The beloved “Psych” duo James Roday Rodriguez and Dulé Hill recall their first chemistry read, which through Hill for a loop. “I vividly remember being completely shocked and thrown off course because he wasn’t staying on dialogue,” Hill told Variety editor Jenelle Riley. “He was riffing and improvising and he was doing really great at it, but I’m coming from the world of Aaron Sorkin and ‘No what is written is what you say. At first I’m like brother are you trying to sabotage me meeting right here?’”
As part of Variety’s Streaming Room series, presented by software company The Trade Desk, actors Rodriguez and Hill discussed the transition of the PsychOs from cable to NBCUniversal’s over-the-top subscription video on demand streaming service Peacock, where their second movie, “Psych 2: Lassie Come Home,” premiered in July on a free tier.
Rodriguez, who began production on season 3 of “A Million Little Things,” and Hill, who is planning for the upcoming reunion with the cast of “The West Wing,” commented on the saturation of content across platforms and how it has not necessarily translated to finding opportunities for employment more easily.
However, Rodriguez and Hill, who both served as producers on the show, with the former writing and directing several episodes, said they were grateful fans were able to access the movie easily through the platform and continue following the characters’ lives. The co-stars, along with screenwriter Steve Franks, look forward to expanding the show’s universe through the streaming service if possible.
“I think as long as there’s an appetite and our fans remain as devoted to us as they always have been, I think we feel both an obligation and of a desire to give back because we couldn’t have done this without Steve obviously, and we couldn’t have done it without the PsychOs,” Rodriguez said.
Hill echoed Rodriguez’s sentiments, adding: “It always blows me away how the show premiered in 2006 and we’re now in 2020 … the excitement that is there and I guess how it brings people together just to engage in ‘Psych,’ it always blows me away. They’ve been the best group of family that I can ever have asked for — we could have asked for. I look forward to seeing where the journey’s going to go.”