# Mr. Monk and the Night of the Raid Affair **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478 "2006-08-20T19:52:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Roadfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@Roadfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadfood)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478/1 "2006-08-20T19:52:41Z")
There are some TV series where the title of every episode follows some pattern. The ones I can think of are: **Monk** : “Mr. Monk and . . .” **The Wild Wild West** : “The Night of . . .” **The Rat Patrol** : “The . . . Raid” **The Man From U.N.C.L.E.** : “The . . . Affair” (And before the nit-pickers jump in, I know that one episode of **The Wild Wild West** , one of **The Man From U.N.C.L.E.** , and two of **The Rat Patrol** did not start with the word “The”.) There have to be more, which shows can you add to this list? ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478/2 "2006-08-20T20:11:03Z")
“The One Where…” My friends know what I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478/3 "2006-08-20T21:07:25Z")
Scurbs: “My …” Farscape tried to make puns or jokes on famous titles/phrases. “A Clockwork Nebari” “The Way We Weren’t” and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478/4 "2006-08-20T21:22:34Z")
**Police Squad!** where the episode title the narrator announced was never the same as the one shown on-screen. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478/5 "2006-08-21T00:16:58Z")
The titles on **Desperate Housewives** are all Stephen Sondheim songs. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478/6 "2006-08-21T00:48:37Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Scurbs: > > “My …” The exceptions being “His Story,” “His Story II,” “His Story III,” and “Her Story.” (Was there a “Her Story II” at any point?) ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478/7 "2006-08-21T03:57:51Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > The titles on **Desperate Housewives** are all Stephen Sondheim songs. Usually. They’ve had “Anything You Can Do” and “What I Did for Love” and “One More Kiss” as well as others. But there’s a definite pattern there. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478/8 "2006-08-21T06:25:18Z")
For some bizarre reason, both “Newsradio” and “That 70’s Show” used Led Zeppelin song titles as episode titles. (I remember this because my local paper always listed episode titles in show descriptions). Eventually, “That 70’s Show” had to switch to a different method because they ran out of song titles. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478/9 "2006-08-21T09:06:59Z")
_3rd Rock From The Sun_ - (nearly) all the episode titles have ‘Dick’ in them. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478/10 "2006-08-21T10:38:09Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > “The One Where…” My friends know what I’m talking about. Heh! Not TV, but similar - one of the _Far Side_ collections had an index - but everything was filed under “T” for “The one with the cow…” “The one with the headhunters…” etc. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478/11 "2006-08-21T11:17:52Z")
_Grey’s Anatomy_ uses various song titles for episode titles as well. _King of Queens_ uses puns as episode titles. _NewsRadio_ did use Led Zepplin song titles, but just for a short stretch in the second season. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478/12 "2006-08-21T11:42:39Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > _Grey’s Anatomy_ uses various song titles for episode titles as well. Why not use chapter titles from the actual book, _Grey’s Anatomy_? Does everything have to be baby boomer songs? Sheesh. Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478/13 "2006-08-21T13:56:03Z")
Animated _Tick_ used “The Tick Vs. …” for its titles. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478/14 "2006-08-21T14:14:41Z")
Almost all (I think there were only two exceptions) Seinfeld episodes were titled “The \_\_\_\_\_.” (With subject of episode in place of space.) I am sure there are exceptions, but most of the Strangers with Candy episodes had the word “Blank” (main character’s last name) in them. ---
**Author:** ![susan\_foster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@susan\_foster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan_foster)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478/15 "2006-08-21T20:05:32Z")
La Femme Nikita - the number of words in the title corresponds to the season number. Susan ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478/16 "2006-08-21T20:10:31Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > The exceptions being “His Story,” “His Story II,” “His Story III,” and “Her Story.” (Was there a “Her Story II” at any point?) The key to these episodes, of course, is that they are the few where the majority of the voice-over narration is not provided by J.D. (Zach Braff). ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478/17 "2006-08-21T22:03:22Z")
The _Sharpe_ series on BBC. All of them start with \*Sharpe’s . . . \*, like _Sharpe’s Sword_, _Sharpe’s Siege_, etc. After awhile, we started making up titles of our own: _Sharpe’s Pissed_, _Sharpe’s So Not Getting Laid This Episode_, _Sharpe’s Getting Shat On By The Brass Again_, ad infinitum. ---
**Author:** ![Roadfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@Roadfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadfood)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478/18 "2006-08-21T23:29:00Z")
> [@susan\_foster](#): > > La Femme Nikita - the number of words in the title corresponds to the season number. Now _that’s_ cool. ---
**Author:** ![priapus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@priapus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/priapus)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478/19 "2006-08-21T23:37:29Z")
The last season of Get Smart had great puns…The Mess of Adrian Listenger,The Treasure of C. Errol Madre ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478/20 "2006-08-22T00:14:28Z")
The overwhelming majority of the titles of \*Law & Order: Special Victims Unit \* consist of one word. They had a handful of titles with more than one word in the first season, but since then, they’ve only done so a couple more times. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-monk-and-the-night-of-the-raid-affair/369478.md?page=2)