"Monk" and "Psych" Reviews: A Great One-Two Punch

So since I’ll be writing a review of my favorite show in just a few days, I figured it was only fair that I review the premieres of my fiance’s favorite shows.

In fact, they’re the only two shows he watches on TV at all—USA’s one-two punch of “Monk” and “Psych.”

And if he’s only going to watch two shows, then at least he’s picked two good ones. I know he’ll be watching when they resume their seventh and third seasons respectively this week…

“Monk” introduces us to someone new in the life of Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub)—his half-brother, Jack Monk Jr. (Steve Zahn). He’s just escaped from prison and he’s looking for Monk’s help in clearing him of the murder of a social worker outside the prison.

Monk is none too happy to see him mainly because he’s a criminal. But the fact that he crawled through the sewer to escape doesn’t really help matters—especially for someone as OCD as Monk.

It takes a little convincing, but eventually Monk does agree to help his half-brother out—even though he soon discovers Jack has a little problem with telling the truth.

I’ve always liked Zahn and he’s adorable in this role. The way the episode is structured he gets a lot of one-on-one scenes with Shalhoub and the two are quite good together.

I wouldn’t be too surprised if we saw Zahn again…

On “Psych,” Shawn and Gus investigate the murder of a famous sea lion.

I was a little concerned to see the biggest showkiller of them all, Ted McGinley, playing a wildlife show host. But he’s so good in the role and I think this show is strong enough to withstand his showkilling ways.

That is as long as the show has the wonderful James Roday playing Shawn. He is so charming it’s almost sickening and Dule Hill as Gus is a perfect foil.

This case—as always—gets Shawn and Gus into a few jams, but fortunately the dynamic duo has Detectives Lassiter (Timothy Omundson) and O’Hara (Maggie Lawson), as well as Shawn’s dad, Henry (Corbin Bernsen) to help them out.

And in fact, for those of you out there who have been waiting for O’Hara and Shawn to be more than just colleagues, there’s a small ray of hope for you in this episode…

“Monk” and “Psych” return Friday, January 9th at 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. on USA…

Photos Credit: USA