"I've been around long enough and am rational enough to understand that all I did was to hop on a fast-moving train that was already doing pretty well."

He's known for big-screen roles in 'The Godfather III,' 'Up Close and Personal' and 'Three Amigos,' but Joe Mantegna has also made his mark on the tube, nabbing three Emmy nominations for miniseries 'The Rat Pack,' 'The Last Don' and 'The Starter Wife.'

This season, Mantegna's a triple threat on TV, continuing as newest 'Criminal Minds' leader David Rossi (after replacing Mandy Patinkin last year), popping up in 'The Simpsons' season premiere as Springfield mobster Fat Tony and reprising his 'Starter Wife' miniseries role in USA's spin-off weekly series.

Mantegna talked to AOL TV about the success of 'Criminal Minds' (one of the only shows to actually win new viewers this season), how the O.J. Simpson murder trial inspired the name of his character and the upcoming nuptials of one of his TV alter egos.

Debra Messing's Emmy-award winning miniseries The Starter Wife is getting some new cast members. Joining the former Will and Grace star are David Alan Bashe of Lipstick Jungle, Danielle Nicolet of Heartland, Brielle Barbusca of Hope & Faith, and Hart Bochner of Die Hard.

The USA original series follows the post-divorce hi-jinx of Molly Kagan (Messing) as she embarks on a new chapter in her life. USA is bringing back the hit miniseries for ten episodes this fall. Messing is now executive producer as well.

Bashe will play Molly's ex-husband, Kenny Kagen. Nicolet will play Liz Marsh, Molly's new friend and wife a a pro-baseball player. Barbusca will play Jaden, Molly and Kenny's daughter. And Bochner will play Molly's new love interest and writing class teacher. Returning for guest appearances is Joe Mantegna of Criminal Minds who plays Molly's former boyfriend Lou Manahan.

The series will premiere on USA in October. What do you think? Will The Starter Wife work as a full-fledged series?

(S03E19) Talk about ending a season in an explosive way!

In the past three years, this week's episode was probably the second episode of Criminal Minds that I watched in its entirety. It's not a bad show but I just can't watch everything that airs on TV. However, since I stop watching any American Idol season after Hollywood Week, so I wasn't going to watch the finale, and because my usual Wednesdays at 9 PM shows were done for the season, I tuned in to CBS and watched the BAU at work.

It's not going to be Harvey Keitel or Geena Davis or Michael Keaton or even Rosie O'Donnell. The new person in charge on Criminal Minds is Joe Mantegna.

The CBS show hired Mantegna over the weekend, ending speculation over who would replace Mandy Patinkin, who has already left the show and will not be making anymore appearances. Besides classic movies such as House of Games and Bugsy, Mantegna costarred on the USA series The Starter Wife earlier this summer, was on the gone-but-not-forgotten drama Joan of Arcadia, does the voice of Fat Tony on The Simpsons, and made a poor substitute for Robert Urich when they made those Spenser movies on cable (nothing against Mantegna, he was quite good, it just wasn't Spenser, you know?).

No word yet on how they'll write out Patinkin or how Mantegna's character will join the team, though some episodes are already done and Patinkin's abscence will be explained in the season premiere.