Only 8 episodes aired this year (the rest of the first season starts on January 19th) and yet here it is. Restrained from the top spot as much by that handicap as by the merits of the shows that place ahead of it.
But that’s not to say Psych doesn’t have its problems. It feels a little like Murder, She Wrote sometimes. But the thing is, you can’t possibly care since it’s populated by the greatest characters around.
Shawn Spencer is the most overconfident detective in a landscape full of the same. And the thing is, of course, that he isn’t a detective at all. He just can’t help himself. And you can’t help but share the obvious ecstasy he takes from seeing what no one else can. It’s no wonder his reluctant sidekick keeps getting drawn into the charade.
When he and Gus literally jump for joy at breaking the case in the first episode, I was jumping right along with them. Absolutely the greatest surprise of the year and the most unassumingly funny show out there.
Frame of Reference 