gary Sinise returns to the CBS fold on Wednesday in “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders.” The new procedural — which tracks an FBI team tackling cases involving Americans overseas — airs at 10 p.m. after its parent show, “Criminal Minds,” with co-stars Alana de la Garza, Daniel Henney, Tyler James Williams and Annie Funke. Sinise, 60, knows a thing or two about spinoffs, having starred for nine seasons as Det. Mac Taylor on “CSI: NY,” the third iteration of the “CSI” franchise. Is there more pressure in doing a spinoff? Do fans of the original show have higher expectations? When I did “CSI: NY” there had already been two successful shows and CBS was very much behind the franchise. We gave it a shot and it was “three time’s the charm” and we got nine years out of it. When they called me about maybe doing this show … knowing that “Criminal Minds” was already a hugely successful show in its 10th season, I thought, well, I liked being on CBS for nine seasons, and if I’m going to do another show they’ll probably get behind this one, so let’s give it a s. But it’s really hard work. In the big picture, it’s not that hard — it’s shooting a TV show. You get up in the morning and do the job and go home at night and go to sleep. It’s pretty much what everyone does, but in a different way. I know there are a lot harder jobs than getting makeup put on your face and standing in front of a camera. There are harder jobs than getting makeup put on your face and standing in front of a camera. – Gary Sinise on the rigors of acting Tell me about FBI agent Jack Garrett, your character on “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders.” On “CSI: NY,” one of the things [series creator] Anthony Zuiker had in his head right off the bat was that he wanted my character [Mac Taylor] to be a 9/11 family member, a first responder who lost his wife in the Towers that day. We met him as a grieving husband who never had any kids. In this series, I wanted to represent all those first responders, those public servants in law enforcement who have managed to have successful family lives, raise kids, have successful marriages. So many of those guys … are often portrayed on TV as a little broken, having trouble sleeping at night ’cause they see such dark things. They’re on their fourth marriage, their kids don’t like them, all that stuff. While that’s certainly true, there’s a whole other side of law-enforcement folks who can maintain their long-term relationships and raise families and all of that. That’s one thing we talked about right off the bat — promoting a law enforcement figure who’s able to stay married to his high school sweetheart and raise six kids. That’s not to say Jack Garrett is not obsessed with getting justice. He is — that’s one of his motivators. But he’s somebody who’s been able to keep the dark things he sees away from his family while following in his father’s footsteps as an FBI agent. And now his son is in the [FBI] academy. Is the International Response Team based on a real division of the FBI? Yes. In reality it’s called the Global Response Team. I spent an entire day at the FBI in Washington, DC, getting briefings. I know FBI agents and I talked to people who work Global Response; they’ve got between 70-80 FBI offices around the world that deal with kidnappings, disappearances, murders, terrorism — all different things we need to respond to internationally.
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