CBS's "The Mentalist:" Any psychics want to predict whether this'll be a hit?

Probably the most promising new show on CBS's schedule is "The Mentalist," starring Simon Baker as a detective with acute observational skills who once posed as a TV psychic. Could be that the third time's the charm for the Australian-born Baker, who previously starred on CBS in "The Guardian," which limped along for three seasons, and the short-lived "Smith." After all, it's in a very safe timeslot on Tuesdays, sandwiched between hits "NCIS" and "Without a Trace."

"The Mentalist" was created by Bruno Heller (HBO's "Rome") Heller, who during the show's TV Press Tour session stopped short of calling b.s. on psychics.

"No one can say one way or another what's true," he says. "But what's fascinating to me about that world is that the skills that they use to pretend to be psychic are more extraordinary than what they're faking. To be that observant is more impressive than talking to ghosts to me.

"You can't be a half-assed mentalist," he continues. "You have to be very good at it or you can't do it at all. You need a prodigious memory, which taps into a lot of the things they do."

"It's very heady stuff," agrees Baker. "I consider myself reasonably observant, but what these guys get into and the skills they have and the ability to remember things and move forward, it's way beyond me."

Baker stars as Patrick Jane, whose wickedly droll sense of humor belies his tragic past. (In that respect, Jane's pretty much like James Roday's character in "Psych," except for that tragic-past bit.) "The deliciously attractive part of this role was the humor and the sense of mischief of the character," Baker says. "I love that the character is a fraud and is aware of his fraudulent nature."

Baker accuses himself of not being able to pick movie projects very well, and attributes his appearance in the hit "The Devil Wears Prada" to his daughter.

"She read the book in, like, an hour, and came to me and said, 'The character's a bit of a d!ck, but I think you should do it,'" he recalls. When he asked why, Baker adds, she replied, "'All of my friends will see it.' And so that was pretty much that."

Oh, and the session following "The Mentalist" and its skepticism? "The Ex List," about a young woman who's told by a psychic that she has one year to find her soul mate - and thoroughly believes her.