The Mentalist: CBS's Psychic Friend

The Mentalist shows that it's still possible to win a big network audience — with a trick or two

Jane (Baker) uses observations the way Superman used X-ray vision.

We all know by now the problems with major-network TV. There are too many other channels, other media, other diversions. The audience has been sliced and diced into confetti, and it is no longer possible for a new drama to get tens of millions of viewers to sit down on their couches and watch the same thing at the same time.

And then there's The Mentalist . CBS's latest crime procedural, starring hunky Simon Baker as phony psychic turned sleuth Patrick Jane, is not just the biggest new hit of the season; it is arguably the only new hit of the season....

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