The upcoming CBS police drama The Mentalist revolves around a former faux-psychic, played by Simon Baker, who now works as a consultant for crime investigators, using his sharp observational skills to solve serious crimes.  This may sound like a new idea, but The Amazing Kreskin thinks otherwise.

Wait—the Amazing Kreskin who?  Born George Joseph Kresge, Jr., he is a mentalist who is known for his television performances in the 1970s, and later, in his appearances on Late Night with David Letterman in the late 1980s.  He still does live performances, staging his mind-reading acts across the nation.  He also appears on CNN to give his New Year's Day predictions for the coming year.

And, like Baker's character in The Mentalist, Kreskin has been recently serving as a consultant to law enforcement personnel.  In fact, he has developed a reality show revolving around his recent efforts.  The show, entitled POI: Persons of Interest, follows Kreskin as he assists investigators in gathering information that could help solve different cases.

There's no denying that Kreskin's reality show, which is currently looking for a network to air it, has similarities with the new CBS drama.  “[However,] there is one basic and major difference,” show producer Katy Wallin pointed out.  “POI is not fiction and stars the real mentalist.”

Kreskin, however, has a different take on things.  “There's a strange irony to it, because as far back as more than a year … there were a number of communications with the key person in programming at CBS regarding my series,” he said in a recent interview.  “I will be the last person to suggest that they got the idea for [The Mentalist] from [my] pilot, which had been well constructed and worked on for almost two years.”

“As a matter of fact, having seen the CBS pilot some months ago, I would say it is more similar to the cable series Psych, although I do think [it] had far more humor than the CBS piece,” he added.

So, it seems, all's well that ends well—until, perhaps, either of the series launches.  Then, people might start thinking as to who came first.  The Mentalist is set to premiere this fall on CBS.


-Henrik Batallones, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Sources: Reuters, Monsters and Critics
(Image courtesy of AmazingKreskin.com)