|
Monk
Dec 6, 2007 9:33:04 GMT -5
Post by Patcat on Dec 6, 2007 9:33:04 GMT -5
Just a reminder that the MONK Christmas episode will air tomorrow night on USA at 10.
Patcat
|
|
fozzy
Silver Shield Investigator
Posts: 55
|
Monk
Dec 6, 2007 12:43:41 GMT -5
Post by fozzy on Dec 6, 2007 12:43:41 GMT -5
It looks a good ep
|
|
|
Monk
Apr 30, 2008 8:06:46 GMT -5
Post by Patcat on Apr 30, 2008 8:06:46 GMT -5
TV GUIDE (the dreaded Michael Asiello, so who know how reliable the news is) reports that Hector Elizondo will play Monk's new psychiatrist.
Patcat
|
|
|
Monk
Jul 31, 2009 9:22:10 GMT -5
Post by Patcat on Jul 31, 2009 9:22:10 GMT -5
|
|
|
Monk
Aug 1, 2009 16:14:23 GMT -5
Post by Patcat on Aug 1, 2009 16:14:23 GMT -5
MONK begins its final season this coming Friday, and I thought it might be good to reflect on this series, especially as this show's success started USA's shift from a basic cable channel with wrestling and reruns to a major force in television. MONK was the first of the characters the network welcomed.
In truth, MONK isn't anything particularly new or radical. It's a throwback in many ways to shows like COLUMBO or MURDER SHE WROTE. But it's a very well done show, especially in its casting and acting. It's never quite been as good as I think it could be in some ways. Both Disher the character and Jason Grey-Sanford the actor deserve much better than they get from the writers. And the show's writers often rely far too much on Tony Shalhoub's considerable talents.
But that's quibbling. I like Monk as much as I've ever liked any TV character. A lot of the credit has to go to Mr. Shalhoub, who took what could have been an annoying sketch and turned him into a remarkably sympathetic character. I know there's been some complaints about the fact Mr. Shalhoub receiving so many Emmy nominations, but I think this is one time where the Emmy people have it right. This performance is consistently one of the best on television, and probably one of the best of all time. Although he's not received the same kind of attention, Ted Levine's performance as Captain Stottlemeyer is very good and has benefitted from some excellent writing. And I think the show got better when Traylor Howard joined the cast as Natalie, who's much more of a real character than Sharona.
I'll miss Monk when he's gone. I hope he finds out who murdered his wife and that he gets better. He's a good man and deserves a good life.
Patcat
|
|
|
Monk
Aug 7, 2009 8:20:35 GMT -5
Post by Patcat on Aug 7, 2009 8:20:35 GMT -5
From today's NEW YORK TIMES, an article about MONK and its influence on other shows. LOCI is mentioned.
August 7, 2009 Television Obsessive Influence By MIKE HALE In the fourth-season premiere of USA’s “Psych” on Friday night, the writers have a little fun with “The Mentalist,” the very popular CBS series that will begin its second season next month. The two shows have similar premises: a civilian with extraordinary powers of observation, who has posed or is posing as a psychic, helps the police solve crimes. As the lead character of “Psych” and his sidekick try to explain their services to a mystified Canadian officer, they invoke a television show the policeman immediately recognizes. “You’ve seen ‘The Mentalist,’ right?” “It’s like that.” “A virtual carbon copy.”
It’s funny, but it’s misguided. Because the “Psych” crew did not have to look far to find the show that really served as a template for “The Mentalist,” not to mention “Psych” itself. It’s having its season premiere on the same network and the same night, one hour earlier. It’s “Monk,” which begins its eighth and final season on Friday, having established itself as one of the most influential series of the last decade.
“Monk,” about an awkward, obsessive-compulsive former policeman, and “The Mentalist,” about a smooth-talking boy toy and former con man, might seem like an odd couple. But when you look more closely, the structural similarities — quite possibly unconscious — start to surface. The most striking is in the two men’s back stories: both Tony Shalhoub’s Adrian Monk and Simon Baker’s Patrick Jane are haunted by the murders of their wives, and the effort to find the wife’s killer is a theme and plot device on both shows. (This shared obsession is more eerily similar than anything connecting “The Mentalist” and “Psych.”)
There are other commonalities, particularly in the structures of the casts. Monk and Jane, both eccentric and headstrong, have primary relationships with no-nonsense female minders who must rein them in while taking the brunt of their abuse (Traylor Howard’s Natalie on “Monk,” Robin Tunney’s Lisbon on “The Mentalist”). Both shows feature a clueless but occasionally inspired junior officer for slapstick comic relief (Jason Gray-Stanford’s Disher on “Monk,” Owain Yeoman’s Rigsby on “The Mentalist”).
But “Monk” has had a broader influence that is quite easy to see. One facet of it is generally acknowledged: in the wake of Adrian Monk, the USA network has populated its schedule with outsider heroes in shows like “Burn Notice,” “Psych” and even the medical comedy “Royal Pains.” And beyond USA, even beyond cable, there has been a blossoming of oddball, often ill-behaved but almost supernaturally gifted protagonists surrounded by enabling ensembles. “Monk” was followed over the years by “House,” “The Closer” and “Lie to Me,” among others.
To be fair, Adrian Monk wasn’t the only tortured hero on television when he started. But the others — in shows like “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Crossing Jordan,” “CSI: Miami” or Mr. Baker’s first series, “The Guardian” — emphasized the torture; “Monk” emphasized the laughs. And that’s where it really made a difference. Hourlong prime-time television was a serious affair in 2002 (when sitcoms like “Friends,” “Frasier,” “Will and Grace” and “The King of Queens” were still on the air); in the first full post-9/11 season the only hour shows besides “Monk” that led with comedy were “Gilmore Girls” and “Charmed,” both chick series on the WB network.
Hourlong dramedies have exploded in prime time since then of course. You can’t blame “Monk” for shows like “Desperate Housewives” or “Ugly Betty” or “Pushing Daisies” (though it’s a funny coincidence that all those shows come from ABC, the network that developed “Monk”). But you can give it credit for a more specific, and important, achievement: the introduction, or rather the reintroduction (don’t forget “Moonlighting”), of a shaggy-dog version of screwball comedy into crime drama.
While one branch of television police dramas, the Bruckheimer-“CSI” shows, has grown increasingly grim, another strain has become increasingly antic, embracing haplessness and mild buffoonery in the cause of detection. It can be seen in shows as different as the gentle “Eureka” on Syfy and the blood-soaked “Supernatural” on CW. It can be seen most directly and prominently in “The Closer,” the TNT series that is the highest-rated cable drama, and “The Mentalist,” the highest-rated new show of the 2008-9 season. Both of them are hard to imagine pre-“Monk.”
It’s nothing new. The producers most responsible for “Monk,” David Hoberman and Andy Breckman, readily acknowledge a chain of sources that begins with Sherlock Holmes and runs through “Columbo” to “Murder, She Wrote.” But it had been largely absent for a while (“Murder, She Wrote” went off the air six years before “Monk” arrived), and it’s been good to have it back.
USA promises that in the final 16 episodes, beginning with “Mr. Monk’s Favorite Show” (involving a television show Monk was obsessed with as a child), the murder of Trudy Monk will finally be solved. That will be a nice reward for a detective who’s been making us laugh for seven years and counting.
Patcat
|
|
|
Monk
Aug 7, 2009 14:49:01 GMT -5
Post by Patcat on Aug 7, 2009 14:49:01 GMT -5
|
|
|
Monk
Aug 28, 2009 6:44:59 GMT -5
Post by caitlen on Aug 28, 2009 6:44:59 GMT -5
Keeping it scripted CULTURE BEAT "The Purge" September 12, 2009 Megan Basham With reality shows ruling the four big broadcast networks, cable has become a home for high-quality dramedies In 2001, when actor Tony Shalhoub was considering the titular role on USA channel's original, hour-long dramedy Monk, well-meaning colleagues warned him against "slumming" on basic cable. After all, the showbiz veteran had hit network shows like Wings as well as plenty of big screen credits to his name. Wisely, he decided to shun their advice, telling USA Today that when considering his next project, content was more important to him than venue: "I figured why not be a bigger fish in a smaller pond and turn it into a bigger pond?" That was eight years ago. Now in its final season, the series about an obsessive-compulsive San Francisco detective has helped expand the television pond in ways its star may never have imagined. A quick glance at the 2009 Emmy nominations reveals categories littered with basic cable representatives. And the Nielsen ratings in recent weeks reveal cable shows beating the broadcast competition even in primetime hours. No matter how you slice it—viewership, ad revenue, or critical accolades—there's significant cachet in cable these days. www.worldmag.com/articles/15800
|
|
|
Monk
Aug 28, 2009 10:11:51 GMT -5
Post by Patcat on Aug 28, 2009 10:11:51 GMT -5
As I've written before, I scarcely watch network TV any more. I watch LOCI reruns on NBC occasionally. I watch Letterman on CBS (although of late I've taken to watching the highlights on the LATE NIGHT website). I can't remember the last time I watched anything on ABC. I get my news from NPR, CNN, and newspaper websites. I watch THE SIMPSONS on Fox. I watch USA, PBS, and TCM. The only reality show I've ever watched is a few episodes of "Little People, Big World", because a friend of mine likes it and I've seen a few shows with her. I like those people--funny, decent, intelligent, exasperating.
So, thank you Mr. Shalhoub and MONK for saving (and maybe inventing) the dramedy.
Patcat
|
|
|
Monk
Oct 30, 2009 15:34:35 GMT -5
Post by Techguy on Oct 30, 2009 15:34:35 GMT -5
|
|
|
Monk
Dec 4, 2009 8:34:49 GMT -5
Post by Patcat on Dec 4, 2009 8:34:49 GMT -5
|
|
|
Monk
Dec 4, 2009 14:42:04 GMT -5
Post by wilmingtonfan on Dec 4, 2009 14:42:04 GMT -5
I think tonight is the series finale.
|
|
|
Monk
Dec 4, 2009 15:57:52 GMT -5
Post by Cassie on Dec 4, 2009 15:57:52 GMT -5
Is the the episode where Monk finds out his killed his precious wife?
|
|
|
Monk
Dec 4, 2009 18:32:37 GMT -5
Post by wilmingtonfan on Dec 4, 2009 18:32:37 GMT -5
Is the the episode where Monk finds out his killed his precious wife? Yes, I understand it is.
|
|
|
Monk
Dec 5, 2009 10:04:04 GMT -5
Post by DonnaJo on Dec 5, 2009 10:04:04 GMT -5
Anyone else cry at the end of the season finale? So poignant and heart touching. Everything wrapped up, with Monk being given a beautiful gift - a loving link to Trudy.
Best of all, he stays on the job. I was afraid that they would have him quit after finding his wife's killer.
|
|