I am obsessed with Psych.

In these past three weeks, despite midterms, I have watched the 3rd and 4th season and I’m currently halfway through the 1st. In case you’re wondering, yes, I’m watching them out of order. Excluding shows with continuity (Lost, Dexter, etc), I have a theory that it takes three or four seasons for actors to fully settle into their roles. Additionally, I think that it takes a similar amount of times for the writers to solidify their material and the production teams to fully understand what direction they want to take. 

Like many people, I assume that I enjoy shows where I can identify with the main character. How I Met Your Mother was my former favorite because I felt strangely similar to Ted (the narrator/main character).

But now I have a new character to identify with: Shawn Spencer (the guy on the left below and main character of Psych). I’m no psychic, nor am I good enough to pretend to be, but something I’ve noticed in myself and developed is a keen sense of observation. After getting into Psych, I’ve decided to apply some of my perceptive skills to see what I can pull off. These past few days, I’ve surprised myself by coming to split-second conclusions from logic and past observations. Some highlights: I’ve correctly deduced that my friend took the day off work (clue: she normally wears business casual but was dressed in jeans), concluded that a window was open in my Accounting quiz section despite the blinds drawn over and my friend who brought it up thinking the heater was blowing cold air (clue: I had seen it open a few weeks ago), and I identified my friend’s sandals which I had seen once before and thought were out of place because they were at my other friend’s house (clue: they were Jordans and I knew the friend’s room I was in didn’t own anything by Jordan).

I consider all of those pretty basic in terms of observation and deduction, not even coming close to what other people with exceptional photographic memory are capable of. I don’t think I’m cut out to use those skills in a future profession (like…a detective?), but I think it could serve a purpose in the future.

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Here’s a random thought: I wonder what it’s like to meet the actors that portray these characters? I’ve come to know them at the people they play, but I wonder what sort of personalities they have in “the real world”. If I ever did get the chance to meet them, it would be very difficult for me to get over the persona of their characters. I consider both Josh Radnor (Ted) and James Roday (Shawn) very capable actors who couldn’t be more perfect for their roles. (anyone else but me think it’s weird I identify with actors that have the same initials?) I feel like, for an actor to fully immerse themselves in a role, they have to sort of already live as the character they play. Thus, my answer to the leading question of this paragraph is that they won’t be too different.