Simon Baker might be the handsomest leading man on TV, but that’s not the only reason why “The Mentalist” is this season’s biggest success story.
The show is the only flat-out success story among new network series, even reaching No. 1 in the ratings. And when the people who make the show are asked what makes it tick, they cite the title character’s sense of humor, his roguish charm, and vulnerability.
Sooner or later, though, they get around to Baker’s looks.
“He’s a very handsome man,” admits Nina Tassler, president of CBS Entertainment and the top programmer at the network. “What we’ve had the chance to observe over the years with him is extraordinary.”
“Let’s put it this way,” says Peter Roth, president of Warner Bros. Television, which produces the show. “He is not hard on the eyes. My wife certainly thinks so.
Baker himself prefers to deflect credit for “The Mentalist,” which in recent weeks has established itself as TVs highest-rated scripted series, on to the series creator, Bruno Heller (best known as the co-creator of HBOs “Rome”), and everyone else who works on the show.
“I am one actor in a bunch of people that work very hard and tirelessly to get this show on the air. I am incredibly blessed,”said Baker, 39, in a phone interview from Santa Monica, where he was Christmas shopping with his wife, Rebecca, with whom he has three children (fellow Australians Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts are godparents for two of them).
Baker was reacting to the news that The Post’s TV Week had named him its star of the year. “I’m incredibly flattered,” he said humbly. “I enjoy the flattery of it, understanding too well that I’m just one piece in a big machine.
On “The Mentalist,” Baker plays Patrick Jane, a man who was once a celebrated psychic until he was exposed as a fake. Despite the fakery of his former profession, Jane’s intuitive acumen comes in handy, as he often solves cases before the by-the-book team of cops headed by the stern Robin Tunney.
“I don’t think I’ve seen a character this intricate since [Peter Falk on] “Columbo,’ that real wolf in sheep’s clothing,” says Roth. “He smiles and manipulates. He deceives in order to get to the truth.”
Jane’s methods set him apart from TV’s boilerplate detectives and the payoff, obviously, has been substantial.
“I think there is perhaps nothing more attractive to women than a man who is able to listern and to quietly deduce the truth,” Roth says. “When Bruno created the role, I actually loved his description. He said, “Imagine if Sherlock Holmes and Angelina Jolie had a baby.”
Baker and his co-stars had just finished 13 episodes of the show and will go back into production on the season’s remainder after the Christmas break. He says the show’s week at the top of the ratings was really good for morale.
“It’s just nice for one week to say we were number one and that more people in America watched our show more than any other. Everybody gets a bit of a kick out of it.”
Having tried more than once to create that kind of success with his other series “The Guardian” and “Smith,” Baker, who also had a featured role in “The Devil Wears Prada,” knows, “You can do all the work you like, but you need that special ingredient. You can’t make a TV show without having the audience.”
At 39, Simon Baker is finally that special ingredient.
THE MENTALIST
Tuesdays, 9 p.m., CBS