I never really watched the television series Monk when it was showing on USA Network …
bumped into it a couple of times while I was channel surfing, but never stopped
to watch an entire episode.
However, thanks to author Lee Goldberg and his Mr. Monk series of novels based on the
Tony Shalhoub character, I’m now hooked on the blasted thing.
I’d read a number
of Goldberg’s books, and the one that got me started on the Monk kick was Mr. Monk in Trouble. Since then, I’ve bought the season 1 DVD and
am now DVR-ing all the Monk episodes
I can find on cable (and there are a lot).
Adrian Monk is a basket case – he has 312 phobias, ranging
from milk to dirt, from closed spaces to snakes. And, to top it all off, he has
a pretty nasty case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. All of those, taken in
and of themselves, make him a pretty pitiful character.
But the thing is, it’s funny. And … he’s a brilliant
detective. And, and … he can’t help but stumble onto mysteries wherever he
goes, no matter the occasion. And, and, and … he solves them all.
He’s got some help – during its run from 2002 to 2009,
Adrian Monk had two assistants. The first, Sharona Fleming (Bitty Schram),
started off as his nurse, helping him get through the violent death of his
wife, Trudy. The second, Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard), entered the series in
the middle of season 3, when Bitty Schram was dropped because of a salary
conflict.
Monk works alongside his former partner, Capt. Leland
Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) of the San Francisco Police Department, and
Stottlemeyer’s current partner, Lt. Randy Disher (Jaon Gray-Stanford).
Stottlemeyer is down-to-earth and open to Monk’s revelations; Disher is out of
left field much of the time.
As musician Randy Newman, who wrote and sang the
Emmy-winning theme song, It’s a Jungle
Out There, sings during the opening credits: “It’s a jungle out there, Disorder
and confusion everywhere!” And that describes Adrian Monk’s life to a T.
Now … if you don't mind, I have to get more of Lee Goldberg’s Mr. Monk books for my Kindle.
3 comments:
I'm glad that you have discovered the MONK TV series. I wrote three episodes of the show...one of which, MR. MONK CAN'T SEE A THING, was based on my novel MR. MONK GOES TO THE FIREHOUSE.
Another one of my books, MR. MONK AND THE BLUE FLU, was loosely adapted by another writer into the episode MR. MONK AND THE BADGE.
Lee
Haven't seen those yet, Lee. So I will keep an eye out for them
~ Craig
FYI: The entire series is available on Netflix instant downloads. I have been watching them and will be quite sad when I am done.
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