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?
PLEASE don’t end it here; in UK we LOVE it. GREAT ending for this series – change the setting maybe, but DON’T cancel.
John. They have started on season 7 of the Mentalist
Find out what happened after the kiss
Yeah, that time slot killed the show. Then the late starts after a football game. Even the most faithful fans got tired of CBS treatment of the show. CBS don’t even have the mentalist on demand with my cable company.
I really enjoy The Mentalist and definitely would watch it for another season. It would be ashamed to end it now that Patrick told Lisban he loves her. You can’t leave the fans hanging out on a limb now that this has happened. We need to see what happens between Patrick and Lisban. Come on now there are loyal fans out there who would rather watch The Mentalist rather than a stupid “reality show”.
Keep the show going, you have the cast now give them some good material to act on and please give Cho a girl . Bring back Grace and her husband. Do not care for the new FBI female agent she sorry to say is not the same caliber as the old cast Get them some new scripts with themes they can get their teeth into. Miss the old Red John story lines .they were so good but just ran too long. Give the show a couple of more seasons and give a life to Jane he deserves one for a… Read more »
keep the show going, I enjoy it very much.
The Mentalist is a classy program not so overly “sappy” or cute series like many are.
If you must discontinue the program, give it one more year and bring it to a good termination of both his job and the relationship – don’t just drop it
Now that Red John is dead, I was SO tired of that story, I would definitely love to have the show continue!! I was so happy Patrick and Teresa finally declared their feelings!! This would breathe life back into the story. I would follow to any channel. I vote YES to renew!
Please do not cancel show I love it And him he is a my idol
Please keep this on the air!! Please Please Please! And yup I’m BEGGING!! This is the show that I will stop what I am doing to watch and if I have to work I use my DVR and I do not delete them, I don’t care what channel it will air on We WANT THIS SHOW BACK!!
Renew…..better then ever!
love the show; time slot is killing it.
I love The Mentalist and have always been a fan. Unfortunately, I’m one of those fans that has to work on Monday morning and can’t stay awake until 11:30 or midnight because of the late time it finally comes on after football, and CBS shows the whole Sunday lineup before it. The reason the ratings are falling is because CBS put it on Sunday at 10 p.m. and it never starts on time because of football. Really hoping they renew it and put it in a different time slot. I saw that they have CSI scheduled to show on Sunday… Read more »
Renew for a final season and let it go out in a bang. Give the loyal fans who hunt for it at 10:30 after suffering through messed up dvr recordings not a good wife fan here. Relying on On Demand to see one of my favorite shows. Hell kill everybody in a Saw like final episode. The sky is the limit keep this show at least one more seas0n!
Love to see it continue,put on another network and give it a stable decent time
Still lots more angles to explore
Renew and stop messing with the time.
Put it on at a time that won’t get screwed with.
I LOVE THIS SHOW, SIMON IS SO BELIEVABLE IN HIS LAST SHOW ON THE AIR PLANE . PLEASE DO NOT CANCEL THIS SHOW!!! IT IS SO ENTERTAINING.