The Mentalist

[Guest]

Anyone see this show on NBC last night?

[Rennie]

I saw the show, did not care for it.Appears to me he used many stooges during his "mindreading".I was not at all impressed by his personality.Did not even tape it as I usually do with most magic specials.
Would love to hear someone else's reviews though.
Rennie

[Jim Maloney_dup1]

I liked it -- I don't know if he used stooges or not, but I didn't really have the feeling that he did.

I don't think that the climax of the show was...well...a climax. It needed to be dramatized more. It seemed too easy. Though I did think it was funny when he crashed into the truck, and the driver got out to see what happened and Gerry just kept going.

Highlights: PK Touches, the "first love" routine, and the bit where the girl picked out one guy from the audience. Oh! and the magazine test.

-Jim

-Jim

[Richard Hatch]

Originally posted by Rennie:
I saw the show, did not care for it.Appears to me he used many stooges during his "mindreading".I was not at all impressed by his personality.Did not even tape it as I usually do with most magic specials.
Would love to hear someone else's reviews though.
Rennie

I didn't see the show, so can't comment on that. But I wonder how you were able to make the decision not to tape the show without having seen it (since you usually tape most magic specials). Did your own psychic powers tell you you wouldn't like the show before you saw it? Just curious...

[Dustin Stinett]

I saw it. I taped it. At least I know that I still have an hour of available videotape. After a while into the show I said to myself, "I didn't know this was two hours long." I looked at the clock and realized that the show had been on for only 50 minutes. At least the twins were cute.

Dustin
(Likes good mentalism a lot, so no bias there.)

:sleep:

[Bob Farmer]

I saw most of the show and liked it alot. The effect with the twins was excellent. I didn't think they were stooges because all of the effects can be done without stooges.

[thecardman]

We had this special broadcast last Christmas and I enjoyed it. I thought the Blind Date and the Blindfold Drive were very well done.

The one thing I thought that used stooges was the "Soup" routine. Also, Derren Brown had performed a very similar item to the twins effect in one of his earlier specials, but I think it is just coincidence that he performed it as well.

Other than that, very well done.

Peter
:)

[Alain Roy]

I enjoyed the show, because it made me reflect on showing mentalism on television. I'm an expert on neither, so my thoughts may demonstrated that, but I appreciated the opportunity.

I watched the show without a critical eye and thought that it was fun. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed that he could have done the magic in front of me without the benefit of the camera.

My wife, who knows little of magic and even less about mentalism, made two interesting comments during the show. First, during the bit where two blindfolded people touched a map of the US, she said, "Oh, the person holding the checklist marked them off, not the magician". Second, during the blindfolded scootering, she said, "Oh! Did you notice that he flipped the blindfold upside down?"

To her eyes--and she is not a magician--she had an answer to the effects: stooges and fake blindfolds. Was she right? I have no idea, but she knew that she could be right, so she wasn't amazed.

I get the feeling that it's hard to dispell the notion of stooges in television mentalism. In person, this probably would have come across as much more believable. Is this why we don't see more mentalism on television? Is it possible to convince viewers that stooges aren't being used?

-alain

[Bill Mullins]

Originally posted by Alain Roy:
First, during the bit where two blindfolded people touched a map of the US, she said, "Oh, the person holding the checklist marked them off, not the magician".

Possibly using the method of Rich Marotta's Marked Prediction?

[John Signa]

Originally posted by Bill Mullins:
Possibly using the method of Rich Marotta's Marked Prediction?

That was my guess when I noticed that the checkboxes were along the outside edge, her hands shifted up and down a few times, and he had no real interaction with her (felt like she was just an assistant versus a real spectator.)

Overall, I didn't care for the show. His tone, pacing, and energy level was the same for the entire hour, which is fine for a yoga/meditation video, but not for a prime time show. And, as mentioned earlier, the climax not much of one.

John

[Guest]

[/QUOTE]I didn't see the show, so can't comment on that. But I wonder how you were able to make the decision not to tape the show without having seen it (since you usually tape most magic specials). Did your own psychic powers tell you you wouldn't like the show before you saw it? Just curious... [/QUOTE]
Richard,
I actually had started taping and after the first effect he did I decided I was not going to watch it again.I stopped taping and continued to watch it, but I did not care for it.I am not knocking the show it was just not something I liked, that is why I asked for someone else's opinons.
It's the old addage "If we all liked the same thing life would be boring"
I am sure others thought it was great and some not so great, again I personally did not care for it, but I am sure others will disagree, and that is ok with me.Just voicing my opinion
Rennie

[Spinnato]

For those of you who believe there's no room for comedy in a mentalism show, then watch the McCambridge special again. It's clear, CRYSTAL CLEAR, that a little bit of comedy is exactly what this special needed. He seems pleasant enough, but 40 minutes was all I could handle before changing the channel. This performance was simply a series of puzzles, in my estimation. But then again, he got an NBC deal and I didn't. I just thought it was extremely boring.

[mark]

Place me in the 'did not care for it' camp. I watched for awhile and gave up. It was just boring to me, and as a matter of fact, I remember thinking, "this is why so many people think mentalism is boring." As others have said, he is the one with the deal, but to me the show was flat, with very little arc. One could see that some of the specs were amazed, but it didn't feel amazing on my side of the screen. He was likeable and all, but not for me.

[Ted Leon]

For the sake of discussion, and my education....

Rennie, Spinatto, Mark,

What would you consider "not boring" television mentalism?

I offer this question in a non-confrontational way. I am the lesser half of the mentalism team,
"Liz and Leondo" and greatly look forward to your input.

Ted (Leondo)

[John Signa]

I believe that mentalism, like close-up magic, is not well suited for a full-length television show. Both draw their impact from their intimacy with the audience. Even with a larger audience, spectators are selected at random to allow others to feel that "That could have been MY mind he's reading."

On TV, all mentalism tricks/experiments/demonstrations can be explained away through stooges. Those at home have no connection to those selected on TV.

Imagine how engaging a mentalism show would be if the mentalist announced that all participants were already selected and waiting backstage.

[Guest]

Note that Liz and Tommy Tucker, were known/remembered/booked for the comedy their presentation had, as much, if not more, mystery.
I liked some parts of it...be interesting to know what lay people thought, and what numbers he got that night.
Like Blaine, the fast MTV-like cuts, eliminated setting up and qualifying an effect for the audience...you had to go along with the idea that everything was on the square.
Remember Kreskin and others made TV work for them, although it was more engaging to watch him interact with a host and audience members.
A different venue, but people are to presume John Edward hasn't set anything up with his audience either.

[Guest]

Pop quiz: Who did Gerry McCambridge used to perform with? A lot of things become very clear about the special when you take this into account.

[Rennie]

Originally posted by Ted Leon:
For the sake of discussion, and my education....

Rennie, Spinatto, Mark,

What would you consider "not boring" television mentalism?

I offer this question in a non-confrontational way. I am the lesser half of the mentalism team,
"Liz and Leondo" and greatly look forward to your input.

Ted (Leondo)

Hi Ted,
In answer to your question of "not boring" television mentalism, I could watch for hours Max Maven as he is entertaining in a mysterious way.I remember when I was younger I looked forward to watching Dunninger ( you now have an idea of my age ). I think Annemann was fantastic , never saw him perform of course , but just wanted you to know I really like mentalism as a whole.But for some reason The Mentalist did not have a personality to be having a special and that is my main reason for not liking the show. As for your act it may be terrific as I am not knocking mentalism , just the person.Looking forward to seeing your act in the future.
Rennie

[Guest]

Everyone refers to the "Mentalist" but I don't see any reference to who he is?

[Alain Roy]

Martin, "The Mentalist" is Gerry McCambridge. You can find out more about him at his web site.

http://www.mentalist.com/

-alain

[Christopher Starr]

Sadly, I ran across this quote regarding the show from the Associated Press:

"Another sweeps month special, NBC's "The Mentalist," was an even bigger flop with 6.2 million viewers, Nielsen said."

Crueler yet was a critical review of the show that started like this:

"For a look at a big broadcast network turned into a cruise-ship lounge, check out Wednesday's "The Mentalist."

Here's the link: Newsday.com

-CS

[Guest]

that link doesn't seem to work...
but if anyone would like to read the quote and compare the ratings to the rest of tv-land, click here: http://entertainment.sympatico.ca/news/ ... 1872A.html

[Christopher Starr]

Sorry...here's the actual link:

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld ... 3815.story

-CS

[Guest]

The better NEWSDAY article can be found here:

http://www.mentalist.com/Newsday.htm

[mark]

I cannot claim to have a terribly deep well of experience to draw from where T.V. mentalism is concerned, Leon. I can tell you the Max Maven is able to hold one's attention because he is a mysterious and engaging individual of high intelligence. I can tell you that Kreskin had a real joy about him while performing, and his enthusiasm was infectious. I enjoyed his performance as much as he enjoyed performing. What Mr. McCambridge lacks is not for me to judge - I do not know him. But, I was not engaged as viewer, and I didn't sense any real enjoyment from him, only a sense that he was 'performing.' I hope this is some kind of answer that might at least give you an idea of my lukewarm response to The Mentalist.