The Mentalist
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''The Mentalist'' is an American
drama television series Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
that ran from September 23, 2008, until February 18, 2015, broadcasting 151 episodes over seven seasons, on
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
. Created by
Bruno Heller Bruno Heller (born 13 January 1960) is an English screenwriter, producer and director. He is known for creating the HBO television series ''Rome'' and CBS television series ''The Mentalist''. He has produced the TV series '' Gotham'', based on ...
, who was also its executive producer, the show follows former "psychic" Patrick Jane (
Simon Baker Simon Lucas Baker (born 30 July 1969) is an Australian actor in television and film, as well as a director. He is known for his lead roles in the CBS television series ''The Mentalist'' as Patrick Jane and ''The Guardian'' as Nicholas Fallin ...
), who is a consultant to the
California Bureau of Investigation The California Bureau of Investigation ("CBI" or "BI") is California's statewide criminal investigative bureau under the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ), in the Division of Law Enforcement (DLE), administered by the Office of the Stat ...
(CBI), and his boss, senior agent Teresa Lisbon (
Robin Tunney Robin Tunney (born June 19, 1972) is an American actress. Tunney made her film debut in the comedy ''Encino Man'' (1992) and rose to prominence with leading roles in the cult films ''Empire Records'' (1995) and '' The Craft'' (1996). Her perform ...
), using the highly developed observational skills he previously employed to "read" people's minds.


Synopsis

The series follows
Patrick Jane Patrick Jane is a fictional character and the protagonist of the CBS crime drama ''The Mentalist'', portrayed by Simon Baker. Jane is an independent consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation, and helps by giving advice and insight from ...
, an independent
consultant A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...
for the
California Bureau of Investigation The California Bureau of Investigation ("CBI" or "BI") is California's statewide criminal investigative bureau under the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ), in the Division of Law Enforcement (DLE), administered by the Office of the Stat ...
(CBI) based in
Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...
. Although not an officer of the law, he uses his skills from his former career as a successful, yet admittedly fraudulent, psychic medium to help a team of CBI agents solve murders. The real reason for Jane's involvement with law enforcement is to track down the
serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
, known as
Red John Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...
, who was responsible for the brutal murders of his wife, Angela Ruskin Jane, and his daughter, Charlotte Anne Jane. Before the murders, Jane had a lucrative career as a
con man A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...
, successfully posing as a psychic medium and enjoyed near-celebrity status. Five years before the events in the show's pilot episode, he appeared on television to claim that his
paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Nota ...
abilities helped the police
profile Profile or profiles may refer to: Art, entertainment and media Music * ''Profile'' (Jan Akkerman album), 1973 * ''Profile'' (Githead album), 2005 * ''Profile'' (Pat Donohue album), 2005 * ''Profile'' (Duke Pearson album), 1959 * '' ''Profi ...
a serial killer named Red John. Red John, angered by the perceived slight, murdered Jane's wife and his young daughter in revenge. Jane subsequently abandoned his career and teamed with the CBI, using his skills to help them solve various crimes. His main focus is on the cases involving Red John or Red John
copycats ''Copycats'' is a children's game show which aired on CBBC and was presented by double act Sam & Mark (Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes). It involved two teams of friends and family, each of six contestants, battling against each other in a series of ...
. He admits to faking the
supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...
aspects of his skills, often asserting that "there's no such thing as psychics," yet he has finely honed skills in cold reading,
hypnosis Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychologica ...
, and picking pockets, as well as his intuitive observations and an immense insight into the human psyche and the behavior of witnesses. His associates at the CBI include colleagues
Wayne Rigsby Wayne Rigsby is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama ''The Mentalist'', portrayed by Owain Yeoman. Rigsby is an agent for a fictionalized version of the California Bureau of Investigation. He is currently a private investigator running ...
,
Grace Van Pelt Grace Van Pelt Rigsby is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama ''The Mentalist'', portrayed by Amanda Righetti. Van Pelt Rigsby is a former special agent in the fictionalized California Bureau of Investigation (CBI) who is currently a priva ...
, and
Kimball Cho Kimball Cho is a fictional character portrayed by Tim Kang on the American TV crime drama ''The Mentalist''. Cho is a former senior agent for the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and is currently an FBI special agent. Cho serves as the pol ...
, and their boss,
Teresa Lisbon Teresa Lisbon is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama ''The Mentalist'', portrayed by Robin Tunney. Lisbon is a former senior agent and leader of the "Serious Crimes Unit" for the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI). After leaving t ...
, with whom Jane shares a combative friendship with romantic undertones that develop in later seasons. Various directors and recurring civilians come across as the show unfolds, including: Bret Stiles, Gale Bertram, Kristina Frye, Madeleine Hightower, JJ Laroche and Walter Mashburn. As the show progresses, the focus shifts from general cases during seasons one to three, to solely catching Red John, throughout seasons four to six. At the midpoint of season six, the Red John case is solved, the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
steps in, closing the CBI, and the show adopts a new track for two seasons, along with a few new characters. The show still focuses on case solving with emotional episodes.


Production

Having developed ''Rome'' for HBO, Heller was interested in doing something different and wanted to prove himself. CBS was looking for a show that would work as a companion to '' NCIS'', and Heller welcomed the challenge of developing a popular show within the constraints of prime time network television and adapted his concept to fit. Heller describes the character of the Mentalist as being a combination of a Sherlock Holmes type and street psychic, part detective helping people and part con-artist selling people lies. Wanting the character to have both physical and spiritual grace, Heller imagined someone like
Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...
for the role. The show often set episodes based on fictional locales with names such as Salinger Mill and Rancho Rosa. Like the majority of American television shows, ''The Mentalist'' was mostly filmed within the
studio zone The studio zone, also known as the thirty-mile zone (TMZ), is an area defined by a radius of "Hollywood" used by the American entertainment industry to determine employee benefits for filmwork done within it. Its center has traditionally been ...
in
Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...
, but occasionally filmed a few scenes on location in Sacramento. The structure used to represent the CBI headquarters in Sacramento is the back of the
Pico House The Pico House is a historic building in Los Angeles, California, dating from its days as a small town in Southern California. Located on 430 North Main Street, it sits across the old Los Angeles Plaza from Olvera Street and El Pueblo de Los Á ...
in downtown Los Angeles. On October 15, 2008, CBS ordered
the first season ''The First Season'' is a Canadian drama film, released in 1989. The film stars Kate Trotter as Alex Cauldwell, a woman in British Columbia who, following the death of her fisherman husband Frank (Dwight Koss), tries to support herself and her dau ...
of ''The Mentalist'' and the show was subsequently renewed annually from 2010, both in the domestic market and overseas. In November 2013,
Amanda Righetti Amanda Righetti (born April 4, 1983) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Grace Van Pelt on ''The Mentalist'', as well as her roles in '' Friday the 13th'', ''The O.C.'' and ''Colony''. Early life The youngest of eight children, ...
(Van Pelt) and
Owain Yeoman Owain Sebastian Yeoman is a Welsh actor. His credits include '' The Nine'', '' Kitchen Confidential'', AMC's '' Turn'' (as Benedict Arnold) and the HBO series '' Generation Kill''. Additionally, he portrayed CBI Agent Wayne Rigsby in ''The Men ...
(Rigsby) were confirmed to be leaving after season six concluded. On May 10, 2014, CBS renewed the series for a 13-episode seventh season, which premiered on November 30, 2014, and later announced it as the final season. In the season seven episode "Orange Blossom Ice Cream", scenes set in
Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
were filmed in Los Angeles and supplemented by
freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...
footage of Beirut by Michael Timney.


Distribution

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
began syndicating ''The Mentalist'' in the fall of 2011. In the period between the end of ''
Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...
'' and ''
Late Show with Stephen Colbert ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'' is an American late-night news and liberal political satire talk show hosted by Stephen Colbert, which premiered on September 8, 2015. Produced by Spartina Productions and CBS Studios, it is the second it ...
'' in the summer of 2015, ''The Mentalist'' was carried weeknights on CBS in full as part of the network's temporary late-night lineup. The show also aired on the
CTV Television Network The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned television network and is now a divis ...
in Canada. In Brazil the show also aired on
SBT sbt is an open-source build tool for Scala (programming language), Scala and Java (programming language), Java projects, similar to Apache Software Foundation, Apache's Apache Maven, Maven and Gradle. Its main features are: *Native support fo ...
and
Warner Channel Warner TV is a pay television channel mainly airing in Latin America, Europe, parts of South Asia and Southeast Asia, which is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its International unit that focuses on airing American series and films. Most ...
.


Cast and characters

: =
Main cast In the performing arts industry such as theatre, film, or television, casting, or a casting call, is a pre-production process for selecting a certain type of actor, dancer, singer, or extra for a particular role or part in a script, screenp ...
(credited)
: = Recurring cast (4+) : = Guest cast (1–3)


Episodes


Reception


Critical reception

The seasons score between 60% and 100% on
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
. The first season of ''The Mentalist'' received mostly positive reviews, with critics being divided on the procedural format, but praising the performance of Simon Baker. On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, season one has an overall rating of 60% from 25 critics, with the consensus saying, "The setup and episodic storytelling is far from original, but ''The Mentalist'' distinguishes itself from other procedurals mostly due to the talents of Simon Baker." On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, season one has a score of 65/100, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Robert Bianco of ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' felt the pilot episode lacked in originality, but praised Baker, saying, "''The Mentalist'' may be a copy, but it's a well-done copy sparked by an actor who has come into his own as a TV star." Matthew Gilbert of ''
The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' said, "the CBS show has very little dramatic heft or distinction, but it's wily and brisk enough to engage you for an hour." Gilbert also praised the chemistry between Baker and Tunney, but criticized the crime cases, feeling they were predictable and at times uninteresting. Mary McNamara of ''
The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' praised Baker as "virtually irresistible" and said, "...psychological sleight of hand can't fill an hour every week. For that you need complicated, interesting crimes and complicated, interesting characters solving them. ''The Mentalist'' seems prepared to deliver just that." The pilot episode had an audience of 15.6 million viewers in its first airing, and 7.8 million in a reairing three days later. The December 2, 2008, episode, "Flame Red", was the highest-rated television show of the week, marking the first time a program in its first season had achieved that distinction since ''
Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American comedy-drama soap opera television series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Marc Cherry, Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from Octobe ...
'' four years earlier. The show drew comparisons to the
USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...
comedy '' Psych'', which also featured a lead character with heightened powers of observation that were mistaken for psychic abilities, who works as an independent consultant for law enforcement in California, and which debuted two years earlier, including ''Psych'' itself making repeated references to the similarities with the later-premiering show.


U.S. ratings


Awards and nominations

* 2009: 25th TCA Awards for "Outstanding new program" * 2009:
People's Choice Award The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls until ...
for "Favorite New TV Drama" * 2009: Simon Baker received a nomination for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Drama Series * 2009: nomination for The International TV Dagger at the
Crime Thriller Awards The Crime Thriller Awards is a British awards ceremony dedicated to crime thriller fiction. The inaugural event was held on 3 October 2008 at the Grosvenor Hotel, hosted by comedian and ''Jonathan Creek'' actor Alan Davies. It was televised on ...
, an awards ceremony presented by the British
Crime Writers' Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors’ organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its Dagger awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. T ...
* 2010: Simon Baker received a nomination for
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama is an award presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). This Golden Globe Award honors the best performance by an actor in a drama television series. It ...
* 2010: Simon Baker received a nomination for
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series The Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series is an award given by the Screen Actors Guild to honor the finest acting achievements in dramatic television. Winners and nominees 1990s 2000s 2010s ...
* 2010: award for its scientific and critical thinking content, from The IIG during its 10th Anniversary Gala; accepted by Editor Jim Gadd * 2013: Golden Nymph Awards at 53rd Monte-Carlo TV Festival for International TV Audience Award - Best Drama TV Series * 2014: nomination for a People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Crime Drama * 2015: nomination for a
People's Choice Award The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls until ...
for Favorite TV Crime Drama * 2015: Simon Baker received a nomination for a
People's Choice Award The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls until ...
for Favorite Crime Drama TV Actor * 2015: Robin Tunney received a nomination for a
People's Choice Award The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls until ...
for Favorite Crime Drama TV Actress


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mentalist 2000s American mystery television series 2010s American mystery television series 2000s American crime drama television series 2010s American crime drama television series 2000s American police procedural television series 2010s American police procedural television series 2008 American television series debuts 2015 American television series endings CBS original programming English-language television shows Television series about the Federal Bureau of Investigation Television series about fictional serial killers Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television shows set in Austin, Texas Television shows set in Sacramento, California Television shows filmed in Los Angeles