Detective Monk

As a viewer in England, Monk is, in my opinion,one of the best US series exported TV programmes. Compared to other US series that have been screened in prime time slots in the UK this series is truly brilliant. Mr Monk, suffering with OCD, generates sympathy as well as humour. Currently I am watching the series on the BBC who are repeating each episode in the afternoon. For some reason Monk has never been aired in a UK prime time slot despite being far superior to the current dross and reality TV programmes that are filling our TV channels on most evenings. My solution is to record the afternoon episodes and they then become my evenings viewing highlight. Forget other current US series such as Invasion (yawn), Lost (lost the plot) Surface, etc. they pale in comparison. All the roles in Monk are well acted and each of the characters have their own identities. I love the inept Lieutenant Randy who tries to emulate the archetypal portrayed TV cop. Long may the series run.

I absolutely loved Monk and still miss it. The series is about Monk, who develops obsessive-compulsive disorder after his wife is murdered. He ends up losing his job as detective with the San Francisco Police Department but still works with them as a consultant with the help of his assistant. He is the best detective alive but his condition always gets in the way. This show will make you laugh, smile and feel every other emotion a good show makes you feel. Tony Shalhoub deserved every single award he won (and he won a lot) for his role as Adrian Monk. I binged the entire series as fast as I could. I actually binged it a second time during Covid and enjoyed it just as much as when I watched it the first time. This is must watch!

Tony Shalhoub is a genius in inhabiting the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of this character. I myself am an obsessive-compulsive, and he gets the experience of suffering from this disease exactly. I watch this show regularly. It's therapeutic (partly because I get all the OCD jokes and get to laugh at myself) - and HILARIOUS, even if you don't know anything about OCD! Shalhoub completely deserves the Best Actor Emmy and SAG Awards he's won for this role. Shalhoub's sweet, anxious genius, Adrian Monk, is dead-on. And Bitty Schram as his nurse is also hilarious and so marvelous! I highly recommend you watch this show!

Thank you Tony Shalhoub, Bitty Schram, and everyone else involved in this show!

Ah Mr. Monk, how I miss this show, there's nothing quite like it. It caught my interest right from the beginning even though I was slightly annoyed by Monk. Sharona made up for it though, she was pretty and fun and I loved the friendly chemistry between them. I remember thinking, if she leaves the show I will stop watching it. Then came Natalie and guess what, love at first appearance! Not only is she incredibly cute and adorable, the character she played was perfect and the relationship with Monk even better! Whoever did that is a genius.

There were times when Monk did things that I thought were just mean, rude and unacceptable regardless of his condition. But you can't stay mad at him because he's kind and a crime solving machine. Unlike some crime series where I feel like I have to over work my brain to keep up with the convoluted plot, when all I want is to switch off all the thinking, this is a refreshing series that is smart and yet natural and easy to follow. And there are plenty of funny moments, captivating drama, and characters that grow on you like the captain and the detective. The series ended properly, which I always find comforting. So glad I managed to watch it all on Prime. Thank you to everyone involved in creating this masterpiece.

I have fallen in love with this show by way of the cable reruns. It's wonderful in every way. The concept of the show is brilliant; a detective show in which the detective, although brilliant, is neither suave, brave, not debonair. He is truly a psychologically damaged person. And although his foibles and phobias are often played for laughs, the fact of his being destroyed by his wife's death is always a serious element of the show. The supporting players are excellent, particularly Ted Levine as Cpt. Stottlemeyer. The character of Randy is a bit gratuitously annoying but you can't have everything. The scriptwriting is some of the best around, with many subtle witticisms and some great cultural parody. And it is never straight out comedy; the tragic nature of Monk's mental affliction is always present, and the endings always have a gentle touch. The crime mysteries themselves are most often not the point of the show. They are merely the McGuffin - in Hitchcocks's phrase - on which to hang a drama about character relationships. Just a great, great show.