If you were watching the series finale of Monk on Friday night (and, apparently, millions of you did), you probably caught a new promotion for USA’s Psych that brought a smile to your face. That is, if you didn’t immediately channel surf at the break.
If you happened to miss it, show stars James Roday and Dule Hill dug deep into the bowels of music video history — like they did for last season’s “Ebony & Ivory” promo — to pull up something very appropo for their little comedy-mystery show: “Private Eyes” by Hall & Oates. And, where the “Ebony & Ivory” ad was a good enough facsimile of the original, their version of “Private Eyes” is even better.
First, they got the feel of the old videos of MTV (yes, kids, they played music videos at one time) by actually filming the promo that way. Then they perfected the look of the band members, though originals like G.E. Smith and T-Bone Wolk were replaced with Psych cast members like Tim Omundson and Maggie Lawson. Heck, they even got that little lightning effect down every time someone clapped over the lyrics “Private Eyes, they’re watching you”.
What makes it work is, of course, Roday and Hill, who portray Daryl Hall and John Oates, respectively. Donned in the same outfits Hall & Oates donned in the original (perhaps not the “original” outfits; those would probably stink by now), Roday and Hill do a marvelous job. Dule even has the heavy blinking down that Oates displayed in the 1981 video. What would have made this even better if Hill wore a cheesy mustache.
There’s a reason for this new promotion. For the first time since the beginning of the show’s run, Psych is moving to a new night. Starting on January 27th, new episodes will air on Wednesday nights at 10:00 PM. Don’t worry, they aren’t being punished. It’s just USA trying to spread out their shows for more viewership, rather than clump them into a few nights. We’ll see if it helps or hurts the show as it wraps up season 4 and gets ready for season 5.
Clacked by Richard Keller 
on Dec 08, 2009 @ 16:10 EST5EDT
Been waiting to see a post here about the promo! :) I think I’m still more partial to Ebony and Ivory, but this was absolutely brilliant too. I love that as in the Ebony and Ivory promo, Shawn and Gus are vying for all the camera time here too.
Here’s hoping the Wednesday move brings the show more viewers (as the show rightly deserves)!
Yeah, I can’t imagine the new time slot would do anything but help them. I can’t think offhand what they will be competing against (um, besides Eastwick!) and Friday night is such a dead zone for TV anyway. I can’t wait until Psych comes back … best hour of pure fun on TV!
Not wild about the move, but that is what DVRs are for. Why aren’t they doing a Christmas episode?
One of the many great shows on USA–between USA & TNT, Network shows cotinue to hurt.
I’m sorry, but my favorite “Private Eyes” / TV moment still remains in Veronica Mars when Vinny Van Lowe sang it to Veronica :)
I also prefer “Ebony and Ivory,” but this was a very strong effort. I do wish Omundson had gotten more than the one close-up, though.
BTW, Richard, I think you meant to type “àpropos” instead of “appropo.”