Ratings Review: THE MENTALIST (Season Six)

THE MENTALIST did a great thing by finally solving the Red John mystery in the middle of the season. It allowed closure of the five and a half story line on its own terms, and let the series "reboot" for life after Red John. The series is still the same, but new characters and environment bring a freshness that should reinvigorate the series.

Being the last show on Sunday nights, for CBS, it often had delayed starts for it's episodes. Sometime, the start of the episode would push 11:00 p.m. The ratings always took a hit when it started after 10:00 p.m. When starting at 10 p.m., THE MENTALIST would almost always did better than it's lead in. An yet, CBS waited until the last minute to renew the series for a final season, while THE GOOD WIFE got an early renewal.

In the fall, the DVR ratings were strong 3.5 to 4.0 million viewers would catch the show after it's Sunday airing. With the unknown start time, viewers would add a buffer to the DVR recording to make sure they caught the show. Once the NFL games were done on CBS, the DVR numbers shrank to around 2.5 to 3 million viewers.

For the season, THE MENTALIST averaged 8.47 million viewers and a 1.4 rating in Adults 18-49, for the 26 airings, including three encore episodes. The series will get one last season, of an unknown number of episodes, scheduled for sometime in the mid-season.

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

Date	Viewers*	A18-49	L+3	L+7
09/29/13	9.70	1.6		12.85 (2.5)
10/06/13	8.55	1.5	10:45pm	11.54
10/13/13	9.38	1.3		12.60 (2.2)
10/20/13	7.75	1.2	10:30pm	11.35 (2.2)
10/27/13	8.82	1.3		12.35 (2.3)
11/03/13	7.01		11pm	9.58
11/10/13	8.46	1.4	10:45pm	11.49
11/17/13	9.72	1.4		12.88 (2.2)
11/24/13	10.94	1.6		14.55
12/01/13	9.58	1.7	11pm	13.14 (2.5)
12/08/13	9.97	1.8		13.34 (2.6)
12/15/13	preempted
12/22/13	4.94	0.7	(R)
12/29/13	preempted
01/05/14	9.93	1.6		13.56 (2.4)
01/12/14	9.58	1.8		13.21 (2.6)
01/19/14	4.57	0.7	9pm (R)
01/26/14	preempted
02/02/14	2.87	0.4	9pm (R)
02/09/14	preempted
02/16/14	preempted
02/23/14	preempted
03/02/14	preempted
03/09/14	9.95	1.6		13.29
03/16/14	8.65	1.3		11.64
03/23/14	8.02	1.3	10:45pm	10.80
03/30/14	8.72	1.5	10:20pm	11.24
04/06/14	preempted
04/13/14	9.02	1.6		11.82
04/20/14	8.65	1.4
04/27/14	8.63	1.2		11.45 (1.9)
05/04/14	8.42	1.2		11.15 (1.9)
05/11/14	8.64	1.2		11.55
05/18/14	9.69	1.5		12.78 (2.3)

* - in millions