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Monk
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All episode titles begin with "Mr. Monk..." except for the season eight episode, "Happy Birthday, Mr. Monk."
Unless I'm wrong, which, you know, I'm not...
~~ Tony Shalhoub (Adrian Monk)
Former police detective Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) has suffered from intensified obsessive- compulsive disorder and a variety of phobias since the murder of his wife, Trudy, in 1997. Despite his photographic memory and his amazing ability to piece tiny clues together, he is now on psychiatric leave from the San Francisco Police Department. Aided by his friend and practical nurse, Sharona Fleming (Bitty Schram), Monk works as a freelance detective/consultant, hoping to convince his former boss, Captain Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine), to allow him to return to the force. Stottlemeyer wavers between admiration for Monk and annoyance at his eccentricities. Moreover, he harbors serious doubts about the wisdom of allowing Monk to carry a gun. Stottlemeyer's second-in-command, Lieutenant Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford), also has his doubts about Monk but seems to be developing a reluctant admiration for the "defective detective."
12 July 2002
4 December 2009
Detective Adrian Monk used to have a minor case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Then, the murder of his wife and his inability to solve the case exacerbated his condition to the point where he finds it impossible to function in society without assistance. He hires Sharona Fleming, a nurse and single mother, as his personal assistant, as well as his Watson for when he investigates cases the police can't solve to pay the bills. After three seasons Sharona got tired of the frustrating job and remarried her husband. Monk's new assistant is Natalie Teeger, whose loss of her own partner allows her a deeper bond with him than Sharona could ever have.
The show was originally to be made for ABC (the American one) with Michael Richards starring. When he pulled out, so did ABC. However, when the show was successful on the USA network, ABC agreed to carry second-run episodes (much in the same way that USA carries second-run episodes of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999)). This only lasted for a year.
In France, the first episode (in 2 parts) was re-edited into a single 44 minute episode, so half the minutes were cut and are still unpublished in France.
The characters of Captain Leland Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Randall Disher (named Randall Deacon in the pilot) 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". (However, after the show's pilot episode, Randy Deacon's last name was changed to Disher.)
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 Adrian's odd behavior but also is a play-on-words that relates to his monk-like isolation.
This was the first show that the USA network filmed in the US. All previous shows were filmed in Canada.
The characters and basic structure of the series were inspired by the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. The character name "Adrian Monk" was intended to be unusual like that of Sherlock Holmes. Other characters correspond to Holmes characters: Sharona Fleming (a nurse) and Dr. Watson; Capt. Stottlemeyer and Inspector Lestrade; and Monk's brother Ambrose and Mycroft Holmes (Sherlock's brother).
Adrian Monk contains ten letters, Monk's favorite number.
Producers originally considered offering the role of Sharona Fleming to Queen Latifah.
The police station where Stottlemeyer and Disher work as well as a number of crimes throughout the series are said to be located on Vinton Street in San Francisco. However, the real Vinton is in Madison, New Jersey, where series creator Andy Breckman lives.
In Germany, the series is presented by a well-known brand of consumer tissue (as of April 2008), playing with Monk's obsessive-compulsive behavior.
The season four premiere, Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan was originally supposed to be a crossover with "Law & Order" (1990).
Monk theme song lyrics
It's a jungle out there
Disorder and confusion everywhere
No one seems to care
Well I do
Hey, who's in charge here?
It's a jungle out there
Poison in the very air we breathe
Do you know what's in the water that you drink?
Well I do, and it's amazing
People think I'm crazy, 'cause I worry all the time
If you paid attention, you'd be worried too
You better pay attention
Or this world we love so much might just kill you
I could be wrong now, but I don't think so
It's a jungle out there.
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