In many ways, Psych was the embodiment of a USA Network program. It was light and breezy, never taking itself too seriously. It ambled along fine with effective B-list supporting character actors, minimal budget, and an audience that was loyal and large enough by USA’s standards. Meanwhile, The Mentalist used the same premise of a poseur-psychic who relied on the powers of observation to create a quintessential CBS program. It was achingly formulaic, regurgitating a stockpile of generic procedural plotlines, populated with bland supporting actors who were seemingly raised in test tubes with the singular purpose of making director/star Simon Baker more interesting by comparison.
Given the nature of their similarities, and the fact that Psych was the older of the two shows, it’s unsurprising that the writers would occasionally give some softball zingers for stars James Roday and Dulé Hill to lob underhanded at the bigger, worse Mentalist. Specifically, the running gag is that within the fictional world of Psych, there exists a program called The Mentalist. Moreover, The Mentalist is a show that seems to be exclusively appreciated by resident slacker psychic Shawn Spencer.
This supercut of several Psych digs aimed at The Mentalist doesn’t show outright disdain but rather bemusement that someone would consider it worthwhile to crib Psych’s premise only to repurpose it as a procedural drama. Perhaps the most revealing barb occurs at the end of the supercut, when Spencer jumps to the defense of his favorite show, only to discover the person ripping on The Mentalist hasn’t actually seen it.
[via Uproxx]