Psych is an American comedy-drama television series created by Steve Franks and broadcast on USA Network. The show stars James Roday as Shawn Spencer, a young crime consultant for the Santa Barbara, California Police Department (SBPD) whose "heightened observational skills"^[1] and impressive detective instincts allow him to convince people that he is psychic. The program also stars Dulé Hill as Shawn's best friend, straight man, and reluctant partner Burton "Gus" Guster, as well as Corbin Bernsen as Shawn's captious father, Henry.

The series airs in the US on Friday nights at 10PM ET/PT on the USA Network. During the second season, an animated segment was added to the series titled "The Big Adventures Of Little Shawn And Gus". Psych debuted July 7, 2006, immediately following the fifth season premiere of Monk. The show was the highest-rated U.S. basic cable television premiere of 2006.^[2] The show was renewed for a fourth season starting in Summer of 2009, but aired a holiday special on November 28 at 10pm immediately after the Monk holiday special. The remaing new episodes of the 3rd season will start airing on January 9, 2009.

Characters

Main characters

Flashbacks show that Henry Spencer assumed his son would follow in his footsteps and become a law enforcement officer. In preparation, Henry helps Shawn hone his powers of observation and deduction, often using games and challenges to test him.

Shawn originally becomes known as a psychic when, after calling in a tip on a crime covered on the news, the police become suspicious of his knowledge. Theorizing that such knowledge could only come from the inside, they are about to arrest him when he uses his observations to convince all present that he is psychic. The interim police chief warns Shawn that if his "powers" are fake, he will be prosecuted. With no choice but to keep up the act, he makes the most of it. Pretending to have psychic powers allows him to engage in strange and comic behavior as he turns real clues into hunches and otherworldly visitations. He enjoys teasing lifelong friend Gus, a pharmaceutical representative, over his eclectic interests (including a love for comic books and superheroes, spelling bees, astronomy, his "super smeller", and Spanish-language soap operas).

Head detective Lassiter doubts Shawn's psychic abilities and initially does not value his work, while junior detective O'Hara and chief Vick either fail to recognize that Shawn is a fake, or else are more willing to go along with the charade to solve cases. Henry Spencer and Shawn have a difficult relationship; still Henry helps Shawn on numerous occasions.

Recurring characters

Police officer Buzz McNab, played by Sage Brocklebank, is a naive but lovable cop who often provides Shawn and Gus with clues. He also adopts a 'little boy cat' that once helped Shawn solve a case.

Cybill Shepherd has also appeared in the first two of episodes in the third season, as Shawn's mother and Henry's ex-wife, psychologist Madeleine Spencer.

Former characters

Detective Lucinda Barry (portrayed by Anne Dudek) was partnered with Head Detective Carlton Lassiter for nearly a year; five months after Lassiter's separation from his wife, Barry and Lassiter became involved in a relationship of their own, though Barry wanted to keep it quiet so that their colleagues wouldn't think she was "climbing the ladder the hard way."

Det. Barry seemed amenable to the arrival of Shawn Spencer, helping him covertly when he needed information about the McCallum disappearance. Soon after, however, Barry transferred out of the SBPD, at least partially to be closer to her mother who was recovering from an industrial accident. Whether her relationship with Lassiter played any part in the transfer is yet unknown. She was replaced by Jr. Det. Juliet O'Hara. Although she and Shawn seemed to get along very well in the first episode, he moved on very quickly to Juliet as soon as she was transferred, and he revealed to Gus that he prefers Juliet.

While her name was never given in the pilot episode, the episode summary lists her as "Lucinda," and Lassiter reveals her last name as "Barry" on his blog (though he also refers to her first name as "Lucinda").

Episodes

The first season comprised fifteen episodes and ran on USA Network from July 7, 2006 to March 2, 2007.

The second season of Psych comprised sixteen episodes which began airing on July 13, 2007. The second half of season 2 began on January 11, 2008, with the season finale aired on February 15, 2008.

The third season began airing July 18, 2008. ^[3] The next new episode will be a Christmas themed episode on November 28, 2008 with the rest of the third season starting in January. ^[4] New episodes air Fridays on USA Network at 10pm right after Monk.

Announced on October 10, 2008, Psych has been renewed for a fourth season starting in summer 2009.

Production information

The show uses White Rock, British Columbia, Canada for its arid Santa Barbara, California setting. Psych also incorporates Vancouver and various locations around the Lower Mainland of British Columbia as a backdrop. The terrain portrayed in the series is very green and marked by bays and islands. Santa Barbara is on a mountainous coastline without bays and just has the few Channel Islands miles offshore. Many of the overlooking helicopter shots and set up shots (in which the exterior of the Santa Barbara Courthouse is shown) are actually filmed in Santa Barbara. The animated Segments "The Big Adventures Of Little Shawn And Gus" were created by J.J. Sedelmaier Productions, Inc.. The music, effects and sound design for "The Big Adventures Of Little Shawn And Gus" were created by Fred Weinberg. USA also offers a contest for each episode online in which you have to see the episode and find the "hidden pineapple" and submit your entry online

Theme Song

The theme song for Psych is "I Know You Know" by The Friendly Indians, series creator Steve Franks' band. It has been re-done in Season 2 with a Christmas theme for the episode "Gus' Dad May Have Killed an Old Guy" (episode 10), as well as sung in Spanish for "Lights, Camera, Homicidio" (episode 13). In Season 3, the episode "Disco Didn't Die. It Was Murdered!" (episode 5) used the extended full-length version of "I Know You Know", but returned to the short version from episode 6 onwards.

Response

Critical reaction and ratings

Psych scored a 4.51 rating and an average of 6.1 million total viewers at its premiere, which made it the highest rated scripted series premiere on basic cable in 2006 in all key demographics (households, P18-49, P25-54, and total viewers), according to a USA Network press release, quoted from the Futon Critic.^[5]

From the San Jose Mercury News:

James Roday (Miss Match) is utterly charming and delightfully funny as Shawn Spencer (who may not be psychic but who does have wonderful powers of observation), and he gets fine support from Corbin Bernsen (L.A. Law) as his cop father and Dulé Hill (The West Wing) as his Dr. Watson-esque sidekick.^[6]

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

"Psych" is one of those happy collisions of an intelligent script and an appealing cast. Roday's a charmer, nice looking but more charismatic than pretty, and ably paired with West Wing alumnus Dulé Hill, who plays Shawn's ultra-responsible childhood friend Gus.^[7]

Nominations and awards

Psych was the winner of an Independent Investigations Group Annual Award for Excellence in Entertainment for advancing the cause of science and exposing superstition (2006).^[8][9]

James Roday was nominated for a 2006 Satellite Award for Best Actor - TV Series Musical or Comedy.^[10]

International broadcasters

DVD releases

Similar TV Shows

The new CBS series The Mentalists premise has several parallels to Psych. The main characters in each have highly developed skills of observation and deduction. However, the main character of The Mentalist is known not to be a psychic, while the main character on Psych is genuinely believed to be a psychic by some characters. Also, both characters work as freelancers or consultants with local California law enforcement, largely to the consternation of their superiors. However, Psych is portrayed as a comedy, whereas The Mentalist is done as a serious drama.

References

External links

• Official Site (USA Network)
• ''Psych'' on TV Squad

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