The Mentalist

By bshallit@sacbee.com (Bob Shallit) Simon Baker stars in "The Mentalist," assisting a fictional California Bureau of Investigation and an agent played by Robin Tunney.Sacramento is getting a swanky new riverfront restaurant. Film commissioner Lucy Steffens wants an entire episode of 'The Mentalist' filmed locally.

Big Vanilla is certainly how Sacramento looks in CBS' "The Mentalist," the only real hit rookie TV show last season. It features the made-up California Bureau of Investigation, based in Sacramento, and includes shots of buildings that seem to be taller than anything we really have. (Our h...

By rkushman@sacbee.com (Rick Kushman) Although that will be 5 p.m. PDT, it'll mess with most of the scheduling on Tuesday, including moving Fox's "American Idol" to Wednesday, pushing CBS' "The Mentalist" an hour later (to 9 p.m. Tuesday on Channel 13) and delaying the new season of ABC's "According to Jim" a week. That last part sho...

The Mentalist" is popular because it's a very good show. It's not brain surgery, but it's witty and zippy, and star Simon Baker is charming. Fox's "House" is massively popular, too, and it is exactly brain surgery. It's also anything but comforting, but it's smart and fast and rewarding. The l...