Posted Nov 6th 2009 10:05AM by Allison Waldman

Filed under: Industry, Programming, OpEd, Reality-Free, The Mentalist

Did the USA Network decide not to buy the Simon Baker series The Mentalist for syndication because it would conflict with their own psychic detective show Psych?

You have to wonder, because The Mentalist has been snatched up by TNT in a lush syndication deal. How lush? About $2 million per episode, a broadcast series record. (The overall record is HBO's The Sopranos going to A&E for $2.5 per episode.)

However, it was a record that didn't last long. NCIS: Los Angeles has matched it with USA. And USA chose that product, probably because of the name more than anything else. USA has done particularly well with the NCIS franchise, so it makes sense they would want the spinoff series.

But back to The Mentalist: TNT has wisely committed to the Simon Baker series. It's a character-driven procedural, very much in keeping with TNT originals like The Closer. Since The Mentalist has been a ratings star for CBS, there's every reason to believe that by the fall of 2011, when TNT starts airing "repurposed" episodes -- a nicer word for reruns -- the original series will still be broadcasting.

That symbiotic fresh episodes airing while old episodes are rerunning, is a win-win for both networks. It's the popular business model these days. New Fox House eps help push old House eps on USA. Same with NCIS, on CBS and USA, respectively, and there are many more examples.

Tags: CBS, NCIS, Simon Baker, SimonBaker, syndication, The Mentalist, TheMentalist, TNT, USA NCIS, USA Network, UsaNcis, UsaNetwork