Monk (TV series)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Monk | |
|---|---|
 Season four DVD cover |
|
| Genre | Dramedy Mystery |
| Creator(s) | Andy Breckman |
| Starring | Tony Shalhoub Bitty Schram (season 1-3) Traylor Howard (season 3-Present) Ted Levine Jason Gray-Stanford Stanley Kamel |
| Opening theme | Instrumental theme by Jeff Beal (season 1) "It's a Jungle Out There" by Randy Newman (season 2-Present) |
| Ending theme | Instrumental theme by Jeff Beal (season 1) "It's a Jungle Out There" (instrumental) (season 2-Present) |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 76 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Andy Breckman David Hoberman Tony Shalhoub Rob Thompson |
| Running time | 42-45 minutes (approx.) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel |  USA Network |
| Original run | July 12, 2002 – present |
| Links | |
| Official website | |
Monk is an Emmy Award winning television show about the private detective Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) afflicted by Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) who also suffers from other distractions. Monk began airing on July 12, 2002 on the USA Network. The fifth season of the show began on July 7, 2006. Monk is produced by the USA Network and was created by Andy Breckman. Each new hour-long episode airs Friday nights now at 10/9 Central. The sixth season of Monk airs in July 2007.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Adrian Monk grew up with obsessive-compulsive disorder, including a variety of quirks and tics. He has a full brother, Ambrose, and a half-brother, Jack, Jr. (named after Adrian's father and referred to in "Mr. Monk Meets His Dad"). In the 2004 episode "Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan", his age was given as 45.
Monk was a brilliant homicide detective working for the San Francisco Police Department until his wife Trudy died in a car bomb attack in 1997 while picking up cough medicine for Ambrose. Monk suffered a nervous breakdown and became catatonic, refusing to leave his house for three years. With the help of practical nurse Sharona Fleming (Bitty Schram), he was finally able to leave the house. He began to perform consulting work for the police on particularly difficult cases.
Captain Leland Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) and Lieutenant Randall "Randy" Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford), call on Monk when they can't crack a case. Stottlemeyer is often infuriated by Monk's disorder, but respects his friend and former partner's amazing observational abilities, as does Disher. Monk's obsessive attention to detail allows him to spot tiny discrepancies, find patterns, and make connections that everyone else in an investigation misses. Monk continues to search for information about his wife's death, the one case he has been unable to solve.
In the third season, Sharona decides to re-marry her ex-husband and moves to New Jersey. Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard), a single mother with a daughter about twelve years old, is soon hired as Monk's new assistant.
Monk is almost never described as having OCD. Sometimes the characters go out of their way not to mention it, even to avoid an inconvenient misunderstanding. For example, in one episode, Monk shakes the hand of two white women, then a black man, then wipes his hands. Monk and Sharona allow this to be taken as evidence of racism rather than explain his disorder. Natalie has referred to him as "particular" and "persnickety" rather than explaining the true extent of his problems.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Main Characters
| Name | Portrayed by | Occupation/Status |
|---|---|---|
| Adrian Monk | Tony Shalhoub | Former police detective; crime consultant |
| Sharona Fleming | Bitty Schram | Former assistant to Adrian Monk; left in third season |
| Natalie Jane Davenport Teeger | Traylor Howard | Assistant to Adrian Monk |
| Julie Teeger | Emmy Clarke | Student, daughter of Natalie Teeger |
| Captain Leland Stottlemeyer | Ted Levine | SFPD Police captain: Robbery Homicide |
| Lieutenant Randy Disher | Jason Gray-Stanford | SFPD Police lieutenant: Robbery Homicide |
| Dr. Charles Kroger | Stanley Kamel | Adrian Monk's psychiatrist |
[edit] Former
- Sharona Fleming (Bitty Schram) Monk's former nurse and assistant.
- Benjy Fleming (Kane Ritchotte during pilot episode and second and third seasons, Max Morrow during first season): Sharona's son.
[edit] Recurring
- Trudy Anne Ellison Monk (Stellina Rusich seasons 1-2, Melora Hardin seasons 3-4, Hannah Contrucci and Lindy Newton)
- Karen Stottlemeyer (Glenne Headly): Environmentally-conscious ex-wife of Leland and mother of their two children.
- Harold J. Krenshaw (Tim Bagley): Another patient of Dr. Kroger's. Harold and Adrian Monk have an ongoing feud.
- Kevin Dorfman (Jarrad Paul): Monk's upstairs neighbor.
[edit] Guest characters
- Ambrose Monk (John Turturro): Monk's brother, who also suffers from various phobias, most notably agoraphobia. Ambrose nearly perished when the Monks' childhood home was set ablaze.
- Dale "The Whale" Biederbeck (Adam Arkin, Tim Curry): A seemingly powerful and very obese criminal whom Monk sent to prison for masterminding the murder of a retired San Francisco judge.
[edit] Guest Stars
The show has featured many guest stars over its five seasons, including Kevin Nealon, Malcolm McDowell, Joy Giovanni, Olek Krupa, Sarah Silverman, Mykelti Williamson, Tim Daly, Laurie Metcalf, Willie Nelson, Carmen Electra, Jason Alexander, Korn, Glenn Morshower, Amy Sedaris, James Brolin, Jon Favreau, Danny Bonaduce, Tim Curry, Bob Gunton, Nicole Sullivan, Rosalind Chao, Brooke Burke, Andrew McCarthy, Fred Ewanuick, Janet Wright, Larry Miller, Enrico Colantoni, Willie Garson, Dan Hedaya, Charles Napier, Brett Cullen, Stanley Tucci, Alice Cooper, Judge Reinhold, Chi McBride, Steven Weber, Andy Richter, Sean Astin, Holland Taylor, Dan Butler, Charles Durning, Rainn Wilson, and Brooke Adams.
[edit] Location
Although set in San Francisco and its area, Monk is for the most part shot elsewhere except for occasional exteriors featuring city landmarks. The pilot episode was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, and the subsequent Season 1 episodes were shot in the Toronto, Ontario, area. Most of the episodes in Seasons 2-5 were filmed in the Los Angeles, California area, including on-stage at Ren-Mar Studios (these include Adrian’s apartment, Sharona's house, the homicide office, Dr. Kroger’s office, and Natalie’s house).
[edit] Episodes
USA Network planned an unusual re-broadcast of the episode, "Mr. Monk and the Leper," first broadcast on December 22, 2006, in black and white and then rebroadcast immediately afterward in full color. Tony Shalhoub introduced the episode as having "all the elements of a timeless film noir movie" and thought it would be interesting to present it in that way.
Those watching were encouraged to go to the official Monk website and vote for the one they liked better. Both versions are currently available to U.S. residents for viewing and voting. [1] However there has been no mention of whether the results from this poll will influence any change in the series at large.
[edit] Production
According to an interview with executive producer David Hoberman,[2], ABC first conceived the series as a police show with an Inspector Clouseau-like character suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. According to Hoberman,[2] ABC wanted Michael Richards for the show, but Richards turned it down (Hoberman doesn't mention whether these events took place before or after the failure of The Michael Richards Show, which also featured Richards as a detective). Hoberman brought in Andy Breckman as creator, and Breckman, inspired by Sherlock Holmes, introduced a Doctor Watson-like character as Monk's nurse and an Inspector Lestrade-like character which eventually became Captain Stottlemeyer.
Although ABC originated the show, the network eventually handed it off to the USA Network. As part of the deal, ABC had the right to air repeats of the series after the episodes ran on USA.[citation needed] ABC used some episodes to fill in its summer schedule, which received respectable ratings.[citation needed] USA is now owned by NBC (NBC Universal), although the deal is still in place.[3] Monk is the first ABC Television Studio-produced show (formerly Touchstone Television) aired on USA Network instead of ABC. Psych was the second ABC Television Studio show to air on USA, four years after Monk's debut. On January 12, 2006, USA Network announced that Monk had been picked up through at least season six as one of the "highest-rated series in cable history."[4] Season 5 premiered Friday, July 7, 2006, at 9 p.m. Eastern time. This marked the first official time change for the program, which aired at 10 p.m. during its first four seasons. The change is due to its popularity and to work as a lead-in to the new USA Network series Psych, another offbeat detective program. Monk has followed a consistent format of airing half of its 16 episodes in the summer and the second half in the winter.
[edit] Theme music debate
During the first season of Monk, the series used a jazzy instrumental intro to the show by songwriter Jeff Beal, performed by guitarist Grant Geissman.[5] The theme won the 2003 Emmy Award for Best Main Title Music.[6] When the second season began, the series had new theme music, a song entitled "It's a Jungle Out There," by Randy Newman. Many fans and critics were upset that the music had been changed. In the review of the second season of Monk in the New York Daily News, the critic praised the show and Shalhoub's performance but wished that the producers would revert to the original recording.[7] Others, however, enjoyed the new theme. Tony Shalhoub was quoted in USA Today as saying, "There's a certain thing Randy Newman has, it's the dark and mournful sound, and there's this tongue-in-cheek, darkly humorous side. It completely fits the tone of the show."[8] Newman was awarded the 2004 Emmy for Best Main Title Music for "It's a Jungle Out There."[9] This debate was acknowledged in the episode Mr. Monk and the TV Star, which features an actor who plays a detective in a TV show, and several characters mention an in-story controversy over the change of that show's theme music, including a young woman imploring Monk never to change the theme music if he ever gets his own show. The original music was played over the end credits in that episode. Both recordings can be downloaded from the official Monk site[1], and the lyrics to the current theme song are also published there.
[edit] Sharona vs. Natalie
Halfway through Season 3, Bitty Schram left the show due to a contract dispute.[10] She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of the character.[10] Many fans were unhappy with the decision, because they had become fond of her character.[11] Schram's replacement, Traylor Howard (as Natalie Teeger), brings a different dimension to the role of Monk's assistant and naturally opens the debate among audiences. As of the episode aired February 23, 2007, Natalie has appeared in more episodes (38) than Sharona (37).
[edit] In other media
Author Lee Goldberg's first original Monk novel, Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse (ISBN 0-451-21729-2), came out in January 2006 and was also the basis for the fifth season episode "Mr. Monk Can't See a Thing", which he co-wrote. He has since written two more original Monk novels, Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii (ISBN 0-451-21900-7), which was released on 30 June 2006, and Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu (ISBN 0-451-22013-7), which was released in January 2007. He is working on the fourth book in the series, Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants, which will be published in July 2007.[12]
[edit] DVD releases
| Season(s) | DVD Name | Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season One |  |
June 15, 2004 | December 27, 2004 | January 20, 2005 |
| Season Two |  |
January 11, 2005 | July 18, 2005 | September 19, 2005 |
| Season Three |  |
June 5, 2005 | February 27, 2006 | March 7, 2006 |
| Season Four |  |
June 27, 2006 | September 18, 2006 | TBA |
| Season Five |  |
June 26, 2007 | TBA | TBA |
| Seasons One, Two, Three & Four
(The Obsessive Compulsive Collection) |
 |
June 27, 2006 | November 20, 2006 (R2 has different cover art) |
N/A |
The first three Region 2 releases are Fullscreen, but the release of the fourth season is Widescreen. The 5th season of Monk will be released on June 26, according to Amazon.com.
[edit] Awards and nominations
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[edit] Reruns and syndication
- In Australia : Channel Ten. Reruns of the show are featured on the TV1 channel on the Foxtel/Austar/Optus TV cable platforms.
- In Basque Country: ETB2
- In Brazil the show is being shown on Universal Channel on Sundays and on Rede Record on Fridays at midnight.
- In Bulgaria the show was airing its second season on bTV on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9:00pm. Now it's airing reruns every Sunday at 12:30am.
- In Canada the show is airing from season 1 on March 19th 2007. On A Channel
- In Greece, Seasons 2 & 3 air at the Star Channel, every Sunday at 4:30 p.m. The Greek title for the series is "Ντετέκτιβ Μονκ" (Detective Monk).
- In Latin America : Universal Channel
- In New Zealand, SKY 1, Previously Broadcasted on Channel 3.
- In Poland, Seasons 1, 2, 3 & 4 air at the TVN, TVN Siedem and Canal+. The Polish title for the series is Detektyw Monk (Detective Monk).
- In Saudi Arabia and Arab World:MBC 4
- In Slovenia the show is currently airing on Pop TV.
- In South Africa : SABC 2
- In South Korea, Season 1, 2, 3 air at the KBS2. The Korean title for the series is "탐정 몽크 [Tam Jeong Monk]" (Detective Monk).
- In Turkey the show is currently aired on Digiturk's Dizimax, channel 5 on Digiturk satellite service. Every episode has four showings everyday at 8 a.m., 2 p.m., 8 p.m., and 2 a.m. Eastern European time, GMT+2.
- In U.S. Universal HD, will air in weekly syndication in fall of 2008[18]
[edit] Trivia
- Monk has been parodied on Adult Swim's animated sketch comedy Robot Chicken, depicting him as "Cork," a retarded private eye.
- In addition to a rapidly growing DVD collection, the show also has a soundtrack CD that features the original music score.
- As of Mr. Monk and the Big Game, Adrian Monk has solved 104 murders (though he only has 100 trophies because he prefers the number 100).
- The show's writers occasionally satirize Monk's near-perfect memory. For example, in "Mr. Monk Goes Back to School" he can't remember if a crime scene on a roof is his 4th or 5th worst nightmare, since he "didn't bring the list".
- The sponsoring network used the term "Monkish" to publicize the series. The word describes Monk's odd behavior but also is a play-on-words that relates to Monk's monklike isolation.
- The city Philadelphia has been mentioned three times in the series--the most references to any city besides San Francisco. In Mr. Monk goes to the Ballgame the baseball player struck out three times in Philly; in Mr. Monk Goes to a Wedding the killer said she was from Philadelphia; in Mr. Monk is On the Air Willy says she has been with the killer for 15 years and "since Philadelphia".
- The characters of Captain Leland Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Randall Disher (named Randall Deacon in the pilot episode) serve much the same function in Monk as did Inspector Lestrade in the Sherlock Holmes stories. This relationship may have inspired these characters' names: taking the first two letters of each name in order – LE from "Leland", ST from "Stottlemeyer", RA from "Randall" and DE from "Deacon" – spells out "Lestrade".
- Most of the episode "Monk in Las Vegas" was filmed on the set of the NBC show "Las Vegas". For unknown reasons they changed the name of the casino and did not include any of the Las Vegas cast members. Fans of both series were hoping for a crossover, but it was not to be.
- In the episode, Mr. Monk and the Leper, there is a scene where Randy Disher is in the doctor's office. He sees the picture of himself with acne on the wall and tries to take it down. In the process, many pictures come off the wall and crash down to the floor. The scene cuts to an old lady in the waiting room, observing Randy. The scene goes back to Randy as he pries off the picture. But the other pictures that had fallen the scene before are on the wall again before Randy knocks them down again.
[edit] References
- ^ Official Monk Website. USA Network (December 2, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
- ^ a b "Mr Monk and His Origins," a special feature packaged with the Season One DVDs
- ^ Monk FAQ. USA Network (September 21, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-29.
- ^ USA orders seasons 5 and 6 of Monk. USA Network (January 12, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-09-16.
- ^ Grant Geissman - Biography. Retrieved on 2006-09-16.
- ^ Monk - The Show: Theme Song. Retrieved on 2006-09-16.
- ^ Bianculli, David. "Detective's defective, show isn't", New York Daily News, 2003-06-17. Retrieved on 2006-09-16. (in English)
- ^ The Monk Fun Page. Retrieved on 2006-09-16.
- ^ Chronology — Randy Newman. Retrieved on 2006-09-16.
- ^ a b Wallenstein, Andrew. "No Sharona — Bitty Schram leaves ‘Monk’", MSNBC News, 2004-08-31. Retrieved on 2006-09-16. (in English)
- ^ Byrne, Bridget. "'Monk' madness", Portsmouth Herald, 2006-07-09. Retrieved on 2006-09-16. (in English)
- ^ Mr. Monk and the New Deal. A Writer's Life. Retrieved on April 1, 2006.
- ^ Academy of Television, Arts, & Sciences. Retrieved on 2006-09-16.
- ^ SGA Awards. Retrieved on 2006-09-16.
- ^ Golden Globe Awards. Retrieved on 2006-09-16.
- ^ Mystery Writers of America - Edgars and Other MWA Awards. Retrieved on 2006-09-16.
- ^ The Monk Site. Retrieved on 2006-09-21.
- ^ Ben Grossman, Broadcasting & Cable, "Monk Sales Soar", 9/5/2006. Retrieved December 1, 2006.
[edit] External links
| MONK | |
| Current Main Characters | Adrian Monk | Natalie Teeger | Captain Leland Stottlemeyer | Lieutenant Randy Disher |
| Secondary Characters | Charles Kroger | Trudy Monk | Ambrose Monk | Dale "The Whale" Biederbeck | Julie Teeger |
| Former Characters | Sharona Fleming | Benjy Fleming |
| Related Articles | Episode List | Monk soundtrack | Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse | Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii | Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu |
| Official Website | Official site |
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Monk (TV series) | 2002 television program debuts | 2000s American television series | Comedy-drama television series | Crime television series | USA Network shows | Television series by Buena Vista Television | Television series by NBC Universal Television | Television shows set in San Francisco | Television series named after fictional characters
