Wait for iiiiiit no longer. Tonight the movie Psych-os tweeted, posted and tossed pineapples for airs tonight, reuniting the dynamic dining duo of Shawn Spencer (James Roday)  and Burton “Gus” Guster (Dulé Hill) and their friends in San Francisco for the first time. Psych-Os in three cities previewed the movie and were treated to trivia questions, swag and a Q&A session.

The Steve Franks’ created detective dramedy series ran on the USA Network for eight seasons from 2006 to 2014. Set in Santa Barbara but filmed in Vancouver and British Columbia, the show as about Shawn Spencer, the son of a former police sergeant Henry Spencer (Corbin Bernsen), who uses hyper-observational training to solve crimes while pretending he is psychic. As a consultant to the Santa Barbara Police Department under chief Karen Vick (Kirsten Nelson), he courted Juliet”Jules” O’Hara (Maggie Lawson) and lovingly teased head detective Carlton “Lassie” Lassiter (Timothy Omundson).

At the end of the show, Chief Vick accepted a job in San Francisco taking Jules with her, Lassie became chief of the SBPD with Betsy Brannigan (Mira Sorvino) as his new head detective.

Fans and even Roday and Franks worried about how to bring Lassie into the mix when Omundson suffered a stroke in April of this year. His cameo appearance is one of the most touching moments of the movie.

The movie opens, as was revealed at SDCC, with Shawn being chased by thugs led by El Proveedor (Robert LaSardo). For linguists, El Proveedor means provider, supplier or dealer.Three years have passed and Shawn is on a case for an undisclosed client and ends up being saved by Gus who has a steady white collar job. Shawn has, of course, already established a headquarters for their detective agency. Instead of on the waterfront, the office is in Chinatown as a tribute to a certain 1980s movie. Instead of Psych, the agency is called “psychphrancisco 偵探社”  (Zhēntàn shè which means “detective agency”).

Things aren’t so cozy between our detectives and the cops. Vick is serious as always and although we don’t get to see her husband, we do get to meet her daughter. Vick is concerned about Jules’ relationship with Shawn–he hasn’t put a ring on it three years after proposing. When Shawn with Gus in tow arrive in search of a case,  Shawn doesn’t do his psychic fit-bit but instead gets intel from a face from the past. In their initial investigation, Shawn and Gus end up at one of those deserted places (insane asylum) where a dog and expensive jerky come into play and a thin White Duke (Zachary Levi) appears. Someone is stalking Jules,threatening her, her reputation and the lives of everyone she knows.

Because it is Christmas, Shawn’s father, Henry visits and, due to a chili dog incident, former SBPD coroner, Woody (Kurt Fuller), has been demoted and works in San Francisco. The case involves a driver’s ed vehicle and an 18-point turn (cut down from 36 points) the appearance from supposedly deceased Mary Lightly (Jimmi Simpson). While Shawn runs from El Proveedor  and  Gus from a female cheetah in the form a a fellow geek (Hill’s real-life fiancée Jazmyn Simon), Jules and Vick face the mysteriously bottle blond duke. The fist bump and a pineapple make appearances as well as a very special person from the past suggesting that the adventures will continue into the future. Pluto will be mentioned. Added to the mix besides two new baddies, are Heather Rockrear (Charlotte Flair or Ashley Fliehr) and Black Gentleman Ninja (Nathan Mitchell). 

Fans in three different cities got to preview “Psych: The Movie” during the “World Tour” which hit three cities on three different nights. The last city on the tour was Los Angeles where the free tickets were quickly snapped up. When I joined the line at 3 p.m. on Monday, 4 December 2017, although the official line up time was 5 p.m. and the program didn’t start until 7 p.m. , the line was already coiling a quarter of the way around the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. The Latin teacher in front of me ditched the class she was teaching. The people behind me were quizzing each other on their favorite episodes.

Before we entered, everyone was given a plastic souvenir guest pass and oversized pineapple glasses. Inside there was free popcorn and water and swag (t-shirts, scarves and even skateboards) to be won.

For the Q&A, Roday, Hill, Lawson, Nelson, Bernsen, producer Chris Henze and Franks. Fuller served as the moderator although after Zachary Levi came out that was up for grabs.  Franks noted that “The women in this are very strong and yet it was written by two men (Franks and Roday).” Lawson gets into some high kicks, owing to her character’s taking some martial arts classes in Chinatown. Gus and Shawn get to do what they do best, scream and run.

There was some serious talk about pineapples: on or off a pizza. Lawson was on; Hill and Corbin were off. Roday was “pineapple adjacent” while Levi later commented “one pineapple to rule them all.” The pineapple appearance has nothing to do with pizza this time out, but Roday and Franks have indicated that in the future they hope to make more movies.

The two-hour “Psych: The Movie” will air 7 December 2017 on USA Network.

Addendum: According to my source, if you want more PSYCH, this movie has to do well. If USA Network green lights more movies, plans are to have a PSYCH Pineapple-Con.