I'd like to say a few words about the USA series Monk starring Tony Shalhoub. I just finished watching the 8th and final season on DVD. I started watching this series because Jason Alexander (of Seinfeld fame) was guest starring. It only took one episode for me to be hooked! The wonderful Tony Shalhoub plays Adrian Monk, a former San Francisco police detective who had a breakdown when his beloved wife Trudy was killed by a car bomb. He suffers from OCD and has a lot of quirks but he always solves the mystery by the end of the episode. The cast is wonderful, the shows are well written and often touching. Monk is a one of a kind character and it's no wonder that Tony has received all the awards that he has. I'll be tuning in to the Emmy's on Sunday to see if he wins his 4th Emmy for season 8. He really deserves it!
According to the Monk website -
"After eight successful seasons on the air, the series finale of Monk set records as the most-watched basic cable original drama series telecast of all time in total viewers. Hitting series highs for its final episode, the finale brought in 9.4 million total viewers!"
The DVD has some nice special features including cast interviews and a behind the scenes tour. For the final 2 part episode, Tony (an executive producer), Andy Breckman (the co-creator and head writer) and Randy Zisk (a producer and director) sit together and discuss the episode while it plays on the screen next to them. I've never seen a commentary done that way and I liked seeing them talk!
You are in for a treat if you haven't seen Monk. He is such an endearing, lovable, off center character and the final season has some wonderful episodes including Mr. Monk is Someone Else and Mr. Monk and the Dog.
Here's the thing - if Tony Shalhoub never does another series, what a huge contribution to television he has made with this show! Rest assured there is a happy ending for all the characters on the show. They did a great job tying up all the loose ends and they always had wonderful guest stars.
All 8 seasons are on DVD and it looks like USA will begin airing reruns in Sept. The website has the schedule. Enjoy!
Paris 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Thanks Joy for singing Monk's praises again! We are forever thankful to you for telling us about Monk. Bob and I thoroughly enjoyed the series, couldn't miss it! I am so sad that it ended. All of the characters were excellent, I loved them all! The stories were so well written and I really hated to face a Friday night without a "Monk" to watch with Bob. I didn't find it that predictable, except of course who would solve it. I liked the early ones when his OCD quirks were more emphasied, it seemed to me they were. Pretty remarkable was Mr Monk and the Dog. It was so endearing-didn't it make you want to get a dog, Joy???? Really.
ReplyDeleteI can't beleive it was 8 seasons, I'll have to check out the DVD. They still could have keep going..for 10! Right?
Yes, I often think about getting a dog! It was so sweet the way Monk loved that dog! That was one of the great things about the show - I often thought if Monk could do it, so could I!
ReplyDelete