Fans of black and white detective movies - Monk appears tonight in both b&w and color

Cafe Society
1

The B&W versions is going to be shown on USA channel at 9:00 (8:00 Central) and the color version right after.

I have my doubts about Monk in B&W, but it worked for Bogey.

2

Is it a new episode or a repeat?

3

Brand new.

But you are right to ask, since they are replaying a couple of old episodes this week.

For those who have to wonder which is which, you can check the episode titles here : http://www.usanetwork.com/series/monk/
Mouse over “The Show” to reveal the tab for “Episode Guide”

4

I saw the black and white, and have the color version on right now.

The film noir vibe they were trying to get with black and white only succeeded in a couple of scenes. The mood, lighting and shadows, etc. just didn’t hold up. Even the scenes where it did work, worked as well in color.

5

It was kind of a weird episode. Monk doesn’t really use his talent much in solving the crime. It is clear very early on who is who.

So they set up a lot of scenes with shadows, piano music, etc. Yawn.

One of my criteria in judging film noir is that it works best when the detective is what he is chasing. Nothing close here.

I watched the beginning of the color version and it was really quite jarring. They seemed to go to some effort to have high-contrast colors around. (E.g., the neon signs in the bar window.) Strangely fascinating.

6

Yep, this mystery was pretty much a no-brainer. Still a fun episode though, and Natalie was darned cute as always.

I didn’t bother watching the grayscale version. Based on what I saw of the color version, I couldn’t imagine how a B&W rendering would have improved it.

7

The B&W didn’t improve it for me. I taped both, then started with the B&W - seemed really murky and hard to look at, only the face highlights really visible. When I switched to color there were details in the shadows and the scenes fleshed out, with clothing and things visible in the corners.

And the story was the pits. When the cops caught on before Monk, and especially when the audience caught on before either, the point was gone.
Monk is not supposed to be Columbo, where we see the murder happen, but a mystery where we are guessing.

8

Here’s the result of the channel’s viewer poll

WEEKLY POLL
Is Monk more Monk-ish in Black and White or Color?
A. 43%
Black and White

B. 56%
Color