Hugging it out on the set of "The Mentalist"

Last night's episode of "The Mentalist" (which drew 15.83 million viewers) was the one they were shooting when I did a set visit to do a story on the show.

(Generic production photo.)

When you're visiting a production, you're looking for an extemporaneous moment that produces an anecdote that a) unveils part of the show's creative process, b) reveals the stars' on-set chemistry (or lack thereof), or c) offers a glimpse into the actors' off-the-cuff wit or cleverness. Alas, the day I visited the set, they were shooting scenes in the interrogation room, a cramped space where you can't exactly play a fly on the wall, so I was too far from the action between takes to assess any of those aforementioned goals.

I did, however, witness one vaguely amusing vignette and, in any other line of business, a potential sexual harassment suit. They were blocking and lighting a scene without the actual actors, in which a potential perpetrator (who turned out not to be the murderer) was, after being interrogated, meeting and embracing his sister (who in fact turned out to be the killer, though at this point in the story no one knew that - except, of course, for her).

The show's script supervisor was standing in for the sister and some random crew member was standing in for the brother. The guy wrapped his arms around the script supervisor ... uh, and wasn't letting go. Maybe he was just unleashing his inner Thespian and living in the moment; maybe not.

Anyway, he was finally told (words to this effect), "Um, you can let her go now." To his credit, he did. The relief on the script supervisor's face was palpable. You almost wanted to give her a hug and let her know you felt her pain - except she had been through enough already.