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That said, TV, like dreams, can speak more obliquely. Last year's big dramas were The Mentalist, Lie to Me and House--jaded hits for the era of Katrina and the subprime disaster, based on the premise that people lie all the time. Maybe 2009's America--the country that swooned over Susan Boyle--will respond to we're-all-in-this-together shows like Fox's underdog musical Glee or NBC's aptly named sitcom Community, about a diverse group of misfits getting a new start at a junior college...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: The Networks Look Ahead: Change, the Channel | 6/1/2009 | See Source »

There is, at first blush, no good reason for this. There is nothing unique or distinctive about The Mentalist (which is not to say that it's a bad show - more about that in a minute). There's no cutting-edge science, no fancy camera work, no how-did-they-think-of-that hook. Every week, Jane goes out, talks to people, observes details and solves uncomplicated cases the same way Columbo did 35 years ago. We've seen this a million times before on television...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: The Mentalist: CBS's Psychic Friend | 4/27/2009 | See Source »

...tastes - and the network serves these people perfectly. While competitors make TV to court fickle viewers distracted by video games and the Internet, CBS - with crime shows like NCIS and sitcoms like Two and a Half Men - makes TV for people who like television. (How old school is The Mentalist? You can't even watch it online...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: The Mentalist: CBS's Psychic Friend | 4/27/2009 | See Source »

That said, The Mentalist works because it's such an elegant example of its kind; if it's comfort food, it's prime-grade meat loaf. Much credit goes to the sly scripts, overseen by Bruno Heller (HBO's Rome), which take the viewer to familiar places by clever routes, providing a jocular corrective to the relentless noir gore of CSI et al. The mysteries are engaging but not byzantine; you can probably figure out the culprit just a step before Jane does. And who doesn't want a handsome man to make him or her feel smart...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: The Mentalist: CBS's Psychic Friend | 4/27/2009 | See Source »

...glad to throw in the embarrassing revelation as a freebie. There's something creepy - but delightfully so - about how Jane looks at the rest of us as simple machines whose gears he can see whirring on the surface. CBS, which gets a 60% female audience for The Mentalist, has sold Jane as a woman's fantasy: "Finally, a man who listens." But really - and entertainingly - he's more like a superman who listens...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: The Mentalist: CBS's Psychic Friend | 4/27/2009 | See Source »

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