The characters from the American police procedural television series The Mentalist were created by Bruno Heller. The Mentalist debuted on September 23, 2008, on CBS and follows Simon Baker as Patrick Jane, an independent consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI) based in Sacramento, California. He has a remarkable track record for solving serious crimes by using his refined skills of observation. Jane also makes frequent use of his mentalist abilities and his semi-celebrity past as a psychic medium using the paranormal abilities he now admits he feigned. He abandoned his pretense out of remorse when his attention-seeking behavior attracted the attention of a serial killer, Red John, who murdered Jane's wife and daughter.