Last month, CBS renewed most of TV shows from the 2013-14 season. One series that was conspicuously missing from the list was The Mentalist. Does this mean that the show has been cancelled or, could it still return for a seventh season?
Starring Simon Baker, Robin Tunney, Tim Kang, Owain Yeoman, and Amanda Righetti, The Mentalist debuted in 2008 and was an immediate hit for the network, drawing an average of a 3.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 16.94 million viewers. The second season dropped to a still healthy 3.4 in the demo and 15.35 million. Unfortunately, The Mentalist has continued to lose viewers each subsequent year.
In 2012, the network opted to do what they’ve done in the past with other declining established shows — they sent The Mentalist to the Sundays at 10pm timeslot. Because of frequent sports-related overruns, numerous episodes of The Mentalist haven’t started until well after 10pm, making it a challenge for even the most devoted fans to watch it.
Last season, the show’s ratings fell to a 1.7 demo rating with 9.5 million viewers, a far cry from the show’s early seasons. It easily could have been cancelled but CBS renewed the series instead.
This season, the numbers have gotten even worse. The 18 episodes that have aired thus far have averaged a 1.5 in the demo and 9.21 million viewers. The show is expensive to produce and is bringing in less advertising revenue so it’s certainly in danger of being cancelled once again.
Because CBS already renewed most of their other shows, there’s not much space left for new hour shows — and the network certainly needs some of those next season. Both of their new dramas this season — Hostages and Intelligence — were ratings failures and are certain to be cancelled.
On the positive side, Warner Bros Television, which produces The Mentalist, has incentive to keep Simon Baker and company on the air. They have a lucrative $2+ million per episode deal with TNT and the series also brings in a lot of cash from overseas markets.
They are likely offering CBS a financial break if they take on another season but, according to Deadline, Warner Bros is also shopping the series to other outlets. ABC, who’s also been struggling to establish new dramas, is said to be interested. Cable channels might also be a possibility but they have less cash to spend. It will likely all come down to what kind of deal Warner puts together.
Fans of the show will have to wait to see what happens but at least they have a strong ally in the studio for also wanting the show to come back for a seven season.
What do you think? Do you think The Mentalist should be cancelled or renewed for a seventh season? Is it time for this show to end? Would you follow it to another network or cable channel?
Love The Mentalist. Watching now, even though I can record and skip the ads I watch it with the ads.
Smart interesting show. I will continue to watch no matter the network.
Baker is great. Tunney is too. The ratings go down because they moved it all over the GD place.
Great Show. Keep it going forever !
Infacy… I just fonished watching the New episode… And it still has an hour until it actually airs.
Why is it going down in ratings? I will tell you why. –Each and every week, it is leaked online at 8pm cst (and 1am gmt). That is 2 hours ahead of schedule. The networks niavely turn a blind eye to online activity. I come from the UK, and I am a mentalist fan. I watch it every Monday morning.
Love the show. I dvr the show as I never know what time it will air. Please keep it going.
I would follow it to another network in a heartbeat. Why don’t they give it a better time slot. They moved it to Sunday night dead time…. after all sports and crap, which make it start late…..I just dvr it…..and the next time slot so I catch the whole show…… That time is better for a couple 30 minute rerun slots….. get a brain… people love Simon and his cleverness and the rest of the cast is great… except the woman FBI person who is not…. intelligent shows eventually get the boot…. and it’s the scheduling ignoramuses who take a… Read more »
I love the Mentalist
I love this show. The changes from CBI to FBI are working well. The cases are interesting and Abbott and Wylie fit in very nicely. Abbott seems to be a boss who appreciates Jane’s talents and seems to be having fun in the process (Violets). Wylie being Jane’s apprentice, appears to be enjoying his new role and using his skills to great effect. Jane seems to have this child-like enthusiam when planning his cons and is, as always, a pleasure to watch. He seems to be trying to move on – will be interesting to see how. Lisbon has finally… Read more »
I agree with everyone else, Keep the Show. Get rid of Survivor if something has to go
I’m with you… ditch stupid Survivor show.
I don’t care what network runs it. I enjoy the show, and have been recording a two hour block on my dvr, just to make sure that I got to watch it.
Hey cbs mental midgets, what do you think will happen, when you run a show that late? The ratings go down.
Hopefully it will keep going, as I am really enjoying the new FBI characters.
Love “The Mentalist”. Please renew it.
The Mentalist is a terrific show! Fingers crossed it isn’t cancelled! It deserves to be renewed for many seasons to come!
Keep the Mentalist, UK tv is a load of rubbish.
Already lost Warehouse 13
The problem is that series are impossible to get emotionally invested in when a series us broken up over 2 to 5 bat he’s of episodes with ridiculous breaks. Can never tell when the show is coming or going. Networks need to understand that they will die off to the likes of Netflix if they continue this horrible trend. House of Cards was an amazing success because you could watch the episodes consistently and become deeply involved in the characters and plot. Had it been aired by a reckless network it could easily have lost viewer interest during the aforementioned… Read more »
The Mentalist is great TV and it’s unfortunate that ratings are based on advertising and what demographic spends the most money. Network TV is all about money, period. I would like to see ABC or a cable network pick up TM because it deserves a 7th season, especially with all the upheaval that’s occurring so close to the season finale. I have been watching from the beginning in 2008, and I’ve never been so emotionally invested in a TV series before.
I’m hoping and praying it will be renewed SOMEWHERE. And so are millions of other fans worldwide.
Dear CBS
be smart – keep The Mentalist.