Ask Matt: Mentalist to be cancelled?

Question: I've just heard that two of my favorite shows might well be cancelled, and they're The Mentalist and Hawaii Five-0. I've often looked at what shows were "on the bubble" but the appropriateness of that term just struck me since I now realize these shows may very well either burst or float on, so I really hope it will be the latter! I think The Mentalist was bothered by too many late showings due to football (and maybe the Red John saga hanging on so long turned people off — not me), and Hawaii Five-0 is on a tough night where many shows, except for Blue Bloods —another on my "must watch" list — don't appear to do that well. Have you heard anything about the outcome of these shows, or do you have an opinion one way or another? — Dorothy

Matt Roush: Not sure where you're hearing these things, but the fact is that CBS has a tradition of cycling out many of its long-running procedurals over time (Cold Case, Without a Trace, the CSI spin-offs) so as to keep the schedule fresh, and one of the warning signs that a show's expiration time is near is when CBS moves it from its original night to trouble spots like Sundays at 10/9c or Fridays. But your fears may be a wee bit premature. CBS is no doubt looking closely at The Mentalist to see how viewers respond to the show's new format post-Red John (the denouement of which spiked the ratings), but the football overruns aren't really a factor. CBS has been dealing with that problem for ages, and they know the show in the 10/9c time slot tends to suffer. The real issue here is that when a show is moved into that time period, that's usually a sign the clock is ticking. But CBS tends to let shows of this sort run for at least seven seasons, and I wouldn't be surprised if The Mentalist gets one more lap, although if fans don't embrace Mentalist 2.0, that could hasten the end. With Hawaii, it's clear this reboot is unlikely to have the staying power of the '60s original (which ran 12 seasons), but it's doing well enough on a tough night that I'm betting they'll stick with the Hawaii-Blue Bloods combo for at least another season if not more.

SRC: tvguide.com/