Spellingg Bee

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This article is about an episode of the TV show Psych. For the spelling competition, see spelling bee.
"Spellingg Bee"
Psych episode
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 2
Directed byMel Damski
Written bySteve Franks
Production code1002[1]
Original air dateJuly 14, 2006 (2006-07-14)
Running time43 minutes[2]
Guest appearances
  • Karen Vick
  • Kyle Pejpar as Young Shawn Spencer
  • Jeremy Loheir as Young
    Burton Guster
  • Alex Bruhanski as Spellmaster Cavanaugh
  • Issey Lamb as Brandon Vu
  • Alexander Calvert as Jiri Prochazka
  • Richard Zeman as Miklous Prochazka
  • Bud Collins as himself[3]
Episode chronology
← Previous
"
Pilot
" 		Next →
"Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Piece"
Psych (season 1)
List of episodes

"Spellingg Bee", also known as "The Spellingg Bee", is the

sportscaster Bud Collins
.

The series follows

Burton "Gus" Guster (Dulé Hill), who operate a fake psychic detective agency, which is actually based on Shawn's hyperobservant ability. In the episode, Shawn and Gus are watching a spelling bee on TV when the expected champion collapses suddenly. Suspecting a set-up, they investigate the bee. While there, the spellmaster (Alex Bruhanski) suspiciously falls over a railing to his death, strengthening their beliefs in foul play. With help from Shawn's father, Henry Spencer (Corbin Bernsen
) they discover poison in the spellmaster's meal, confirming their thoughts. Shawn realizes that the entire situation was created by a contestant and his father in order to cover up that they were cheating.

The installment was originally written to be the third episode of the season, but was moved up by the show's producers to introduce the character

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. "Spellingg Bee" received mixed-to-positive reception from television critics. According to Nielsen Media Research
, the episode was watched by 4.71 million people during its original broadcast, making up approximately 3.35 million households. It received a 1.5 rating/5 share among viewers in the 18–49 demographic. Actor Dulé Hill was nominated for an award at the 13th NAMIC Vision Awards for his performance in the episode.

Plot

Karen Vick (Kirsten Nelson) asking them to investigate the bee. They interview Vu at the hospital, who tells them that his inhaler was not working during the competition. They begin individual interviews with the competitors, but discover no leads. While they are waiting between interviews, spellmaster Cavanaugh (Alex Bruhanski) experiences chest pain and falls over a railing to his death, in front of Shawn and Gus. The police write off his death as a heart attack; Shawn and Gus are skeptical, and break into Cavanaugh's booth to investigate.[1]

Gus finds Cavanaugh's lunch, and believes that it is poisoned due to its unusual smell. Shawn takes it to his father, Henry Spencer (Corbin Bernsen), to have it analyzed. Henry demands that in return, Shawn must build a dog house he promised to make in 1989. Shawn agrees, and leaves. While riding back to the office, he is run off the road by a mysterious van. Shawn wakes up in the hospital, and after he gets out, Gus informs him that he discovered another fake inhaler. Shawn returns to Henry's house to finish the dog house. Henry confirms that the lunch was poisoned, and Shawn returns to the bee. He disguises himself as the new spellmaster in order to enter the booth, and discovers that Cavanaugh had found out that Miklous Prochazka (Richard Zeman) was helping his son (Alexander Calvert), a contestant in the bee, to cheat by spelling out his son's words to him in Morse code using electrical impulses that were transferred to his false inhaler. After the bee has finished, Shawn has a "psychic vision" where he reveals everything to the police, who arrest Miklous and his son.[4]

Production

Cast and crew

An image of a man in a black shirt looking to his left
Steve Franks wrote the episode, his second work on the show

"Spellingg Bee" was the first episode directed by co-executive producer and director

Pilot".[6][7] Tracey Jeffery was the episode's producer, John J. Sakmar and Jerry Lenhart were the consulting producers, and Mel Damski, Steve Franks, Kelly Kulchak, and Chris Henze were the associate producers. Erin Smith was the production manager. Tracy Hillman was the installment's associate producer, and Michael McMurray was the director of photography, while Allan Lee and Anupam Nigam acted as the editors. David Crabtree, James Ilecic, Allan Lee, and Gordon Rempel were the script editors. The music for the episode was written by Adam Cohen and John Robert Wood. Assistant directors for the installment were Jack Hardy and Roger Russell.[8][9]

The episode was originally planned to be the third installment of the season, but was moved up by the show's producers in order to introduce the major character Juliet O'Hara, played by Maggie Lawson. The scene introducing O'Hara was filmed as part of the fourth episode, "Woman Seeking Dead Husband: Smokers Okay, No Pets", but was added to the installment because of the need to bring in the character. It was also used for Lawson's audition for the show.[10] Kyle Pejpar and Jeremy Loheir were cast to play Young Shawn and Young Gus in the episode. The show's casting directors brought in the actors because older versions of young Shawn and Gus were needed for the flashback scenes in the episode. Sportscaster Bud Collins guest starred in the episode. Collins wrote all of his dialogue, and designed his own wardrobe for the installment.[11]

In addition, another guest star for the episode was

Shawn vs. the Red Phantom".[12][13] Other minor guests included Alex Bruhanski (who played Spellmaster Cavanaugh), Issey Lamb (who played Brandon Vu), Alexander Calvert (who played Jiri Prochazka), Richard Zeman (who played Miklous Prochazka), and Brendan Beiser (who played the bee's color commentator).[14]

Writing and filming

Steve Franks and his wife, April, went to Santa Barbara on their honeymoon. At the time, he was developing the idea for Psych. He knew he didn't want a big city atmosphere. He wanted a place that was beautiful.

Mel Damski, speaking on the decision for the filming location of Psych.[6]

The show is meant to take place in the Southern California city of Santa Barbara; however, most of the series is filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, and the surrounding communities. The majority of the scenes are filmed in the suburb community of White Rock, especially those including the ocean or coastline.[15] Speaking about filming the show, Steve Franks stated that "I swear it's San Clemente, CA. It couldn't look more like it". In order to make the sets appear as Santa Barbara, the show's crew members installed many props stereotypical to Southern California, including fake palm trees, surfboards, and the California-published newspaper, the Santa Maria Sun. The production crew had to truck in eight palm trees to each set during filming.[6][16]

Several of the show's filming sets were changed between episodes. The Psych office was expanded and refurnished, afterwards becoming the second largest stage for the show.

Arlington Theater.[20] Several of the episode's scenes were written by Franks while filming the pilot episode.[21]

In order to make the show seem more realistic, Franks and other writers talked to his father, a former Los Angeles police officer, and several psychics. Much of the episode's content was improvised by the actors, and Roday included a pineapple in the episode, continuing the reoccurring theme on the show.[15][22] James Roday talked to producers about including singing in the series' second episode, but the idea was shut down because it was too soon in the show. In addition, Steve Franks considered writing one of the show's early episodes to be about a psychic claiming Shawn was a fraud, but delayed writing the episode until later.[15][23] The producers attempted to include themes against smoking and the issues of friendship. Franks also included a character named Mrs. Foote, a reference to his 1999 movie Big Daddy.[24]

Release

The episode was originally broadcast in the United States on July 14, 2006, on

PST time slot, following a new episode of the show Monk.[2][26] The show's previous installment, "Pilot", was a special extended episode, running for approximately 66 minutes. "Spellingg Bee" was the first installment of the show to run for a normal length, approximately 43 minutes.[2][27] An encore was aired by USA Network's sister broadcast network NBC on August 7, 2006.[28][29][30]

"Spellingg Bee", along with the fourteen other episodes from Psych's

Region 2 countries on January 9, 2008, and was released in Australia on April 30 of the same year.[33][34] The entire first season has also been released on the iTunes store for digital download, as well as independent downloads of each individual episode.[2]

Reception

A woman in a grey shirt sitting behind a microphone
The importance of Maggie Lawson's character Juliet O'Hara was questioned from the beginning

Ratings

According to the

9 Lives" (4.72 million).[41]

Critical reception

Since airing, the episode has received mixed to positive reviews. In his review for IGN, contributor Colin Moriarty heavily criticized the episode, calling it "unintentionally lackluster".[42] While Moriarty considered Hill to portray Gus well, he considered Juliet O'Hara and Carlton Lassiter's characters "rather forgettable" and stated that "neither character has any traits that make them interesting in the least".[42] He considered the show to be "admittedly in a difficult spot".[42] Moriarty criticized the show's police force, calling it "possibly miscast".[42] He called the episode "mildly entertaining and mildly boring" and that the show is "not looking too good".[42] The installment was given a rating of 6, or "okay", tying it for the lowest rated episode of the season, with the following episode, "Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Piece".[43] In an article for The New York Times, journalist Bill Carter mentions that after just the two episodes, "USA Network seems to have found another drama hit with 'Psych'".[44]

In his review for

Yahoo! TV's list of the nerdiest episodes of Psych. Reviewer Tucker Cummings said that "the wordplay in this episode great" and that "it gives you a great insight into how Gus and Shawn's friendship has functioned (or dysfunctioned) over the years".[47] In addition, she said that the episode's murder-mystery plot "is actually really engrossing" when compared to later episodes of the show.[47]

In a review of the

The Record called the show a "promising series".[49] Several critics compared the episode and show to the then-new Lifetime network series Angela's Eyes; in his article for the Los Angeles Daily News, journalist David Kronke stated that "Lifetime's new crime drama 'Angela's Eyes' is essentially the USA Network's new series 'Psych' inside out and played without laughs".[50] In an article for the Akron Beacon Journal, Angela's Eyes main character Abigail Spencer was compared to Shawn Spencer, who was described as being "so good that people don't believe what he can figure out".[51] Psych was also described as having "a much simpler premise", but being more entertaining than Angela's Eyes".[51]

The installment has been very positively received by the show's cast and crew. Series creator Steve Franks was asked by iTunes in 2009 to select his twelve favorite episodes to be put on a special DVD release. The collection, titled Psych: Twelve Episodes That Will Make You Happy, contained four episodes from the first season, including "Spellingg Bee". When describing the episode, Franks stated that "The Spellingg Bee has my one of my favorite scenes in the run of the show when Shawn takes over for the spellmaster and has to investigate a murder while making up words for the contestants to spell".[52] In 2013, iTunes asked stars James Roday and Dulé Hill to select their 20 favorite episodes from the show. The DVD collection was titled Psych: James and Dule's Top 20, with "Spellingg Bee" was selected as #14 on the collection, picked by Roday. Three other episodes from the first season were also selected.[53]

Accolades

For his performance in portraying Burton "Gus" Guster in the episode, Dulé Hill was nominated to win the award for "Best Actor–Comedy" at the 13th Annual NAMIC Vision Awards. The awards are organized by the National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC), and are given for "outstanding achievements in original, multi-ethnic cable programming".[54] Other nominees for the award were Carlos Mencia, Romany Malco, and Damon Wayans.[55] Hill lost the award to Mencia, for received it for his performance in the Comedy Central program Mind of Mencia.[56]

List of awards and nominations received by "Spellingg Bee"
Year Award Category Nominee Result Notes
2007 13th NAMIC Vision Awards Best Actor–Comedy Dulé Hill Nominated [55]

References

Footnotes
  1. ^ a b Spellingg Bee (#1_1002) p. 1
  2. ^ a b c d "Psych, Season 1". iTunes Store. Apple. Archived from the original on July 4, 2013. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  3. ^ Spellingg Bee (#1_1002) Credits
  4. ^ Spellingg Bee (#1_1002) p. 2
  5. ^ Staff (2006). "Spellingg Bee". Psych Episode Guides. Starpulse. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  6. ^ a b c Asman, Amy (October 13, 2009). "Welcome to Santa Barbara-Psych!". Santa Maria Sun. p. 1. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  7. ^
    Pilot". Psych. Season 1. Episode 1. USA Network
    .
  8. Psych, The Complete First Season
    (DVD). NBCUniversal.
  9. ISBN 978-1-55783-684-7
    .
  10. ^ Franks et al., 0:37–2:45
  11. ^ Franks et al., 4:32–6:26
  12. ^ Franks et al., 29:09–29:51
  13. Shawn vs. the Red Phantom". Psych. Season 1. Episode 8. USA Network
    .
  14. Yahoo! TV. Yahoo! Inc.
    Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  15. ^ a b c Franks, Steve; Henze, Chris; Kulchak, Kelly (2006). "Domestic Pilot" Audio Commentary: Psych, The Complete First Season (DVD). Universal Studios.
  16. ^ Goldman (2006), p. 2
  17. ^ Franks et al., 7:12–8:46
  18. ^ Franks et al., 27:41–28:00
  19. ^ Franks et al., 22:44–22:58
  20. ^ Franks et al., 14:57–15:30
  21. ^ Franks et al., 30:45–30:52
  22. OCLC 60626272. Archived
    from the original on September 22, 2013. Retrieved September 1, 2013.
  23. ^ Goldman (2006), p. 3
  24. ^ Franks et al., 35:48–36:06
  25. ^ Staff (2013). "Spellingg Bee". Psych–Episode Info. MSN TV. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  26. OCLC 18030507. Archived from the original
    on September 3, 2017.
  27. IGN TV. IGN. p. 11. Archived
    from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  28. ISSN 1068-624X. Archived
    from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  29. ^ NBC (July 21, 2006). "NBC Getting 'Psyched' for Mondays in August with Re-Broadcasts of New USA Network Hit Series, 'Psych' on August 7 and 14". Breaking News. The Futon Critic. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  30. ^ Staff (2006). "Psych [Program Change]". Listings–By Air Date. The Futon Critic. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  31. TVShowsonDVD.com. TV Guide Online. Archived from the original
    on September 21, 2013. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  32. ^ Psych, The Complete First Season (booklet). Steve Franks, et al. New York City: NBCUniversal. 2007.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  33. Amazon.co.uk
    . Retrieved May 23, 2013.
  34. ^ Staff. "Psych – The Complete 1st Season (4 Disc Set)". EzyDVD. Archived from the original on November 1, 2013. Retrieved May 27, 2013.
  35. ^
    OCLC 464378787. Archived from the original
    on October 13, 2013. Retrieved June 6, 2013. (subscription required)
  36. OCLC 60626272. Archived from the original
    on October 13, 2013. Retrieved June 6, 2013. (subscription required)
  37. ^ Staff (July 18, 2006). "USA Network #1 Across Board". Breaking News. The Futon Critic. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  38. ISSN 1068-6827
    . Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  39. OCLC 60626272. Archived from the original
    on October 13, 2013. Retrieved June 6, 2013. (subscription required)
  40. OCLC 60626272. Archived from the original
    on October 13, 2013. Retrieved October 12, 2013. (subscription required)
  41. OCLC 60626272. Archived from the original
    on October 13, 2013. Retrieved October 12, 2013. (subscription required)
  42. ^ a b c d e Moriarty, Colin (July 17, 2006). "Psych: "Spellingg Bee" Review". IGN TV. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  43. ^ Staff (March 2007). "Psych Preview—Season 01". Psych–Show Highlights. IGN TV. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  44. ISSN 0362-4331
    .
  45. ^
    TV Squad. AOL TV
    . Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  46. ^ Roush, Matt (July 21, 2006). "Thanks so much for your ..." What's Hot. TV Guide. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
  47. ^ a b Cummings, Tucker (January 17, 2012). "The Nerdiest Episodes of 'Psych'". Yahoo! TV. Yahoo! Inc. Retrieved October 12, 2013.
  48. ISSN 0743-1791
    . Retrieved June 7, 2013.
  49. OCLC 10806291. Archived from the original
    on March 26, 2016. Retrieved June 7, 2013. (subscription required)
  50. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original
    on April 9, 2016. Retrieved June 7, 2013. (subscription required)
  51. ^
    OCLC 34332280. Archived from the original
    on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 7, 2013. (subscription required)
  52. Universal Network Television
    LLC. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
  53. ^ Hill, Dulé; Roday, James (February 25, 2013). Psych: James and Dule's Top 20 (Compilation DVD). Universal City, California: Universal Network Television LLC. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
  54. ^ Staff (January 23, 2007). "Showtime Networks Leads Nominations for 13th Annual NAMIC Vision Awards" (PDF) (Press release). National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 25, 2013. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
  55. ^
    ISSN 0276-8593. Archived from the original
    on September 24, 2015. Retrieved June 7, 2013. (subscription required)
  56. ^ Duggan, Beth (2007). "Showtime, MTV Top NAMIC Vision Awards". In Depth. TV Week. Archived from the original on June 20, 2013. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
Bibliography

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