The Mentalist
| The Mentalist | |
|---|---|
 The Mentalist logo | |
| Genre | Police drama |
| Created by | Bruno Heller |
| Directed by | Chris Long David Nutter |
| Starring | Simon Baker Robin Tunney Tim Kang Owain Yeoman Amanda Righetti |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 15 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Bruno Heller David Nutter |
| Producer | Charles Goldstein |
| Running time | 1 hour (including commercials) |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | September 23, 2008 – present |
The Mentalist is an American crime procedural television series which debuted on September 23, 2008 on CBS.[1]
Premise
Golden Globe Award nominee Simon Baker stars as Patrick Jane, an independent consultant with the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI), who has a remarkable track record for solving serious crimes by using his razor sharp skills of observation. He also makes frequent use of his mentalist abilities to lead witnesses or offenders into offering the actual facts of the case, as known only to them.
Within the Bureau, Jane is notorious for his blatant lack of protocol and his semi-celebrity past as a psychic medium, whose paranormal abilities he now admits he feigned. Jane's role in cracking a series of tough high-profile cases is greatly valued by his fellow agents.
However, no-nonsense Senior Agent Teresa Lisbon openly resists having Jane in her unit and alternates between reluctantly acknowledging Jane's usefulness and blasting him for his theatrics, narcissism and dangerous lack of boundaries. Lisbon's team includes agents Kimball Cho, Wayne Rigsby and rookie member Grace Van Pelt, who all think Jane is a loose cannon but admire his charm and knack for clearing cases.
Reception
The pilot episode had an audience of 15.6 million viewers in its first airing, and 7.8 million in a re-airing three days later.[2] It also introduced some of Jane's backstory, indicating that his wife and daughter had been murdered five years before the series began by a serial killer known as "Red John." It is likely to be for this reason that the word "red" is incorporated in the title of each episode (except the pilot).
On October 15, 2008, CBS ordered a full season of The Mentalist. [3] The December 2, 2008 episode ("Flame Red") was the highest-rated television show of the week, marking the first time a freshman program had achieved that distinction since Desperate Housewives four years earlier.[4]
On January 7, 2009, the show won the award for "Favorite New TV Drama" at the 35th People's Choice Awards.
Cast
| Name | Actor |
|---|---|
| Patrick Jane | Simon Baker |
| Teresa Lisbon | Robin Tunney |
| Kimball Cho | Tim Kang |
| Wayne Rigsby | Owain Yeoman |
| Grace Van Pelt | Amanda Righetti |
Main crew
- Chris Long
- David Nutter
- Bruno Heller
- Ashley Gable
- Gary Glasberg
- Charles Goldstein
- Andi Bushell
- Eoghan Mahony
- Leanne Moore
Episode list
U.S. Nielsen ratings
| Season | Timeslot (EDT) | Season Premiere | Season Finale | TV Season | Ranking | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tuesday 9:00pm/8c | September 23, 2008 | N/A | 2008–2009 | #7 | 16.76 (to date)[5] |
Season 1 (2008-09)
| # | Episode | Air Date | Timeslot (EST) | Rating | Share | 18-49 (Rating/Share) | Viewers (m) | Weekly Rank (#) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Pilot" | September 23, 2008 | Tuesday 9:00 P.M. |
9.5 | 15 | 3.5/9 | 15.6 | #10 |
| 2 | "Red Hair and Silver Tape" | September 30, 2008 | 9.7 | 15 | 3.6/9 | 15.5 | #6 | |
| 3 | "Red Tide" | October 14, 2008 | 9.4 | 14 | 3.4/8 | 14.9 | #7 | |
| 4 | "Ladies in Red" | October 21, 2008 | 9.7 | 15 | 3.5/9 | 15.3 | #6 | |
| 5 | "Redwood" | October 28, 2008 | 10.1 | 16 | 3.9/9 | 16.1 | #7 | |
| 6 | "Red Handed" | November 11, 2008 | 10.1 | 15 | 4.0/10 | 16.5 | #8 | |
| 7 | "Seeing Red" | November 18, 2008 | 9.9 | 15 | 3.5/8 | 15.8 | #7 | |
| 8 | "The Thin Red Line" | November 25, 2008 | 9.7 | 15 | 3.7/9 | 15.9 | #5 | |
| 9 | "Flame Red" | December 2, 2008 | 11.7 | 18 | 3.8/9 | 18.8 | #1 | |
| 10 | "Red Brick and Ivy" | December 16, 2008 | 11.6 | 18 | 4.2/11 | 19.3 | #2 | |
| 11 | "Red John's Friends"** | January 6, 2009 | 12.2 | 18 | 4.0/10 | 19.5 | #4 | |
| 12 | "Red Rum" | January 13, 2009 | 11.2 | 16 | 3.8/9 | 18.069 | #7 | |
| 13 | "Paint It Red" | January 18, 2009 | Sunday 10:00 P.M.* |
- | - | 4.6/12 | 16.387 | #10 |
| 14| Tuesday 9:00 P.M. |
"Crimson Casanova" | February 10, 2009 | 4.2/12 | 19.915 | ||||
| 15 | "Scarlett Fever" | February 17, 2009 | style="text-align:center" rowspan=9 | |||||
| 16 | "TBA" | TBA 2009 | ||||||
| 17 | "TBA" | TBA 2009 | ||||||
| 18 | "TBA" | TBA 2009 | ||||||
| 19 | "TBA" | TBA 2009 | ||||||
| 20 | "TBA" | TBA 2009 | ||||||
| 21 | "TBA" | TBA 2009 | ||||||
| 22 | "TBA" | TBA 2009 | ||||||
| 23 | "May 2009" | TBA 2009 |
* January 18's episode followed the AFC Championship Game
** Now airs Sundays on CTV in Canada.
DVR ratings
The show ranked number twelve in DVR playback (2.12 million viewers), according to Nielsen prime DVR lift data from 9/22/08 - 11/23/08.[6]
International broadcasts
| Country | Network | Start date |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | A Channel/CTV | September 23, 2008/January 9, 2009 |
| Australia | Nine Network | October 5, 2008 |
| Austria | ORF 1 | March 1, 2009 |
| Denmark | TV3 | February 2, 2009 |
| Latin America | Warner Channel | November 2008 |
| Poland | n | December 3, 2008 |
| Germany | Sat.1 | March 1, 2009 |
| South Africa | M-Net | January 14, 2009 |
| The Netherlands | SBS 6 | January 1, 2009 |
| United Kingdom | Five/Five US | 2009 |
| Spain | La Sexta/TNT | January, 2009 |
| Belgium | VT4 | February 4, 2009 |
| Norway | TV3 Norway | January 7, 2009 |
| Hungary | RTL Klub | February 2, 2009 |
| Turkey | Dizimax - Digiturk | February, 2009 |
| Sweden | TV3 Sweden | February 10, 2009 |
| Greece | Nova Cinema | February 4, 2009[7] |
Similarities to other shows
The series has some themes in common with the British show Jonathan Creek in that the show involves the use of magic techniques in the resolution of the mysteries.
The dramatic series' premise has several parallels to USA Network's comedy series Psych. The main characters in each have highly developed skills of observation and deduction, and they have used these abilities to masquerade as psychics. Also, both characters work as freelancers or consultants with local California law enforcement, largely to the consternation of their superiors. Psych made fun of the similarity in the episode "Any Given Friday Night at 10PM, 9PM Central." Shawn says that he will appease his father by going over for dinner, bringing a pouch of Big League Chew, and "maybe watch[ing] a couple episodes of The Mentalist."[8][9]
References
- ^ Michael Schneider, "CBS sets premieres after debates" Variety June 26, 2008
- ^ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20080924cbs01
- ^ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20081015cbs03
- ^ http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2008/12/cbs-takes-weekl.html
- ^ http://abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=121608_04
- ^ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?date=12/10/08&id=20081210cbs01
- ^ Press release announcing The Mentalist on Novacinema (in greek)
- ^ http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2008_4639277
- ^ http://www.tvguide.com/Roush/Ask-Matt-Heroes-26348.aspx
- Pilot Broadcast Ratings
- Ratings for Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008
- Ratings for Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008
- Nielsen Trend Index
- TVBYTheNumbers
External links
- Episode recaps at CBS.com
- The Mentalist at IMDb
- Template:Tv.com show