USA’s ‘Psych’ follows ‘Monk’ in making sure police have fun

In USA Network land, the police certainly are open to creative sleuthing.

First, the San Francisco force enlisted “Monk” (which has its fifth-season premiere tonight at 9), the obsessive-compulsive detective.

Now, Santa Barbara law enforcement has taken on a crime-solving psychic in “Psych,” which premieres with a special 90-minute episode tonight following “Monk.”

But Shawn Spencer (James Roday) is not even a real psychic, so to speak.

His crime-solving gift – a photographic attention to detail (highlighted by a glow around the object he’s assessing) – comes from years of observational drills conducted by his now-estranged police-officer father, Henry (Corbin Bernsen).

When Shawn’s accurate tips to police make him a suspect, he uses the psychic ruse to wriggle out of custody.

“His mouth opened before his brain started working, and now he’s in this predicament (of having to fake being a psychic),” says Roday, who spends the premiere trying to come up with the right eerie look to accompany his “revelations.”

In a character who careens through life and crime scenes even as he puts the brakes on growing up too quickly, Roday sees a tonal connection to Monk.

“In any given situation, his No. 1 priority is to have a good time, and then it’s, ‘Oh, yeah, but we should probably find some evidence. What can I look at really quickly to get us one step closer to where we need to be without missing out on that girl that’s walking by?’ ” says Roday, whose resume ranges from Chekhov on the New York stage to the “Dukes of Hazzard” movie.

Fortunately for Shawn, his lifelong buddy and new detective partner, Gus (played by Dule Hill), provides just enough stability to keep them out of real trouble.

Although the brainy Gus is conservative in his approach to life, he enjoys being dragged along on Shawn’s wild ride.

“It’s kind of a yin-yang,” says Hill, who switches to comedy after a long run on “The West Wing.” “They balance each other out.”

Shawn, who is hired by police chief Vick (Kirsten Nelson) for his psychic abilities, pulls Gus away from his safe but unsatisfying job to help in his first case: the search for a rich man’s kidnapped son. They must find crime details while jousting with the uptight Detective Lassiter (Timothy Omundson).

Success leads Shawn and Gus to open a private-eye firm, Psych, and raises the possibility that the difficult relationship between Shawn and Henry may thaw as the son finally finds a focus for his gift.

“Psych” creator Steve Franks drew on his own experiences in making Shawn’s world.

Growing up, Franks learned observational techniques from his father, a police officer. (They have a much better relationship than the fictional Spencers.)

And, like Shawn, that led to a career, but not on a police force.

“Inadvertently, it drove me to be a writer.

“We would walk out of the grocery store and my dad would say, ‘Did you notice this? Did you notice that?’ ” Franks remembers.

“Slowly, while I was a kid, I started doing that, too.

“It got me interested in people and what’s going on in the world. I realized) there are a lot of great stories to write.”

Franks got some specific inspiration from one of his father’s side jobs: providing security on the set of “Moonlighting,” a 1980s private-investigator hit famed for the screwball banter between Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd.

“I love the fast-talking guy who can talk his way out of anything,” Franks says. “You don’t see those shows anymore.

“All the detective shows are death and dismemberment.”