Amanda Righetti, Tim Kang, Owain Yeoman, Robin Tunney, Simon Baker
The Mentalist, for those of you who don’t watch TV, was last season’s undeniable biggest hit. Coming from the mind of Bruno Heller (he who gave us the gripping HBO series Rome), The Mentalist stars the handsome, humble Simon Baker as Patrick Jane. Jane is like a modern-day Sherlock Holmes who works with the fictional California Bureau of Investigation, helping them solve murders. Jane’s involved because he’s a psychic, or was, at least, until his wife and child were brutally murdered. Since then, Jane’s been on the martyr path – he pretty much just lives and breathes to catch one more murderer.It’s not always so serious.
Jane and his colleagues still have fun – in fact, it’s the show’s humor that keeps it from being another dreary cop show. It’s a unique show (despite claims to it being a ripoff of USA’s Psych. I watch and love both shows – they’re both very different), it’s fresh, and I LOVE having them on the lot.
Here’s why:
- No divas. The cast of The Mentalist is really chill. They’re mellow, low profile, and relaxed. Now don’t go reading into that and think that they’re always in their trailers, hiding from tours, being waited on hand and foot. They’re really not like that! In fact, my theory is that since four of the five main leads (Baker, Robin Tunney, Owain Yeoman, and Amanda Righetti) are married, well, there’s just less drama! And I’ve had the opportunity to give tours to Simon Baker’s family twice now (his son Henry has been on the tour both times and remembers me) and they are very sweet, unassuming, polite, and fun to be around. So if Simon’s parents and progeny are like that, then I think it’s a safe assumption that Simon himself is as good of a person as I think he is.
- Personal space. The personal space bubble for The Mentalist (oh yes, every show has their own bubble) is very small. There’s something almost zen about it. It’s a minimalistic approach to filmmaking – they only use what they need. This could easily be the result of our economic climate, the general rising cost of production, penny-pinching budgets, or just availability. But from the pilot episode, The Mentalist has always seemed content to work with what they’ve got and just use everything they’re given. Now granted, they film on location (not at Warner Bros. Studios, but somewhere out in the real world) a lot, so I can only comment about what I see on the lot. But still…
- Quiet time. I spent over an hour today in the Midwest town at work, just sitting and watching The Mentalist prep for and shoot their scenes. They are so quiet! Everyone is working and working hard, but their doing it quietly and efficiently. Of course, they have to be quiet so as to not be heard on camera, but even when cameras aren’t rolling, the chatter is hushed, radios are quiet, and things are just still and calm. It took me a long time to realize just how much work they were getting done while I was lulled by the quiet. The show is an efficient, smooth-running machine that produces top-quality work (as its 17 million viewers can attest to).
- Old soul. The Mentalist production – cast, crew, everyone – has the comfort and ease of 14th-season ER. Watching The Mentalist in Midwest in the cool of the morning made filmmaking seem like the easiest job in the world.
Count me in.
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