Psych Cast & Twin Peaks Alumni Join Fans at Paley Center to view Psych's Twin Peaks Tribute Episode

Tonight USA Network's Psych will air a spectacular Twin Peaks tribute that should be a raucous good time for anyone who loved the ground-breaking 90s series. Not only is the script a humorous spoof and loving homage, but several Twin Peaks alumni were invited to join in the fun. Imagine, getting to see your old castmates and getting paid for it as well.

To celebrate this event, Psych held their very first screening of the episode Monday night at The Paley Center for Media, which had honored them back in April. And they opened the event up to fans to share this special screening with a Q&A afterwards.

I was fortunate to do press for this event which I wrote up for Suite101. And both Psych actors and Twin Peaks actors said that they were seeing the finished product for the first time with the rest of us.

All but one of the regular cast of Psych attended this screening: James Roday, who also co-wrote it, Dule Hill, Corbin Bernsen, Maggie Lawson and Timothy Omundson. From Twin Peaks were Sheryl Lee (Laura Palmer/Madeleine 'Maddy' Ferguson), Catherine Coulson (The Log Lady), Robyn Lively (Lana Budding Milford), Lenny von Dohen (Harold Smith) and Ray Wise (Leland Palmer).

Since none of us in the press line had seen the episode either, we all had to wing it in terms of questions. Corbin was a surprise as we were under the impression only Shawn and Gus go to the Cinnamon Festival. Asked if he was in the episode, Corbin said naw, he was just there for the wine and cheese... obviously in the green room, since we didn't see any such layout.

As always, there isn't enough space for my articles to contain everything, so I will share a few tidbits here and on my WordPress blog. While Sheryl Lee was answering my question on behind-the-scenes Twin Peaks stories she might have shared with fan extraordinaire James Roday, which I reported on in my Suite101 article, I was reminded of all the viewing parties I had heard about where fans gathered to analyze what was going on.

I mentioned that to Sheryl and she chuckled and agreed. "I know," she said. "The other thing that's funny is that everybody was convinced that we knew the answers... Everybody thought I knew who killed Laura and I had no idea who killed Laura until the day that Maddy was killed. And before that scene, David called us (pointing to Ray Wise) into the office and said that Leland did it with Bob and now Maddy was gonna get it. So we were flying by the seat of our pants as well."

I asked Ray Wise what else he was doing and he told me, "I'm going to be doing the next X-Men movie. I'm going to London in another couple of weeks and I play the Secretary of State... of the United States."

I couldn't resist -- I asked him if he was going to dress up like Hilary?

Ray laughed and said, "No. Not like Hilary. I'll be the male version. I'll have a suit and tie. And I'll be properly diplomatic, too."

I very much enjoyed the evening so I encourage you to check out my article: "Psych Unveils Twin Peaks Tribute Episode at the Paley Center."
http://www.suite101.com/content/psych-unveils-twin-peaks-tribute-episode-at-the-paley-center-a315655.

Photo credit of the first lovely photo goes to Kevin Parry/The Paley Center for Media. The rest are my candid shots, showing that I'm not a good photographer, but a willing sport to let you share in the fun.

Talking Psych with Psych People -- How Awesome is That?

Tonight I was blessed to be among the press on the red carpet for "An Evening with Psych" at the Paley Center for Media. I have watched this show from the day it started because I'm a big fan of buddy shows.

For me the adventure started earlier than that, because I arrived earlier than the 5:30 pm time I had been given. It turned out press check-in wasn't going to be until 5:45 pm so I was asked to wait outside with other press who had arrived early and with fans who had arrived early to get a good place in line. That paid off for them because Dulé Hill also arrived early. Some lucky fans got to take photos with him and get autographs before Paley Center security whisked him away. I just stood back and took photos.

Once inside the room where the red carpet was, the photographers were lined up first, then the press. Online press was last, but I think there was only two of us, Libya Eramin from Whedonopolis.com and me from Suite101.com.

I tried to take a photo of romantic couple Maggie Lawson and James Roday arriving together, but from my position in line, it didn't turn out that well.

The first person I got to talk to was Timothy Omundson who plays Detective Lassiter and who was looking very dapper and handsome in his suit. I had met Tim on the WGA picket line on Xena day. We were introduced by my pal, former Hercules writer, Andy Dettmann, who also happens to be Tim's neighbor. Tim played Eli on the Xena, Warrior Princess series -- our stand in for Jesus. I think I may have his picture from that event in a blog entry from that time period. We chatted a bit about that meeting before getting down to questions about Lassiter.

We also talked about what he had been doing on his hiatus, part of which was doing a small part for co-worker Corbin Bernsen in the film "25 Hill" Corbin is writing and directing. Other than that: "I worked on the house, hung out with my kids. Got a dog... Lucy, who will be coming to Vancouver with me, so at least, I'll have some companionship even if Lassiter doesn't. That's about it. Too short."

The latter was in response to a conversation started about how Lassiter needed a lady in his life and if he couldn't have a lady, he should at least have a dog, as Tim felt Lassiter was in need of companionship. As a cat person, I asked, how about a cat for Lassiter. "He's probaby allergic. I know I am so it couldn't be a cat."

Next up was Maggie Lawson who is as charming as she is beautiful. Among what we talked about was how great it was that her character, Detective Juliet O'Hara and Shawn had become good friends and that they hadn't gone the typical leading man and leading lady love story route. How her character had been developed as a detective and what a great role model that was.

Then I was talking to the delightful Kirsten Nelson who plays Chief Vick. We talked mostly about how wonderful it was to see a woman playing a believable police captain over a bunch of men. This is important to me, because I find that most of the actresses who attempt to play leaders of men overplay the forcefulness and don't come across as authoritative or capable of leading the kind of cowboy-like men we see as cops on TV. My favorite woman leader, who has been believable in her role as lieutenant from day 1 is S. Epatha Merkerson from Law & Order. Kirsten brought up Kyra Sedgwick from The Closer, which I totally agree with.

James Roday and Dulé Hill did the red carpet together. It was fun to see the two actors answering the same questions together, as if they are as bonded as their characters Shawn and Gus. I didn't really get a picture of them on the red carpet, but you can see from the above picture how close they were to Kirsten. By the time, I was free from talking to her, the boys were talking to the Whedonopolis people and I wasn't sure if my flash would spoil their recording, so I didn't take any photos. Alas it was only me, so I could only handle the video during questioning... and not stills as well.

Because there were so many guests, time was running out for interviews. By the time the boys got to me, they were pretty rushed. They were still gracious enough to stay and answer my questions, but I didn't get as much time with them as I did with the others.

Unfortunately, time ran out before Whedonopolis or I could interview Steve Franks, the creator and showrunner. He had to go introduce the blooper reel and episode. Here, though, is where the publicists became awesome allies. Terry Ebright of the Paley Center and Lynn Weiss of NBCUniversal offered to ask Steve Franks if he'd be willing to come back after the intros to finish up, if we were willing to forgo seeing the blooper reel and the episode in the big theater. The episode was a repeat, which we had all seen already, and the bloopers we could watch on the room monitor, so we both eagerly said yes. Thank you, ladies.

Have to say, Steve Franks was a trooper. He very generously came back to talk to Whedonopolis first and then me. He's like an eager little boy with his favorite toy when he talks about his show and it was a delightful fun experience to talk to him about it.

We also talked about Kevin Sorbo's guest appearance on the show, since I worked with Kevin on Hercules. Steve told me that reports from Vancouver were that Kevin was a very nice guy and that he had fun up there. Steve was also very disappointed that he didn't get to meet Kevin because work obligations kept him here in LA while that episode was shooting.

The panel discussion was great fun. I have covered it in my articles. I was way in the back so I didn't get good photos. However, the cast and crew stuck around afterwards and talked to people, so I took some photos there. Sorry that they are not closer, but after having my time on the red carpet, I didn't want to interfere with fans getting theirs.

If you haven't already, check out my articles on this event on Suite101.com, which you can link to from here.