I’ve started watching Psych, the new “fake psychic/real detective” show on USA. It stars one of my favorite actors, Dulé Hill, from The West Wing. He’s not the main character, he’s the sidekick, but he’s funny as hell.

The show is highly entertaining, often absurd, and extremely silly. And I love it. I find myself laughing out loud way too often, usually at the craziest stuff. It has some geek cred (Dulé’s character is a huge comic book and sci-fi fan, e.g.), and a lot of the humor comes from clash between the geek of Dulé and the smooth coolness of James Roday, the lead.

It’s smartly written and the relationship between the two main characters is filled with true chemistry. You can get a sense of this chemistry in what they’re calling “Psych-Outs” or sudden outbursts by James and Dulé in the middle of a scene. They’ll sing (e.g. “Man in the Mirror”) or dance or just hilarious improv’d out-takes. You will laugh louder than you think you should at some of them.

USA has a great thing going with their “characters”. I hope Psych is on the air for a long time. (Of course, how can a “fake psychic” keep fooling everyone… so we’ll see.)