Psych 3 is the second Peacock Original streaming film from the Psych franchise. The new movie is filled with meta-jokes about Psych’s actors, USA Network canceling the series and Peacock’s streaming service itself, including an extended reference to Rob Zombie, who is helming one of Peacock’s biggest movies with his adaptation of beloved sitcom The Munsters.
After NBCUniversal consolidated its IP onto the streaming service Peacock, the studio announced a string of revivals and reboots for famous shows and movies. One such project was expanding Psych’s series, which meant allowing the team to continue the show through sequel movies. One of Peacock’s most exciting reboots will be horror director Rob Zombie’s The Munsters, which is expected to release exclusively on the streaming service. In a perfect way to build excitement for The Munsters, there's an extended Zombie Easter egg in Psych 3, which blends in with the series’ use of pop culture references.
In a crucial scene in Psych 3: This Is Gus, Shawn and Gus devise disguises to put on while they try to investigate an apartment that holds clues to Selene’s true identity. Gus chooses to dress up as ventriloquist Willie Tyler, while Shawn opts for a Rob Zombie disguise. In a subtle promotional strategy by Peacock, Shawn’s Rob Zombie costume gets far more attention than Gus’, with the apartment complex employee mistaking him for the real musician/director. While The Munsters - which may be in black and white - is never explicitly mentioned in Psych 3, showcasing Zombie’s persona and notoriety feels like stealth promotion for his remake.
It’s a fairly clever way for Peacock to get viewers excited about The Munsters without promotional ments or announcements. Psych 3 has a very different audience base from Rob Zombie’s horror movies, so by repeatedly mentioning the director’s name and his movie controversies, the Google hits on him are surely bound to increase. When researching Zombie, the biggest news stories or announcements on him are about his Munsters reboot, which helps promote the project and build hype further.
Peacock is aware it's not one of the leading streaming services - even featuring a meta mockery of itself in Psych 3 - so it’s not surprising it’s using its own projects to build anticipation for future ventures. The Psych 3 Rob Zombie Munsters' reference also came from Shawn’s actor James Roday Rodriguez, who had repeatedly been told he resembled the director (via CBR). This was the main drive for Psych 3: This Is Gus' gag, especially since pop culture references are deeply sewn into the show’s fabrics, but it was a win-win situation for Peacock to also build up The Munsters.