Has Patrick Jane met his mental match? That’s the question fans of THE MENTALIST will be asking themselves when last season’s only bona-fide break-out hit returns this September 24. And here with your first look is the reason why: Agent Sam Bosco (OZ alum Terry Kinney) who is brought on board (for at reported seven episodes) to assist Team CBI in their hunt for the elusive Red John serial killer. But don’t let the folically challenged Bosco fool you. Not only does the by-the-book Agent possess the mental capacity to go tête-à-tête with the folically blessed Patrick Jane, he shares a history (and this being TV, a dark secret!) with Agent Lisbon.

90210 (9PM CW, Global in Canada)
Assuming a Jim Walsh sighting and the return of Brenda aren’t enough to entice you back to the infamous zip code one more time, how does this sound: Shenae Grimes’ Annie Mills finds herself on the wrong end of one of the most memorable meltdowns since Emily Valentine tried to burn down the West Beverly High Homecoming float.

THE MENTALIST (9PM CBS, CTV in Canada)
Red John returns! Something that would probably mean more to us had we jumped on the Simon Baker bandwagon earlier in the season.

GLEE (9PM FOX)
Do you really need to ask what we’ll be watching at 9PM tonight? Look around!

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING:
WITHOUT A TRACE (10PM CBS)
WIth today’s cancellation news, tonight marks the last time for you to catch the series before it lives up to its namesake and disappears… you know… without a trace.

LAW & ORDER: SVU (10PM CBS, CTV in Canada)
A plaintiff seeking a restraining order provokes an odd request from a judge. Odd, that is until the plaintiff clues into the fact that the judge is played by Charles Widmore himself, Mr. Alan Dale!

FRINGE (9PM FOX, CTV in Canada)
After JJ Abrams single-handidly revitalized the STAR TREK franchise with a 72.5 million dollar record-breaking opening weekend, Leonard Nimoy returns the favor by beaming down to FRINGE to play the mysterious and thus far unforeseen founder of Massive Dynamics Dr. William Bell.

90210 (9PM CW, Global in Canada)
Annie Mills Graduate! Annie Mills Gradu… err… sorry, we’re just practicing our chant since tonight marks our first West Beverly High prom in quite some time.

NEW & NOTABLE:
THE BIGGEST LOSER (8PM NBC, E! in Canada)
In the season finale, a biggest loser becomes a really big winner when they’re crowned champion and awarded a really big cheque.

THE MENTALIST (9PM CBS)
What’s the secret to ensuring your show makes theTVaddict.com’s nightly TV Addictions? Well, aside from quality writing and acting, naming your episode after one of the all-time greatest theatrical productions ever certainly helps. As evidence by tonight’s installment of THE MENTALIST entitled “Blood Brothers” which has Patrick and his team investigating the death of a student in a wilderness program for troubled kids. Tell me it’s not true…

FRINGE (8PM CBS, Global in Canada)
Now far be it from us to tell Olivia, Peter and Walter how to do their job, but maybe after they look into tonight’s serial-killer-of-the-week they wouldn’t mind taking a look at this whole swine flu thing. We’re just sayin’

90210 (9PM CW, Global in Canada)
And the #1 sign May sweeps has begun: Naomi’s never before discussed big sis surprises everyone by returning to town.

NEW & NOTABLE:
NCIS (8PM CBS, Global in Canada)
Because it’s never too early for a little fall TV preview, Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J drop by NCIS giving us an early look at next fall’s NCIS spinoff which takes place in the NCIS Office of Special Projects in Los Angeles.

THE MENTALIST (9PM CBS)
It’s the ultimate witness protection program #fail when a mobster is murdered.

WITHOUT A TRACE (10PM CBS, Global in Canada)
Once again reminding us why we stick with television blogging comes tonight’s victim-of-the-week, a reporter (Nicholle Tom) who vanishes not long after writing an expose on a corrupt politician.

LAW & ORDER: SVU (10PM NBC, CTV in Canada)
It’s JUNO meets LIZZIE MCGUIRE when Hilary Duff drops by SVU playing an irresponsible mother who loses her two-year old daughter on the streets of New York.

Our Paley Festival adventure continues with a report from Friday night’s panel honoring THE MENTALIST featuring the cast (Simon Baker, Robin Tunney, Owain Yeoman, Amanda Righetti, missing in action Tim Kang) and creative team (Bruno Heller and Chris Demetral).

On the show’s origins:
Creator/executive producer Bruno Heller’s basic pitch for THE MENTALIST was Sherlock Homes, with a spin. “Essentially it was our attempt to get back to an old fashioned detective in which we tried to create a framework for a bravura performance by a great actor and this is the result.”

Inspiration for Thomas Jane:
“If you go to any city in America, any part of town, you’ll find a psychic on the block who is essentially applying the same trade as mentalists,” explains Heller. “They’re trying to create the illusion that they can read your mind, that they can see beyond the veil. And what they’re doing is essentially using genuine nature skills of empathy… to create the illusion of supernatural powers. And that seemed to be a very interesting moral position to be in because they’re essentially performing the function of a psychoanalyst or a priest. But at the same time they’re lying about their powers. And least that’s my opinion. I think the interesting thing about the psychics is that half the country will say they’re, it’s not real, they’re charlatans, the other half will say, no, they are truthful and profound things about them. And it’s precisely that line that mentalists walks along.”

Simon Baker vs. Tim Roth:
“I haven’t seen an episode of LIE TO ME but I think Tim Roth is a fantastic actor,” explains star Simon Baker. “My fear always going into the THE MENTALIST was, how can you branch out the concept so that the characters can go in a lot of different directions. And I was very interested in how LIE TO ME deals with it, the concept after five or six episodes. It’s a lie! So what?”

Meet the class clown:
When asked by moderator Ben Grossman who the class clown is among the cast, without missing a beat, the entire panel looked over at Owain Yeoman, who quickly blamed the panel’s only absentee member Tim Kang, “He’s a joker.” Adds Baker, “Tunney has her moments too.” Who quickly defends herself by saying, Sometimes when I guy wins ‘Sexiest Guy on Television,’ somebody’s got to make fun of him.”

Meet the class clown (Part II):
Continuing the light-hearted tone of the evening, Robin Tunney attempts to praise creator Bruno Heller by saying that the relaxed tone on the set, “comes from the bottom down.”
Bruno Heller: “Bottom down?”
Robin Tunney [Laughing]: “Top down. A lot of guys that are successful in Hollywood are the guys who weren’t cool in high school and want to take control, be loud and feel important.”
Bruno Heller: “Are you saying I wasn’t cool in high school?”
Robin Tunney: “He’s really bright, he’s not somebody who got this job who couldn’t get a girlfriend. [Heller mimes digging a hole, audience laughs] He’s incredibly comfortable with himself, nobody feels slighted, everybody feels safe, incredibly gentle and kind. I don’t think that happens a lot. I feel completely good at work and it’s because of him.”

Owain hearts Chuck Norris:
“Tim [Kang] and I will pass many hours reading Chuck Norris facts,” explained Yeoman. “I can recommend “Chuck Norris vs. Mr. T” which is one of my favorites.” Adds Yeoman when asked for his favorite Chuck Norris fact, “When Chuck Norris doesn’t do a push up, he pushes the world down.”

Earmuffs!:
Or at least that’s what moderator Ben Grossman told the mother of two young kids in the audience before asking, “When is somebody finally going to get laid on the show?” Answered Heller, “It’s deliberate that everyone is not getting laid every week. I don’t think people get laid in real life as they do in television. But I just think that we’ll go there but we’ll go there carefully, respectively and slowly. And once you start getting laid you have to keep getting laid and we only have five actors.” Adds Tunney, “The chase is so much more fun.”

Jisbon forever:
Grossman alerts the panel that there is a “Brangelina-esque” name for Jane and Lisbon, “Jisbon!” And not only that, there is a facebook group as well: Jisbon Forever, complete with 18 members.

Should they or shouldn’t they:
Baker says “No! [Claps the audience] What was it… MOONLIGHTING…. did they get together? [Audience: Yes!] Was that the end of the show? [Audience: Yes!] Bingo!” Adds Heller, “That will be the end of the show then.” “I think the reason why the relationship works is that the characters are hardwired completely differently,” explains Tunney. “They approach work completely differently and they’re both very damaged. He’s [Jane] has been through this horrible thing with his wife, he’s not dating material.”

Elaborates Baker, “There’s five regular characters on the show. Van Pelt and Rigsby represent youthful sexual exuberance desire while our characters [Jane and Lisbon] represent a working evolved adult relationship where people see things differently at times. There’s sort of a sibling relationship and sometimes I think it’s paternal relationship. I think we’re not just pursing the sort of sexy vibe all the time, we’re actually filling their relationship with other areas people can identify with.”

THE MENTALIST vs. The Devil Wears Prada:
On which role was more fun, Baker says, “This one, because I had like three scenes in The Devil Wears Prada and I get to play this one every day.”

Paging Nurse Baker:
Prior to acting, Baker went to nursing school. “I was a dud student who spent too much time socializing and couldn’t concentrate, cognitive difficulties,” recalled Baker. “I was looking for a way out from the small town and meet women and the best possibility was nursing school where 85% of the students were women, 85% of the men were gay. So suffice to say, there will be a Seth Rogen, Judd Apatow movie about two guys going to nursing school!”

Solving the mystery of Thomas Jane’s car:
According to Baker, Thomas Jane’s car [a Citreon DS 21 in case you're wondering] was the actor’s idea. “Like his old worn shoes, I thought he [Jane] would be a guy who woul dhave a unique car.” Adds Tunney, “I still can’t open the door on it!”

Funniest fan question of the night:
Goes to the woman who told Baker, “My husband told me to say he thinks your ride marvelously in Ride with the Devil. He likes your riding, I like you!”

The truth about the CBI:
“The CBI used to exist but no longer does,” revealed Heller. Laughs Tunney with regards to the irony, “They [CBI] finally get a TV show and they no longer exist!”

It been established – both ratings-wise and in the press – that CBS’s THE MENTALIST is the season’s only true hit. Starring Simon Baker as a former TV psychic who helps nab murderers for the California Bureau of Investigation (CBS has a crafty knack for surrounding its procedurals around important-sounding government agencies no one has ever heard of), it plays up what BONES has been doing for awhile now, but in a tasty, poppable way, so that you have no reason to object to watching it while it’s on, but will completely forget after the fact.

Whatever recreational drug CBS has been spoon-feeding its viewers, it has become especially popular during a time when viewers want escapism they don’t have to think about. It’s TV at its trendiest: when real world problems get hairier, it gets easier. Which is fine – THE MENTALIST is the kind of breezy, set-it-and-forget-it programming that makes for a nice refresher after busying oneself over something as complicated and twisty as LOST. And that can be afforded by Simon Baker, who as Patrick Jane, reads people with such a palpable sense of glee, that you can forgive just how absurd the show’s initial premise is (his psychic facade ended after the murderer he was pretending to profile killed his family).

LIE TO ME, Fox’s HOUSE-ian approach to the forget-me-later pill, is far more cynical by comparison: also starring a cantankerous Brit (Tim Roth, whom I’d love to see in a scowl-off with Hugh Laurie), it follows a team of consultants who are trained in the science of faces — that is, they can read peoples’ faces to tell whether or not they’re lying, scared, thrilled, or whatever emotion (or lack of emotion) the script calls for.

And every episode is chockfull of facial-tic tidbits: pursed lips indicate lying; genuine smiles wrinkle the eyes. And that’s probably why so many people watch it – it invites viewers to play along, to catch the killer in a lie with the same virtuoso excitement. But really, its all a crutch: LIE TO ME is so painstakingly played out (father-daughter issues, I’m-a-professional-lie-detector-but-can’t-see-my-husband-lying-to-my-face issues) that if it weren’t for the aforementioned play at home game, it would’ve been canceled already.

CASTLE, meanwhile, while in the same vein as THE MENTALIST and LIE TO ME, is a different kind of drug: its so intoxicatingly bland that you could forget you’re watching it halfway through an episode. About bestselling mystery writer Rick Castle (Nathan Fillion), who, suffering from a serious case of writer’s block after killing off his book series’ hero, begins shadowing detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) as research for his next book, with her being the inspiration.

It’s part post-coital MOONLIGHTING, part MURDER, SHE WROTE, especially with the pilot: it opens on a recreated version of one of the murders depicted in Castle’s books, his books also being what brings the two together (she’s a closer super-fan, he’s a boffo charmer). The cases in all three of these shows are completely irrelevant, and are never, ever difficult. Like gun, gunshot wound, this man was shot! easy. So what’s supposed to draw us in are the characters, and in CASTLE’s case it doesn’t, because the chemistry between its stars is completely fabricated. They’re written to be attracted to each other, but there isn’t an undercurrent of tension.

And poor Nathan Fillion. The guy’s a great actor who just can’t get the roles he deserves. He’s better than the source material, able to convincingly play Castle as ladies’ man, doting dad, and playfully nudging partner. Katic does alright, but she has the unfortunate sense to seem exotically interesting, but is actually very boring.

It all feels too much like the franchise mystery novels Patterson and Grisham crank out each year (Patterson in fact has a cameo appearance in the pilot): after you’ve read one, you’ve read ‘em all. CASTLE isn’t the poppable TV that viewers of THE MENTALIST or even LIE TO ME would enjoy – it doesn’t have any flavor.

The Mentalist airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. (est) on CBS
Lie to Me moves to Wednesdays at 8 p.m. (est) this week on Fox
Castle premieres today and airs Mondays at 10 p.m. (est) on ABC