An opportunity lost with ‘Mentalist’

Five years ago, Gerry McCambridge, “the world’s leading mentalist,” according to NBC’s promotional materials, was discovered at a party in the Hamptons by NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker.

A mentalist, for those not in the know, is a mind reader; and McCambridge, whose one-hour special can be seen on NBC at 8 tonight, has the ability to peer into the soul of an audience member and pick up on her first love’s onetime fondness for Metallica seemingly out of nowhere. He can take a trip to a wholesale warehouse and guess the exact dollar amount of three random customers’ purchases before they even select their items. He can pluck the name of an ex-girlfriend from the mind of a fireman as though it were a tube sock three-pack from a Costco sale bin. He can prick one Coors Light twin with a thorn and make the other one squeal in pain. He can make one guy taste another guy’s soup without seeing it, smelling it or putting it in his mouth. Perhaps most intriguingly, he can subliminally order a group of firemen to descend the fire pole in a particular order -- which is to say, he can apparently make people succumb to his will by beaming telepathic commands at them.

Now, if you were Zucker and you ran into this guy at a party, would you give him a nice, classy special during May sweeps, in which he would entertain an attractive group of youngsters in a cafe-like studio environment, visit with some firemen at the station and take a trip to the local Costco? Or would you throw a burlap sack over his head, stuff him in your trunk, fire all your focus groups and entrust him with the very important task of ensuring that every American male aged 18-34 begins to develop a sudden, febrile craving for “Joey,” starting now?

Because having McCambridge parse the inner lives of college kids and zig down busy Manhattan thoroughfares blindfolded on a motor scooter qua some freaky, clairsentient circus monkey just sort of seems like a waste of a valuable resource to me.

While no doubt every moment is a party in McCambridge’s mind, watching a guy intercept other people’s thoughts is a little like watching a faith healer cure a man of a bad limp -- only without the jubilant hurling of crutches and Lordy-praising that usually ensues. It’s amazing, but mostly you’re amazed at other people’s amazement. So what’s the point?

Why not just stick David Blaine in a big ice cube and save Gerry’s psychokinetic abilities and formidable powers of persuasion for when they could really make a difference, like pilot pickup time or the start of fall season?

As McCambridge says, “If you concentrate hard enough, you can project anything.” And that way, when he said, “Let me bring you into my world,” it could mean so much more.

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‘The Mentalist’

Where: NBC

When: 8-9 tonight

Gerry McCambridge...The Mentalist

Executive producers Stu Schreiberg and Stephen Kroopnick