The USA Series. Anyone catching this? It follows Monk. I think its’ limited run just eneded. It seems to have a catchy theme song, clever premise and 1-2 laugh out loud moments per episode. I liked it.
(I searched “psych” in CS for the past month I didn’t see it sorry if there are already multiple threads on this)
I started watching it because it takes place in Santa Barbara and I thought that it would mock the crap out of psychics. As it turns out, other than a few generic exterior shots of the outside of the police station, none of it is filmed here and it doesn’t even look much like here. They don’t mock psychics nearly enough but they do make it clear that psychic powers are totally bullshit and the smarter of the characters know that Sean is full of shit. Meh. It’s ok.
It seems to me that they’re all too willing to forget their premise. That Sean’s a supposed psychic barely enters into it (and everyone who counts knows or strongly suspects that he isn’t), and it becomes the adventures of wacky detective guy. Yawn.
I have the opposite complaint about Monk. It forgets that it’s supposed to be a detective show and too often just has Monk twitch for 40 minutes before getting over what was bothering him before and solving the mystery in two minutes flat.
I hate the main character. He’s a dick. And although I KNOW he isn’t psychic they do some weird effects shots that if I didn’t know the premise of the show, I would think he had super powers. (one example is when he meets some girl in a diner and deduces that she has a cat, they did this shot where he looks at her shoes and then he sees through the shoes at the cat hair inside… I have no idea wht that was supposed to show to the audience. It looked like he had x-ray vision.)
He’s supposed to have a photographic memory and be very good at picking up odd little details that other people miss. When they highlight stuff he’s picking up, it’s not that he has x-ray vision, it’s so the audience ‘sees’ what he sees.
I forget exactly what he saw on the girl in the diner, but he wasn’t seeing inside her shoes, he was seeing the cat hair on her shoes and maybe her pant legs. Then he ‘saw’ some things in her open purse that helped him make small talk.
Didn’t he see her badge or gun, and realized she was an undercover cop on a stakeout?
Psych & Monk are basically the same show, I’d say, with the difference being that Sean isn’t insane.
I think that the characters on Psych are a little better. Monk is totally unwatchable to me (and I like Tony Shalhoob) but Psych holds my interest…barely.
Oh, I like Monk better, though I sometimes cringe when I’m laughing at Monk’s various incapacities; I had the same reaction when watching Ally McBeal, in that there’s a thin line between laughing at the situation and making fun of the crazy person. What makes Monk worthwhile is that Adrian realizes, however vaguely, that he needs to change, and actively seeks to change (even though there’s usually a hitting of the reset button if he improves), whereas Sean on Psych is often just the sort of fellow I’d feel obliged to beat up for his own good.
I like Monk a lot more than Psych - Adrian is a more sympathetic character. I don’t like Sean. He’s obnoxious and doesn’t seem to appreciate that people are different than him. Note his constant harping on Gus, his supposed best friend. Adrian is who is is, and he envies people who are normal. Sean just looks down on them. Sean’s father may’ve been strict, but he obviously loved Sean. Adrian’s father left the family after saying he’s going to the store. Sean is out for all the tail he can get. Adrian loved his dead wife so deeply that he can’t get over it. Sean is too lazy to really work at a job, any job. Adrian is desparate to work as a cop again, even while suffering from such debilitating phobias he can barely leave his house. Nope - give me Monk any day.
StG
The thing is, of course, that we’re supposed to like Adrian (even as we find him frustrating), whereas I’m not sure we’re meant to like Sean. (Gus, yes, I think we’re intended to sympathize with.) Another reason I find Monk more watchable is that the main four characters are actually friends (though this was more true when it was Sharona rather than Natalie). As self-absorbed as Monk is, he was nevertheless perceptive enough and caring enough to interpose himself in the investigation of the captain’s wife’s accident, because he knew perfectly well that, if Stottlemeyer found the man who had nearly killed his wife, he was very likely to shoot him; all four of the regulars consistently support one another. Sean, by contrast, is an amusing asshole no one would actually want to know.
I like Psych and Monk…
Psych is interesting in that you can see how little details a big picture make - I think a few things are kind of strange - for instance, how many times does Sean have to be right before the inept police force finally cuts him some slack? At first I can understand being skeptical, but come on now - they guy has already solved about 8 cases and I think that alone would get him a chair, cup of coffee and permission to use he fax machine when he stops by the precinct. I think this show will get better with age - once the characters have been fleshed out a bit and the writers get a better grip on what is working and what isn’t. I think it is time for Sean’s father to get involved more on the cases, and his sidekick should now finally get over the “ohmygod, you did what?!” schtick.
Monk, on the other hand, is treated with respect despite his tics. They do need some better storylines - I thought the “blind” episode was weak and a few others this season have not been up to the quality of past episodes.
Still, considering what is on the tube at the moment, both shows are better than “so you think you can dance” or any of the other summer duds.
Am so looking forward to new episodes of The Shield and Wire, but those are in a whole 'nother league.