A visit to the set of Psych, part one

There are some days (okay, all days) when writing for CliqueClack TV is totally cool. As I noted in my review of Psych this past week, and in the Psych quotes when I subbed for the family “McDuff” (am I the only Macbeth fan here?), I had the opportunity to visit the Vancouver set last Monday. USA Network, Electric Artists, and New Media Strategies brought writers from various websites to meet with the cast/writers/directors and watch filming of the mid-season finale featuring Franka Potente (Bourne Identity) and C. Thomas Howell (Criminal Minds, E.T.).

In the ensuing weeks leading up to the September 8th mid-season finale, I will release interviews with Dulé Hill, Timothy Omundson, Maggie Lawson, James Roday, and C. Thomas Howell. But this week I will start with set images (Henry’s house, the Psych office, the SBPD). You can also find a couple snapshots of the USA Media Days visit on the Psych Facebook page.

In the interim, below find my initial comments/observations:

• Dulé Hill was the charmer of the group.
• Yes, James Roday’s hair really does look that good in person.
• C. Thomas Howell and Timothy Omundson were the rock stars of the gang. They came in, rocked out the room, and left in a hail of whistles and applause.
• Maggie Lawson was very gracious and patient.
• Most of the cast is humble.
• Dulé’s a walking catchphrase (the writers took almost 100% of his character’s catchphrases from his real life vernacular).
• James Roday revealed that Shawn and Juliet might take one step forward without the writers pushing them five steps back.
• Cast members are still shocked to discover Maggie and James are dating.
• There is definitely something magical about the actors. I can see why agencies call them “talent.” They possess a charismatic “muchness.”
• Dulé and James didn’t do that many takes before moving on to the next shot.
• Not including the extras, the 17 visiting writers, or even the makeup person in the side room, there were around 25 crew members in total filming the scene between James, Dulé, and Franka.
• C. Thomas Howell briefly contemplated changing his name but realized people might not recognize him.
• Steven Spielberg bribed the kids on the set of E.T.
• All of the characters are single, and the cast wouldn’t mind changing that, particularly Timothy and Dulé.
• Franka Potente has great hair.
• That is one seriously, naturally attractive cast. I found myself staring at Dulé wondering why he didn’t have more foundation on. The same applied to the rest of the cast. They truly look that way in person. No pancake makeup for any of them.
• We visited the sound stage containing the Psych office and SBPD as well as two on-site locations — a newly built office building (featuring second floor office workers at work) and a local hotel.
• The makeshift press room, a conference room on the building’s third floor, had a Dole pineapple box in it.

The cast and crew definitely made us feel welcome. From Maggie Lawson’s and Dulé Hill’s comfort in talking to us between takes to C. Thomas Howell’s sitting among us at lunch, you could tell they had done this before. Part of me expected the entire crew to revile us as troglodyte “bloggers” who rarely saw the sun, but was pleasantly surprised (although one time the director yelled out “the bloggers are in the take”).

Overall, I noticed a settled-in feel among the cast and crew, akin to an old couch — comfortable, yet still surprising and incredibly productive. While we watched Dulé commit a Pysch-out, and the directing staff gently chide another crew member for dropping a cast cue, there still existed a feeling of warmth and affection. Although I have never had a desire to work on a television set — outside adolescent dreams — if I did, Psych is the rare type of set I’d love to join. However, I probably would not go before the camera. After realizing that most of the male actors possessed bodies similar to my male family members and co-workers while the females appeared almost fairy-like in person, I wondered about the discrepancy in filming female vs. male bodies, and the differences in how the two are treated. Despite that, I still believe I would prefer the production side of things. While on-set is exciting (even when waiting twenty minutes for the setup of a new location, or watching the same take multiple times), I think I’d prefer to hang out in the production office handling paperwork, and visit the set only now and again.

I received a butt-load of notes and character insight goodness, in addition to a DVD for review (which I’ll post some time in September), so look for the Psych Spotlight profiles in the coming weeks. Follow to the next page for more photos and captions….

Clacked by An Nicholson
on Aug 19, 2010 @ 13:00 EST5EDT