Cast and crew from The Mentalist will be appearing on a panel at The Paley Center For Media's "PaleyFest '09" on Friday April 17th, 2009.

7:00 pm PT
Cinerama Dome at ArcLight Hollywood

IN PERSON
Simon Baker, “Patrick Jane”
Bruno Heller, Creator/Executive Producer
Tim Kang, “Kimball Cho”
Chris Long, Coexecutive Producer/Director
Amanda Righetti, “Grace Van Pelt”
Robin Tunney, “Teresa Lisbon”
Owain Yeoman, “Wayne Rigsby”
Additional panelists to be announced.

Buy Tickets to this event:
http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=1014394&pl=paley

Time permitting, questions asked online will be submitted to the panelists. If you have a question, post it here:
http://www.paleycenter.org/paleyfest09-the-mentalist

Tags: Appearances, Simon Baker, Tim Kang, Amanda Righetti, Robin Tunney, Owain Yeoman, The Mentalist

TV GUIDE MAGAZINE'S SEXIEST MAN
ET Online

"Patrick Dempsey had the distinction of being TV Guide magazine's sexiest man on TV two years in row. This year he has been replaced -- and ET knows by whom!
It must be in the hair because both Patrick and TV Guide magazine's new sexiest man on TV -- "The Mentalist" star Simon Baker -- share something in common -- a mop of unruly locks.
Also, neither man takes the title seriously. Simon says, "My wife said to me this morning, 'I could take a photo of you right now and they might take that title away from you.' I said, 'That is the kind of encouragement I need as I go off to do a photo shoot about having to be sexy.'""

Full Article:
http://www.etonline.com/news/2009/03/71850/


Tim Kang; From ART to CBS - with a hit
By Sarah Rodman
boston.com

"Q. You've done a lot of episodic guest-starring stuff but now you're a regular on the biggest, and pretty much only, hit of the new season. Of course you were hoping for success, but does the experience match what you were expecting?

A. I just looked at it one script at a time. And that's how I approach every script that comes our way: How can I do this specific thing this week the best I can? Beyond that, whatever comes our way is icing on the cake. I think we got some pretty decent notices for "Mother Courage," for example, and that was a blessing. We didn't expect anything. All we did was try to work together and come up with some good ideas and the reception we got was great. It's out in the world now and you can't control it anyway so why worry about it?"

Full Article:
http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2009/02/22/from_art_to_cbs___with_a_hit/


Ecollywood: Simon Baker’s mysterious use for newspaper
By Gerri Miller
Mother Nature Network

"Although he speaks with an American accent on The Mentalist, Simon Baker is from Australia, where he grew up green on the island of Tasmania. “In Australia we’re pretty conscious of it, always have been. It’s always surprised me, the amount of household rubbish that each house in my neighborhood puts out every week here, whereas in Australia you get one rubbish bin and one for recycling. There’s a bit more consumption in America.” Baker does his part in his adopted home by growing vegetables, driving a Prius and making use of yesterday’s news. “We wrap our Christmas presents in newspaper,” he says. “We’re a very conscious family.”"

Full Article:
http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/ecollywood/stories/ecollywood-simon-bakers-mysterious-use-for-newspaper


Head-to-head with ‘The Mentalist’
By Bill Brioux
TV Guide Canada

"Executive producer Bruno Heller, who previously worked on the big-budget HBO series Rome, says the beauty of Patrick Jane is that he’s “a dark character whose heroism is not in muscles or action but in being positive in life despite what he does and the tragedy that he’s faced with. He’s positive, so simply on that level, he’s a good role model.”

It takes a special actor to pull that off, says Heller. “What Simon brings to it,” he says, “is a combination of great, Cary Grant-ish charm, but underlying it is real steel and menace.” Keeping it light and dark at the same time is “really, really difficult to do as an actor,” says Heller. “It takes a lot of discipline and work and skill.”

Baker says that when he was developing the character, he often thought of “a very dear friend” who used to tell the actor when he was down, “Let your smile be your umbrella.” Baker says it was just “a little old adage that he had. And I thought about that a lot when I was playing around with the character.”"

Full Article:
http://tvguide.sympatico.msn.ca/Headtohead+with+The+Mentalist/Interviews/Features/Articles/090209_the_mentalist_BB.htm?isfa=1


The Mentalist's Amanda Righetti Preps for Love Triangle
by Mickey O'Connor
TV Guide

"TVGuide.com: Did you have any idea that The Mentalist would be a hit?
Amanda Righetti: No, I don't think you ever know going in. I've done a lot of shows that didn't do well. You have to go in with a 50-50 take on it. If it goes well, fantastic. Hope for the best and plan for the worst. I thought [The Mentalist] was clever and different from other procedural shows. The wittiness was interesting. At the table read, when Simon and the whole cast were there, it really started to come together for me.

TVGuide.com: What did the producers tell you about Van Pelt going in? She had a juicy expository speech in the pilot.
Righetti: I actually had conversations with [co-executive producers] Bruno Heller and David Nutter. We spoke a lot about where she came from and her naivete playing into Jane's hands. She comes from a small town, and has a few brothers. She was a beat cop, so this reassignment is new and exciting for her. As the show goes on, a little bit of that backstory will be revealed."

Full Article:
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Mentalist-Amanda-Righetti-1002701.aspx


'THE MENTALIST''S ROBIN TUNNEY TALKS ABOUT HER SEXY CO-STAR
ET Online

""The Mentalist" is the No. 1 new series of the fall 2008 season, but series star Robin Tunney recalls that just days before the show premiered, she and Simon Baker were really worried about whether or not viewers would tune in.
"Simon and I were the most nervous because we had been through it before," she tells ET. "We were telling guest stars, 'You have to watch the show.' We were trying to do a grass roots thing. We were paranoid. What if we put it out there and nobody liked it? We really wanted it [to succeed] because we were having such a good time together.""

Full Article:
http://www.etonline.com/news/2009/01/70141/


Simon Baker and The Mentalist Try to Maintain Perfection
By Tim Molloy
TV Guide

"All is right in the perfect world of The Mentalist.

On the show's set, on a crisp, sunny day in Los Angeles, everyone is smiling. The stars are smiling, the public relations people are smiling, and the reporters shuttled in from their hotel to eat donuts and talk to the cast are smiling. But no one smiles brighter than Simon Baker.

The star of the CBS hit is about as handsome as a person can be. His hair is wavy but unfussy, his eyes seem kind, his teeth form perfect lines. When he smiles, you want to root for him because his smile contains such a mix of mischief and humility. "

Full Article:
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Mentalist-Simon-Baker-1002141.aspx


The Mentalist: We Visit The Set (And Simon Baker!)
By Susan Young
film.com

"On the Warner Bros. set of The Mentalist, Baker is relaxed and comfortable talking to the small group of reporters gathered on his home turf. It's quite a departure from a few years ago, when Baker starred in another CBS drama, The Guardian. Then, he came across as resentful and angry, much like the repressed and depressed character he played.

"[The Guardian] was a harder show emotionally; playing such a depressed character did rub off on me," Baker says in his native Aussie accent. "I never thought I'd be the kind of actor who would be affected by the role that I'm playing, but playing it day in and day out, it does, yeah. But [Patrick Jane] is such a fun character."

Baker says The Mentalist is all about entertainment."

Full Article:
http://www.film.com/tv/the-mentalist/story/mentalist-we-visit-set-simon/25586050


OK! Interview: Simon Baker
OK! Magazine

"OK!: Do you have a secret talent?

I’m pretty good at gardening. It consumes my time, and it feels like I’m doing something constructive.

OK!: Are you into male grooming?

No, I just clean my teeth!

OK!: What do you miss most about Australia?

The physical beauty of the area where I grew up. And I miss my close friends. I miss trivial things too... like meat pie!"

Full Article:
http://www.okmagazine.com/news/view/11274


Mystery of serial killer on "The Mentalist" won't be solved until the end
By Hal Boedeker
Orlando Sentinel

"Crime procedurals are booming for CBS. Baker attributed the trend to a desire in society.

"We are in a time where people sort of look for closure," the star said. "With a procedural show, you do get closure at the end of the episode."

Robin Tunney, who plays agent Teresa Lisbon, agreed. "Osama bin Laden, they didn't find him, whereas procedurals, we would have gotten him, right?" she said.

"Next season," Heller said.

I asked Heller how he describes the relationship between Patrick Jane and Teresa Lisbon.

"Jane is a rule-breaker, and Robin is playing someone who is all about the rules, has to be," Heller said. "So there's an underlying dramatic tension there that drives that side of their relationship. On the other hand, they respect and love each other."

What would Heller say to viewers who read more into that relationship or see more potential in it?

"That's nice," he said. "I think seeing it and reading it as opposed to having it is the fun bit."

Full Article:
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2009/01/serial-killer-o.html

Tags: Articles, Simon Baker, Robin Tunney, Amanda Righetti, Tim Kang, The Mentalist

Sixteen photos taken at the The Mentalist Television Critics Association press tour session on Thursday, January 16, 2009 at the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, CA have been added to the "Misc" section of The Mentalist Photo Gallery. These include photos of Series star Owain Yeoman (Wayne Rigsby), series star Amanda Righetti (Grace Van Pelt), Executive Producer Bruno Heller, series star Simon Baker (Patrick Jane), series star Robin Tunney (Teresa Lisbon) and series star Tim Kang (Kimball Cho) among others.

Tags: Photos, Appearances, Simon Baker, Robin Tunney, Owain Yeoman, Tim Kang, Amanda Righetti, CBS, The Mentalist