MONK & PSYCH Midseason Finales Tonight

Heads-up to uninformed fans. As the Fall 2008 season shifts into full gear, both Monk and Psych will air their midseason finales tonight, signaling the end of their summertime runs. The series are currently scheduled to return one more time this year with fresh stuff on Friday, November 28, for their now traditional holiday episodes.

Meanwhile, today at 9pm EST, USA Network will present “Mr. Monk Gets Hypnotized.” When Adrian undergoes hypnosis as a new form of therapy, he suddenly begins acting like he’s nine years old again. Hopefully, the regression will help him solve the main crime.

Or, perhaps the show will take a week off since the kicker on last week’s hallmark 100th episode, “Mr. Monk’s 100th Case,” was that the detective actually solved two crimes instead of one. That amount put him at 101 cases solved, an odd number he can’t very well retire on, as he wanted to do when he thought he had reached an even success rate of 100. Richard Schiff, formerly of The West Wing, guest stars.

Then, at 10pm, Schiff’s fellow West Wing colleague Gary Cole guest stars, along with Spin City’s Alan Ruck, on the “Gus Walks Into a Bank” episode of Psych. Ruck plays a bank robber who forces Shawn into negotiation duties when he holds Gus and other bank customers hostage. Cole, on the other hand, plays the familiar role of a badass lawman, which is always all good.