September 24, 2008

TV: The Mentalist (CBS, Tuesday 9)

Yet another installment in the ongoing CBS attempt to make a TV star out of Simon Baker (The Guardian, Smith). This one is an odd hybrid of House and Psych.

Baker plays Patrick Jane, a former stage psychic who now uses his highly honed powers of observation as a consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation. There is a Great Wound in his past, which causes him great pain while simultaneously making him even more devoted to his job. Jane has a House-style team of associates: exasperated female boss (Robin Tunney) and white guy/white chick/non-white guy team of junior investigators (Owain Yeoman, Amanda Righetti, and Tim Kang, respectively).

The plot mechanics are essential those of Psych without the sense of humor; Jane's partners chase all of the red herrings and wrong suspects while Jane keys in on the one misplaced prop or strange sentence of dialogue that allows him to find the real killer.

As police procedurals go, it's perfectly competent, but there's nothing distinctive about it that would make it stand out from the already crowded CBS procedural lineup. It'll probably get perfectly adqueate ratings, and maybe even last for two or three years, but it's not going to be a show that any remembers with particular fondness when it's gone.

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