Set in Santa Barbara, Calif., the hourlong dramedy that features lifelong pals Shawn Spencer, played by James Roday, and Burton “Gus” Guster, played by Dul{’e} Hill, expertly solving crimes while faking that hyper-observant Shawn is a psychic, starts at 10 p.m. Friday.
The season premiere will pick up where season two’s cliffhanger left off, with Shawn opening the front door to his mother Madeleine, played by Golden Globe winner Cybill Shepherd.
It turns out Madeleine is a criminal psychologist who returns to help the police department with a case. Quite a surprise for Shawn and his father, retired cop Henry Spencer, played by Corbin Bernsen, as they haven’t seen her in years.
“There’s going to be some tension right out of the gate with the premiere,” Roday said in a recent telephone interview from the show’s shoot in Vancouver.
That tension will include Shawn learning what he thought was true about his parents’ divorce when he was younger wasn’t the complete truth.
Since “Psych” is more comedy than drama, Shepherd was a great fit for Shawn’s mom and Henry’s ex-wife.
“She comes from a pretty good comedy pedigree,” Roday said. “Our show creator was thrilled because ‘Moonlighting’ is one of his favorite shows of all time.”
While she won’t be a permanent fixture this season, Southwest Georgians can expect Shepherd to reprise the role in upcoming episodes.
“We’ve put her in two,” Roday said, “and I think that she’ll probably be coming back for at least one more in season three.”
Shepherd won’t be the only notable actor playing a member of the Spencer family, this season.
“We’ve got Steven Weber,” Hill said.
In an upcoming episode, Weber will guest star as Shawn’s adventurous Uncle Jack, who comes to town with a map he thinks will lead to Spanish treasure.
If you’re starting to see a theme, you might be right.
“We’re going to be peeling back a few layers on Shawn’s character,” Roday said, “looking at his family history a little more.”
These new insights could begin to change the strained relationship Shawn has with Henry.
“It’s one of those things where we can’t repair 15 or 20 years of adversity,” Roday said. “Still, one day at a time. They’re still going to have their problems. But I think we’re moving toward a place where they can understand one another better as father and son, but also as men now that Shawn is older and can appreciate things just as a man in addition to being a son.”
Shawn may not be the only one to receive family visitors this season. After meeting Gus’ parents last Christmas, fans might also get to see more of his relatives this season.
“I do have some siblings,” Hill said. “So we may possibly see one or two of my siblings this year.”
According to Roday, these introductions are part of a plan to kick things up on “Psych” this season.
“Our self-imposed mandate for this season was 20 percent more of everything,” Roday said. “So you’re going to be getting 20 percent more action, 20 percent more comedy, 20 percent more drama, 20 percent more emotional grounding. In those terms, you’re going to see some stuff you’re not used to seeing on ‘Psych.’ ”
Such as?
“We’ve got a daredevil episode where we did more stunts in one episode than we’ve done the entire series combined,” Roday said.
In addition, this season’s lineup of guest stars includes some notables.
“We have some great guest actors coming in,” Hill said.
In addition to Shepherd and Weber, the lineup includes Ted Lange, Rachel Leigh Cook, Jeff Fahey, Christopher McDonald, Gary Cole and WWE’s Mickie James.
But don’t worry. Most things will stay the same, including Shawn’s on-again-off-again flirtation with police officer Juliet “Jules” O’Hara, played by Maggie Lawson.
“It’s still certainly going to be an element,” Roday said. “We’ll probably do what we usually do, which is just dangle it in front of everybody for as long as we can until we, ourselves, get a little uncomfortable with it and yank it back.”
This season, Roday, who wrote the finale episodes for the first two seasons of “Psych,” will do more writing, as well as some directing, of “Psych” this season.
“The script that I’m working on right now will be our sort of tribute to the ‘Friday the 13th’ franchise,” Roday said, “which is very close to me because I was raised on slasher films of the ’80s.”
The episode will adhere to the previously mentioned mandate of “20 percent more.”
“It should be a lot scarier than the stuff that we usually do on our show,” Roday said, “because we’re going to try to come up with some real genuine, heart-pounding moments, as well.”
According to Hill, this season’s changes won’t be the show’s undoing. Instead, they’re part of its natural evolution.
“I think with any long-running TV show, you have to continue to challenge yourself to improve on what you’ve done,” the “West Wing” alum said. “Otherwise, you’ll get stale. And I think it’s the only way you can keep it exciting for the audience and for yourself. I think if you keep trying to go around the same mountain over and over again, people will stay around for a little while. But eventually, they’ll get bored and it becomes very predictable.”
“Absolutely,” Roday said. “There are key components about our show that are never going to change because it’s what everybody loves and it’s what Shawn and Gus are. But on top of that, I think the challenge for us making a television show is to bring new stuff into the fold every year that fans can embrace and love just as much as the old stuff.”
Could one way to meet that challenge include a crossover episode with “Monk” or another USA show in the future?
“We hope so,” Hill said. “There’s been a lot of talk about a ‘Monk’ crossover. It hasn’t materialized yet, but I think it would be great to have the crossover, especially with ‘Monk,’ but with any of the USA shows. Each show has their own set of interesting characters, and I think good television is just being how they interact with each other.
“Yeah, I think ‘Monk’ is sort of the obvious companion for us since we’re both private investigators in the same state,” Roday said. “And we’ve definitely spoken to those guys, and they’ve spoken to us. It’s just a matter of getting two giant wheels to spin in harmony. But it’s definitely been floated out there, and we’d love to do it.”
For now, Southwest Georgians can expect to tune into a season of “Psych” that plans to amp it up.
“We’re trying to blow it all out, man,” Roday said, “in the name of good, clean, summer fun.”
CHECK IT OUT
• WHAT: “Psych”
• WHEN: 10 p.m. Fridays
• WHERE: USA Network
Special photo/Alan Zenuk/USA Network
Season three of “Psych” opens with the return of Madeleine Spencer, center, played by Cybill Shepherd, who hasn’t seen ex-husband Henry, left, played by Corbin Bernsen, or son Shawn, played by James Roday, in years. The premiere starts at 10 p.m. Friday on USA.
Special photo/Alan Zenuk/USA Network
Cybill Shepherd will make several appearances on “Psych” this season, starring as Shawn Spencer’s long-lost mother Madeleine.
Special photo/Alan Zenuk/USA Network
For a third season, which starts Friday night, James Roday, left, and Dul{’e} Hill star as lifelong pals Shawn and Gus, who operate a fake psychic detective agency.