The Rise and Fall of the USA Network 

What was your favorite USA Network show? Get both Nebula and Curiosity Stream here: curiositystream.com/captainmidnight for less than $15 a YEAR.

For my money, USA's Blue Skies era was the golden age. They had so many purely entertaining/funny/feel good shows: Psych, Monk, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, etc. That network was by far my most watched channel during that time period.

Burn Notice was such an underrated show. Sam is one of my favorite Bruce Campbell roles of all time.

I love it when they ask Shawn “oh like the mentalist?” And he gets all upset😂

I absolutely loved Monk and Psych. It’s a shame that nobody’s making anything like that anymore because I’d totally watch it.

We owned every single season of Monk on DVD. And Psych is one of my favorite shows of all time.

Everybody’s talking about Monk, am I the only one here who loved Burn Notice? Mike Weston was a badass and Sam Axe was the man!

I miss being able to watch a show before bed and feel like you got a complete experience without being compelled to watch the next episode by a cliff hanger.

This hits home. I watched Monk and Psych every Friday with my mom. I'm actually rewatching Psych now. I still think it holds up.

Burn notice is one of my favorite shows of all time. One of the best things it did was to have the episodic stuff but also have Michael follow the mystery on who burned him. So you could watch just one and enjoy it but if you want to follow the bigger story, you can also just watch it in full

The psych bromance from Shawn and Gus played so well. I totally bought that they grew up together. I loved the 80's references and just the little injokes between the characters made it so good. If I could watch any episode over and over it would because "Poker, I hardly know her!"

I feel like part of the “slow death” of USA regarding streaming was also its sort of mismanagement of its shows on streaming. In my experience, easygoing episodic comedies actually go really well on streaming, like a comfort food. Psych was a go-to for me and my friends while it was on Netflix, like what The Office was for a lot of people. However, it went from a staple watch there to being taken off streaming, and then eventually put on the less-popular Peacock. It felt like a failure to read the room, and I know that I and a lot of my friends lost interest at that point, even with Psych’s tv-movie revival on Peacock.

Mr Robot was so good. Man, I miss that show.

I wonder when streaming channels will start to realise that a successful and popular episodic series like this, with likeable characters, is the absolute best way to keep people subscribing long term, not just pay for a few months now and then. This is the comfort food that we want to keep at hand.

Burn Notice slapped hard and that was easily one of my all time favorite shows

Psych will forever be my absolute favorite show of all time 🙌

Boy, does this bring a ton of nostalgia. I remember being in my early teens and waiting for my mom to get off from work so that we could watch Monk; and then years later, watch both Monk and Psych. The "Characters Welcome" era truly was a great period for the channel.

Haven't really cared about USA programming since the end of Psych and White Collar. Psych is legit one of my favorite shows of the last 20 years, so much fun!

I only came to Monk in recent years. The episode with Stanley Tucci was the most incredible. The performance between the two should've won all the awards, they oscillated between heartbreaking and hilarity so seamlessly.

Watching R rated movies on USA Network was a treat. The bad dubbing over curse words was hysterical. Friday, Goodfellas, Casino, Desperado were the best to watch 😂

Mr. Robot is probably top 3 all time favorite TV series for me. That show just struck all the right cords in all the right ways.... it truly spoke to me. Wish more shows would be more like it.... but....

psych has such a special place in my heart one of my favorite shows of all time I will never get tired of it

Burn Notice is my favorite TV show ever made. I absolutely love it. Like you, Burn Notice is the show I think of when I hear USA network.

Mr. Robot is the most underrated show on Earth. That show is a masterpiece

Oh man, Psych. I got my mom to watch it when nothing else was on. She went into it prepared to hate it (she assumed it was about an "actual" psychic individual), and ended up falling in love with both the fake psychic gimmick *and* how it just refused to take itself seriously (especially since most detective series at the time were played super-seriously).

I absolutely loved watching Monk through its DVD copies that my parents had while I was growing up, and even marathoned a couple seasons back to back nowadays as soon as I found out it was free on Peacock. And imagine how happy I was when they made a special short about Monk to check in on how he would be doing while during the pandemic.

Psych is and will more than likely forever be my favorite show, and it’s disheartening we don’t get more like it nowadays. I do really appreciate the movies they’ve been doing over the years. They may not be what the peek of the show was, but it’s always nice to see the characters again.

Monk is one of my favorite all time television series, brilliantly acted with an incredible sense of continuity and lovable lead. I'm glad to hear it talked about and praised. It was a major part of my childhood

I see your point about episodic tv. It's comforting and less intense than a lot of the modern shows of today, and I find myself reaching for old shows because of it. I will throw a shout-out to Derry Girls for this reason. It wasn't created for one of the streaming platforms (though it airs on Netflix in the US) so it in no way contradicts your points, but it has that light-hearted optimism that you're talking about and you might enjoy it.

Psych was really funny, Dule Hill in particular is really hilarious

I started watching Monk with my mom around 2005, and we watched every new episode after that. When Psych came around, it literally changed my life. Again, my mom and I couldn’t wait for the new episodes. Shawn and Gus were the most likable duo on tv. I was always rooting for Shawn and Juliet and I remember when they finally became official. These two shows will always bring back amazing memories for me.

Monk, Psych & Burn Notice are all still Go-To Series For me. Can't remember any other USA show I would want to rewatch, maybe Mr.Robot in a few years.

Mr Robot was easily one of the best show's I've seen on Cable TV.

Suits is one of my favorite shows ever. In the earlier seasons there seems to be the perfect balance of drama and comedy, they lose touch of that a bit around season 6 where the lean a little too much in either direction (varies based on the storyline), also the character development on the show was just fantastic especially when it came to Harvey, nothing seemed unnatural with him either, it was just amazing

I love Monk to death and I watched it with family too and still, talk of movie is still going on said by Tony Shalhoub in an interview recently. I also love Psych! - Luke

I have such fond memories of Monk as well. Watched that show with my family as a kid! I also love White Collar so much. It feels like the movie 'Catch me if you can‘ in show-form. The cast in that show is amazing and I enjoy the focus on White Collar-crimes instead of the usual murder mysteries.

Mr. Robot is the last great series of that channel. Ended right at the end of 2019. Haven't found anything as good since.

Psych and Monk are 2 of my favorite shows of all time, with Psych probably being my favorite of all time

One part of Burn Notice I still love is how it blended as both an episodic and serialized show. Having the main story serve as the B plot of most of its episodic episodes. And it worked so well.

Psych and Monk were shows that were really cozy and fun to watch for me when I was in high school. I loved those.

You know, I appreciate videos like this. With everything being obsessed with Superheroes or current trending franchises, it's nice to have something that reminds me of the early 2000's.

Mr.Robot is in the upper echelons of television, amongst the likes of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Honestly so underrated.

Psych still has a large and VERY dedicated fandom. I don't know if this would fit your profile but since you said you liked the show, examining it and especially the "cult" like aspect in more detail might be interesting.

monk, burn notice, suits, and mr robot are all some of my favorite shows. Monk and burn notice were shows i watched with my mom and suits was one of the first shows i started on my own. out of all the shows ive seen, i dont think i would mind all that much rewatching any of these

Never got this network in Canada. I was lucky to find Burn Notice on a B tier network up here and I loved it. Then Suits when it came to Netflix (probably re-watched that show more than any other) I've seen the light of this mystical network from another land, and wondered if I'd be just as addicted to those other shows if they were more easily accessible at the time.

I think they could have really carved out a place for themselves by leaning into the 'Blue Skies' type of brand instead of following the crowd and going all dark with shows and movies. They would have been the standout and drawn a much more loyal base around them. All the good memories we had of shows like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice ect I think proves that.

My fiancée introduced me to Monk when we started dating 4 years ago. I was instantly hooked and we watched the entire series together. It’s not groundbreaking TV but it was very charming and I love those kind of detective shows. I also found Shaloub’s performance to be flawless and thought it was interesting how the character dealt with his mental illness.

I love mr robot. Have the whole series on DVD and currently on a rewatch. Honestly my 2nd favorite show of all time. Truly a masterpiece

I grew up on Monk and Psych and still love both shows to this day. I can totally understand if someone doesn’t like the type of humor in Psych, but I absolutely love it and it’s my go to comfort show

Random fact: Suits and Covert Affairs actually shared the same studio space and shot across the hall from each other. On occasion Suits would use some of the Covert Affairs sets. I worked on both shows at one point so I experienced this first hand.

Will you cover the Arrowverse cancellations next? Without those shows, what exactly does DC have to work with in making a coherent shared universe?

Mr Robot is one of my favorite shows ever! I am very glad that USA allowed it to be created.

I think it’s really interesting to look at it from the perspective of the people making these shows, too. On the recently created Psych Rewatch Podcast, series creator Steve Franks and Executive Producer Chris Henze talked about how USA Network executives were basically new to the game of scripted television. They picked up Psych and (from Steve and Chris’ and the rest of the cast and crew’s perspectives) it seemed that the only frame of reference they had to making a scripted hour long show was Monk and virtually nothing else. They even sent an Executive to go up and make sure everything was running smoothly on the Psych set, someone they all looked at as like a “handler” - they all kind of laughed at the thought of his job, sort of signaling, “Yeah, this isn’t that kind of energy. We’re gonna good around and make a silly fun show the way we want.” And after that, they never sent a “handler” up to Vancouver again. Essentially, it seems, that USA network executives through sheer naïveté allowed these people to make the shows they wanted to make. At least, that was the case with Psych, anyway. Along with a passionate creator who broke certain “rules” of television that the USA Execs were also not quite privy too, so they let him do as he requested. All in all, the lack of knowing how to make a show is what allowed them to make something as successful and entertaining as Psych! (It’s my favorite show, if that wasn’t obvious) And I’ll say that another thing that seems to have been part of the death of this era (at least for me) was the premiere of their Reality Show: Chrisley Knows Best. A look at the hollow and grating personalities in the home of Todd Chrisley. I remember after the final episode of Psych, they had an after show to celebrate the series, and at the end of the after show, the host starts to announce “the brand new episode of Chrisley Knows Best! Coming up next!” And the in that moment I could feel the shift in the energy of the network. I know that sounds weird, but this was such a hallmark show for me, and to see it come to an end and have it be followed up by THAT show and was just… it felt so… depressing. That blue skies era was a lot of fun. I found my favorite show and had something that brought me and my parents together every week for eight/nine years. Really cool to see somebody make a video about it!

Burn Notice is one of, if not, my favorite TV show. It was definitely a “breezy” and easy watch show, but then that last season hit like a case of bricks, haha. I wasn’t ready for what all happened there

Monk and Psych are both iconic. There will never be anything else like them on TV.

I’d argue that the tight story structure of some episodes in psych and burn notice demonstrate quality writing equal to that of longer streaming shows… just different goals.

Royal Pains is honestly one of my favorite shows because it is such a good show that is relaxing to watch.

White collar is such a good show. Madd underrated watched the shit outta it.

Glad you finally got it on YT. Really great video as always

And..."The 4400" was a GREAT show. One of the best SF shows ever on tv. And, unlike so many series, esp. genre series, it had an actual Beginning, Middle, and End. ETA: and I never watched USA even when I had cable. I saw these shows on DVD or in syndication on other networks.

One of the other key factors of success to USA was they had original programing during the Summer. One of the very few networks that did. Burn Notice, Covert Affairs, and Royal Pains were my Summer shows.

Monk, The Dead Zone, and Pysch were some of my family's favorite shows. I have fond memories of all of us in the living room watching each new episode together.

Psych is a top 5 show all-time for me. Constant laughs, fun mysteries, and great characters.

That was a golden age of TV for sure. Psych, Monk and Burn Notice get a lot of praise but even a lot of the stuff that didn't last like Fairly Legal, In Plain Sight, Covert Affairs, Common Law and Graceland kept me watching cause I really enjoyed the characters.

We won a Monk trivia contest and received a Monk care package. It came with a Monk mug, fridge magnet, and I think a few of the seasons on DVD. My family used to watch the brand new episode every week together, it was really fun!

Please make The 4400 video! I remember loving it, watching it fizzle out, find it’s footing, and get cancelled on a cliffhanger. It would be nice to have some closure 15 years later.

Monk, Burn Notice and White Collar were my 3 favorites. Monk was great for all 8 seasons. White Collar had a horrible season 4 but it picked up again after that. Burn Notice…seasons 1-3 were fantastic. Season 4 was decent. I find the last 3 seasons unwatchable. The show started taking itself too seriously.

I still rewatch Psych once every year or two. When I started collecting TV shows on DVD or Blu-ray, it was the first one I bought. Monk was a big one for my grandma and I to watch together, and I was never upset when Burn Notice or Royal Pains was on because even though I didn’t care for them enough to follow them, they were never a bad TV experience. USA was our go-to channel to put on if we didn’t know what to watch, since almost nothing was a dud.

I think a great recent example of back-to-basics episodic TV making a real comeback is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. It's streaming, but it escews the highly serialized structure of the other recent Trek shows for something much closer to an updated TOS (with a bit of TNG thrown in). So far it's been highly successful, I'd say - and it really shows how refreshing and easy to warch episodic TV can be.

my brother and i were honeslty never that close but we bonded over the time we spent watching usa shows. he really really really loved burn notice. i know the intro monologue by heart and mike's mom's comically long cigarettes. shows like monk dont hold up because the commercial to content ratio is far too high

Yes most of these shows were just classic, sustainable television that wouldn’t let you down.

Mr. Robot is one of my favorite series ever. I didn’t even know about it until covid. Crazy it was on USA

Wow I had no idea who USA network was because I was not American but turns out they made most of my childhood. PSYCH, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, White Collar, Suits. Some of those would be the standouts from my childhood. I had completely forgotten burn notice was a thing

One show from the same era that I kind of associate with these is Chuck, despite not being on USA. Lighthearted action comedy with an episodic structure but some overarching serial plot lines

I absolutely loved this era, and I really miss the lighter touch. I’ve never really been a fan of the movement toward darker tones and greater serialization in media, so I really miss the fun, quirky cable dramedies.

I'm old enough to remember USA "Up All Night"...it played some of those favorite cult classics & B movies on the weekend. That was my favorite era of USA.

As someone who's officially diagnosed with OCD and medicated for it, I was very appreciative of Monk growing up. Sort of knew first hand what the compulsions means.

Monk was my childhood man me and my dad used to watch it a lot.

I personally never watched much of their original shows aside from Mr Robot. I was mainly there for the Law & Order SVU reruns.

I remember they used to have reruns of Walker and they had Burn Notice, Monk, Nessesary Roughness, Psyche, and they had USA basketball during the Olympics, now it is basically the Law and Order and NCIS channel.

My sister and I would watch Psych religiously every week after volleyball practice!I loved that show so much and those were good and simple times❤️❤️

Dead zone, Monk and 4400 were all by this network? those shows were the best part of my childhood with the first season of heroes

This video didn't mention the Law & Order SVU & Criiminal Intent reruns, only that USA merged with NBC. The writer's strike that started in 2007 affected television forever. That's why a lot of these shows changed over time or didn't last very long.

I love all the old USA shows Monk, Burn Notice, Psych,White Collar, Royal Pains, Suits. I watched them all and are still watching them. I have the full series of Burn Notice on DVD including the TV movie. Burn Notice and Suits are some of my favorite shows of all time. Great vid

Love your content man. Thank you ✊🏼

"All Characters Welcome"/"Blue Sky" and "We The Bold" worked because they had specific identities. Nowadays, I don't even know what USA Network wants to be.

They reminded me of 70’s & 80’s classic TV

You just accessed some nostalgic memories I had long forgotten.

I love psych. Rewatched during covid. Holds up pretty darn well for me. Also, the season finale of monk when he "shoots" his wife's killer was great.

Clicked because I saw Psych, my favorite non comic related show ever! Never really payed much attention to other USA channel shows tho

The Ray Bradbury and Alfred Hitchcock programs were on in syndication where I lived in Canada, when I was very young. These were perfect shows for an 8 year old kid to begin learning about the art of storytelling. I'll never forget the episode of the Ray Bradbury show based on his short story "The Sound of Thunder". While the premise is widely known (thanks in part to an okay Ashton Kutcher movie) it absolutely astounded my young mind. In the story, a crew travels to prehistoric times, where one of the crew steps on a butterfly. The ending of the episode was utterly shocking and has stayed with me for decades.

Psych is my comfort show! I remember long ago in San Diego when they did that special movie premiere I got to talk and meet the cast in person! Same with comic con and such! Not a lot of shows now have given me that same vibe as psych (besides maybe Brooklyn 99). And I have been so sad to see the series end, but I am glad that movies are still coming out and excited for the future of the franchise!

Very surprised you're airing this on a Saturday cause usually you tend to release new videos *EVERY* Friday.

Monk is one of the best tv shows of all time. I’ve watched every single episode at least 3 times hahaha

Monk and Psych are easily my favorite mystery shows and some of my most favorite shows in general. Nothing has been like it since then, B99 was close but is too comedic whereas Psych was always tied to down some seriousness

Suits and Burn Notice were my favorite USA shows. There was also a show called Common Law, about two cops that had to take couples therapy because they didn't get along. It only lasted a season, but I liked that too.

I was in love with Burn Notice! It was the first show I watched live as it aired and stuck with the entire time. Even it's 'meh' seasons had some fun.

Man this was a fascinating video that was essentially a documentary of "the years I stopped being a TV guy." Once I moved out from my family in the mid to late 90's, TVs basically existed to be monitors for gaming consoles and/or computers used to play all-encompassing MMORPGs. Everyone who watched TV from then until now have had completely different "attached to pop culture" experiences from me. When I try to look back at media (especially movies) from the late 90's and the turn of the century itself, it all feels dated and cringeworhty now, so everything "good" that fell between then and now kinda gets roped into these "dark ages" of TV, and thus I've never seen the breaking bads, wires and sopranos that everyone talks up. I feel all caught up now, and may actually watch Mr Robot in some form at some point!

After I saw Harvey Specter walk away on the final episode of Suits to the words, “But that was when I ruled the world” is for me when USA Network came to an end.

8:08 while in psych Vancouver filled in for Santa Barbara Burn notice was actually filmed in Miami.