Psych

Anyone catch the pilot? The missus and I really liked it. I would

Barry Margolin...

It's not just a photographic memory, it's the attention to details. His
father trained him to notice everything. And then on top of this he's
able to make the right inferences from what he's seen.

Barry Margolin...

Shaun's abilities seem to be pretty much the same as Sherlock Holmes.
Didn't seem to prevent that character from being incredibly successful
in a wide range of formats for many decades.

What bugged me is why he needed to make up this fantastic cover story

David Levy...

This is the huge flaw that made it difficult for me to enjoy the show.
Shawn's actual abilities are extraordinary and easily demonstrable, so

tmcd...

and he absolutely loathed demonstrating it on demand as a child and
still loathes demonstrating it today.

David Levy...

His available options were to demonstrate his abilities, be arrested,
or extemporaneously contrive an elaborate, far-fetched hoax. As
strongly as he disliked option #1, it was the only rational course of

Anim8rFSK...

he said he phoned in tips all the time, and came in expecting a reward.
They didn't SAY he'd ever gotten a reward before, but he sure acted like
it.

I.e., he was never involved in a way

David Levy...

By "demonstrate his abilities," I was referring to the act of
performing an honest demonstration of his eidetic memory and
extraordinary reasoning skills. Instead, he pretended to be psychic
(option #3).

action.

Doing it on his own time, no prob.

there was no logical reason for him to invent a supernatural
explanation.

trike...

I thought the explanation as given was plausible. This is a
lightweight, popcorn-munching type of show, so I'm not going to quibble
over minor details, much. Suffice it to say that he tried to explain

David Levy...

I'd call this a major detail, but yeah, it's something that just has
to be accepted. I was able to enjoy the episode as a comedy, which is
precisely how I view "Monk" (the mysteries of which usually are rather
weak).

how he did his thing, but they weren't buying. Well, mostly the cop
wasn't, but he was bullying everyone else to go along with him.

David Levy...

At this point, Shawn could have demonstrated his actual abilities by
closing his eyes and describing every minute detail in the room (as
well as the lobby, the hallway and the cells).

Of course, then we wouldn't have our "fake psychic" show.

I thought it was quite funny when he asked, "Is anyone actually buying
this?" and the goofy dancing-lessons flatfoot halfway raised his
hand... and the perp in the cell behind them stuck his hand through the
bars and raised his, too. That's plenty for me for a show like this:
funny, snappy, witty. I'm good.

Did anyone else notice that Gus drove a five-door Toyota Yaris
hatchback? That's a popular model in Canada (where the series is
shot), but only the three-door version is available in the United
States.

trike...

I knew it was a Yaris, but I don't have that level of knowledge of
model availability. I'm still geeking out over the Smart cars thatve
started showing up here in NH -- they don't even look like real cars.

for his abilities. Did Lestat need a supernatural explanation for

Anthony D. Langford...

Yes, but if he didn't that, it removes the entire premise and the place
where much of the humor comes from for the series.

David Johnston...

So I he sized them up and either decided that they were more likely
to believe in psychic powers than that someone is that much smarter
than them or just held them in such contempt that he'd rather tell
them a lie than lower himself to explain the truth.

kilroybass...

"He's a good detective. But the police aren't going to go come...and
give you cases if you say, "Hey, I'm a really good detective." it's an
opportunity where he talks his way out of something."

Holmes's successes? It could be a commentary on the religious right

tmcd...

I could point out that just the conceit for the show, like "she alone
will stand against the vampires &c", or "bumbling French(ish)
detective who stumbles into solving the crimes", or whatever.
But that's a meta-explanation.

The cops were really suspicious of him. If he said only "I'm really
good at noticing details", I don't think they would have bought it --
Detective Felix Unger would still think that he was in on the theft at
the appliance store.

In the final scene, Pete Ross is asking Fake Johnny Smith why he named
his agency "Psych", "as in 'gotcha'?". Fake Johnny replies, "The best
way to convince people that you're not lying to them, is to tell them
that you are!"

Hmmm. I don't follow that last.

(N. B. I'm really bad with character names. Rechecking, the Psychs
are Shawn Spencer and his trusty sidekick Gus.)

tmcd...

Please explain "Charlie". Did the actor have that as a role in a
previous show?

Anim8rFSK...

Yes. Dulé Hill (Gus) was Charlie Young, the President's body man on The
West Wing.

Rewatching bits of it, I noticed that Gus was actually more help than
I had realized, or that Gus had wanted. Gus was the one who stumbled
on and IDed the dog-bite medicine and the doctor's name that Shaun
used in the final revelation.

that seems to have much of the power these days (most noticeable in the
debate over evolution): people these days seem to be looking for
fanciful explanations, and distrust science and rationalism. By
contrast, the Holmes stories were written at a time when science and
technology were making vast improvements in life, and intellectuals were
highly respected.

Mark Nobles...

Meanwhile, Arthur Conan Doyle was attending seances and promoting the
Cottingley Fairies as real evidence of spiritualism.

even go so far as to say that it's one of the best pilots I've seen in
quite a while. I thought it was well-written, and the two leads have

Anim8rFSK...

It had some holes, but it was pretty good.

I thought it was well-written, and the two leads have

good chemistry. There was a brief moment of TV double-vision seeing
Charlie and the young Mrs. Landingham together*, but I got over it.

Anim8rFSK...

THAT'S who she is. Thanks!

With its tight plot, oddball characters, good humor and focus on
crime-solving, it's a natural pair with Monk, which is good news
because now we have a block of good TV to watch during the summer.

I hope it stays on the air and retains the high quality of the pilot,
because it really was one of the most enjoyable debuts I've seen in
quite a while. I also liekd the outtake at the end of the episode;
quite funny. I hope Dule Hill gets to cut loose like that in the show
proper.

Doug
* West Wing characters from two different time periods.

record hunter...

Where was Mrs. L? I missed her.

Barry Margolin...

The interim Chief. The key word is "young" -- the actress played Mrs.
Landingham in a flashback.

record hunter...

Ohhhhhhh...I guess you'd have to really have watched every episode of
WW to have caught that...

Barry Margolin...

I went to IMdb and clicked on the actresses from the episode to see
which one had West Wing in her background. Actually, I only had to
click once, as I guessed right the first time.

Obviously, trike actually remembers the episode vividly, since he
recognized her immediately.

Matt Messina...

I didn't recognize her immediately, but as soon as I read trike's
mention of young Mrs. Landingham, I remembered her.

trike...

Actually just the opposite. The episode featuring young Mrs.
Landingham was one of the last ones I watched. Which means there were
something like five seasons of episodes I've never seen.

I never recognized her in Buffy, for some reason.