MediaBlvd was among several websites recently invited to the Vancouver sets of Psych and was given the opportunity to talk to the cast and crew.  Corbin Bernsen participated in panels about the show’s third season and what we can expect from his character this season.

Panel: How does this compare to the popularity of L.A. Law back in the day, and how has having Cybill join up change things?

Corbin Bernsen: Well, it's all part of everything that's sort of successful about this show.  It's been fun.  I guess it was really sort of ground-breaking.  But because USA , and I say this in all kindness, is in its infancy, it's just starting to stand up.  I feel kind of like when we were doing L.A. Law.  I saw how Fox with The Simpsons and Married with Children started happening all of a sudden.  And not since L.A. Law have I really been around a project that feels the same.  And having Cybill on it certainly added to that, but it's just the kind of guest stars that we've been getting, people wanting to come up and do the show this year.  Not that others didn't last year, but people now know about the show.  It's a cool show to do and it's sort of hip.  So that was fun.  And I knew her from the days.  We used to shoot three stages apart at Fox, so she used to honk her horn at me a lot.  She had a big bus.

Panel: Is there a different vibe working with the kids than working with Shawn and Dulé?

Corbin: Yeah, but it's like a compartment of the show that I know.  It’s super because working with James and Dulé, if you've been on the set you can see is just like a standup comedy routine.  But oddly enough little Liam has got kind of some of the same rhythms and some of the same attitude.  I mean, it's really good casting.  And oddly enough because I'm still relating to him as Shawn, the fun that we have on the set is because everybody enjoys each other's company but it also comes out of the material and what we're doing, and the ability to riff on that a bit.  Well, that still happens even when it's young Shawn.  But it's a little bit different. 

Panel: So what's up for Henry this season?

Corbin: Well, we have some more interesting stories about integrating me into the show more naturally than me just sitting here reading a paper, Shawn coming in and getting some detective advice and me sending him on his way.  Which we have to do occasionally because I am in the show and there's not a way to work me in.  But we have some stories.  We have a '70s show that was about a case.  I'd say of the 16 shows we'll do I've already done two, three, that sort of really involve me more.  Two really involve me, and I think in the second half there's going to be a couple more.  So it's nice.  I'll get four or five good shows that I’m really integral to.  And then I'm there for the other part of it which is to really explain why Shawn is Shawn and have that relationship that people seem to like,.  Just got to make sure it's not  Eight is Enough or something.

Panel: Throughout your career have you been as disciplined as Henry, or have you been more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of guy?

Corbin: No, I'm much more fly by the seat of my pants.  But I understand Henry because I can apply it to something I'm doing, whether it's directing a movie or things that I do.  Build a house or whatever it is.  I had a garage sale this weekend that was pretty intense.  And I didn't finish till I finished last night.  So in my work ethic I have a discipline.  I put it like this.  I've always likened myself and the way I approach life to bowling.  I like the pins to be set up.  I like them to come back to me very organized and disciplined.  Then you pick up whatever ball you want and you bowl the shit out of it, whatever you want to do

Panel: Do you feel kind of separated from the cast because you're not around as much as them?

Corbin: Yeah, but, not in a bad way.  I just know that they're all up here and they hang and they do stuff.  But it's okay.  Early on I sort of knew what this job was and what I was doing.  The biggest adjustment I had in the first year was coming from L.A. Law and being on a series and a couple of other ones in between that didn't go very far, I had to realize this is not the Corbin show.  This is the James and Dulé show, and I'm a piece of the wheel but I'm not the piece I used to be.  So I have to, and I don't mean this in a bad way, I had to make my ego adjustment to, “it’s them and press and pictures in the paper about them.”  And if you spend five minutes with me as a group you're going to spend an hour with them.  I get it.  I got what it was.  But as soon as I adapted that, Ed O'Neill who was on Married, I was telling him about it once, and he said, "Are you kidding?  That's the perfect job."  He said, "I'm looking for the job where I can go, say my lines, be involved, cut out and go home."

Panel: So what does success mean to you now, today, as compared to when you were doing L.A. Law?   

Corbin: What is success?  Success is different.  Success then was, can I be a guy on the street that's actually working as an actor?  Working.  I just fortunately got a hit show.  It was a super success.  Today I have a little bit of a different challenge for myself. Even though I have a certain amount of celebrity and I've been around the business for years.    There's this flash-in-the-pan mentality.  Sometimes I feel like I don't A: get to the do the work that I want to do, and B: I'm not recognized for what I can do.

Panel: What work is it that you want to do?

Corbin: Well, I like to do a little bit more stuff like I did in that movie Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang.  A little bit more character work in some feature films.  It's not the work I want to do.  It's when my name is brought up in a meeting for that they go, "Oh, yeah, he's the L.A. Law guy."

Panel: You want to be known for more than your role there?

Corbin: Yeah, just to go on further.  But even in the context of television you get guys like Ted Danson.  I'll just say this with all honesty, but there's a certain thing that when you're the lead of a show. We talk about this, my managers and representatives and whatever, about finding the next step and the next level, is when you're the lead of a show, whether you're Ted Danson or Bruce Willis or Tom Selleck or whatever it is, there's this likeliness to accept you in different things.  Whereas I keep feeling like I'm pigeonholed.  I mean, not with this show.  This is totally different from my L.A. Law character, and that's partly why I love it.  The producers and USA and everybody recognize and allow me to do something completely different.  I mean, I've worn a suit and a tie twice in this show. 

Panel: Do you prefer to be behind the camera or in front of the camera?

Corbin: I love being behind the camera.  I mean, I love both.  I love acting.  I'll never stop acting.  I think there's stuff I want to do.  I'd like to do some more theater as I get older.  I don't have to keep making money to put the kids through college.  But there's things.  There's film.  There are other different places I want to go. 

Panel: Is there a particular character that you would really love to play at this stage of your life?

Corbin: I'm writing something right now and I look forward to playing it.    I'm writing a character about a guy who left everything in his 20s, and he had all the opportunity in the world.    He was from a small farming town.  And he gave up everything and went and joined the seminary.  And now he's 50.  And I wanted to do a movie about a guy who's having a mid-life crisis who isn't in a relationship.  His relationship is with God and he has given up.  He just sees the world and all the shit that's happening from monsoons to floods to hurricanes to China to whatever's going on, to just the priesthood and what's going on, and one day he woke up and as simply as the day he fell in love, he fell out.  And he's lost his faith.  And it's scaring him that at 50 he's given his whole life to this and he struggling to reclaim his faith.

 And for me it's exploring a side of me that still is trying to understand the role of faith and God and religion and personal and society and all that.   There's a certain amount of exploration of all that in there.  I just have this little story that I'm writing that I'm going to actually shoot after we're done, in Saskatchewan, in a small town.  But it's just stuff to explore.  Things I want to explore. 

Panel: How did you find the entry point into Henry?

  Corbin: Well, I guess part of it is they're not dissimilar.  I have four sons; I'm not a really good disciplinarian.  My wife is much better.  So I think my entry point was in knowing where I lack as a father but Henry might be better.  And yeah, I wish I could be more like this.  And I'm getting better about that, being more disciplined with the kids about certain things.  But that was really my entry point was sort of in that I found what he was and what I wasn't with my kids.  I’m of this attitude of love and gifts and money.  Shower them with kindness and affection.  And that still doesn't get the trash taken out on Tuesday.

Panel: I think we're seeing a depth of emotion between Henry and Shawn that we haven't seen before.

Corbin: And honestly I do enjoy that about my role in this show.  I think James and Dulé do their thing and it's great.  I think it's made possible by another beat in the show that's sort of real.  He's seen where Shawn came from. If the show were just about him being crazy and whacky the whole time and solving crimes, it just would feel ungrounded.  It would be hollow a little bit.  It's funny because there's times where we'll be having fun in this room and everything.  When I come in and do the scene, though, I mean, there's not a lot of that kind of humor in my character. 

And it's funny, I remember last season we went to the old people's home where we were searching for something or whatever it was, and I felt like I was doing a little bit of their schtiky stuff.  And I wasn't comfortable.  And then I started to become more comfortable when I started to realize, "Okay, just play it straight.  You’re the straight guy."  And I've got to be the straight guy.  Doesn't mean that I have to even be comedy straight.  I can be dramatically straight.  So I enjoy it.  At least I'm sort of doing that in this, exploring my relationship with him.

Panel: I found it interesting that the big reveal the first episode was that Henry took the heat for the break up and took that on himself so that Shawn could still have a relationship with his mom.

Corbin: With his mother, right.  It’s great that the show can do that.  It's funny because we're doing more of it this year and I'm curious how the audience will respond. They’re used to sort of seeing high jinxs and psych-outs and all that kinds of stuff.  How is that sort of like the baseline going to resonate?  I'm curious.

Panel: How do you view the whole psychic aspect and the whole fake aspect?   

Corbin: I'm actually a believer that there's something bigger and more.  And again with my youngest son who's 10; we were actually lying in bed this morning.  He came and got into bed at 7:00 because he knew I was leaving.  And we do this thing where I say, "What number am I thinking of between 1 and 20?"  And within two he got 12.  And then miraculously I said, "Okay, 1 and 50," and he got 36.  And we do that, and he's astonishing.  And there are things that have happened in my life that lean toward all that stuff.  Even with my dad's passing, the morning it happened I woke up ten minutes before and I knew the phone was going to ring and the phone rang.  I said to my brother—years ago he said, "Let's go get tickets to the Jimi Hendrix concert," and I said, "He died last night."  Two hours later we found out he had died overnight. 

 So I'm not saying I'm psychic, but I think you can plug into things.  And the whole fake thing, the only question I always have about it in our structure, not that I guess I should bring it up or not, the only thing I always question is if he's good enough to just do detective work why doesn't he just stop doing that?  The question I always have is why does he keep doing it if he's just a really good detective?  Why doesn't he just become a cop?

Panel: Are there any actors that you'd really like to see take on guest roles on the show?

Corbin: Yeah.  There are a whole slew of actors that would be great.  I'd love to see some of the L.A. Law guys.  Just because of the tone of the show.  I can name some; Robert DeNiro,  Robert Downey Jr.,  Jack Nicholson.  But in reality there are guys who have certain tone stuff.  A buddy of mine is David Keith, the actor David Keith.  He could have fun.  I think Alan Rachins who was on L.A. Law would be really fun to have because of the tone of the show.  I mean, Cybill was like a perfect thing.  That was great because that was a huge, "who's going to be the wife?  Who's going to be the wife?"  And I had some ideas.  I think I had suggested Jaclyn Smith who's a friend of mine.   

 I mean, there are a slew of young actors that would be great. But it's a show that I think is because there are so many references to '70s and '80s and all that, a lot of people that are maybe out of TV in the '70s and '80s that yeah, we could bring and put in proper roles.

Panel: Are there stories in the series that you'd like to explore that haven't been explored so far?

 Corbin: I have some ideas of stories of things I would actually like to pitch.  I don't know.  Trying to come up with a nifty murder to solve is probably the hardest thing to have.  Because of the way I write and create and do things, my mind is more about the relationship with Shawn.  I have the idea of taking him in a flashback to a children's hospital and he's visiting all these kids and the kids are laid up.  Not terminally ill, but soften it a little bit.  And he just doesn't know why he has to go here to see all these kids.  And basically I say, "Sometimes you'll find out.  It's a funny thing in life but it's better to give than receive.  And it's just you're giving your time.  It's putting smiles on their faces.  And when you give you open up a space for something new in your life."  That's my lesson to him.

 I get home and he's got all toys piled in here and piled up.  And I'm saying, "What is this?"  He goes, "You're right.  You're right about giving."  He says, "I'm giving it all away.  I'm going to give it all to the hospital"  And then he pulls out this thing and he's got a go-kart thing he wants to get because he's got a new space.  He's got this new space. 

 So in the beginning of the episode the idea I have is there's a line around the block of the Psych office. Business has been sort of flat and there's no big cases, so it's time for him to give away.  So there's a line around the block of people that are coming for free psychic advice.  And one guy wants to know who's going to win the World Series and another girl comes and goes, "You just told me exactly where my dog was.  It's just I can't believe it.  This is so real that you said where my dog was, and it was."  And he goes, "Yes, that's right."  He goes, "I'm seeing me with you."  And she goes, "Maybe you missed that part because see, I'm married." 

Panel: How has the writing changed between L.A. Law and now?

Corbin: Well, this is a different kind of writing.  Everything is very thought out.  Steven developed that whole thing; that fine line that's really between comedy and drama, that life is.  It's all about perception, about how you viewit. You know, a guy trips on the street.  His life is shattered.  He's embarrassed.  Everybody else laughs at him.  And Steven knew how to ride that line really well.  And we do it here.  We do it with Shawn and I.  It's in there. 

Panel: So it's consistency, basically, in the writing?

Corbin: Yeah, it is consistency.  And it's really detail.  The writers are up here for each show.  You don't see that.  I mean, that's the first time I've ever seen that where the writers show up.  So you sit there and if you have a problem with something you work it out.  You work it out right.  Or if I'm doing something they'll correct me and say, "You can do that but I want this one, too."