It’s a rare thing. For more than 50 years TV series have fought back after cancellation to snatch a TV movie or several (see The Incredible Hulk and Veronica Mars) or holiday special (see Columbo, Kojak, The Brady Bunch, and a lot of classic TV) or moved to another network (see Medium and Community) or extra seasons years later (see Twin Peaks and The X-Files) or even a big screen movie (see Serenity) but rarely capture the spark of the original. Let Psych join Longmire and Leverage as the rare exception. The second “sequel to a sequel,” Psych 3: This is Gus, arriving this weekend on Peacock, is a marked improvement on the first two movies, showing that James Roday (now reclaiming his real name as James Roday Rodriguez) and Dulé Hill′s hilarious crime fighting duo “still got it.” Better yet, the entire gameplay of the storytelling is back, thanks to creator, writer, and showrunner Steve Franks giving fans a lighthearted mystery just as witty and silly and fun as an original episode from Psych′s eight-season run.
Welcome news for fans of Psychis a new trailer (below) for the second sequel to a sequel, Psych 3: This is Gus. It looks even more like the series than last year’s fun drama we first discussed here at borg, Psych 2: Lassie Come Home (the first new original movie to premiere on NBC’s Peacock streaming service), and Psych 3will also premiere on Peacock–in a few weeks. The movie, the third of six sequels that creator/showrunner Steve Franks said he plans to make, switches focus from Timothy Omundson′s character Lassiter aka Lassie to Dulé Hill′s Burton Guster, aka Ovaltine Jenkins aka Hollabackatcha aka Domo Arigato, etc., whose new wife has some secrets for Team Psych to uncover. Best of all, the movie is less than a month away. Who doesn’t need a good laugh? Everyone is back: James Roday, Dulé Hill, Maggie Lawson, Kirsten Nelson, Kurt Fuller, and Corbin Bernsen, and, of course, Tears for Fears′ own Curt Smith.
Welcome news for fans of Psychis a new trailer (below) for the second movie sequel in what is expected to be a series of movies we first discussed here at borg a whole strange month ago. The movie has the quite apt and humorous title, Psych 2: Lassie Come Home, and it’s expected to arrive with the general release of the free Peacock streaming service app coming your way on or shortly after July 15 (Peacock will also have a pay “premium content” version). The movie, the second of six sequels that creator/showrunner Steve Franks said he plans to make, will focus on Timothy Omundson′s character Lassiter aka Lassie. Omundson suffered a stroke in 2017 (watch a great interview with him below) and the story will in part mirror his real-life comeback.
Our borg.comBest of 2017 list continues today with the best in television. If you missed it, check out our review of the Best Movies of 2017 here and the Kick-Ass Heroines of 2017 yesterday here.
Without further ado, this year’s Best in Television:
Best Borg TV Series, Best TV Borg – Humans (AMC). From the awakenings in the first episode of season 2, AMC’s Humans kicked in full throttle as the borg show to watch this year. Continuing to explore what it means to be real and addressing the desire and need to overcome oppression, the show took ideas from Frankenstein and THX-1138 and everything in between to show us realities of life as a borg as it took the world from robotic cyborgs to sentience. And this year’s best borg goes to all the Synths on the series, as each showed a different side to what a world full of cyborgs might be like.
Best Sci-fi TV Series, Best Soundtrack for TV – The Orville(Fox). The Orville expanded on elements from across all sci-fi, like space battle sequences and planet flyovers using Star Wars-inspired camera angles (including real model ships, not just CGI), completely new and unique aliens (the only thing close to these can be found in Doctor Who), and a fantastic, triumphant musical score from Bruce Broughton. A visually gorgeous show that took itself seriously more than trying to mock anything that came before it. The science fiction series we’ve been waiting for since Star Trek Voyager ended.
Best Fantasy TV Series – Wynonna Earp (Syfy). Wynonna Earp’s second season proved the first wasn’t a fluke. The sharp-tongued, swaggering, tough-as-nails gunfighter, her sister, the sheriff, and the ghost of Doc Holliday added some new team members and some great supernatural villains, providing a series we couldn’t wait to get back to each week. Wynonna’s handling of the Revenants and a transport back in time was even more fun while she managed her pregnancy.
Best Retro TV Series – Stranger Things (Netflix). The only question after binge-watching the second season of Stranger Things was struggling to decide whether it was better than the first. It had the same look and feel of its first season, but somehow the characterization was really amped up, the action more exciting, and the tension pretty much perfect. Stranger Things really had it all–stars of our favorite 1980s movies, throwback references to video games, music, fashions, and the obscure like no other show–and with a second season that eclipsed the first, it proved it is the real deal.
After the cut, come back for more of our Best in Television 2017, including our pick for Best TV Series:
Even after 121 episodes, from 2006 to 2015, Psych fans couldn’t get enough. Earlier this year USA Network announced a reunion show and the long wait is almost over. Psych: The Movie is less than two weeks away. James Roday is back as Shawn Spencer with his sidekick of many names, Dulé Hill, as Burton “Sillypants Jackson” Guster. Corbin Bernsen, Kirsten Nelson, Maggie Lawson, and Kurt Fuller are also expected back, and somehow Jimmi Simpson will return as Mary. Look for Zachary Levi as a villain, and Jazmyn Simon, Ralph Macchio, and Charlotte Flair are also set to appear in the special. Psych creator Steve Franks co-wrote the movie with James Roday and will direct. Series co-star Tim Omundson, who played Lassiter, suffered a stroke and so it looks like he will only have one scene in the show. But if all goes well, there may be more made-for-TV movies down the road.
But while you’re waiting for the movie, why not check out the book? What? You didn’t know there was a book? Many of the most diehard “Psych-os” (what the fans call themselves) may not realize Shawn Spencer and Burton Guster have their own 290 page guide for wannabe Private Eyes. It’s the aptly named Psych’s Guide to Crime Fighting for the Totally Unqualified, by Shawn Spencer and Burton Guster (and Chad Gervich*), and it’s just the thing for fans to refresh their memories of some of the best comic banter ever dressed up as a detective show. Shawn tries very hard to write a professional book, and well, fails at that, but not after much encouragement from Juliet “Jules” O’Hara and corrections and opposition from Guster.
Fans will appreciate that the book is, of course, dedicated to actor Billy Zane, and it features a foreword by Tears for Fears frontman Curt Smith. Look for hundreds of callbacks to the series, and an entire volume of Shawn re-interpreting things he may or may not have overheard at the police station and during his many cases closed successfully for the Santa Barbara Police Department. Plus some advice from Henry Spencer (SBPD ret.) and Detective Carlton Lassiter. There’s even a twice-baked potato recipe from Mr. Yang.
Even after 121 episodes, from 2006 to 2015, Psych fans couldn’t get enough. Earlier this year USA Network announced a reunion show and it will air in December. The cast was featured in a panel at San Diego Comic-Con yesterday, generating great buzz and fan excitement for the holiday show, titled Psych: The Movie. The only down beat is that co-star Tim Omundson, who played Lassiter on the series, suffered a stroke and so it looks like he will only have one scene in the show. But if all goes well, there may be more made-for-TV movies down the road.
Corbin Bernsen, Kirsten Nelson, Maggie Lawson, and Kurt Fuller will be back, and big news: somehow Jimmi Simpson will return as Mary. Look for Zachary Levi as a villain, and Jazmyn Simon, Ralph Macchio, and Charlotte Flair are also set to appear in the special. Psych creator Steve Franks co-wrote the movie with James Roday and will direct.
Check out this great teaser with James Roday and Dulé Hill for Psych: The Movie:
