Psych is an American detective comedy-drama television series created by Steve Franks and broadcast on USA Network. It stars James Roday as Shawn Spencer, a young crime consultant for the Santa Barbara Police Department whose "heightened observational skills"[1] and impressive detective instincts allow him to convince people that he solves cases with psychic abilities. The program also stars Dulé Hill as Shawn's best friend and reluctant partner Burton "Gus" Guster, as well as Corbin Bernsen as Shawn's captious father, Henry.
The series airs new episodes in the US on Wednesdays at 10PM ET/PT, 9PM CST on 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 on Friday, July 7, 2006, immediately following the fifth season premiere of Monk, and continued to be paired with the series until Monk's conclusion on December 4, 2009. It was the highest-rated US basic cable television premiere of 2006.[2] The sixth season ended on April 11, 2012. It is currently USA Network's longest-running original series on air.[3] On January 10, 2012, USA renewed the series for a seventh season, to include 16 episodes. Psych will be showing it's seventh season in Fall 2012.[4]
Most episodes begin with a cold open in the form of a flashback. These flashbacks show that Henry Spencer (Corbin Bernsen) wished that 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. Each flashback also sets the theme for the episode, based on the challenge Shawn's father presents him.
Shawn (James Roday) originally becomes known as a psychic when, after calling in tips on dozens of crime covered on the news, which help the police to close the case, the police become suspicious of his knowledge. The police theorize that such knowledge could only come from the "inside" and they decide to arrest him as a suspect. To avoid being sent to jail, Shawn uses his observational skills to convince the police 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, and having proven himself an effective aid to the police in solving crimes, he establishes a psychic detective agency, Psych, and becomes a consultant to the police. 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, about Gus's eclectic interests.
Head detective Carlton Lassiter (Timothy Omundson), playfully named "Lassie" by Shawn and Gus, quietly respects Shawn's crime-solving skills but doubts his psychic abilities and is constantly exasperated by his antics. On the contrary, junior detective Juliet O'Hara (Maggie Lawson) and Chief Vick (Kirsten Nelson) are far less antagonistic – with O'Hara expressing belief in Shawn's abilities, while Vick is mum on the subject – and usually willing to give Shawn the leeway he needs to solve cases. Henry and Shawn have a difficult relationship, but despite this, Henry reluctantly helps Shawn on various occasions.
- Shawn Spencer (James Roday) is a freelance consultant with the Santa Barbara Police Department, pretending to be a psychic. However, it is really his exceptional observational skills and eidetic memory that allow him to obtain his "visions". He refuses to take anything seriously, though has matured slowly throughout the seasons. He has had romantic tension with Juliet since they met, which led them to start dating in the middle of season 5.
- Burton "Gus" Guster (Dulé Hill) is Shawn's best friend and business partner. He also is a pharmaceuticals salesman. Unlike Shawn, he takes his work very seriously, and usually tries to act professionally, yet usually ends up as invested in jokes and snacks as Shawn is. He is famous for his many aliases (usually given to him by Shawn), including "Magic Head", "Lavender Gooms", "Ghee Buttersnaps", and "Control Alt Delete". He is known for being attracted to all types of females, who usually end up as the prime suspect.
- Carlton "Lassie" Lassiter (Timothy Omundson) is the head detective for the Santa Barbara Police Department. He is skeptical of Shawn's psychic abilities, and is extremely annoyed by Shawn's comic antics. However, he occasionally must come to Psych for help with his more difficult cases.
- Juliet "Jules" O'Hara (Maggie Lawson) is a junior detective for the Santa Barbara Police Department, and is Lassiter's partner. She joined the SBPD after Lassiter's old partner got transferred in season 1, and was originally a cop in Miami. Throughout the series she and Shawn share constant romantic tension, and the two start dating in season 5.
- Chief Karen Vick (Kirsten Nelson) is the SBPD Chief. She is tough but fair, usually reluctant to hire Shawn and Gus for cases, but almost always gives in. She respects Shawn's help and input but firmly keeps him in check (as much as she can) when he pushes the limits of the law or her patience.
- Henry Spencer (Corbin Bernsen) is Shawn's uptight and precise father and a former police sergeant. He is usually visited by Shawn with questions about various cases, but is usually reluctant to help. He has been rehired to the SBPD to be in charge of the department's consultants, much to Shawn's chagrin. At the end of Season 6, Henry quit the SBPD and then was shot by a former police partner in the season's cliffhanger ending.
- Young Shawn (Seasons 1–5: Liam James; Seasons 5–present: Skyler Gisondo) is the younger version of Shawn Spencer. He is shown at the beginning of most episodes in flashbacks to the late 1980s and early 1990s, usually learning a life lesson from his father, which helps him later in the episode. He has also been portrayed in various episodes by Josh Hayden and Kyle Pejpar.
- Young Gus (Carlos McCullers II) is the younger version of Burton "Gus" Guster. He is shown at the beginning of various episodes in flashbacks with Shawn. He was also portrayed by Isaah Brown during the first season.
- Buzz McNab (Sage Brocklebank) is a naive but lovable cop who often provides Shawn and Gus with clues. He takes every case given him by Lassiter and Juliet with a polite, optimistic attitude, despite both Lassiter and Jules finding said case to be menial. Shawn gives him a "little boy cat" (that is actually a girl cat) that once helped him solve a case in season one. In "Shawn Gets the Yips" (4.05), McNab is severely injured when a bomb went off in his mailbox while he was getting his mail. Later in the episode, he returns to work with a severe concussion and on crutches, but alive; he remarks to Shawn and Gus that he had lost part of three toes, though. He has occasionally pulled Shawn over for various traffic violations only to realize that it is him and apologize. In the fourth season finale episode, "Mr. Yin Presents..." (4.16), McNab is attacked and knocked unconscious by the unseen killer, otherwise known as Yin, but survives. He returns in season 5.
- Madeleine Spencer (Cybill Shepherd) is a police psychologist who is Shawn's mother and Henry's ex-wife. In the episode "Ghosts" (3.01), she tells Lassiter that she has eidetic tonal memory, which is like Shawn's photographic memory but with sound. She appears in "Ghosts" (3.01), "Murder? ... Anyone? ... Anyone? ... Bueller?" (3.02), "An Evening with Mr. Yang" (3.16), and "Yang 3 in 2D" (5.16). She was portrayed over-the-shoulder by a different actress in "Shawn (and Gus) of the Dead" (2.16).
- Abigail Lytar (Rachael Leigh Cook) is Shawn's high school crush, whom he let get away when he moved from, then back to, Santa Barbara and his parents got divorced. She first appears in "Murder? ... Anyone? ... Anyone? ... Bueller?" (3.02) and returns in "An Evening with Mr. Yang" (3.16), "He Dead" (4.02), "Bollywood Homicide" (4.06), and "You Can't Handle This Episode" (4.10). In "You Can't Handle This Episode", the winter half premiere of Season 4, Abigail departs for Uganda. However, she returns in the episode "Mr. Yin Presents..." (4.16). After being kidnapped by Yin and saved by Shawn, she tells him she does not like danger and breaks up with him after the two share a final kiss.
- Winnie Guster (Phylicia Rashad) is Gus' mother. She appears in the first two of the series' Christmas episodes, "Gus's Dad May Have Killed an Old Guy" (2.10) and "Christmas Joy" (3.09).
- Bill Guster (Ernie Hudson, Keith David) is Gus' father. Although the character of Gus' father appeared in the first two Christmas episodes, Bill Guster was played by Ernie Hudson in "Gus's Dad May Have Killed an Old Guy" and by Keith David in "Christmas Joy".
- Mr. Yang (Ally Sheedy) is a serial killer, first appearing in "An Evening with Mr. Yang" (3.16). She returns after a decade-long absence to target Shawn in her deadly game of cat-and-mouse. In the season four finale, "Mr. Yin Presents..." (4.16), Shawn and Gus visit her in prison. She seems to have a deeper connection to Shawn, as the last scene of "Mr. Yin Presents..." shows Yin, Yang's partner, looking at a picture of what is presumably a younger Yang, standing next to young Shawn. Her help is enlisted again by Shawn and Gus in "Yang 3 in 2D", the fifth season's finale, in which it is revealed that she is actually Yin's daughter.
- Mary Lightly (Jimmi Simpson) was a department psychologist who was an expert on Mr. Yang. He first appeared in "An Evening with Mr. Yang" (3.16) and later in "Mr. Yin Presents..." (4.16). He was stabbed to death in the season four finale by Yin while bravely trying to capture him alone. He appears on videotape in "Yang 3 in 2D" (5.16) as well.
- Woody the Coroner (Kurt Fuller) is a police coroner that Shawn shares a mutual respect with. His wife cheats on him with multiple men, some of whom he has approved. He is also apparently wanted in the Philippines. He first appeared in "High Top Fade Out" (4.07).[5]
- Mr. Yin (Christopher Turner, Peter Weller) was a serial killer who was actually responsible for the Yang murders. He is also Yang's father. He first appeared in "Mr. Yin Presents..." (4.16) targeting Shawn, and later returned for a second round in "Yang 3 in 2D" (5.16), in which he is murdered by his daughter.
- Pierre Despereaux (Cary Elwes) is an extremely elusive Canadian art thief. He first appeared in "Extradition: British Columbia" (4.01). When Shawn and Gus travel to Canada on a ski trip they end up catching him. However, it is revealed that he, in fact, is simply an insurance fraudster. Despereaux returned in "Extradition II: The Actual Extradition Part" (5.10), in which he was accused of multiple murders after his escape from prison. He was later cleared of the murder charges and finally extradited to the United States. He makes a return in the episode "Indiana Shawn and the Temple of the Kinda Crappy, Rusty Old Dagger" (6.10), in which he races with Shawn and Gus against a gang of art thieves to find an old dagger.
- Declan Rand (Nestor Carbonell) is a rich criminal profiler so good at his job that he poses a threat to Shawn. He turns out to be a fake criminal profiler and knows that Shawn is not a real psychic. His first appearance was in "Shawn 2.0" (5.08), and his most recent appearance was in "One, Maybe Two, Ways Out" (5.09). In "Extradition II: The Actual Extradition Part" (5.10), Juliet announces that she and Declan broke up.
- Marlowe Viccellio (Kristy Swanson) is a woman Lassiter meets and becomes romantically involved with. It is later discovered that she has been stealing blood in order to help her dying brother, and she is sent to prison. Despite this, her relationship with Lassiter continues. She first appears in "This Episode Sucks" (6.03) and later in "Let's Doo-Wop It Again" (6.13).
| Season |
Episodes |
Timeslot (EST) |
Original airing |
Viewers
(in millions) |
| Season premiere |
Season finale |
Season |
| 1 |
15 |
Friday 10:00 pm (July 7, 2006 – February 20, 2009) |
July 7, 2006 (2006-07-07) |
March 2, 2007 (2007-03-02) |
2006–2007 |
TBA |
| 2 |
16 |
July 13, 2007 (2007-07-13) |
February 15, 2008 (2008-02-15) |
2007–2008 |
3.89[6] |
| 3 |
16 |
July 18, 2008 (2008-07-18) |
February 20, 2009 (2009-02-20) |
2008–2009 |
TBA |
| 4 |
16 |
Friday 10:00 pm (August 7, 2009 – October 16, 2009)
Wednesday 10:00 pm (January 27, 2010 – March 10, 2010) |
August 7, 2009 (2009-08-07) |
March 10, 2010 (2010-03-10) |
2009–2010 |
TBA |
| 5 |
16 |
Wednesday 10:00 pm (July 14, 2010 – December 8, 2010)
Wednesday 9:00 pm (December 15, 2010)
Wednesday 10:00 pm (December 22, 2010) |
July 14, 2010 (2010-07-14) |
December 22, 2010 (2010-12-22) |
2010 |
4.57[7] |
| 6 |
16 |
Wednesday 10:00 pm (October 12, 2011 – April 11, 2012) |
October 12, 2011 (2011-10-12) |
April 11, 2012 (2012-04-11) |
2011–2012 |
TBA |
| 7 |
16 |
TBA |
TBA (TBA) |
TBA (TBA) |
2012 |
TBA |
The show uses White Rock, British Columbia, Canada for its Santa Barbara, California setting.[8] Psych also incorporates Vancouver and various locations around the Lower Mainland of British Columbia as a backdrop. 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.
The theme song for Psych is "I Know You Know" by The Friendly Indians, series creator Steve Franks' band. Some episodes in Seasons 3, 4, 5, and 6 use the extended full-length version of "I Know You Know", but most episodes use the usual, shortened version.
- Variations
The Christmas and Hindi-themed variations of the song also include variations on the main titles. In particular, the Hindi and Chinese-themed episodes phonetically translated words into Devanagari and Chinese characters, respectively, in their title sequences. The theme in the Twin Peaks tribute is an almost shot-for-shot recreation of the Twin Peaks theme.
Since the series first aired, a pineapple has been a recurring theme, with one visible or with an implied presence in every episode. The pineapple is a major marketing point for items related to the show on the USA website.[10] There is also a website that is dedicated to finding a pineapple or pineapple related object in each episode.[11]
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.[2]
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.[12]
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.[13]
Seasons one through five are available on DVD in Region 1, while seasons one, two, and three are available in Regions 2 and 4. Seasons one through five are available for online streaming on Netflix and Hulu, and for download in the iTunes Store. Season 5 is available for download through Amazon's Instant Video Store. Despite the entire series being recorded in HD resolutions and available in HD over streaming video services, no Blu-Ray release of Psych exists (As of January 2012[update]).
| Title |
Ep # |
Region 1 |
Region 2 |
Region 4 |
| Season One |
15 |
June 26, 2007 |
April 24, 2008 |
April 30, 2008 |
| Season Two |
16 |
July 11, 2008 |
June 7, 2010 |
March 3, 2010 |
| Season Three |
16 |
July 21, 2009 |
February 21, 2011 |
March 2, 2011 |
| Season Four |
16 |
July 13, 2010 |
July 18, 2011 |
TBA |
| Season Five |
16 |
May 31, 2011 |
May 21, 2012 |
TBA |
| Season Six |
16 |
TBA 2012 |
TBA 2012 |
TBA 2012 |
In Norway the series is broadcast on NRK3.
In Brazil the series is presented on Studio Universal channel.
In Germany the series is broadcasted on RTL
In the Netherlands the series is broadcasted on Comedy Central.
William Rabkin has written and published five novels based on the series. The novels are written in third person narrative style.
- ^ Season 1, episode 11: "My heightened observational skills are considered a gift by many many people, but I'm here to tell you, they can be a burden."
- ^ a b "Psych Debuts As This Year's Most-watched New Show in Basic Cable". The Futon Critic. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20060711usa01.
- ^ "USA Network Press Release". USA Network. http://www.nbcumv.com/mediavillage/networks/usanetwork/pressreleases?pr=contents/press-releases/2011/0/22/usawelcomesthef1314050221654.xml.
- ^ Stanhope, Kate (January 10, 2012). "USA Renews Psych for Seventh Season". TV Guide. http://www.tvguide.com/News/USA-Renews-Psych-1041417.aspx. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ "High Top Fade Out". Usanetwork.com. http://www.usanetwork.com/series/Psych/theshow/episodeguide/episodes/s4_hightop/credit.html. Retrieved 2010-05-25. [dead link]
- ^ "ABC Television Network 2007–2008 Primetime Ranking Report". ABC Medianet. May 28, 2008. http://abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=052808_06. Retrieved January 5, 2012.
- ^ Seidman, Robert (August 11, 2011). ""Psych' Returns to USA with Its Sixth Season Premiere on October 12 at 10p". TV by the Numbers. http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/08/11/psych-returns-to-usa-with-its-sixth-season-premiere-on-october-12-at-10p/100273/. Retrieved January 5, 2012.
- ^ "Filming locations for "Psych" (2006)". imdb.com. amazon.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0491738/locations. Retrieved 5 July 2010.
- ^ "Psych TV Series – Curt Smith – This is Christmas". Usanetwork.com. 2010-12-16. http://www.usanetwork.com/series/psych/downloads/curtsmith.html. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
- ^ "Comedy Television Series and Mystery TV Show – Psych TV Series – USA Network – What's With The Pineapple? – USA Network". http://www.usanetwork.com/series/psych/pineapple/. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
- ^ psychpineapple.com
- ^ http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/columnists/charlie_mccollum/14976592.htm
- ^ Mcfarland, Melanie (2006-07-05). "On TV: Future holds a lot of fun for 'Psych' viewers". Seattlepi.com. http://www.seattlepi.com/tv/276520_tv06.html. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
- ^ "IIG – 08/09/2007 Press Release". Iigwest.com. http://www.iigwest.com/investigations/2007/20070809_pressrelease.html. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
- ^ "The IIG Awards". Iigwest.com. 2010-08-21. http://iigwest.com/iigawards. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ 2010-11-11 by Corinne Heller (2010-11-11). "Emmy Awards 2010". OnTheRedCarpet.com. http://www.ontheredcarpet.com/2010/07/emmy-awards-2010-get-the-full-list-of-nominations.html. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
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