PSYCH

'''Psych''' is an American comedy-drama television series. The show stars James Roday as Shawn Spencer, a young police consultant 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 Gus, as well as Corbin Bernsen as Shawn's captious father, Henry.
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 Gus, a socially awkward pharmaceutical representative, over his eclectic interests (including a love for comic books and superheroes, spelling bees, and astronomy).
The show is well known for frequent pop-culture references, as well as for including references to pineapples in almost every episode. The significance of the pineapple reference is not yet known.
The series airs in the US on Friday nights at 10PM ET/PT on the USA Network. It debuted July 7, 2006, immediately following the fifth season premiere of ''Monk''. The show was the highest-rated basic cable television premiere of 2006.^[1]
On June 26, 2007, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released the first season of ''Psych'' on DVD for Region 1.^[2]

Contents

Characters

Main Characters

Recurring Characters

Former Characters

Episodes

Season 1

Season 2

Production information

Response

Critical reaction and ratings

Nominations and awards

DVD releases

International broadcasters

References

External links

Characters

Main Characters

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

Recurring Characters

Buzz McNab — Sage Brocklebank

Former Characters

Lucinda Barry — Anne Dudek

Episodes

Main articles: List of Psych episodes

Season 1

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

Season 2

''Psych'' was renewed for a second season of sixteen episodes which began airing July 13, 2007.^[3]

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 they show the outside of the Santa Barbara Courthouse) are actually filmed in Santa Barbara.

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.^[4]
''From The 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.^[5]
''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.^[6]
''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 ''s and ''24'' go ever more gory, watching people who are clearly having a good time solve light mysteries makes a nice change.^[7]

Nominations and awards

The following list shows the awards the show has been nominated for and won:
; 'Satellite Awards':
:James Roday nominated for Best Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical (2006)^[8]
; 'Independent Investigations Group Annual Awards':
:Psych winner of an IIG "Good" award for advancing the cause of science, and exposing superstition (2006)^[9]

DVD releases

Title	Box art	Region 1	Region 2	Region 3
Season One		June 26 2007

International broadcasters

Country	TV Network(s)	Series Premiere	Weekly Schedule (local time)
United States	USA Network	July 7 2006	Friday, 10:00 pm/9:00 pm Central Time
Canada	CH		Friday, 9:00 pm
Brazil	Universal Channel and Rede Record	September 27, 2006 (Universal Channel) May 7, 2007 (Rede Record)	Wednesday, 10:00 pm (Universal Channel) Monday, 12:00 am (Rede Record)
Israel	yes stars 2 (channel 13)	January 29, 2007	Monday night, 10:20 pm
Latin America	Universal Channel	September 27, 2006	Wednesday, 09:00 pm
United Kingdom	Hallmark Channel ''(first run and repeats)'' and BBC Two ''(re-runs)''	April 27, 2007	Fridays, 7:00 pm
Spain	Cuatro TV , Calle 13	January 10 2007	Wednesday, 10 pm
Philippines	C/S Crime and Suspense (Cable TV)	February 22 2007	Every Thursday at 8:00pm
New Zealand	Prime TV	April 2007	Every Thursday at 7:30pm
Hungary	Tv2	April 22 2007	Sundays, 3:30 pm
Iceland	SkjárEinn
Arab World	Showtime Arabia, Show Series 2	April 25 2007	Wednesdays, 10:00pm
India	Star World	May 7 2007	Mondays, 10:00 pm
Sweden	Kanal 5	8 June 2007	Friday, 9:00 pm
Switzerland	TSR 1	September 1 2007	Saturday, 4:30 pm
Southeast Asia (except in The Philippines)	Star World	July 11 2007	Wednesdays, 9:00 pm (HK/SIN) Wednesdays, 8:00 pm (THAI/WIB)
South Korea	OnStory	June 27 2007	Wednesdays/Thursdays, 9:00 pm

References

1. PSYCH DEBUTS AS THIS YEAR'S MOST WATCHED NEW SHOW IN BASIC CABLE
2. Psych - 1st Season of Psych Available Either Alone or with Monk - S5
3. USA NETWORK 'PSYCHED' FOR SECOND SEASON OF "PSYCH"
4. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/pr.aspx?id=20060711usa01
5. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/columnists/charlie_mccollum/14976592.htm
6. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/276520_tv06.html
7. http://www.ew.com/ew/home/0,11146,~0~~,00.html
8. http://www.pressacademy.com/satawards/forms/pdf/2006-IPA-Nom-Announce.pdf
9. http://www.iigwest.com/investigations/2007/20070809_pressrelease.html

External links

★ Official Site (USA Network)

★ ''Psych'' on TV Squad

★ Psych Fanfiction Archive