‘The Mentalist’ season 6, episode 12 preview: Rigsby, Van Pelt return in ‘The Golden Hammer’

Have you been missing two of your favorite characters from “The Mentalist” over the past couples of weeks. Well even though we know that we are no longer going to see either Rigsby or Van Pelt on a regular basis, the two characters are going to return in some form in “The Golden Hammer,” the next new episode of the show.

Before we talk about anything else (especially since we want to touch on something related to the scheduling more so than the story), take a look at the synopsis below to see what is allowing these two characters to re-enter the universe again after being happy running their own security firm:

“Jane and the FBI investigate the murder of a high-tech cartographer who may have unearthed a spy ring before his death. Meanwhile, Rigsby and Van Pelt find themselves on the trail of an alarming conspiracy.”

Now, let’s return to that scheduling question for a minute. Why is CBS airing a new episode next week? We know that they have to be taking into consideration that there are weeks coming up where the Grammys, the Oscars, the Super Bowl, the NCAA Tournament, and possibly the Olympics could take away Sundays from them, but when you have a show that is near the bottom when it comes to ratings, why force it to go against a pivotal part of the Golden Globes? This is a fate worse than “Sunday Night Football,” since most of these gridiron guys were not checking out the adventures of Patrick Jane in the first place.  We would rather see the show hold off on most of its episodes until the time when most of this stuff was over, and give a chance for the most viewers possible to watch. Yes, even if that means making us suffer through another repeat week.