Ratings Review: THE MENTALIST (Season Five)

Up until this season, THE MENTALIST has been a good utility player for CBS. Drawing good, strong ratings, but not at the level of their hit dramas. This season, in its 3rd time slot in five years, it saw the ratings erode. As the last program of the evening, it often saw its start time go well beyond 10:30 p.m., and a couple of times, after 11 p.m.

Ratings were down, significantly. To a point that it appeared to be a show on the bubble for renewal, by CBS. It had its 5 years for syndication and lower ratings in its current season. However, someone in CBS loves the show. It will be back for a 6th season, unfortunately, in the same time slot. Personally, I think the Friday 9 p.m. slot would have been a much better use of the series and could have really made Friday night a solid ratings performer.

THE MENTALIST (Sundays at 10 p.m., on CBS)

Date	Viewers*	A18-49	+/-
09/30/12	11.060	2.1
10/07/12	9.020	1.6	-18.44%	10:30 PM
10/14/12	10.740	2.1	19.07%
10/21/12	8.100	1.5	-24.58%	11:00 PM
10/28/12	10.170	1.8	25.56%
11/04/12	9.110	1.8	-10.42%	10:30 PM
11/11/12	10.150	1.9	11.42%
11/18/12	8.070	1.4	-20.49%	11:00 PM
11/25/12	10.150	1.8	25.77%
12/02/12	7.310	1.3	-27.98%	10:40 PM
12/09/12	7.940	1.6	8.62%
12/16/12	Preempted
12/23/12	5.500	0.9		R
12/30/12	5.310	0.7	-3.45%	R - 10:25 pm
01/06/13	10.850	2.1	104.33%
01/13/13	10.600	2.1	-2.3%
01/20/13	Preempted
01/27/13	10.50	1.9
02/03/13	Preempted
02/10/13	Preempted
02/17/13	9.42	1.6
02/24/13	4.54	0.7	-51.8%	R - 9:00 pm
03/03/13	9.24	1.5	103.5%
03/10/13	9.52	1.7	3.0%
03/17/13	9.98	1.7	4.8%
03/24/13	8.00	1.4	-20%	10:45 PM
03/31/13	5.80	0.9	-28%	R - 10:40 pm
04/07/13	Preempted
04/14/13	7.84	n/a		After 11 pm
04/21/13	9.10	1.6	16%
04/28/13	8.69	1.6	-5%
05/05/13	9.17	1.7	6%