Amanda Righetti Talks To AOL About "Mentalist" and Simon Baker

[JamesG]

As one-fifth of the CBI team on The Mentalist, Amanda Righetti has the inside scoop on everything related to Red John, interoffice romances and, yes, Simon Baker.

Coming off a sensationally rated first season, The Mentalist moves to a new night for season 2 (premieres Thurs., Sept. 24, 10PM ET on CBS). And fans can expect other changes, as well, besides the time-slot switch.

Righetti gave AOL TV the exclusive scoop on her new TV boss, who just might go all the way -- and what she knows about her uber-popular co-star Baker.


Did you have any idea that the show would be this huge breakout hit?

It's always a crapshoot -- no, I did not expect it at all. I know that CBS had really high hopes for it, but even their highest hopes, it exceeded. We premiered with bigger numbers than they had anticipated and we continue to stay in the top 10, which is pretty amazing.




Has fan reaction changed now that you're on one of the biggest shows on TV? Like, is it hard to grocery shop?

You know what? Not yet, knock on wood. Hopefully it'll stay that way for a while. [Laughs] I get a little more fan mail than I used to, but I still fly under the radar enough that I don't get recognized all the time when I'm out. I welcome it that way ... I like to still have my privacy in my life.




We know there's some new blood this season helping out with the hunt for Red John. Any details?

Terry Kinney is coming in, and he's a really, really lovely man. He is sort of the nemesis to Jane [played by Simon Baker]. He comes in and sort of steals Jane's thunder and then we find out that Bosco, the character that Terry plays, and Lisbon [Robin Tunney's character] have some history as well.




They have some history, and a secret, I hear ...

Yes, they do, they do. There is also a little bit of possible love affair stuff for Grace Van Pelt, my character ... she and Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) might end up going all the way. That's being thrown around, but I don't know ... it hasn't happened yet, so I don't know how far it's gonna go, or if it's gonna go all the way, but there are rumors of that happening this season.




Wait -- like for real, for real?

I don't know for sure, but that's the rumor! I might not have a job tomorrow ... no, I'm kidding. [Laughs] We haven't made it to that episode, so it's rumor until I see it on the page.




Besides hookups, the next most talked about thing on The Mentalist is, of course, Simon Baker. People are obsessed with him!

Yeah, they are kind of obsessed with him. It's funny because I get that more than anything -- if I am recognized for the show, fans are huge fans of Simon's, and I get all sorts of wacky questions about what it's like to work with him and all that stuff.

It's funny because Simon gets very embarrassed about it too. [Laughs] Of course, Robin gives him crap for it all the time. [Laughs] But he's got a huge fan base, and all the girls eat him up, so it just helps our viewership even more.




What is something about him that fans don't know?

I don't know -- there are some wacky fans that know a lot about Simon! [Laughs] He's very serious about his work, but he's also a total family guy. You know, he's married and he has kids, and I think he takes a lot of pride in his children, and in spending time with them. Especially the hours he works -- to go home and still spend time with his boys and his daughter, I think that's pretty commendable.




So besides the romance and the continuing Red John investigation, what else is up with the CBI team this season?

There are definitely a lot of twists and turns -- there is a lot of pressure on our team because of Red John, and Lisbon kind of has a meltdown, which is a pretty cool episode.

Minelli is in and out of our hair a lot, and I'm hearing that there are gonna be some pretty cool arcs for his character this year as well. We haven't really seen too much of Red John in the beginning of this season ... we got very close, but it's sort of like two steps forward, four steps back.




Is Lisbon's meltdown because of Bosco coming back into her life?

It's a little bit of that, but it's more about a case that she worked on a long time ago, and it sort of gets to her. It comes back to kind of haunt her.




When you're not working, what do you like to watch on TV?

I watch Letterman. Once in a while, on the odd night, I'll catch the Food Network and watch Ace of Cakes, which I'm kind of obsessed with. I really love that show -- I'm completely entertained! It's amazing the kind of cakes they've built!

I've been catching a lot of Boston Legal reruns, which I really started getting into last year. Obviously I'm really behind [laughs].

http://insidetv.aol.com/2009/09/24/t...anda-righetti/