LOS ANGELES — On the surface, Gregory House and Patrick Jane have little in common. One is a pill-popping, emotionally crippled doctor with the worst bedside manner since Typhoid Mary. The other is a sly, borderline-psychic investigator who takes unabashed pleasure in watching bad guys squirm.
But the characters share a common trait, one that goes a long way in explaining why their shows, “House” and “The Mentalist,” are among TV’s most popular.
They’re both creatures of habit.
During any given hour, House will diagnose some mysterious disease, dispensing poisonous barbs along the way, while Jane will unravel a complex murder/mystery, flashing his killer smile any chance he gets. They’re quick at everything except character development.
It’s a formula as old as Marshal Dillon’s gun holster or Marcus Welby’s scrubs — and it’s still clicking with viewers.
Fox’s “House,” which recently celebrated its 100th episode, consistently finishes in the top 10 and remains Monday night’s most popular show. CBS’s “The Mentalist” draws nearly 20 million people every week and is the hottest rookie series since ABC launched “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost” in fall 2004.
The appetite for predictable procedurals is particularly gratifying for CBS, which leans the most on the genre.
At the same time, cable dramas, which tend to be more serialized in nature and thereby punish viewers who dare to miss an episode, are suffering. The popularity of HBO’s “Big Love” is steadily dropping, FX’s “Damages” has lost nearly half its core audience in its second season and USA just canceled its prime-time soap “The Starter Wife.” Bruno Heller, who created “The Mentalist,” said the continuing success of procedurals should come as no surprise.
“One of the great things about TV is the familiarity that comes with it,” said Heller, whose last series was HBO’s “Rome,” a series with legions of characters and complexities that never caught on with a wide audience.
“It’s ridiculous how well these kind of shows are doing right now, and I think there’s a greater social thing going on,” he said from the show’s set. “There’s a beginning, middle and end. I think people are looking for closure.” Although Baker recognizes the audience’s desire for dramas like “The Mentalist,” he admits that he hesitated before signing on.
“There was a little trepidation in the beginning,” he said. “As an actor, I didn’t know if I wanted to do a procedural. I thought it might be really limiting. ” If anyone had the right to complain about a bad case of deju vu, it’d be Hugh Laurie.
He’s earned two Golden Globes and became one of TV’s biggest stars thanks to “House,” but he’s also constrained by playing a Scrooge who seems incapable of redemption. Laurie, however, has no complaints.
“Freshness? If anything, I’ve got too much freshness,” he said. “I have to sort of dial it back. But I feel for the writers. I’m sure there’s many, many times when they’ve put their head in their hands and said, ‘There are only so many ways a tumor can present itself and we are out of them.’ “
