As a fellow psych-o (a fan of the show, Psych), I took interest in the critique of the show, posted by Olivia Bushey. To start off, Bushey goes into a detailed summary of the first episode, off course avoiding spoilers. She then goes into the intent of the originator, Steve Franks, who came up with the show after working on Big Daddy in 1999. As we read on, we learn that Franks did not want the show to take itself seriously. He simply wanted to make an enjoyable show, and was determined to get it on air, “This is absolutely getting on the air, and we’re doing five years of it.” Of course, it did even better and went on for eight.
Eventually, she gets into the medium that sustained Psych and allowed it to be brought to air. That medium being USA Network. A lot of stations rejected Psych because there were not that many dramedies on air during that time. USA was a last hope. Luckily, USA was in what they called their “blue skies” era and were re-branding. They had a lot of comedic and optimistic series, which made Psych a perfect fit for the “blue skies” approach, which led to record ratings for a cable scripted show.
Bushley then goes on to mention the traditions and experience of the audience, in which she actually reached out to fellow psych-os, developing an analysis of why the show was so loved by many based off of their responses. The common denominator being, “this is a show that is silly for silly’s sake and it revels in that.”
Lastly, through out the critique she develops the aesthetic value of the show, which is actually answered in the first paragraph of this article. That is that the show did not want to take itself seriously. The point of Psych was to be extremely fun and silly. The show was meant to make people laugh through an incredible friendship shared between the two main characters and their miraculous misadventures through out the series.
-Love mattwithdiabetes
The Diablog 