TVSquad

Being a huge fan of CBS's new show, The Mentalist, I was pretty thrilled to see a smart and insightful Q&A with Bruno Heller over at The Live Feed with James Hibberd.

What struck me the most about this interview was that the questions were good ones, and the answers were thoughtful, honest and complete. So many times I'll get excited about an on-line interview, only to find that I haven't learned anything new about the interviewee and / or the show, and I'll finish reading the interview with the feeling that the person didn't really want to be interviewed in the first place.

Thanks to Hibberd's good questions and Heller's elaborate answers, we learn how The Mentalist came about, Heller's history with procedurals, how Heller feels about The Mentalist, and more. Was Heller's answer about Red John spoilery? Join me after the jump to find out ...

It's Thanksgiving morning right now and I'm sitting in my dad's kitchen watching people cook. I'm thankful for so many things this year, but since this is a TV site, let's talk about the things in TV that I'm thankful for--things besides the murder that the poor Detroit Lions are going to face at the hands of the Tennessee Titans today.

1. Netflix Watch Instantly
I've had Netflix basically since its inception, but with all of the TV that I watch, my Netflix movies have had a bad habit of collecting dust for months (I finally sent No Country for Old Men back after about six months on top of my DVD player). Even though I've known about the Watch Instantly feature for a while, I've never actually tried it out. I just watched Friday Night Lights Season 2, and let me tell you. it's so nice to just hit "Next" and have all of the episodes right there without having to change disks. Does that make me ridiculously lazy? Probably. I don't care.

(S01E08) I have a complaint about The Mentalist: there's just not enough Jane for me. Simon Baker is the heart and soul of this show and I crave more screen time for him, and more of the antics we saw in the first couple of episodes. Regardless, this is one great show and I won't hold it against the writers that they are attempting to go deeper with the rest of the cast; a good idea, really.

OK, maybe I have two complaints, and this one is aimed at the director: Is it possible to tell the actor who plays the killer to not be so shifty the second they get screen time? I knew whodunnit so early on that I actually second-guessed myself.

It's that time of year again -- time to shop 'til you drop, bake until you sweat, eat until you bloat, and take stock in what you are thankful for, in your life and of course, on television.

You might think that in this season of less-than-stellar television, it would be hard to find TV-related things to be thankful for; after all, with lackluster new shows and all of your favorites getting canceled left and right, things do seem bleak.

But my glass is half full, and I still garner joy from my nightly boob tube sessions, my TV on DVD collection, and the time I haven't spent watching TV. I am thankful ...

(S01E07) After reading the premise for tonight's The Mentalist, I can't tell you how forward I was looking to seeing Jane at a seance. How could that not be fun? Yeah, well, it was just OK, since he rigged it and all. But we got more from this episode than just Jane's antics.

In fact, I think the Jane antics have died down a bit, and I miss them; he was definitely more outrageous at the beginning of the series. That said, Jane seemed to have met his match in the spiritual advisor this week, and that was fun to watch.

(S01E06) The title of this episode is hilarious. We've got the "red" that has been in every episode title of The Mentalist so far, but the "red-handed" refers to the murderer stealing from the casino. Add in the layer that the show opens with the victim's dismembered hand in the middle of the road in Vegas, and tongue-in-cheek doesn't quite do it justice. Very clever, writer guys.

But again, not so clever with concealing the guilty party from the viewers. Um, so why wouldn't we suspect the (really, like I'd spoil this tid-bit before the jump?) ...

Looks like CBS has a hit on its hands.

The Mentalist, the Tuesday night Simon Baker drama, has just been given the green light for a full season. The show is averaging 15.4 million viewers an episode, which is great considering it's in its first season and there are 22 other police procedurals on the network right now.

But The Mentalist is a bit different than those shows. This show runs completely on the personality of Baker, even if he does have a team of investigators that he is part of. The show is really counting on Baker to sell this character, to be charming and intelligent and funny and all that. Plots and scripts can take a show to great places, but if the lead character doesn't work it can really tilt a show out of balance. Baker makes this character work.

The four CBS show panels on Friday involved four of the five new programs the network is rolling out in the fall (there was no panel for Gary Unmarried, or whatever they're calling it today, because Jay Mohr and his wife Nikki Cox are renewing their vows overseas). While the panels for The Mentalist, The Ex List, Eleventh Hour, and Worst Week had their moments, none of them were particularly newsworthy or interesting.

At least Diane Ruggiero, the creator of The Ex List, was entertaining enough to keep me from jabbing a pen in my arm to keep me awake. In fact, she might have actually convinced me to watch The Lake House, as long as I have a drink in my hand.

So the networks have given their upfront presentations. It's not easy to pick which shows look the best. Sure, we can base our judgments on what "type" of show we usually like anyway or a producer that's involved or someone who is in the lead. But we're still just basing it on a description (or a snippet from each show). It really comes down to the writing and the execution in general.

Having said all that, here are the shows that look great to me, based on the upfront description, the cast and crew involved, and how my tastes run in general.

As someone who was a regular watcher of The Guardian, it makes me happy to see that the star of that show is coming back to the home screens. Simon Baker will star in the CBS drama The Mentalist. The pilot has been given the go-ahead by the network, which mean Simon could be back on the schedule by next fall (if the show is picked up).

The Mentalist sounds like it should be something like a Kreskin extravaganza, but it's not. Instead it's described as the story of Patrick Jane, a man with heightened skills of observation who uses his talents to solve crimes.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• Henry Rollins wants to know what's up with Carrot Top.
• Ben Stein loves the women of the FBN.
• Time.com's James Poniewozik has some questions about Lost while we wait for new episodes.
• Speaking of Lost, check out this funny postcard (and the one that features Giles from Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
• Simon Baker (The Guardian/Smith) is returning to CBS as The Mentalist.
• I'm so glad I don't watch Celebrity Fit Club.
• Ken Jennings interviews a former Jeopardy writer.
• What if everyone died in the finale of Battlestar Galactica?

The Hollywood Reporter has an interesting story about the five "hottest" television actors who are looking for plum roles. And by "hottest", the publication means they're most in demand (plus, they're good-looking).

The five actors that all the networks are trying to scoop up are: Jeremy Sisto, Paul Rudd, Peter Krause, Simon Baker and Gabriel Macht. Honorable mentions include Christian Slater, Steve Zahn, and Michael Vartan, who just took a role in an untitled ABC drama. A look at their profiles on IMDB show that most of these guys (except Slater & Zahn) currently have a break in their schedules.

All unaired episodes of Smith are now up on CBS' broadband channel, Innertube. The heist drama was canceled in early October, after only three episodes made air. The remaining four episodes are available on Innertube, but there is also a synopsis of how the story arc would have played out and what would have become of the characters had the show remained on the air. After episode 13, it would've been a hell of a cliffhanger.

I've read the synopses and I'll spoil it for you... after the jump:

If the comments section here is any indication, even though Smith was canceled rather quickly by CBS, it actually had a lot of fans. Of course, we didn't get 10 million comments, so "a lot" wasn't really enough.

TV Guide has a breakdown on why the show was canceled. It seemed like it could be a hit: West Wing/ER producer John Wells, big stars like Ray Liotta and Virginia Madsen, and lots of hype by CBS, but what happened? People have speculated that it was because the gang of crooks on the show weren't likable, but the magazine says that it was more the price of the show. Each episode cost about $3 million dollars!

I wonder how much that awful motorcycle chase with Simon Baker cost to film?

Are you enjoying Smith? Too bad! CBS has decided to shelve it. The Ray Liotta drama has been doing so-so in the ratings, and it looks like CBS doesn't want to take any more chances with it.

There's no official word on the move yet, but expect something official later today. In fact, check out the web site. There are still some links to get to the show's page, but it's gone from both drop down menus!

As I mentioned in my reviews, the show has started to go downhill from an intriguing pilot. Maybe CBS saw something in the upcoming episodes that said, "hey, let's dump this for now and put something else on"?

Update: Yup, it's gone.