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On TV: Future holds a lot of fun for 'Psych' viewers
By MELANIE McFARLAND
P-I TELEVISION CRITIC
Somewhere there must be a TV law that dictates all character-driven detective series must create an entertaining quirk or tragic flaw for the central snoop. We have seen said law manifest in the form of Brenda Leigh Johnson's food issues on "The Closer" and, in a sharper example, Adrian Monk's hyperactive obsessive compulsive behavior.
Their success with viewers makes it natural to question whether a series like "Psych" would be too gimmicky to work. Now we have a detective who channels the spirit world -- just like on "Medium"! Only, well, not so much.
Although Shawn Spencer (James Roday) claims to be a psychic, the truth is that he's really great at two things. First, he has an unnerving ability to memorize the smallest details about his surroundings in a few blinks of an eye. He solves puzzles and cooks up schemes by understanding the language of movement and physical reactions in others. Poker players refer to these motions as tells. Shawn knows 'em all.
Second, he truly, deeply enjoys messing with people.
And there you have the essence of this slacker, a man who merrily cavorts through life, solving the occasional crime by watching the evening news. For the reward money, of course.
That last hobby is what gets Shawn into trouble. The Santa Barbara police don't believe him after he accurately tips them about a burglary case. He explains his gift to them at the station; they respond by making him a suspect. To save himself an unpleasant stint in a cell, he rubs his temples, quivers a little and -- hold the phone -- he's a psychic! Yeah, that's it. That's the ticket. A psychic. And suddenly they're interested.
Yes, the central irony of dogged detectives -- truth seekers! -- accepting an amateurish lie over a reasonable explanation is the first clue that something fun and fresh is at work here.
"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 Dule Hill, who plays Shawn's ultra-responsible childhood friend Gus. Hill may not do much more than make Gus shake his head disapprovingly at Shawn's antics, but he's a welcome and necessary passenger here. Every Sherlock must have his Watson, so it's appropriate that a goofball like Shawn would lean heavily on Gus, an uptight pharmaceutical sales representative.
However -- and here's another one of those laws at work -- Shawn is a tremendous disappointment to his policeman father Henry (Corbin Bernsen). Dad honed the boy's skills in the hope of raising a super detective but was stingy with his affection. (Paternal issues. Check.) In one scene, he quizzes the child version of Shawn on the details of the room they're in, eyes closed. How many hats are in the room? What's the name of the waitress who greeted them when they entered?
"That's amazing!" a stranger gushes after a successful demonstration.
"It's adequate," Dad replies, unimpressed.
"Psych" is more than adequate, fortunately for us. This is a series bound to win over "Monk" faithful, who are getting new episodes Fridays at 9, along with viewers starved for genuinely inspired comedy and the cynics who consider those "laws" to be cliches. There are times when one has to respect the law, even that of TV quirks. This is one of them.
Watch 'Psych' on USA Network - win great prizes from M&C
By Scott Rosenberg Jul 4, 2006, 9:29 GMT
A new quick-witted drama, 'Psych' stars James Roday (“Miss Match,” “The Dukes of Hazzard”) as young police consultant Shawn Spencer who solves crimes with powers of observation so acute the precinct detectives think he's psychic - at least that’s what he lets them believe.
Series also stars Dulé Hill (“The West Wing”) as Shawn's best friend and reluctant sidekick Gus and Corbin Bernsen (“Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” “L.A. Law”) as Shawn's disapproving father, who ironically was the one who honed his son's "observation" skills as a child.
Also featured are Timothy Omundson (“Judging Amy,” “Deadwood”), Maggie Lawson (“Crumbs,” “Inside Schwartz”) and Kirsten Nelson (“Everwood,” “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”).
'Psych' will premiere with a 90-minute episode on Friday, July 7 at 10PM/9PM central followed by one-hour episodes for the remainder of the season.
And now, M&C offers you the opportunity to win great prizes - go here for details.
'Psych' is executive produced by Steve Franks (“Big Daddy”), in association with Tagline Pictures’ Kelly Kulchack and Chris Henze and NBC Universal Television Studios. Jack Sakmar & Kerry Lenhart (“Boston Public,” “Ed”) and Mel Damski (“Picket Fences”) are co-executive producers, Douglas Steinberg (“Boston Public”) is consulting producer. Story editor is Anupam Nigam and Andy Berman serves as staff writer. Michael Engler directed the 90-minute pilot.
Created and written by Steve Franks, 'Psych' continues USA’s tradition of original scripted programming centering on quirky, intelligent characters. As with 'Monk', 'Pysch' mixes comedy with its crime and features a somewhat eccentric lead character - Shawn Spencer (Roday), a police psychic with absolutely no psychic abilities.
Raised in Santa Barbara, Shawn possesses uncanny powers of observation honed by his police officer father, Henry (Bernsen), who drilled young Shawn to note even the smallest of details from his surroundings as a way of grooming him for his inevitable career in the family business.
Unfortunately, when a rift develops between father and son, Shawn finds himself taking a series of random jobs instead of becoming the detective he was groomed to be.
However, for the fun of it, he makes a habit of calling in tips to the police about cases he reads about or sees on television, and when one of his tips appears too close to the truth, the police are convinced that Shawn is an accomplice and arrest him.
Using his charm and well-tuned talent, Shawn convinces the cops that he's actually a psychic, and although highly skeptical of his explanation, they hire him to help solve tough cases. With the reluctant assistance of his best friend Gus (Hill), Shawn uses his skills of observation and charismatic personality to become the detective he was trained to be, opening his own PI agency - 'Pysch', and solving cases for an ever-suspicious - but grudgingly impressed - police force.
USA NETWORK is cable television's leading provider of original series and feature movies, sports and entertainment events, off-net television shows, and blockbuster theatrical films. The #1 basic cable network across the board in 1Q06, USA Network is seen in 90 million U.S. homes.
Psych's Shawn Spencer isn't clairvoyant, but he's perceptive enough to fake it
01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, July 2, 2006
BY ANDY SMITH
Journal Television Writer
Medium and The Ghost Whisperer are successful shows about psychics.
Now along comes Psych, a wry twist on the topic from cable's USA Network - it's about a crime-solver who pretends to be a psychic.
Psych starts Friday at 10 p.m. with a 90-minute episode, followed by hour-long episodes on Fridays for the rest of the season.
Psych stars James Roday (Miss Match) as a rather aimless young man named Shawn Spencer, who was trained by his police officer father, Henry (Corbin Bernsen), to be an ace detective.
When Shawn was a little boy, his dad would have him close his eyes in a crowded restaurant and make him describe everyone in the room who was wearing a hat.
Rebellious Shawn never became a cop, but he does retain his Sherlock Holmesian powers of observation. (Through a trick of the camera, key objects light up for Shawn when he looks at them.)
Even though Shawn is not a cop, he can't restrain himself from occasionally calling in tips to the police when he spots a clue on TV news.
When one of his tips hits home in a high-profile murder case, the police figure he's got to be involved somehow, so they arrest him.
Desperate to get out of trouble and on the right side of the law, Shawn convinces the police that he's a genuine psychic who can help them solve crimes.
"He's just using the keen powers of observation embedded in him by his father," Roday said in a conference call that he and co-star Duli Hill (The West Wing) held with TV writers. "He's a brilliant detective, that's what he is. He just didn't have the drive to become a brilliant detective, so he back-doored his way into something he's always had a gift for. He put a silly spin on it to get himself out of trouble."
Shawn is the wild guy who will do anything; Gus, played by Hill, is the (slightly) more sensible best friend who is dragged along.
There's lot of glib patter between the two of them. At one point in their investigation, it looks as though a girl Shawn likes could be a killer.
"You're dating the murderer!" Gus exclaims.
"But not exclusively," replies Shawn.
By the end of the first episode, the two have solved the murder and decide to open their own psychic detective agency, Psych.
Shawn's tough-cop dad, is, of course, less than delighted: "There are two things I really hate -- private detectives and psychics. You've hit the disappointment exacta," he tells his son.
Despite his TV father's reaction, Roday said there's a lot of interest in psychic phenomena these days, which has spilled over into the entertainment world.
"It's the great unknown. People are intrigued by their ability to tap into something that we all kind of think might exist but we really don't know . . . it's always been a fascinating thing, the supernatural, and we're in a pocket now of entertainment where it has people's attention.
"This show is a wink, wink, nod, nod that we recognize it has people's attention."
Psych is cute, maybe too cute for a 90-minute opener. I'm guessing the upcoming hour-long episodes will go down easier.
USA is also the home of Monk, the popular detective show starring Tony Shalhoub as an obsessive-compulsive detective. The new season of Monk also debuts Friday, just before Psych, at 9 p.m.
Hill said Monk and Psych make a good match -- they're both crime-solving shows with elements of comedy, and both star detectives with uncanny powers of observation.
Hill said he was attracted to Psych by the writing, and by the chance to do something very different from the earnest patriotism of The West Wing.
"Charlie [his West Wing character] had to be very reserved because of where he worked. At the White House, you have to be controlled, not lose your temper . . . Gus is nowhere near the White House. His office is on a beach with water right outside the window, and the only person he has to deal with is his best friend."
Roday said he's personally so unobservant that it took him two weeks to find the microwave in his apartment.
To research the part, he couldn't find any psychics who admitted they were fakes, so he spoke to "real" psychics.
"I asked what happens when they have visions or sense things, so I have as many fake tools in my fake toolbox as possible," he said. "They're interesting people, the psychics. Most believe wholeheartedly in their abilities and carry themselves accordingly. It's weird, a weird little subculture."
asmith@projo.com / (401) 277-7262