The first season of ''

Psych ''Psych'' is an American detective comedy-drama television series created by Steve Franks for USA Network. The series stars James Roday as Shawn Spencer, a young crime consultant for the Santa Barbara Police Department whose "heightened o ...

'' originally aired in the United States on the

USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...

television network between July 7, 2006 and March 2, 2007. Produced by

Universal Cable Productions Universal Content Productions LLC (UCP) is an American television production company operating within the Universal Studio Group division of NBCUniversal, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. History Universal Cable Productions In July ...

and Tagline Television, the series was created by

Steve Franks Steve Franks is an American screenwriter, director and musician based in Orange County, California. He is best known as the creator of the USA Network original series ''Psych''. Education Franks graduated from the University of California, Irv ...

, who served as executive producer with Kelly Kulchak and Chris Henze. The

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

series focuses on

Shawn Spencer Shawn Spencer is a fictional character and main protagonist on the American television comedy-drama ''Psych'' and the sequel film series of the same name played by American actor James Roday Rodriguez. Taking advantage of his eidetic memory a ...

(

James Roday James Roday Rodriguez (born James David Rodriguez; April 4, 1976) is an American actor, director, and screenwriter. He is best known for portraying Shawn Spencer, a hyper-observant consultant detective and fake psychic, in USA Network series '' ...

), a police consultant who pretends to be psychic, and his assistant Burton "Gus" Guster, a pharmaceuticals salesman. The season consisted of an extended pilot episode and fourteen 43-minute episodes, which aired at 10:00 p.m. on Fridays. Franks conceived the idea for the show when producers at

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

requested he pitch them ideas for a TV program while he was working on the film ''Big Daddy''. Initially rejected, the concept was shelved for several years until Franks collaborated with Kulchak to create an hour-long TV show. USA Network picked up the program, initially ordering an eleven-episode season. Overall, the first season has received generally positive reviews from critics. Initially, the show was met with mixed reviews, with episodes later in the season receiving generally positive reception. Many critics compared the series to its lead-in program, ''

Monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

'', leading to negative opinions on the program's originality. The premiere episode was watched by approximately 6.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated scripted series premiere for a cable network. However, ratings decreased for the following episodes, with the next highest-rated episode achieving just 4.76 million viewers, according to the

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

. The season finale, "Scary Sherry: Bianca's Toast", received the best reviews of the season and saw an increase in viewership.

Cast

Main cast

Dulé Hill Karim Dulé Hill (; born May 3, 1975) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as personal presidential aide and Deputy Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff Charlie Young on the NBC drama television series ''The West Wing'', for wh ...

as Burton "Gus" Guster *

Timothy Omundson Timothy Michael Omundson (born July 29, 1969) is an American actor. He is notable for his supporting roles as Sean Potter on the CBS television series ''Judging Amy'', Eli on the syndicated series '' Xena: Warrior Princess'', Carlton Lassite ...

Carlton Lassiter Detective Carlton Jebediah "Lassie" Lassiter MCJ is a fictional character in the American sitcom ''Psych'' and the sequel film series of the same name, played by Timothy Omundson. Fictional biography One of the main supporting characters of the ...

Anne Dudek Anne Louise Dudek (born March 22, 1975) is an American actress. She is known for portraying Tiffany Wilson in the 2004 film ''White Chicks'', Danielle Brooks in the television series ''Covert Affairs'', Dr. Amber Volakis on the series ''House'', ...

as Lucinda Barry (pilot only) *

Corbin Bernsen Corbin Dean Bernsen (born September 7, 1954) is an American actor and film director. He appeared as divorce attorney Arnold Becker on the NBC drama series ''L.A. Law'',

as Henry Spencer *

Maggie Lawson Maggie Lawson (born August 12, 1980) is an American actress who is best known for her role as Detective Juliet "Jules" O'Hara in the television series ''Psych'', and its subsequent film series. From 2018 to 2019, she held the recurring role of ...

Juliet O'Hara Head Detective Juliet Lynn "Jules" O'Hara is a character on the American comedy ''Psych'' and the sequel film series of the same name played by Maggie Lawson. The character is noted in part for strong relationships with other characters, includi ...

Recurring cast

Kirsten Nelson Kirsten Nelson (born October 3, 1970) is an American actress and director best known for her role as police chief Karen Vick on the TV series ''Psych''. Early life and education Kirsten Nelson was born in Enid, Oklahoma and raised in Chicag ...

as interim police chief

Karen Vick This is a list of characters in the USA Network original comedy-drama television series ''Psych'' and subsequent sequel film series of the same name, the majority of which have been released to the Peacock streaming service. The principal cast o ...

Liam James Liam James (born August 7, 1996) is a Canadian actor, known for his role as Noah Curtis in the 2009 film ''2012'', young Shawn Spencer on the USA Network television series ''Psych'', and the lead character, Duncan, in 2013's ''The Way, Way Back ...

, Josh Hayden, and Kyle Pejpar as Young Shawn Spencer *

Sage Brocklebank Sage Brocklebank (born January 14, 1978) is a Canadian actor best known for his role as Buzz McNab, a long-standing role on the comedy-drama ''Psych''. He also produces movies and writes for theatre and film. Career Actor Since 2001 Brockleban ...

as police officer

Buzz McNab This is a list of characters in the USA Network original comedy-drama television series ''Psych'' and subsequent sequel film series of the same name, the majority of which have been released to the Peacock streaming service. The principal cast o ...

* Carlos McCullers II, Julien Hill, and Isaah Brown as Young Gus *

Patricia Idlette Patricia Idlette is an American actress known for her role as Kiffany in Showtime's '' Dead Like Me''. She also appeared in four episodes of ''Battlestar Galactica'' as politician Sarah Porter, and as Melanie Blackstone in the miniseries '' Am ...

as Police Officer Allen

Episodes

Production

Conception and development

originally conceived the concept for ''Psych'' while working as the lead writer for the 1999 film '' Big Daddy''. After he successfully pitched the film to producers with

, Franks was requested to come up with ideas for five new TV programs. He presented the shows to Columbia, who rejected all proposals. Among the outlines he presented was the source for Psych. After the programs were rejected, he shelved the ideas. Franks would not reopen the idea for Psych until several years later, when he met with producer Kelly Kulchak about creating a one-hour long TV program. After discussion, Franks presented the idea for ''Psych'', which Kulchak deemed to be "brilliant". After finalizing an episode draft for ''Psych'', Franks and Kulchak pitched the show to all major TV networks, including the

Fox Broadcasting Company Fox Broadcasting Company, LLC (commonly known as Fox; stylized in all caps) is an Television in the United States, American commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast television broadcaster, television network serving as the flagship proper ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

, and

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

. The show was rejected by each network they presented the idea to. Kulchak stated that "it was a great pitch and that everybody laughed, but no one wanted to buy it". She attributed its rejection to the show's unique comedy–drama format, which was virtually unused by a TV show at the time. They then pitched the show to several cable networks, where it was again rejected. The final network Franks and Kulchak pitched the show to was

. The network "loved the concept", and decided to produce the show. Franks has cited multiple sources as inspiration for the show. His father, as well as multiple uncles, are former

Los Angeles Police Department The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

officers; Franks has given real-life experiences as direct inspiration for numerous events which occurred in the first season. Franks later explained that his comedic inspiration for the program was that he always "thought it would be fun to apply my comic sensibility to a cop show". He has since explained that the inspiration for the fake-psychic concept in the show was due to a longtime wish to write a show about a man with "no psychic abilities but just had a great grasp of details". The program's unique comedy drama format has been explained by producers to have been inspired by several 1980s detective shows. A prominent source cited by executives and actors was the TV show ''

Moonlighting Moonlighting may refer to: * Side job, a job taken in addition to one's primary employment Entertainment * ''Moonlighting'' (film), a 1982 drama film by Jerzy Skolimowski * ''Moonlighting'' (TV series), 1985–1989 American television series, s ...

''. Other sources include programs ''

Remington Steele ''Remington Steele'' is an American television series co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series, starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, was produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on NBC from October 1, 1982, ...

'' and ''

Simon & Simon ''Simon & Simon'' is an American crime drama television series that originally ran from November 24, 1981, to September 16, 1989. The series was broadcast on CBS, and starred Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker as two disparate brothers who ope ...

''. USA Network first announced their potential broadcasting of ''Psych'' on June 17, 2005. The network stated that they had requested a pilot episode of the series, to be managed by Tagline Productions. The original working name for the series was "Psyche". It was announced on August 30 that the production for the show's pilot episode would begin shortly, and the episode would likely air in 2006. On January 5, 2006, USA announced the ''Psyche'' would be competing against ''

In Plain Sight ''In Plain Sight'' is an American drama television series that premiered on the USA Network on June 1, 2008. The series revolves around Mary Shannon (Mary McCormack), a Deputy United States Marshal attached to the Albuquerque, New Mexico office ...

'', written by David Maples, and ''

Underfunded ''Underfunded'' is a comedy-drama made-for-TV movie that aired the United States cable television channel USA Network on November 8, 2006 at 10 PM EDT. Later in January, the network confirmed that the pilot episode for the show would air later that year. They also announced that the show's name had changed to ''Psych''. On February 21, 2006, USA Network announced that it had ordered eleven one-hour episode scripts for ''Psych''. They confirmed that the show would take '' Monk's'' Friday night time slot, and that the pilot episode, planned to be two hours in length, would be broadcast on July 7.

Broadcast

''Psych's'' first season commenced broadcasting in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

on July 7, 2006, and ended with the airing of "Scary Sherry: Bianca's Toast" on March 2, 2007. The season's first eight episodes aired during July and August 2006, while the remaining seven were broadcast from January through March of the next year. For the entire first season, ''Psych'' aired at a 10:00 P.M. ET/ PT time slot on Fridays. Every episode in the season, save the premiere, ran for an hour, including commercials. Twelve of the season's fifteen episodes were 43 minutes in length, while "Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Piece" and "Woman Seeking Dead Husband: Smokers Okay, No Pets" ran for one minute less, and "Pilot" was a special extended episode. The episode "Pilot" ran for 66 minutes, in an hour-and-a-half time slot with commercials. The international version of the episode ran for an extended 90 minutes. USA Network's sister broadcast network

aired episodes from season 1 on August 7 and 14, 2016. The show's time slot had previously been occupied by the first season of USA Network's revival of ''

Kojak ''Kojak'' is an American Action film, action Crime film, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theophilus "Theo" Kojak. Tak ...

'', which lasted for ten episodes in mid-2005 before being cancelled. After ''Kojak's'' cancellation, the slot was replaced by hit series ''Monk''. The show was entering its fifth season, and received very high ratings in the Friday timeslot. Hoping that ''Psych'' would share in ''Monk's'' successful ratings, USA Network executives moved the fifth season to a 9:00 P.M. slot on the same day, airing directly before ''Psych''. The pairing was well-received, being called a "well-written comedy-mystery block that comprises some of the best two hours on television".

Crew

Tagline Productions and

produced the first season of ''Psych''; series creator and

showrunner A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over th ...

was the executive producer, along with Kelly Kulchak and Tagline executive Chris Henze. Jack Sakmar, Kerry Lenhart, and

Mel Damski Melvin Damski (born July 21, 1946 in New York, New York) is an American director and producer of film and television. Life and career Mel Damski (born in New York, New York) is an American film director and film producer. Damski has Northern Euro ...

were co-executive producers, while Paulo De Olviera and Wendy Belt Wallace produced, and Tracey Jeffery was the consulting producer. Erin Smith was the production manager and Michael McMurray was the director of photography, while Allan Lee and Anupam Nigam acted as the season's script editors. David Crabtree, James Ilecic,

Allan Lee Allan Lee (born in Hamilton, Scotland) is a film editor who lives in Vancouver, Canada and works regularly in Europe, UK and Canada. Selected filmography *1993 – '' Highlander'' *1995 – '' Magic in the Water'' *1997 – ''Bliss'' *199 ...

, and Gordon Rempel were the script editors. Music for the first season was written and composed by Adam Cohen, John Wood, and Brandon Christie.

Michael Engler Michael Engler is an American director and television producer. Besides television, he has also worked on theatre and film. Theater His Broadway credits include '' Eastern Standard'', starring Dylan Baker, Patricia Clarkson, Kevin Conroy, and ...

directed the pilot episode, which was written by Steve Franks. The following three episodes were developed by Franks, who returned to write the season's tenth episode, "From the Earth to the Starbucks", as well as co-authoring the season finale with James Roday.

Andy Berman Andrew Mark Berman (born February 24, 1968) is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and comedian. He is best known for his role as Dib Membrane in ''Invader Zim'', Dennis in '' The Jamie Foxx Show'' (1996-1997), Chuck in '' The Wonder ...

, who would often present scripts which were a few dozen pages too long, wrote the third, eleventh, and twelfth episodes for the season. Executive producers Kerry Lenhart and John J. Sakmar collaborated to write the seventh and fourteenth episodes, with assistance from Douglas Steinberg on the latter. Script editor Anupam Nigam also wrote two episodes.

William Rabkin William Rabkin is an American television producer, television writer and author. Early life Rabkin grew up in Berkeley, CA, where his father was a Classics professor. He graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle, then received his ...

, who would later write a series of novels for the series, collaborated with

Lee Goldberg Lee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter, publisher and television producer, producer known for his bestselling novels ''Lost Hills'' and ''True Fiction'' and his work on a wide variety of TV crime series, including ''Diagnosis: Murder'' ...

to write the ninth episode. Executive producer

, who had been nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Drama for his work on the series ''

Lou Grant Lou Grant is a fictional character played by Ed Asner in two television series produced by MTM Enterprises for CBS. The first was ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (1970–1977), a half-hour light-hearted situation comedy in which the character ...

'', directed the second and ninth episodes of the season.

Michael Zinberg Michael Allan Zinberg (born March 22, 1944) is an American television director, producer and writer. Early life and education Zinberg was born in Bexar County, Texas to Dorothy (née Rissien) and William Zinberg. Zinberg graduated from Thoma ...

, who was working as a director on ''Monk'', was the only other person who directed more than a single episode; he directed two, the third and tenth episodes. The people who directed a single episode were ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series focusing on the personal and professional lives of surgical internship (medicine), interns, residency (medicine), residents, and attending physician, attendings at the fictional ...

'' director

Jeff Melman Jeffrey L. Melman (born May 18, 1947) is an American television director and producer. Melman has directed for several present-day network television series. More recently Melman has directed episodes of ABC's ''Grey's Anatomy'', '' Private Pra ...

, ''

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'', also known colloquially simply as ''Always Sunny'', is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and co-developed by Glenn Howerton for FX (TV channel), FX. It premiered on August 4, 2005, and stars Charl ...

'' producer

Matt Shakman Matt Shakman is an American director and former child actor. He produced and directed ''WandaVision'' and has directed episodes of '' The Great'', ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'', '' Fargo'' and ''Game of Thrones''. He also directed the up ...

, occasional '' Rescue Me'' director

John Fortenberry John Fortenberry is an American film and television director.

frequent ''

Dawson's Creek ''Dawson's Creek'' is an American teen drama television series about the lives of a close-knit group of friends in the fictional town of Capeside, Massachusetts, beginning in high school and continuing into college. It aired from January 20, 19 ...

'' director

Michael Lange Michael Lange (born March 1, 1950) is an American television director and record producer. Biography Early life Born and raised just outside New York City,

, frequent ''

Veronica Mars ''Veronica Mars'' is an American teen neo-noir Mystery fiction, mystery Drama (film and television), drama television series created by screenwriter Rob Thomas (writer), Rob Thomas. The series is set in the fictional city, fictional town of Ne ...

'' director John T. Kretchmer,

Tim Matheson Tim Matheson (born Timothy Lewis Matthieson; December 31, 1947) is an American actor and director. Some of his best-known acting roles include the title character of the 1960s animated ''Jonny Quest (TV series), Jonny Quest'' TV series, Eric "O ...

, who played

John Hoynes The television series ''The West Wing'' is a political drama series which was originally broadcast on NBC. During its seven seasons the ensemble cast of stars, recurring stars, and guest stars earned 157 acting nominations (often competing in th ...

on ''

The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White House, where t ...

'', infrequent ''

Weeds A weed is an unwanted plant of any species. Weed or weeds may also refer to: Places * Weed, Arkansas, an unincorporated community in the United States * Weed, California, a city in the United States * Weed, Kentucky, an unincorporated communit ...

'' director Lev L. Spiro, long-time ''

Charmed ''Charmed'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Constance M. Burge and produced by Aaron Spelling and his production company Spelling Television, with Brad Kern serving as showrunner. The series was originally broadc ...

'' executive producer and director

James L. Conway James L. Conway (born October 27, 1950, in New York City, U.S.) is an American film and television director, producer, and writer, studio executive, and novelist. Movies Conway directed include ''The Boogens'' and '' Hangar 18''. Television s ...

, ''

Growing Pains ''Growing Pains'' is an American television sitcom created by Neal Marlens that ran on ABC for seven seasons from September 24, 1985, to April 25, 1992. The series follows the misadventures of the Seaver family, including psychiatrist and fathe ...

'' actress and experienced director

Joanna Kerns Joanna Kerns is an American actress and director best known for her role as Maggie Seaver on the ABC sitcom ''Growing Pains'' from 1985 to 1992. Early life Kerns was born Joanna Crussie DeVarona in San Francisco, California. Her older sister ...

, and movie writer, director, and actor

John Landis John David Landis (born August 3, 1950) is an American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for directing comedy films such as ''The Kentucky Fried Movie'' (1977), ''Animal House, National Lampoon's Animal House'' (1978), The Blues Brothers (f ...

Casting

Two actors received star billing for the first season, while three additional actors were considered part of the main cast.

portrayed

, a life-long slacker who uses his hyperobservant ability to claim he is a psychic. Dulé Hill plays Burton "Gus" Guster, a pharmaceutical salesman who is Shawn's best friend.

portrays detective

, the level-headed lead detective for the

Santa Barbara Police Department The Santa Barbara Police Department is a local law enforcement agency in the city of Santa Barbara, California. It was founded in January 1900 by the mayor at the time, Charles A. Storke. The department's jurisdiction is a little over and has a ...

, and

represents

, the department's naive junior detective. Shawn's father, Henry Spencer, a former police officer, is played by

Corbin Bernsen Corbin Dean Bernsen (born September 7, 1954) is an American actor and film director. He appeared as divorce attorney Arnold Becker on the NBC drama series ''L.A. Law'',

and

, the pregnant interim police chief is portrayed by

. By August 30,

and

had been cast to play the show's main characters. The network also revealed that

Corbin Bernsen Corbin Dean Bernsen (born September 7, 1954) is an American actor and film director. He appeared as divorce attorney Arnold Becker on the NBC drama series ''L.A. Law'',

had been cast as another of the show's major characters. On April 27, USA Network announced that

and

would have starring roles in the episode.

Writing

All fifteen episodes of ''Psychs first season were written with a stand-alone plot, meaning that no episode built off of a previous one. However, the installments were noted that even though they were stand-alone, episodes often built on each other for character development and would occasionally reference each other, creating a feel of continuity. To save production time, nearly all the pilot episode was adapted from the original pitch to USA Network; the pitch focused on a man who would call in tips to the police department until he finally got mixed up in a situation with the police. The rest of the writing for the episode was added late in pre-production. Corbin Bernsen requested and was granted the addition of two scenes in the installment. Both involved his character confronting Shawn. The episode included multiple flashbacks, which in subsequent episodes were used as an opening scene. In the pilot, flashbacks were also included in the middle of the episode. The majority of alteration to the script occurred with the arrest of the episode's antagonist, a scene which the writers felt was never perfectly right. While in early development for the series, Franks and the show's writing team consulted several outside sources to help make the show seem more realistic. Franks regularly consulted with his family, especially his father, when writing the police-related aspects of the show. Some scenes from episodes were actually taken directly from the teachings of Franks' father. The opening scene for the pilot episode, where Henry Spencer asks Shawn how many hats are in the room, was a test that the elder Franks would challenge his son with. The show's writers and actors also met with actual psychics before writing and editing portions of episodes. James Roday met with two psychics before his performance in the pilot, and adjusted his performance to make it seem more realistic.

Filming

Franks wanted to set ''Psych'' in a city that reflected the show's personality; he knew that he did not want the show to be set in a big city atmosphere. While developing ''Psych'', Franks visited Santa Barbara during his honeymoon. He felt that Santa Barbara was the perfect place to set the show, but that they would be unable to film the show there. Executive producer

commented the filming of the show, that "We wanted to set and film it in Santa Barbara, but the area doesn’t really have enough crewmembers". After the show was approved, Franks began looking for places to film, settling for

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. He felt that Vancouver was "the next best location" to Santa Barbara. Although he chose to film the show in Vancouver, most of the show is actually filmed in the surrounding communities. About half of each episode is filmed in the Vancouver suburb of White Rock, including most scenes focusing on coastal areas. Portions of the episodes are also filmed in the mountain ranges surrounding Vancouver, and occasionally in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

around the city. The episode "Pilot" was filmed entirely on location in and around Vancouver. Due to uncertainty about the show succeeding, producers decided to film the episode at actual locations in the community, instead of on a

sound stage A sound stage (also written soundstage) is a large, soundproof structure, building or room with large doors and high ceilings, used for the production of theatrical film-making and television productions, usually located on a secured movie or te ...

. The decision led to several issues while filming. On multiple occasions the film crew had to alter several scenes and repeatedly re-shoot a scene. For the episode's opening, the film crew had only a few feet of space to operate and maneuver the camera. The multiple scenes involving the police station were filmed in a former children's hospital and army barracks and a supposedly "haunted" former

insane asylum The lunatic asylum, insane asylum or mental asylum was an institution where people with mental illness were confined. It was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. Modern psychiatric hospitals evolved from and eventually replace ...

. The decision to shoot outside also created multiple issues with weather. Filmed in November and December, the temperature while filming was usually between 1° C and 4 °C (33.8° F–39.2 °F). Rain also affected filming, forcing the crew to purchase and use multiple tarps and additional sound equipment. Artificial palm tree Warsaw 2010 cropped

Artificial palm tree Warsaw 2010 cropped

Following the success of the pilot episode and the troubles of filming it, the entire rest of the season was filmed on several sound stages. Aside from an occasional scene in the mountains or city, the majority of each episode is filmed on one of several stages at

North Shore Studios North Shore Studios, formerly Lions Gate Studios, is a film studio located in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, previously owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, or simply Lionsgate, until it was acquired by Bosa Development in 2006. Ther ...

. Each episode is allotted a two-week window for filming. The first week is dedicated entirely to construct and alter the sets for that week's episode. In order to make the show seem more convincing, the set designers purchased and imported eight artificial palm trees, surf boards, and large quantities of both real and fake newspapers. Several of the props, including the palm trees, had to be moved between sets while filming. The second week is devoted entirely to filming, which often requires several takes for each scene. The majority of the sets for the show are located within two warehouses on the North Shore Studios property. The police station occupies nearly an entire warehouse, while assorted other sets, like the Psych office, take up the other one. Henry Spencer's house was originally filmed at actual houses, moving from the one used in the pilot to one closer to the ocean before filming the rest of the season. Most of the sets were constructed shortly after filming for the pilot episode concluded. However, the design team disliked how some of the sets turned out, so several were altered before filming for the next episodes began. Before the filming for "Spellingg Bee" began, the Psych office was significantly expanded, becoming the second largest stage for the show and the office for the police chief was rearranged and repainted to brighten it. Although most episodes were filmed almost entirely on main stages and a few surrounding areas, a few installments required special sets and filming areas. Several parts of "Spellingg Bee" were filmed in a set designed to look like Santa Barbara's

Arlington Theater The Arlington Theatre is a historic movie theatre in Santa Barbara, California, United States. Combining the Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival styles of architecture, it the largest movie theater and principal performing arts venu ...

, while other portions were filmed in a basement on the North Shore facility. For "9 Lives", the crew created a large, complex set for a fake suicide hotline company. A few scenes in the episode were filmed in a large apartment complex, portions of which they rented out for other episodes, like "Poker? I Barely Know Her". It was one of several episodes where the seven-day time restraint affected numerous shots. The majority of the episode "Weekend Warriors" was filmed outdoors, which led to many problems. The episode's filming was the most troublesome of any for the first season. Numerous logistical errors caused long delays and re-shoots for the installment. The episode nearly caused a delay in the entire show, but production on it was replaced by work on "9 Lives", and was continued after that episode was finished. It was one of several episodes which were filmed out of running order.

Music

The show's theme song, which functions as the main title music, was composed by the group The Friendly Indians. The song, titled "I Know, You Know" was written and performed by the band, which both Steve Franks and writer Tim Meltreger are members of, as the lead guitarist and vocalist, respectively. The group formed in 1991, and the song was their first original performance. The group went on hiatus due to the series, not performing from 2006 until 2010. A shortened portion of the song is actually used for the show. Other music for the show was composed by a team of musicians Adam Cohen, John Wood, and Brandon Christie. Music was generally used on the show sparingly, usually as a background during a scene. One of the few important instances of music was the short performance of a song called "Dazzle and Stretch". The song was an improvisation by Roday, which the crew loved. Just before the episode was given to the network, the music team composed and added an original piece to the scene. Most other instances of music were the playing of a radio, which was most apparent in "9 Lives".

Reception

Critical reception

Critical reception to ''Psychs first season has been generally positive. At the media

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website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the first season currently holds a 50% approval rating from critics, giving it an overall "rotten" rating. The score is based on reviews from twelve critics who gave the season an average rating of 4.9/10. Among the site's top critics, it holds a 38% approval rating with an average score of 5.4/10. The site's consensus states "Its premise is sure to draw comparisons to Monk, and Psych's lead character that is an acquired taste at best 'sic''">sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''. At review aggregator Metacritic">sic">'sic<_a>''.html" ;"title="sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''">sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''. At review aggregator Metacritic the season currently holds a rating of 58 (out of 100) from mainstream critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. The rating is based on twenty critical opinions, consisting of nine positive, eight mixed, and three negative reviews. Initial reception to the show was mixed. Linda Stasi, writing for the ''New York Post'' gave the show a highly positive review, saying that "it's not only laugh-out-loud-until-soda-squirts-out-of-your-nose funny, but it's also perfectly cast" and "'Psych' is just terrific". Writing for the ''

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'', television critic Maureen Ryan presented a positive review of the show, stating that the writers "manage to send up the trend in their clever new 'psychic detective' show while also charming the socks off the viewer" and that "if you like ''Monk'', you'll probably love this show, which may actually be even more enjoyable". ''

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'' television critic Melanie McFarland gave the show a generally favorable review, calling it "one of those happy collisions of an intelligent script and an appealing cast" as well as "more than adequate, thankfully for us". In his review of the show for ''

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'', critic Robert Bianco gave the pilot episode three out of four stars and called it "an auspicious debut" and stating that "

he show's He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

gimmick allows for some clever comic jibes while creating some useful dramatic tension". Presenting a more mixed review, ''

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s Brian Lowry said that while "the 90-minute premiere does at least establish a premise with potential legs", "'Psych' isn’t nearly as much fun as it ought to be, offering a breezy but not particularly captivating twist on a very well-worn buddy formula". Amy Finnerty of ''

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'' also presented a mixed opinion of the show, saying that "the premise is promising", but also that Shawn and Gus' relationship "is a tired formula, and the pair's supposedly spontaneous banter feels forced". Tom Gliatto of ''

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'' gave the show a highly negative review, stating that it's "not in the same league. Or astral plane" with ''Monk'' and that "it's also like watching someone test Christmas lights for faulty bulbs". He gave the series an overall rating of one-and-a-half stars. The rest of the first season received very little mainstream critical attention. Reviews for the first few episodes were polarized; while one critic described several episodes as "unintentionally lackluster", "mildly boring", "a mediocre adventure in detective comedy television", and "drop

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in posthaste behind ''Monk''", another critic used terms like "pretty unique", "will only get stronger from here", and containing "manic personality". As the season progressed, critics from both

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and

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agreed that the episode quality continuously improved. IGN's Colin Moriarty stated that "Weekend Warriors" was, when "taken at face-value, ..both laugh-out-loud funny and more clever than we've given it credit for". Richard Keller of TV Squad praised the character development and acting quality of the same episode. The installment "Forget Me Not" was the first of the season to receive a rating of 9 out of 10 from IGN, which on their scale translates to "Amazing". Five of the following six episodes also received the same rating, with one episode given an 8.5 rating. Several episodes from the first season have retrospectively considered some of the show's best. Four installments, "Pilot", "Spellingg Bee", "From the Earth to the Starbucks", and "Scary Sherry: Bianca's Toast", are part of two special DVD releases for the show. The first, titled ''Psych: Twelve Episodes That Will Make You Happy'' consisted of Steve Franks' favorite episodes. The second was made up of James Roday and Dulé Hill's favorite episodes, and is titled ''Psych: James and Dule's Top 20''. Writing for ''

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'', editor Amanda Lee named "Scary Sherry: Bianca's Toast", "Shawn vs. the Red Phantom", and "Spellingg Bee" to her list of the show's best installments, and gave "9 Lives" an honorable mention.

Accolades

''Psychs first season received a total of five award nominations, winning one of them. Three of the nominations were for acting on the show. For his performance in portraying Burton "Gus" Guster in the episode "Spellingg Bee",

was nominated to win the award for "Best Actor–Comedy" at the 13th Annual NAMIC Vision Awards. The awards are organized by the National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC), and are given for "outstanding achievements in original, multi-ethnic cable programming". Other nominees for the award were

Carlos Mencia Ned Arnel "Carlos" Mencía (born October 22, 1967) is a Honduran-American comedian, writer, and actor. His style of comedy is often political and involves issues of race relations, Latin American culture, criminal justice, and social class. From ...

Romany Malco Romany Romanic Malco Jr. (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor, rapper, and music producer. He has been nominated for several awards, including an NAACP Image Award, MTV Movie Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award. In film, he is best kn ...

, and

Damon Wayans Damon Kyle Wayans Sr. (; born September 4, 1960) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, producer, and writer. A member of the Wayans family of entertainers, Damon performed as a comedian and actor throughout the 1980s, including a brief stint ...

. Hill lost the award to Mencia. The

International Press Academy The International Press Academy (IPA) is an American association of professional entertainment journalists, representing both domestic and foreign markets in print, television, radio, cable and new media outlets. Its members have annually been g ...

recognized James Roday's portrayal of Shawn Spencer by nominating him as the best actor in a comedy or musical series at the

11th Satellite Awards The 11th Satellite Awards, honoring the best in film and television of 2006, were given on December 18, 2006. Special achievement awards Auteur Award (for his visionary work as a filmmaker) – Robert Altman Mary Pickford Award (for outstanding ...

. Other nominees for the award were

Steve Carell Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He starred as Michael Scott in the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2011, 2013), and also worked at several points as a producer, executive producer, writer, a ...

James Spader James Todd Spader (born February 7, 1960; ) is an American actor. He is known for often portraying eccentric and morally ambiguous characters. He began his career in critically acclaimed independent films before transitioning into television, f ...

Ted Danson Edward Bridge Danson III (born December 29, 1947) is an American actor. He achieved stardom playing the lead character Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'' (1982–1993), for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe A ...

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...

, and

Jason Lee Jason Michael Lee (born April 25, 1970) is an American actor, filmmaker, photographer and former professional skateboarder. He is known for playing Earl Hickey in the television comedy series ''My Name Is Earl'', for which he was nominated for ...

. Spader received the award for his work.

Calum Worthy Calum Worthy (born January 28, 1991) is a Canadian actor, writer, and producer, and co-founder of AI education company 2wai. As an actor he is known for his roles as Dez Wade on the Disney Channel series ''Austin & Ally'', Alex Trimboli in the N ...

, who appeared as a guest star in the episode "Shawn vs. The Red Phantom" and in the second season episode "If You're So Smart, Then Why Are You Dead", was nominated for Best Performance in a TV Series - Recurring Young Actor at the

29th Young Artist Awards The 29th Young Artist Awards ceremony, presented by the Young Artist Association, honored excellence of young performers under the age of 21 in the fields of film, television and theatre for the year 2007, and took place on March 30, 2008 at th ...

. Presented by the

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, the awards honor the best performances by young performers in television. Ten other actors were also nominated, with the award going to Connor Price for his work on '' The Dead Zone''. In addition to the award nominations for acting, the season also received two nominations for other purposes. The pilot episode received a nomination for Best Comedy Pilot Casting at the 2007 Artios Awards. The Artios Awards are annually presented by the

Casting Society of America The Casting Society, formerly known as the Casting Society of America (CSA), is a professional association of about 1,200 casting directors and associate casting directors for film, television, theatre, and commercials in Canada, Europe, Austral ...

and recognize the "originality, creativity and the contribution of casting to the overall quality of a project". The awards honor members of the Casting Society, and have been awarded yearly since 1985. Casting for theatrical, film, and television performances are all eligible. Liz Marx was listed as the nominee for the casting; she did not receive the award. The season's only win came at the IIG Awards. The awards are presented yearly by the

Independent Investigations Group The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is a U.S. nonprofit organization that works to mitigate belief in pseudoscience and the paranormal and to fight the influence of religion in government. History The Center for Inquiry was established in 1991 by ...

and recognize "movies, television shows, and people in the entertainment field for promoting scientific knowledge and values". The awards were first presented in 2007, honoring the best and worst representations of science in the media. The show was honored with an Iggie Award at the inaugural ceremony, which was accepted by staff writer Daniel Hsia.

DVD release

The entire first season was officially released on DVD in Region 1 on June 26, 2007, becoming available in both the

and

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. The release came nearly a year after the pilot premiered. The

box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

is simply titled "Psych, the Complete First Season" and is marked with a green color scheme. The release set consists of episodes with

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and

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ...

format, enhanced for television with a 16:9 aspect ratio, although not in

high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *Blu-ray Disc, the universal optical High Definition disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tap ...

(HD). It received no rating from the

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. The set is distributed by

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...

, USA Network's parent company. The same set was released in Region 4 on April 30, 2008, being made available first in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It was first released in Region 2 on January 9, 2008, shortly before the start of season 3, with first availability being made in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The entire season and each individual episode are available on the

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store. The box set includes all fifteen original episodes that aired on USA Network, which are divided into four separate discs. Subtitles are available in English for people who have impaired hearing, and the only available language for episodes is English. The first disc only contains a single episode, the pilot; however, several special features are also on the disc. Both an audio commentary with Steve Franks, Kelly Kulchak, and Chris Henze and a blooper reel are available for the episode. Also included are character profiles, the extended international version of the pilot, James Roday's audition tape, and two behind-the-scenes featurettes, ''Psych'' Revealed and ''Inside the Writer's Room''. The remainind discs have four or five episodes on each and contain a few special features. Included are audio commentaries for the episodes "Spellingg Bee", "9 Lives", "Weekend Warriors", "From the Earth to the Starbucks", and "Scary Sherry: Bianca's Toast" with Franks, Kulchak, and occasionally Dulé Hill, James Roday, Henze, or the episode's respective writer. Deleted scenes are also included for the majority of episodes. The box set's materials combine for a total of eleven hours and nine minutes of footage. Currently ranked as number 4,713 in the Movies and Television category on

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...

and number 8,287 in the DVD and

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category at Amazon.co.uk, the DVD release has received generally positive reviews from television critics. Scott Harris of ''UGO.com'' gave the box set a positive review, stating that the show translated "pretty well" to DVD. He praised the ability to "sit down and view an episode here or there whenever you want without making a giant production out of it". Harris also liked the set's special features, stating that they allowed viewers to "

urn An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape ...

each episode into a giant production" and praised the inclusion of the special features on the discs alongside their respective episodes, instead of placing them on another disc. He summed up his review by stating that "it's a pretty neat little package when taken on an episode-by-episode basis" and that fans of the show would enjoy the release. Harris rated three aspects of the release; he gave the look a B−, the sound a B, and the extras an A−. In his review for ''MovieFreak.com'', critic Richard Scott presented a mixed-to-generally positive review of the set. Scott was positive about the audio and video, but presented a mixed view towards the extras. He enjoyed the commentaries, saying that they are "more chatty than informative, but everyone is relaxed, and the result is entertaining and fun", but was not favorable about the international pilot. Scott was generally mixed towards the deleted scenes and character profiles, but liked the blooper reel and called it "better than most". He gave the video and audio an eight of ten, and the extras a seven. Scott presented an overall rating of "Recommended" to the release. Reviewing the show and release for ''WF DVD Report'', Zach Demeter presented a generally positive review. He praised the set's audio and video, calling them "absolutely awesome" and being better than the show's original broadcast. He stated that the set has "cool packaging" but that it is "just a bit on the strange side". Demeter also praised the set's special features, but was disappointed by the short length of the blooper reel and other things like the full screen release of the features. He liked the commentaries and deleted scenes, but was mixed in his opinion on the international pilot. Overall, Demeter stated that it "comes with a high level of re-play value even after already knowing how the stories end" and gave the box set a rating of "Highly Recommended".

Notes

References

{{Psych Psych seasons 2006 American television seasons 2007 American television seasons