thecarlysutra | the why you should watch "psych" (dude, sweet!) picspam

My favorite summer series is Psych, which has hardly any fandom and not a ton of viewers, but is totally, totally awesome. And is starting its second season this Friday at ten, and marathoning season one starting Thursday. So.

"Psych" stars these two lookers, Shawn Spencer (James Roday of a bunch of bit parts in lame movies) and Burton "Gus" Guster (Dulé Hill of "The West Wing" and "Holes"). Shawn and Gus have been BFF almost since birth, a fact that is illustrated by numerous flashbacks to their pre-adolescence:

The flashbacks, which tend to be cute rather than annoying, are really a device to show the influence Shawn's father, Henry Spencer (Corbin Bernson, the I'm so awesome guy from "Major League," or the bad guy in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang"). Here's Henry shaking a puppy that Shawn left in his yard as payback (dude, it's a long story):

Henry is a cop, and, hoping his only son would follow in his footsteps, spent a lot of energy teaching Shawn how cops think. This has left him with a photographic memory:

When Shawn's superamazingbrainpowers pick up a clue, he puts on Very Serious Matter face and the clue in question glows. It's a little hokey, but it also means that, almost all of the time, it's possible for the viewer to figure out how the crime really happened right along with Shawn and Gus, which is more than you can say for a lot of crime shows that employ Impossible Science Facts to wrap up the crime in the last ten minutes.

Shawn does not, much to his father's chagrin -- Henry informs his son in the pilot that he's "hit the parental disappointment jackpot" -- become a cop. Instead, he spends his time picking up tons of meaningless, fun jobs that he quits as soon as he's mastered them (read: days); flirting with women; and calling in clues to crimes he sees on the news, thanks to his superamazingbrainpowers. One day, his inside knowledge of a robbery gets him hauled into the station for questioning and, when threatened with the ultimatum "Jail or Tell Us Why You Know This Stuff," he comes up with "I'm a psychic!" on the spur of the moment.

However, the new (interim!) police chief, Karen Vick (Kirsten Nelson, Buffy's boss at the Doublemeat Palace) thinks that Shawn can be of service, and informs him that he'll either assist them on a kidnapping case, or be arrested for interfering with a police investigation. (Here's Interim Chief Vick):

And, just in case you forgot the Doublemeat Palace thing, and for those of you who doubt me:

Shazam. "My hat has a cow."

Okay, back to the story. So, Shawn solves the crime, and the police call on him again, much to the chagrin of Head Detective Carlton Lassiter (Timothy Omundson of "Judging Amy"):

. . . who Shawn calls "Lassie" and describes as a "wispy, Irish fellow who looks like he's been sucking on Sour Patch kids." Lassiter doesn't believe Shawn's psychic, and besides . . . the guy just bugs him:

However, Lassiter's rookie partner, Juliet (Roday's real-life girlfriend, Maggie Lawson) likes Shawn and Gus and often colludes with them behind Lassiter's back, because she knows they're good detectives, even if they're not psychic. Juliet:

And pulling her gun for the first time:

Now that we've got the basics down, let's talk about why the show is very awesome and worthy of your time.

1. BFF OTP My best friend is the most important person in my life, so I love watching good best friend pairings on TV. Angel and Cordelia? Love. Shawn and Gus? Also love. Shawn are perpetually annoying one another . . .

. . . but it's evident that there's still big love there. This is a really well drawn relationship, and it's tons of fun to watch. Here's Gus's face after Shawn, pretending that he and Gus are a gay couple looking at apartments in order to covertly talk to a witness, announces, "Good news! Shower for two."

Hahaha. Awesome.

2. The Psychic Thing? Totally not annoying. Okay, it would be totally easy for the "hey, I'm a psychic, but I'm not!" thing to get really boring/annoying/stupid really fast, but the writers keep it fresh. In one episode, Shawn uses his "Dude, Psychic!" card to communes with a cat who "witnessed" a murder; in another, he can only receive his psychic visions with the help of his sidekick, "Magic Head." (That's what's going on in the icon, there; check out the Boys II Men power fist.) It's all very adorable. (In this scene, Shawn has fallen to the floor in a fit, and grabbed Lassiter's leg because his "vision" is about shoes. Also, he brought a snack to the crime scene, and stole spices from the dead guy to season it, something he's totally okay with because, "It's not like he's going to be using them. He's dead.")

3. Pineapples Shawn is obsessed with pineapples, and they're on the show all the time. And it's always funny. Go ahead, count the number of pineapple appearances. It could be a drinking game.

4. Awesome Guest Stars On last season? Christine Willes from "Dead Like Me," Tamara Mello from "Popular," and Dulé Hill's very sexy wife, Nicole Lyn. Awesome.

5. Dude. The acting. The chemistry. This is a show that is totally made by the actors. The script's not bad --

   Shawn: Why can't I get you this excited about girls? Or Mexico!

   Lassie: I have something to get off my chest.
   Shawn: Is it your shirt? Please say no.

   Shawn: Banana. A yellow fruit. Also, a pudding. A delicious pudding.

   Shawn: Collecting money for the policeman's ball?
   Lassie: We don't have balls.

   Gus (on calling a 1-800-Stress line): I don't know what I'd say.
   Shawn: You could start with, "I have a deep-seated jealousy of a tiny little boycat."

-- but the real awesome is all acting. The actors are all just awesome, not only completely in their roles, but also obviously having tons of fun. And everyone has chemistry with everyone else; it's not overly sexual, although there's tons of subtext . . . it's just fun. It's an enjoyable show to watch.

6. Three dimensions, baby. "Psych" has neatly-encapsulated plots -- which means no long arcs; it's an easy show to pick up any time and not be at all lost -- so there's not a lot of running characterization, but the characters are all well-fleshed out and interesting. And they're likeable, all of them. Lassiter is a tight-ass, but his heart's in the right place, and his friction with Shawn is only funny since he's oblivious over the amount of control he actually has over the situation. Shawn constantly chases women, but not in a creepy way; he's light-hearted and open enough that you encourage, rather than frown at, his perpetual attempts at smooth-talking women. Gus is a button-down dork, but he also has a really fun, creative wild-side that Shawn milks out of him. Etc.

Dude, seriously. It's such a good show; I lovelovelove it. It's one of the few shows I laugh out loud at throughout the whole episode, and it's good, light-hearted, pineapple-loving, BFF OTP fun. Seriously. Give it a try.

Feel free to leave your Why People Should Watch "Psych" / Why I Love "Psych" comments to this post. I'm making this post public, so feel free to invite your friends. Viva la "Psych!"