Psych

This article is about the television series. For the scientific discipline, see Psychology. For the style of music, see Psychedelic music.

Psych
File:Psych-ad.jpg
Created by	Steve Franks
Starring	James Roday Dulé Hill Corbin Bernsen Kirsten Nelson Timothy Omundson Maggie Lawson
Opening theme	"I Know You Know" by The Friendly Indians
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	31 (list of episodes)
Production
Production locations	White Rock, BC Vancouver, BC
Running time	approx. 43 minutes
Original release
Network	USA Network Reruns on NBC
Release	July 7, 2006 – present

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" 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. Reruns of the show started airing along with Monk, another USA Network show Sundays on NBC at 8:00 PM, starting April 6, 2008. In the 2008 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.

Characters

Main characters

Name	Portrayed by	Occupation/Status
Shawn Spencer	James Roday, as a child: Liam James	A fake psychic who works with the Santa Barbara Police Department (SBPD) and childhood friend Gus
Burton "Gus" Guster	Dulé Hill, as a child: Isaah Brown (Season 1), Carlos McCullers II (Season 2)	Shawn's best friend and partner; works in pharmaceuticals
Carlton Lassiter	Timothy Omundson	Head detective for the SBPD
Juliet "Jules" O'Hara	Maggie Lawson	Junior detective for the SBPD; Lassiter's partner
Karen Vick	Kirsten Nelson	Chief for the SBPD
Henry Spencer	Corbin Bernsen	Shawn's father; a former police detective

In flashbacks, we see that Henry Spencer assumed his son would follow in his footsteps and become a law 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, 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.

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

Main article: List of Psych 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.

Psych was renewed for a third season of sixteen episodes starting July 18, 2008.

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 showed) 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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

From Entertainment Weekly:

It's nonsensical, relies heavily on the likability of its leads to distract from thin plots, and won't leave much of a lasting impression. So why bother with a show that's the detective-series equivalent of Cannonball Run? Because as the CSIs and 24 go ever more gory, watching people who are clearly having a good time solve light mysteries makes a nice change.

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).

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

International broadcasters

Country	TV Network(s)	Series Premiere	Weekly Schedule (local time)
Australia	Network Ten	December 4 2007	Tuesdays, 9:30pm Cancelled after just 4 episodes went to air. Returned on Saturday June 21, 2008 at 7:30pm in Sydney only, cancelled once again the following day
Brazil	Universal Channel and Rede Record	September 27, 2006 (Universal Channel) May 7, 2007 (Rede Record)	Wednesdays, 10:00 pm (Universal Channel) Mondays, 12:00 am (Rede Record)
Canada	CH now E!		Fridays, 9:00 pm
Croatia	Nova TV	January 20 2008	Sundays, 1:00 pm
Ecuador	Teleamazonas	February 1 2008	Fridays, 11:30 pm
France	TF1	December 2 2007	Sundays, 3:10 pm Cancelled after a few episodes
Germany	RTL Television	October 30 2007	Tuesdays, 10:15 pm
Greece	Alter Channel	September 29 2007	Thursdays, 9:00 pm
Hungary	TV2	April 22 2007	Sundays, 3:30 pm
Iceland	SkjárEinn		Sundays, 8:40 pm
India	Star World	May 7 2007	Mondays, 10:00 pm
Israel	yes stars 2 (channel 13)	January 29, 2007	Mondays, 9:30 pm
Ireland	RTE 2	April 17(Pilot), 2008	Thursdays(Time To Be Chosen)
Italy	Steel (digital tv)	January 19, 2008	Sundays, 9:00 pm
Latvia	TV3 Latvia	January 5 2008	Sundays, 4:00 pm
Lithuania	TV3 Lithuania	June 28 2008	Saturdays and Sundays, 5:40 pm
New Zealand	Prime	July 2 2008	Wednesdays, 7:30 pm (Season 2). Season 1 aired on sky 1 (Now called: the BOX) mid 2007.
Norway	NRK3, Viasat 4		Mondays, 9:25 pm
Philippines	C/S on RPN	February 22 2007	Thursdays, 8:00 pm
Portugal	FX	September 26 2007	Sundays, 10:00 pm
Russia	Universal Channel	June 1 2008	Sundays, 5:00 pm
Slovakia	Markíza	December 3 2007	Weekdays, 3:00 pm
Slovenia	Kanal A	August 31 2007	Fridays, 9:40 pm
South Korea	OnStory	June 27 2007	Wednesdays/Thursdays, 9:00 pm
Spain	Cuatro , Calle 13	January 10 2007	Sundays, 10 pm
Sweden	Kanal 5	June 8 2007	Fridays, 9:00 pm
Switzerland	TSR 1 3+	September 1 2007 October 25 2007	Saturdays, 4:30 pm Thursdays, 9:50 pm
Turkey	DiziMax	March 18 2008	Tuesdays, 10:00 pm
United Kingdom	Hallmark Channel (Second Series)	January 20, 2008	Sundays, 8:00 pm
United States	USA Network and NBC	July 7 2006	Fridays, 10:00 pm/9:00 pm Central Time
Arab World	Showtime Arabia (Show Series 2)	April 25 2007	Wednesdays, 10:00 pm
Asia	Star World	July 11 2007	Wednesdays, 9:30 pm
Southeast Asia	Star World	July 11 2007	Wednesdays, 9:00 pm (HK/SIN) Wednesdays, 8:00 pm (THAI/WIB)
		October 22 2007 (Philippines)	Mondays, 10:00 pm
Latin America	Universal Channel	September 27, 2006	Sundays, 06:00 pm

DVD releases

Title	Ep #	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
Season One	15	June 26 2007	September 1 2008	April 30 2008
Season Two	16	July 11 2008	September 8 2008	TBA

External links

• Psych TV Wiki
• Official Site (USA Network)
• Psych at IMDb
• Psych on TV Squad