USA announced that Psych will be cancelled in its 8th season. During, mind you, not after. And with no real advance notice to the producers and writers. I greeted this information with sadness but not shock.
For the first 3 seasons or so, I was the only person I knew who watched Psych. I loved it enough to buy seasons as they came out, rather than my traditional wait-six-months-and-pay-half-price route. I watched all the commentaries. I looked for pineapples. I have the Psych refrigerator poetry set. So I never quite understood why it took people so long to catch on to how amazing this series is.
Psych has only been nominated for 1 Emmy (for original score, 2010) and has only won 1 People's Choice Award (Favorite Cable TV Comedy, 2014!). So, except for—apparently—this year, neither critics nor viewers thought much of this plucky show.
In a television age of overstated pathos and passion, Psych is an ode to the music, movies and television shows that brought joy and fun to our lives. From episode themes (See: Dual Spires) to guest stars (Ally Sheedy, Cary Elwes, and William Shatner) to character names (a character named Jason in the Friday the 13th ep. "Tuesday the 17th"), Psych was devoted to reminding its viewers that it's ok to acknowledge those who came before and to build on them.
I don't understand why Psych occasionally gets billed as a drama. Psych was always intended to be a comedy along the lines of Moonlighting and Remington Steele. Like Moonlighting, Psych is more romantic comedy than crime-solving drama, however, the central relationship is a friendship of the highest order. Having sexual tension play a secondary role to fun-loving characters who constantly get in over their heads (wow, just realized the similarities to Scooby-doo) means that no character's dating life is allowed to high-jack the show.
Psych stays true to its message: the joys and consequences of irresponsibility and making light of the serious. Beyond the characters, the independent and silly nature of the show can be found from the top down. Steve Franks is the creator, producer, director, writer, and composer AND performer of the show's theme song. This is a guy that my generation would expect to find making a web series, not 8 seasons of cable TV (because nobody does everything in the corporate world).
Everyone talks about the amount of improv in shows featuring former SNL stars. No one talks about how Psych scripts include lines like "/angry whisper fight/" or that every button of a scene with James Roday is the funniest take of him talking until the cameras stop rolling. What other show would resurrect an outtake of an improved line at the end of a scene (thus cutting something else) and turn it into the icon of the entire series?
What other show would quote movies so obscure that they feel compelled to explain what was quoted in the commentaries? (But only the truly obscure ones.)
What show would reference popular products regardless of sponsorship? (Then end up getting sponsorship in a burst of serendipity.)
What show could get away with openly mocking another show on a different network as being a blatant rip off? "'If I were a fake psychic, it would be eerily similar. ' 'Exactly the same' 'A virtual carbon copy.'"
And of course, what other show would have a pregnant interim police chief, a feline witness, a tap-dancing detective, an apartment in a dry cleaning store, a falsely accused polar bear, a lovable-yet-creepy mortician, even more lovable criminals, and of course a fake psychic detective?
No other show. Psych stands alone.
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