This week, thanks to my parents’ desire to watch pretty much every television show imaginable*, I stumbled upon the USA television show Psych. Psych follows the exploits of Shawn Spencer, who pretends to be a psychic but who is in fact a daddy-issued slacker with a keen sense of observation. He teams up with Gus (his best friend whose main power is his “super sniffer”), and together they form the fake psychic, real detective agency Psych, and work with law enforcement to solve crimes. Law enforcement doesn’t exactly love being grouped with a psychic, but they (to varying degrees) tolerate and even enjoy their antics.
Psych‘s a procedural crime drama, and so in a lot of ways it’s interchangeable with other “someone from outside the force teams up with the police to solve crazy, wacky crimes” shows (see also: Bones, The Mentalist, Castle, Monk…). But it’s a very enjoyable hour long television show that, especially during the summer, is more than worth the minimal effort it requires from its viewers. Mostly, this is thanks to James Roday as Shawn and Dule Hill as Gus. Their adorable, wacky, odd-couple chemistry and fast paced, witty banter makes the show worth watching. Plus, they dress up in funny outfits and Shawn hits on everything that moves.
So if you’re bored this summer, but not looking to get into something heavy, check out the light, airy, cute USA hit Psych (a couple of season 3 episodes are currently up on Hulu, and normally I’d say that you can’t just skip to Season Three of a show, but one of the great things about a show like Psych is that it’s not really much of a problem. I went from Season one to Season Three and honestly couldn’t have told you, except for Maggie Lawson’s hair cut, the difference). It’s not the type of show that requires you to dig deep into themes and motifs, but it does provide endless quotable material and engaging characters and easy, enjoyable giggles.
* Seriously. They just finished October Road.
Oh and also, James Roday’s vocal inflections and facial mannerisms are freakishly similar to Zach Braff’s. Early Zach Braff. Which makes him adorable.