They've riffed on it a few times in promos for Psych. On the surface, I see the similarity - person with special observational skills uses those skills to see beyond the obvious to solve crimes. Only difference is that Jane admitted he was a fake, while Sean is still riding the wave. Oh, and Gus is a much better sidekick than Lisbbon. But maybe not Cho.

Completely unrelatedly: Does anyone who likes both The Mentalist and Psych think the former is a rip of the latter?

I think the premise kind of is, but in execution they're different enough that I don't much link them.

For me, Jane admitting he's a fake psychic and him starting investigating versus Shawn claiming he's psychic is getting him investigating is less of a similarity than the whole driven by wife's murder/still wearing wedding ring, etc, thing with Monk.

I think of "The Mentalist" as more of a "House" ripoff than "Psych."

How so?

I'm pretty bummed about Southland getting cancelled. It was disturbing at times but very authentic.

ita,

so, I think of "The Mentalist" is being about the alpha male having a negative opinion of most human beings and solving puzzles for/with his team.

This is "House" to me. They are set in different settings, but the misanthropy and self-hatred seems similar across both main characters.

I don't see Jane anywhere near as misanthropic as House (witness his tenderness with Lisbon this week, for instance--I also think he helps people out of a sense of justice)--but I do see the self-hatred. However, on The Mentalist I see that stemming from the Red John trauma. On House is it just a thing, or is it tied up with his addiction issues?

I don't think House had any great opinion of people even before the pain pills. I think he was just willing to ignore them more before his girlfriend went against his express wishes and left him crippled.

Wasn't there an episode (the one where we find out that it was Cuddy that had ordered the surgery that removed the dead tissue from his leg) where we find out that he was a negative jerky bastard even before the pain and the addiction?

yep.

I think that might have been one of the first eps that I watched, and while the storytelling was great, it turned me off of the character immediately.