'Psych' team predicts continued success

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By CRISTINA KINON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

 

On USA's "Psych," James Roday plays a police consultant whose observational skills are so on point that the rest of the precinct thinks he's psychic.

It's a notion his character, Shawn Spencer, isn't inclined to correct, and Roday says that if anyone should find out the character is faking it, it would probably happen in the series finale.

"That's when you know the show's about to end," agrees Roday's co-star Dulé Hill, who plays reluctant sidekick Gus.

"Psych" was the No. 1 new show on cable last year, and its second season debuted to strong ratings this summer. A string of stars in guest appearances (including Tim Curry, Gina Gershon and Lou Diamond Phillips), paired with a strong ensemble cast, continued to attract viewers.

"Psych's" season finale airs tonight at 10.

"I think we're just starting to find our groove, where everyone's getting more comfortable in their roles and relationships on screen," says Hill. "We're raising the levels of the performances."

Unlike many shows, where cast members fight on set or bad-mouth each other in the press, Roday and Hill say the cast of "Psych" is one big, happy family.

"We don't have those problems that you hear about, people going at each other and egos and all that stuff," says Roday. "I think that holds you back as far as the product that you're able to put out there. We just sort of goof off and mess around and try to make stuff as funny as possible. And then we all go to dinner."

This season we've seen Shawn and Gus perform on an "American Idol" knockoff called "American Duos," crooning a hysterical version of "Shout" by Tears for Fears, discover a 65-million-year-old dinosaur skeleton, and trail a counterfeiter.

When the show runs out of crooked criminals, Roday said it would be fun to start impairing Shawn in ways that would make it more difficult for him to pull off his "psychic" tricks.

"If he's hurt or if he's stuck in a wheelchair and can't go anywhere, I think it would be cool if he solved an entire crime sitting in the same room for the entire episode," says Roday.