Posted May 20th 2009 5:25PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Watercooler Talk, Reality-Free, The Mentalist
I was happy with the way
The Mentalist ended its first season. It didn't go overboard with a season finale cliffhanger scenario with someone in a coma, an explostion, or someone vanishing, it just had a case end and the characters learn something from it. Sure, the episode focused on Jane's nemesis Red John, so there was more urgency and importance to the plot. But he was never caught (though we did learn some facts about him, which will lead nicely into next season). What did everyone else think?
Posted May 20th 2009 10:59AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Industry, The Amazing Race, CSI, Survivor, How I Met Your Mother, NCIS, Upfronts, Reality-Free, The Mentalist, The Big Bang Theory
Coming off a strong 2008 season, CBS is taking some bold moves with their new season program schedule. As we wrote earlier, there are four new dramas, a sitcom and a reality show in the mix.
The big news is how it's shifting around some hit shows on Monday and Thursday, while standing pat on Wednesday. Here's what we know right now...after the jump.
Continue reading The Upfronts: CBS
Posted May 1st 2009 5:40AM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, Programming, OpEd, How I Met Your Mother, Cancellations, Pickups and Renewals, NCIS, Chuck, Reaper, Reality-Free, The Mentalist, TV Squad Ten, Dollhouse
Last week,
TVSquad readers made our "
Which shows are renewed, canceled, or on the bubble?" post the most viewed and most commented of the week. Most of the commenters voiced their opinions as to which show should be renewed, and since I also watch loads of TV, it's with no surprise that I wanted to chime in, as well. (Look for my "Series that I think should be canceled" post later this week.)
Here I present you, the 10 shows I think should be renewed. Note that I did not include in this list shows that have been confirmed as renewed by the network (such as
Gossip Girl), nor those that have been officially canceled (bye bye
Pushing Daisies).
If you just want the list, click here.Continue reading TV Squad Ten: Series that should be renewed
Posted Apr 17th 2009 11:08AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: The Office, 30 Rock, Chuck, Reality-Free, The Mentalist, The Big Bang Theory, TV Squad Ten
If we all lived in the box -- you know, the TV box -- life would be a hell of a lot easier. Taxes would be paid with ease. Mortgages would be managed. And even the lowliest job would be more than enough to maintain a respectable lifestyle, one that looks quite comfortable in fact.
Despite the grim economic news we hear every day, the characters on television have been able to survive -- indeed, thrive -- in some of the crappiest jobs in the universe.
An editorial assistant at a fashion mag, like
Ugly Betty, finds a way to keep a Manhattan studio apartment, and commute home to Papi in Queens. Running a gym is a breeze for
Old Christine, because she doesn't really work. And even without an income,
Samantha Who? is never without her Jimmy Choos.
Continue reading TV Squad Ten: Low-paying jobs that apparently pay great on TV
Posted Apr 1st 2009 12:38AM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Mentalist
(S01E18) This was a fun episode of
The Mentalist, reminiscent of parts of the psychic episode, "
Seeing Red," in that we got to see Jane in a comfort zone of his, something that he knows well. The difference is that Jane believes in hypnosis.
And we got to see Jane do his thing tonight ... his hypnosis thing anyway. He was clever enough to put the tracer in Rigsby's pocket, but my favorite episodes of
The Mentalist are when Jane knows whodunnit ahead of time and sets them up. When Jane is a step -- or two -- ahead of everyone else, he shines.
Continue reading The Mentalist: Russet Potatoes
Posted Mar 26th 2009 12:42AM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Mentalist
(S01E17) "This is a goat turd about six months old." -- Cho, about Jane's "fossilized worm" Ah, a few things I love about
The Mentalist showed up in tonight's episode: a quote from Cho, a setup from Jane, and Lisbon and Jane banter. Top that off with a couple of my favorite guest stars and you've got yourself a fun episode of
The Mentalist.
Oh, and we can't forget Jane doing his Jane things: trying to get Rigsby and Van Pelt together in a car for three hours, monologuing about the beauty of the desert, teasing Lisbon and Faulk (the "Boom!" line) and smiling throughout everything.
Continue reading The Mentalist: Carnelian Inc.
Posted Mar 18th 2009 2:09AM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Mentalist
(S01E16) "My other senses are heightened. They're super-heightened. I'm like Daredevil." -- Jane on his blindnessNow, this was an interesting episode of
The Mentalist. We veered from the formula a bit, and I liked it. We got to find out a lot more about Jane's past, albeit Red John-free. Sadly, this episode was fairly Cho-free, as well, but we did get a lot of Rigsby / Van Pelt payoff.
Mostly what this episode was about, though, was Jane's questionable past: the lies he told to people, the money he unabashedly took, and the lives he ruined with his greed and his false representation of his psychic abilities. Jane is clearly carrying around a lot more guilt than just his family being killed, although that was obviously the defining moment for Jane.
Continue reading The Mentalist: Bloodshot
Posted Mar 10th 2009 2:19PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Reality-Free, The Mentalist
Here we are in the middle of the March sweeps period (March this year instead of February, because we were supposed to switch to digital TV on February 17 and Nielsen was worried that would screw up the numbers) and
The Mentalist is a repeat tonight. Not only that, but it's the third week in a row where the show has been a repeat.
Hmmm...I wonder why CBS has made this decision?
Continue reading Wait a second ... The Mentalist is a repeat again tonight?
Posted Feb 18th 2009 1:50AM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Mentalist
(S01E15) The Mentalist never fails to entertain, even when the case is obvious. There was something about the writing or directing of this show early in the season; I could peg every killer nearly the moment he or she was onscreen, because of the weird shifty thing they did.
Well, that didn't happen in this episode; instead, they dropped the biggest, most obvious clue in the history of procedurals. I kept hoping that it was a red herring, but no. I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy this episode; I loved the twists and turns the case took, but I hated knowing, absolutely knowing, who the killer was, in that different way than just the shifty stuff.
Continue reading The Mentalist: Scarlett Fever
Posted Feb 11th 2009 1:06AM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Mentalist
(S01E14) "There's no business like Cho business." -- Patrick JaneI'm not quite sure how
The Mentalist does it. At the beginning of every episode, I want to think that it's just a typical procedural and that nothing really sets it apart. Usually, it is Simon Baker who wins me over and makes me think differently. However, tonight it was all Cho.
We started off with Cho questioning Walcott about his wife Claire's murder. When the weasel threatens Cho's job if he doesn't give the name of Claire's lover, saying that he can have Cho's job with one phone call, Cho deadpans, "That's impressive. The best I can get with one phone call is a pizza."
Continue reading The Mentalist: Crimson Casanova
Posted Feb 9th 2009 2:28PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: CSI, How I Met Your Mother, 30 Rock, NCIS, Reality-Free, Mad Men, Burn Notice, The Mentalist, TV Squad Ten
What is cool? Can you define that thing, that quality that makes certain characters seem like they're more with it than everyone around them? Maybe cool is a state of being, not a thing you can pick up by wearing Armani or drinking Grey Goose or driving a BMW.
As I was looking around the current crop of television shows, I found ten characters who seem to capture the essence of cool -- whether they know it or not. After the jump, we count them down.
Continue reading TV Squad Ten: The coolest characters on TV now
Posted Jan 19th 2009 2:35PM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Mentalist
(S01E13) The opening of this episode was the Jane that I love -- random, bizarre, smart and observant, with no regard for convention. Did you catch the way he hammered away at Frank, the guy who found the dead body (Harry Lashley) with the woman he was having sex with?
Jane continued to be fun and outrageous throughout "Paint it Red," which made it one of the more entertaining episodes in a while for me. The case was relatively interesting, but Jane was so upbeat, divergent and ahead of the team -- love that! -- and the interactions amongst the team were top notch.
Continue reading The Mentalist: Paint it Red
Posted Jan 14th 2009 5:33PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Industry, Programming, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free, The Mentalist
More TCA news: an actor from
Lie to Me calls
The Mentalist "a scam."
Reporters
asked the panel from the new FOX drama about the possible similarities between the two shows (which a lot of people have been talking about), and Brendan Hines said "the difference between the two shows is that our show is based on actual science, while
Mentalist is, I think, more of a scam." I'm not sure what the hell that is supposed to mean. Is her referring to how Simon Baker's character was a phony psychic, or does he think that the creators of
The Mentalist and CBS are pulling the wool over the eyes of viewers?
Continue reading In this corner: The Mentalist vs. Lie to Me
Posted Jan 14th 2009 1:03AM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Mentalist
(S01E12) The opening scenes grabbed me right away this week.
The Mentalist is best when Jane is doing his divergent thing, and that's just what he does when the rest of the team goes into the flower shop to interview the missing boy's parents. He puts together the pink bike, the glance to the woods and the crows and finds the boy's body before the theme. Nice.
There were other parts of this episode that were throwbacks to the early days, when Jane was not only way ahead of the team, but also more over the top than some of the more recent episodes. Thank you, Bruno Heller!
Continue reading The Mentalist: Red Rum
Posted Jan 7th 2009 1:42AM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Mentalist
Finally, an episode of
The Mentalist with a significant amount of story arc. We really got to see Jane's lust for revenge in this one, and the lengths he would go just to get a bit closer to finding out who Red John is.
The Mentalist jumped out of its formula slightly this week, and it worked for me. We learned some new things about Jane, Red John and the team, and even though it could have been an extremely dark episode, it was just dark enough to get the point across while still being entertaining.
Continue reading The Mentalist: Red John's Friends
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