What To Binge This Weekend: ‘Psych’

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I’m of two minds on my recommendation for this week. I mean, it’s a show I watched in its entirety back in the day. It’s a show that I’ve watched in reruns many times. It’s also a show that, when I’ve watched it in the last couple of years, it doesn’t resonate like it used to. For whatever reason, I feel like the shelf life of the show has proven itself short. A few years ago I would have enthusiastically suggested you check out this show and to give it a binge. Now, I am still here recommending it, spoiler alert, but not enthusiastically. I wonder what I will be thinking in a couple years. Anyway, the show in question is Psych.

You may know Psych as one of those “blue sky” shows from USA back in the day. You know, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, White Collar, and so on. This was before they got serious with Mr. Robot, which is a slog, and made Suits a serious show. Some of those peppy, poppy blue sky shows were mediocre, but I loved Pysch. I watched it as it aired, and I really enjoyed it. It wasn’t a “cool” show, but it was funny and fun. The way I liked to put it was that when an episode was over I tended to have a smile on my face, which is an endorsement.

Before I go any further, a brief overview of the show. Shawn Spencer is a fake psychic detective. He’s very observant, and his dad was a cop so he learned some policing skills. He’s also a goofball who doesn’t take anything serious. His partner in crime (solving) is Burton Guster, who is his straight man most of the time. There are a couple cops they usually work with, the serious, antagonistic Carlton Lassiter, and the younger, friendlier Juliet O’Hara, Shawn’s love interest. It’s a case of the week procedural, but the twist is that it’s a comedy. The cases often feel secondary. As the show went on, episodes started to basically just be genre parodies and riffs. Each week, it was a different take on something. That’s when the show became a ton of fun.

You know how sometimes when you watch an old show or movie, you’ll say something like “This is SO ‘90s?” I think Psych may be the first “This is SO the 2000s” show. Therein lies why I think it doesn’t spark as much joy as it used to. Now, when I watch the show, I still enjoy it. It’s fun, but it has fallen down my own personal rankings. However, it’s also a great show for binging. It’s breezy, silly, and goes by quickly. You can find the entire series on Amazon Prime. I don’t recommend starting from the beginning. You’ll catch on soon enough. I would suggest reading the episode descriptions and if it sounds good, give it a shot. After all, they made over 100 episodes, and you only need 20 or so to kill an entire weekend.

So get yourself psyched to watch some Psych!