Matthew Gray Gubler stars as Dr. Spencer Reid on "Criminal Minds." The series, about an elite team of FBI profilers, will air in the coveted time slot following the Super Bowl on KLAS-TV, Channel 8. Matthew Gray Gubler, center, never intended to be an actor, preferring filmmaking. A series of short films, featuring his "Criminal Minds" co-stars and available on YouTube, has let him practice that craft.

Matthew Gray Gubler can be a tough guy to reach.

But when he finally phoned recently, after more than a week of missed calls, he had an excuse that was better than most: He'd spent the past six days in the woods, tied to a chair, being tortured and shot full of heroin by James van der Beek.

It has been a busy couple of weeks for Gubler, the 26-year-old graduate of the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts, as he put the finishing touches on his biggest project: the two-part episode of the out-of-nowhere smash "Criminal Minds" that will begin immediately following the Super Bowl (Sunday on KLAS-TV, Channel 8).

In the special episode, which Gubler calls "incredibly crazy," his character, awkward genius Dr. Spencer Reid, and fellow FBI profilers -- played by, among others, Mandy Patinkin, Thomas Gibson and Shemar Moore -- are called in when a wealthy couple is murdered following, naturally, a Super Bowl party. (Part two, airing next week in the show's regular 9 p.m. Wednesday home, finds Dr. Reid kidnapped by the multiple-personalitied killer, played by the former "Dawson's Creek" star.)

"I didn't know it was such a big deal," Gubler says of the most coveted time slot on television, the post-Big Game hour that launched "The A-Team," "The Wonder Years" and "Family Guy" and helped make "Friends" and "Grey's Anatomy" the most talked about shows on TV. "I don't really know much about sports. But someone finally sat me down and explained it to me. ... I'm just happy the network is finally acknowledging our existence."

"Criminal Minds" was largely ignored, not just by CBS but by viewers as well, when it debuted in the fall of 2005. It was too dark for some, too much like all the other crime procedurals for others. And it was pitted against the water-cooler show of the moment: "Lost."

"Everyone was like 'Oh, don't even unpack your bags,' " Gubler says. " 'You're going to be canceled in a week and a half.' "

The series finished that first season in 30th place. But something -- probably the show's stand-alone nature that lends itself to repeats -- began to click with viewers. In November, just before "Lost" left for its fall break, "Criminal Minds" overtook it in the weekly ratings and it's now TV's 11th most popular series. (When "Lost" returns next week, it will move back an hour to 10 p.m., having conceded the time slot.)

But it's still The Series The Media Forgot.

"No one I know has even heard of the show," Gubler says. "People think I'm making it up when I tell them I'm on TV."

But get him to a Red State -- say, Texas or parts of the Midwest and South, where he went on a recent press tour -- and he's treated like a rock star. "These are, like, real Americans watching it," he says, as opposed to "the pretentious idiots in New York or Los Angeles."

Las Vegans also seem to get the show, something he has noticed during his frequent visits. The actor -- the son of attorney John Gubler and Marilyn Gubler, a ranch owner and former chairwoman of the Nevada Republican Party -- says he comes home at least once a month. "I work in L.A., but I live in Nevada."

Since he moved to New York to attend film school, Gubler's life has followed a Forrest Gump-like trajectory. He fell into a successful modeling career after being "discovered" on the street. Being cast in "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou," as what he calls a joke, led to the beginnings of a promising acting career, something else he never sought. Now, he finds himself in a movie with Mr. Gump himself. (The upcoming film, "The Great Buck Howard," in which he plays an assistant to John Malkovich's magician character, co-stars Tom Hanks.)

"It was all a total accident," Gubler says of his acting career, and he feels a little guilty about his success-to-struggle ratio. "But I couldn't be happier."

He wasn't completely unprepared to be an actor -- he majored in the craft at the Las Vegas Academy, but only because the school didn't offer his true passion: filmmaking. And it's that initial calling that helps him block out some of the twisted crimes, many of which he says come from true stories, that "Criminal Minds" portrays.

To keep things loose on the set, he has been making short films, featuring co-stars and members of the crew, that cast him as a pampered diva who yells at children and sexually harasses co-workers.

"I'm incredibly proud of those," Gubler says, and he lights up when you mention you've seen them on YouTube.

"Sadly, I focus more attention, I think, on those fake documentaries than on the actual show. But having that is a real nice safety blanket, I think, to keep you from going crazy."

Also helping to keep him sane is his art, which he has exhibited in the Czech Republic and on his handwritten Web site, www.matthewgraygubler. com. He also has taken up photography and is an aspiring children's author and illustrator. And, he says, "I want to get better at badminton. That's my goal for this year."

He has even reached that level of fame where he's the subject of a growing Internet rumor: that he's the basis for the Killers' song "Mr. Brightside," in which frontman Brandon Flowers sings about watching another man seduce his girl. Gubler, who's working with a mutual friend on a small project for the band, says that claim "blew my mind," but it's not true.

"I don't think so, anyway. I haven't really asked Brandon about it," he says. "I think I'd rather not ask him about it."

"But," he adds in closing, "I am Roxanne from the Sting song."

Long live the Blue Genie: Season two of "King of Cars," the reality series starring Josh "Chopper" Towbin, begins Tuesday (11 p.m., A&E).

Christopher Lawrence's Life on the Couch column appears on Mondays. E-mail him at clawrence@reviewjournal.com.