I loved Get Smart growing up, and I love *Psych *now. And it strikes me that they are very similar shows. Surely I’m not the only one who feels this way, am I? For evidence, I submit:
Main Character is a wise-cracking buffoon, who nevertheless always manages to solve the mystery, through a combination of occasional flashes of brilliance and healthy doses of good luck.
Sidekick is much more grounded in reality, and acts mostly by reacting to the Main Character, especially through brilliantly realized facial expressions.
Authority Figure who supervises the main duo is vexed and frustrated by their shenanigans, but keeps going to them because results are almost guaranteed. With the swapping of Henry (Corbin Bernsen), the bald-headed aging boss, into a position of greater authority than in earlier seasons, we get an even more Edward-Platt-ish character than we had in Chief Vick. All we need now is for him to pinch the bridge of his nose and shake his head dolefully.
Woody the Medical Examiner provides Shawn and Gus with scientific information when they need it, much as Carlson and the other Control scientists provided them for Max and 99.
Max had his shoe-phone. Shawn has his green-gel-skinned iPhone with “Psych” stenciled on it.
A healthy dose of catch-phrases:
…“Would you believe?” = “I’m sensing that …”
…“Sorry about that, Chief” = “I’ve heard it both ways.”
…“Gus, don’t be a (fill in the blank)” = “Let ME handle this, 99.”
So, am I crazy? Or are there other similarities that I’m missing?
I associate Get Smart more with something like Remington Steele, where the front man isn’t the real sleuth.
In Psych, the front man, though he acts a bit buffoonish, really is the sleuth.
The most obvious comparison, though of course, Psych came first, is the Mentalist, which is a slightly more serious version of Psych, if Shawn outed himself as a fraud and got rid of Gus, after having his family get killed by a serial killer.
