Not only is the mentalist a rip off of The Pro-filer, there are some big plot points stolen from the movie Red Dragon starring Anthony Hopkins and Edward Norton. To spare you the trouble of seeing the movie let me explain to you what Bruno Heller stole. First lets start with the name, RED dragon.......... this may not be much but it's a possibility he used the Red theme idea from this. In the movie, the story revolves around a serial killer named the tooth fairy............................ he is obsessed about a painting named "the great red dragon". Guess who drew the painting............... William Blake.

Episode 7, Season 6....... the name of the episode is "The great red dragon" !!! The un-originality from Bruno Heller is shameful! So far what do we have  in common? Serial killer+Red theme+William Blake. 
Case closed............ this man has not a single original bone in his body. Red John was never planned properly. He stole ideas from different shows and movies...... thats it.