One of my favorite TV shows is “Criminal Minds” and it’s a great example of an entertainment formula that works.

Some may consider it a spoiler, but if you know the show, you know what I’m talking about, and if you don’t, you’ll learn pretty quickly how it works if you watch. Plus, I’m sure most crime type shows follow a similar routine.

It’s just that some shows get too gruesome, or are just too far-fetched to begin with, just like some pro wrestling is too hardcore, or just too crazy, to be believed. (Ok, believability is another column.)

But when you watch Criminal Minds, the story unfolds in a typical fashion. The evil of the criminal is shown, and the rest of the hour is a chase to stop the murderer from striking again. In that effort, we’re shown the potential victim, and the mystery being uncovered, and the criminal working his modus operandi.

Sort of a three way dance, if you will.

The reason the show resonates with me is that the good guys typically triumph, the victim is saved, and the team reveals some deep insights into the mindset and psychology of the criminal who is thwarted.

Besides, the drama and problem solving, plus the acting and the stories themselves, are all top quality stuff.

But if you want to boil it down to a formula, you can readily do so.

It’s the getting there that makes it entertainment. It’s the satisfaction of seeing positive results that make me want to watch again. It’s the triumph of good over evil that makes it more emotional, more dramatic and more enjoyable.

The other aspect of the formula is that it can be tweaked. Last season, the finale revolved around a story that did not play out in a typical fashion. This time, the bad guy seemed to have won, and the team was put in jeopardy.

Tweaking a formula makes the formula stronger, changes things up and makes the ongoing viewing more enjoyable.

I know I’m speaking an alien tongue to the creative departments of professional wrestling promotions, but then again, maybe someone will learn something, and maybe my viewing of professional wrestling will be enhanced.

Formulas are not just in TV. Writers use formulas. Stephen King and Anne Rice have staples, and I’m sure – if you’re an avid reader – that you can recognize that one of your favorites uses the same characters, the same situations or the same genre. Some of those aren’t formulas, but when Stephen King ends almost every story in a ‘let’s go back to the beginning’ twist, and when Anne Rice frames her stories in a similar fashion – an interview – those are strong formulas.

I don’t see Stephen King wanting for book buyers, nor Anne Rice.

And while both have changed things up over the years, and both have not always kept the same fans, they made their careers on what can be argued a simplistic entertainment template.

Now, I wasn’t exactly around when Bruno Sammartino make his mark on the sport, but I’ve read, watched and listened to the man. I’m well aware that no one in the history of the sport had made the mark – an eight year title run where everyone in the world wanted to book him, wanted him to have their title, wanted to bring him in as often as possible.

Was Bruno’s success merely a formula?

If not, then his greatness was innate.

If so, then why can’t current promotions take a page out of that equation, and try something different?

The WWE is, as Paul Heyman has noted, a creative endeavor focused on the perceptions of one man. Obviously, that man has decided that anything but the morass that is the current WWE Universe is not worth the effort.

As a long time follower of that promotion, in its various incarnations over the past three plus decades, I’m well aware that Vince McMahon has a huge disdain for rules. He seemingly has had a disdain for formulaic booking as well, but then again, at the height of his creative and profitable success – in the mid and late 1990’s, Vince was formulaic.

In the 1980’s, Hulk Hogan took up the mantle that Bruno Sammartino lofted to high levels. Building up bad guys, working programs and prolonging the fight until a culmination was the staple of the Hogan era. That the Hulkster was unable to maintain arena attendance was a sign that despite his mainstream appeal, he was unable to make the real connection to the fans.

Thus there remains a shortcoming to the formula approach, because a formula is the sum of the parts: format, scenarios, talent, build-up and packaging.

Formulas quickly become familiar. For the first part of this decade, we all expected every RAW to begin with a 20 minute promo, and end with a pretty solid main event – one that was built up over the course of the evening, and one that lead to further combinations, storylines and drama after the event.

At some point, and obviously after talent with promo ability stopped being produced, that formula drifted away. (Funny thing is, and this is a digression, but as fabulous promo guys are no longer featured, and as managerial roles -- with guys dependent solely upon bump-taking and speaking – are all but antiquities, where are the next generation of talent going to learn the craft? How many guys learned to speak from Blassie, from Heenan, from a variety of Southern style managers?)

But I digress. The point is that, the professional wrestling domination of the WWE has drifted aimlessly since it has long forgotten the dynamics of the Bret Hart/Vince McMahon Montreal event, and desperately needs a reorientation, a big bang event or simply a genuine re-set. But on a different parallel, the WWE (or anyone for that matter) needs to create a new formula or format, and one that reinvents the game.

Any long term fan can come up with a dozen ways that hearken back to the Old School, or a mostly forgotten region, or just a way in which it used to be done.

Maybe the formula can’t work, but then again, if it isn’t tried, how can it work?

More than anything, the hyper pacing and the focus on quantity over quality has worn out its welcome.

In a day where competition is a necessity, one day some company may rediscover the tried and true formulas of success.

And it might just make watching pro wrestling enjoyable again.

Joe Babinsack can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Happy Turkey Day to all, and I’ll be back with new stuff next week, after I settle in at my new abode. No use doing a Holiday gift guide if everyone’s shopping!