I’ve seen so far: “Mr. Monk and the Earthquake,” “Mr. Monk and the Carnival,” “Mr. Monk and the Red-Headed Stranger,” “Mr. Monk and the Billionaire Mugger,” and “Mr. Monk Meets Dale the Whale,” “Mr. Monk Goes on Vacation,” and of course the season finale where he’s on the plane.
Initially I thought (from the commercial) that it seemed kind of gimmicky, and not for me at all. But I love mysteries and now I love Monk. Tony Shalhoub is just sooo adorable and absolutely lovable. (You may remember him as the non-English speaking taxi driver in “Quick Change” and sailor #3 in “Addams Family Values.”)
Plus the supporting cast is also really funny. The captain, Sharona and Benji (who names their kid Benji?), and Lt. Disher- sooo cute.
I love all the quirky things about it. Like when Monk guesses the correct number of jelly beans in the carnival episode, or the guy selling extension cords in the season finale, or where he can’t play the clarinet.
It’s not so much about who did the murder- usually they provide an obvious suspect- but more about how it happens. Usually it’s some weird, random way. That’s what Monk specializes in- seeing things from a different perspective.
Oh, I thought you meant the Trappist monks who make that ever so excellent beer…sigh
(Thanks Woolly for introducing me to it yesterday, but after finding it in my bottle-o today, and at $6.60 a stubbie, I think it will be a rare treat).
The show bothers me. The characters are great, and Tony Shaloub, whom I’ve always loved, is doing a fantastic job.
But the plotting … oy veh. The actual mysteries seem to be lifted wholesale from the cheesiest detective shows of the 70s and 80s. Too often, when Monk, at the end of the show, reveals the murderer and explains his deductions, you’re thinking, “well, that doesn’t prove anything.”
Sheesh – you’d think that after hatching these elaborate murder plots, the perp would be smart enough to not confess after being confronted with Monk’s tangential and circumstantial reasoning.
Well, maybe it’s a huge mistake to admit it here, but I like Monk. Like you, Zoggie, I saw the commercials and thought it was trying too hard to be quirky, so I didn’t watch. Then, someone whose opinion I respect told me it was worth checking out, so I did. OK, so the mystery aspect is straight out of the Columbo/Banacek/Murder, She Wrote mold, but as a form of character-driven storytelling, it’s more entertaining than most current TV series.
But I do have one quibble. If he’s so phobic about germs, how can he stand to obey one of his other compulsions: having to touch every pillar or parking meter he passes?
Oh yeah, it’s cheesy. But we’re big Tony Shalhoub fans (don’t forget Wings and Big Night!), and I’ve always loved Ellery Queen, who has a few things in common with Monk. Plus I can totally identify with the OCD thing. The first time we watched the show, and I saw the umbrella haging the wrong way in the opening credits, I just knew he was going to fix it. And I have also stared distractedly at a puddle on a table or something that was slightly out of place.
I loved the blind lady and the streaker.
I love the scene in the commercials (haven’t seen that show yet) where Monk is cleaning a smudge off the glass in the interrogation room (squeak, squeak).
I like seeing Ted Levine play somebody normal – but I can still hear a bit of that “Was she a great big fat person?” voice from Silence of the Lambs.
Love the theme song. Took us a few days to get it out of our heads after the USA Network Monk Marathon a few Sundays ago.
Well in the Carnival episode, the chief mentions to Disher that back when Monk first joined the force, he was a little weird about things being neat/orderly, but nowhere as rigid as he is now.
Scarlett- I love that scene- I haven’t seen the episode yet either.
Also I love that carnival episode scene where he can’t examine the ferris wheel because the girl (Kitty?) had her hand on the lever. I’d actually feel that way, too, and I’m not OCD. And that scene at the very end, where Sharona’s teasing him with the shoe- Monk is just so cute. And brilliant.
Count me in as an admirer. Of the few I’ve seen from the beginning, they’ve sometimes shown whodunnit in the first sequence, so the appeal is obviously not figuring out who was the criminal, but how A. Monk will figure out the answer. Not reality, but that’s not why I watch fictional shows. If you want great whodunnits there’s a true crime investigation show on TLC for you.
I’ve always had a soft spot for Tony Shalloub, and Sharonna is obviously from the same part of Jersey as Carmela Soprano. The only thing that bothers me is the umbrella scene in the opening credits. It’s his front entry, so why would the umbrella have been placed wrong in the first place?
It’s a great show, but I’m wondering if the writers will run out of cutely compulsive things for him to do. I like the scene where he discovers the garage of his dreams. And when he’s walking down the street and sees a newspaper box with the crooked newspaper showing through the window, so he puts in a quarter, opens the door and straightens out the paper, then closes it back up.
I’m waiting for him to pour out some Pringles potato chips and start piecing together the broken ones like a jigsaw puzzle; that’s got to be the perfect food for obsessive-compulsives.
As I’ve said elsewhere on this board, though Monk is formulatic I’ll still watch as long as it’s entertaining. I haven’t missed any episodes though I only caught the end of “Mr. Monk and the Earthquake”. IIRC, the two-way mirror is in “Mr. Monk and the Marathon Man”.
I hope that when Monk does end that Shaloub can continue to get big parts. He’s so entertaining in the show he makes up for the fact that the actual plots don’t make much sense.
One of the things I really enjoy about Monk is that they didn’t take the easy route with the characters. Rather than just have Monk be a goofy guy he alternates between the comedic and tragic. Rather than having the police (both the Captain who’s last name I’d never spell in anything resembling what it is and his assistant) be the incompetant foils to Monk they’re competant enough on their own and friendly with Monk when he shows up. If everyone was played as a straight up cliche it would have been dull but the character work is so good…
Monk is a great character, and a very clever idea for a detective. Shaloub is great in the part. And the show definitely has the feel of a 70s detective show (which isn’t necessarily a good thing).
But the mysteries are really lame and the supporting characters the purest cardboard, and very poorly performed. It also seems very cheaply made (this may improve now that ABC has picked it up). I may watch from time to time, but Monk’s idiosyncracies will only carry it so far.
