With a title that's a pun in and of itself, USA's new detective comedy "Psych" has established its place among the cleverest shows on television today. Although it is not one of the better known debuts of 2006, to its fans it is a gem amongst gravel in the proverbial sandbox of sitcoms.
The premise of the show stars Shawn Spencer (2005 "Dukes of Hazzard" actor James Roday) as a man who uses his extraordinary powers of observation taught by his ex-cop father Henry (Corbin Bernsen of "L.A. Law") to trick people - and the members of the precinct he works for-into believing he's psychic. Spencer's comic foil is his childhood best friend, Gus Gister ("West Wing" veteran Dule Hill), who plays Watson to Spencer's bumbling Sherlock. The show is unassuming in its approach to comedy and the frequently-overused subject of crime, and doesn't try too hard to be witty.
The actors mesh well, fueling the easy pace and originality of the show with the fun they're having in their roles. The cases are not full of twists and gore; instead, it is the lightness of the plot and level of predictability that make the show so charming. Watching Spencer and Gister make their way to the conclusion that the viewer has probably come to in the first ten minutes is really the fun of watching "Psych."
"Psych" wraps up its successful first season with the episode "Scary Sherry." It starts out with a flashback to Spencer and Gister's childhood, trick or treating in 1987. While Henry Spencer is driving the boys home, he is forced to make an off-duty detour to a local mental ward, where one patient is about to commit suicide out of a window. Arriving at the scene, Henry runs in to help. Spencer opens his eyes long enough to see the woman start to fall out of the window and is scarred by the experience.
The episode then cuts to present day, and a sorority pledge has allegedly committed suicide out of the same window that "Scary Sherry" - the jumper from twenty years before, who is now a ghost in urban legends - met her end from. Spencer is called in by partner Juliet (Maggie O'Hara), who is currently undercover as a member of the sorority and does not believe that the girl actually committed suicide. Where it goes from there involves a cat named Mrs. Pickles, some otherworldly haunts and a half-insane gumshoe detective.
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