tppbfan@aol.com
01-21-2005, 12:23 PM
'Monk' will make it
By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY
Looks as if fans can stop obsessing over Sharona. (Related story: Meet
Monk's new sidekick)
Looks like someone actually went to the trouble to write down all of
Andrian Monk's phobias. That's quite a list.
USA Networks
Don't get me wrong: The departure of Monk's Bitty Schram as the
obsessive/compulsive detective's impatient assistant, Sharona, is a
real loss. But for those who feared it would be a fatal blow - and I
was one of them - the great news is that this highly enjoyable series
returns tonight in surprisingly good shape. In fact, it's a far better
Monk you'll see tonight than the excessively silly show you saw over
the summer, when it looked as if the series was in a creative tailspin.
To replace Schram, the writers have created a new
sidekick/hand-wipe-provider for Monk (played by Tony Shalhoub, who has
been the show's one unimpeachably excellent constant). Even more shaky
than usual after Sharona's departure, Monk is shaken out of his
depression by young, single mom Natalie, fetchingly played by Traylor
Howard.
About the show
Monk
USA, Friday, 10 p.m. ET/PT
* * * (out of four)
Howard's arrival seems to have forced the writers to stop just relying
on Monk's eccentricities and come up with some actual plots. No, the
two mysteries available for preview are not exactly airtight. But they
are at least actual mysteries and not just a collection of stray plot
points interrupted by Monkish comic bits.
Alas, the improvements have not yet reached Jason Gray-Stanford's Lt.
Disher, who is still being written as unacceptably dumb. But they can
work on him next.
We may have lost Sharona, but we've regained Monk- and that has to be
counted as a fair trade.
'Monk' gets germ
of new relationship
Tony Shalhoub with Traylor Howard (l.) and Emmy Clarke in new season of
'Monk.'
MONK. Tonight at 10, USA.
The third season of USA's cult hit "Monk," starting tonight, gives the
neurotic, phobic and depressed detective Adrian Monk a potential
pick-me-up.
She's blond.
Natalie Teeger, played by Traylor Howard, is many shared moments away
from being any kind of official girlfriend of Tony Shalhoub's Monk.
All she does in this episode is agree to work for him and replace his
trusted assistant Sharona, who has remarried her ex-husband and moved
to New Jersey.
But the smart, witty and widowed Natalie clearly finds something about
Monk endearing. So does her 11-year-old daughter, Julie (Emmy Clarke).
And, of course, he is endearing, once you get past all his fears about
touching and sitting down and germs and Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
Okay, we made up the Krispy Kreme part. But as faithful viewers know,
Monk is stressed by almost everything, which should make it fun to
watch Natalie as the impact of all these neuroses hits her, one phobia
at a time.
Monk does, of course, fight off the cold sweat long enough to solve a
crime, which in this case is how he meets Natalie.
After visits from two mystery intruders, the second of whom she ends up
stabbing to death with a pair of scissors, she hires Monk to figure out
what they could have been after.
By astute deductions, he narrows the target down to Julie's fish tank,
even though it holds only a few rocks and a 99-cent marble fish. The
rest of the story plays out from there, with side trips so Monk can,
for instance, see a 30,000-year-old skeleton at a science museum and
figure out how the guy was killed.
Now that's clearing up a cold-case file.
Because "Monk" has this heavy humor component, its other characters
have always verged on caricature. He only needs a couple of real people
to flesh out the story, and the Teegers should fill that role nicely.
Whether Natalie and Monk ever become more than good friends, they're
perfect for the kind of old-fashioned TV show that "Monk" really is.
At a time when most TV jokes automatically head for body parts or
functions, "Monk" brings in a melancholy parakeet named Sgt. Pepper and
a museum character who is dressed as a white corpuscle and cheerfully
asks Natalie if she'd like to know more about him.
"Actually," she replies, "I'd like to know less about you."
In another scene, Natalie's obnoxious boss at the bar where she works
threatens to fire her because she wants the night off to attend a
school function.
So what, he says. "I have a kid, too."
"Yeah, Gino," she replies, "but your kid's in jail."
Mr. Monk, your move next.
Originally published on January 21, 2005
'Monk' returns with new costar, new cases
January 21, 2005
BY MIKE DUFFY
FREE PRESS TV CRITIC
Some hardcore "Monk" fans have been in a pouty funk.
'Monk'
THREE STARS
out of four stars
10 tonight, USA Network
That's because obsessive, ultra-finicky San Francisco sleuth Adrian
Monk (Tony Shalhoub) is getting a new Girl Friday. The brassy,
no-nonsense Sharona Fleming (Bitty Schram) has moved back to New Jersey
with her son to remarry her ex-husband. Where we presume they will live
happily ever after off-camera.
The cranky Sharona loyalists think Schram was forced out, though there
also have been suggestions the actress overplayed her hand by demanding
more money. As they euphemistically put it in Hollywood, the show's
producers decided "to go in a different direction."
So back in northern California, Monk meets the woman who will become
his new assistant when the witty, lighthearted mystery returns at 10
tonight on USA Network.
Monk's in a big funk himself when the second half of the fun whodunit's
third season begins.
Without the assistance of Sharona, Adrian's gone dysfunctional in his
daily life. And his emotional heebie-jeebies have also made it
impossible to solve any crimes.
Enter feisty single mom and bartender Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard,
"Boston Common"), who seeks Monk's help when her home is mysteriously
broken into twice in one week.
Any emotional similarities between Natalie and the departed Sharona are
no doubt intentional.
Like Sharona, straight-talkin' Natalie is unflappable and grounded.
Plus, the two characters share a certain forthright, sarcastic sense of
humor in dealing with Mr. Fussy.
But before Natalie becomes his new right-hand woman, Monk has to crack
her oddball case. The cockeyed elements of the mystery include a moon
rock, a tropical fish aquarium and a school science fair.
Ready, set, solve it, Monk.
Meanwhile, inconsolable Bitty Schram fans should just pop the Knack's
"My Sharona" on the CD player and sulk.
The rest of us can go right on enjoying "Monk" with the pleasant
addition of Traylor Howard as nifty Natalie.
Contact MIKE DUFFY at 313-222-6520 or duffy@freepress.com.
Change won't push `Monk' over the edge
By Sid Smith
Tribune arts critic
In an early scene in the season opener of "Monk" (9 p.m. Friday on the
USA Network), Monk tells his psychiatrist that he can't live without
his assistant, Sharona, who has left San Francisco and returned to New
Jersey.
"You're a doctor," Monk tells the shrink. "Can't you make her come
back?" "What do you want me to do?" the psychiatrist replies. "Fly to
New Jersey and drug her?"
"No," Monk, played so inimitably by inimitable Tony Shalhoub, answers.
"But thank you."
Fans of the show may be almost as upset -- though one hopes not as
neurotic -- as the loony, germaphobic, obsessive-compulsive Monk is
about the abrupt departure of Sharona, his hard-edged nurse and
caregiver played for two seasons by Bitty Schram. Instead, this season,
there's a new woman in his life, single mom Natalie (Traylor Howard,
once of "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place"). Monk meets Natalie on a
case, solves it and then hires her to be Sharona's replacement.
There are grumbles among fans about Schram's exit. She was a feisty,
fun-loving foil. But Howard promises her own deadpan, critical distance
from her loopy boss/patient, a San Francisco police consultant who
mixes the detective genius of Sherlock Holmes with the misanthropic
manias of Jack Nicholson's character in "As Good As It Gets." And the
strength of this show, its acidic, goofball humor, remains.
Early on, as Monk interviews would-be Sharona replacements, he's asked
by one dour applicant, "What would my hours be?" "9 a.m. to 1," Monk
replies. "Until 1 p.m.?" she asks. "Until one of us dies."
When Monk explains to Natalie he can't tell a lie, she responds: "Are
you a man? Then you can lie. That's what men do."
Howard's delivery is all the more funny for its speed and bluntness.
Plus, as a widow whose Navy pilot husband was killed in the line of
duty, she's set up to become more in Monk's life than nursemaid. The
downside of the series, if you consider it a downer, is that the
detective tale plays second fiddle to the humor. In this one, titled
"The Red Herring," the writers are wise enough to make it so silly
you're content to sit back and enjoy the laughs. Howard and her young
daughter are being tormented by thieves who are after a moon rock they
stole from a science museum and stashed in an aquarium kit.
Huh? To Monk, who endures tortuous claustrophobia squeezing through a
museum's giant-size exhibit of imitation fallopian tubes, it's hell. To
us, it's hilarious, a little heartbreaking and high-quality TV.
TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE: "Monk," 10 p.m., USA Network.
After a long pause, this first-class detective show starts the second
half of its season with seven new episodes. For fans, the bad news is
that Sharona - Monk's friend and assistant, zestfully played by Bitty
Schram - is gone. The good news is that "Monk" uses that to build a
terrific episode.
We see the neurotic Monk (Tony Shalhoub) in deep denial that Sharona is
really gone. His scene with his psychiatrist reminds us that series
creator Andy Breckman is a veteran comedy writer.
And we meet Natalie (Traylor Howard), fighting off a burglar. She has
no idea why the burglar was in her home. Viewers will quickly realize
that she's destined to be the new assistant. Like Sharona, she's a
single mother. Unlike her, she has a girl - a gender that leaves Monk
perpetually flustered.
Sharona had a flashy, girly kind of look. Natalie looks briskly
confident, the sort of person who could quell a burglar or stand up to
a fidgety boss.
The actual mystery - trying to figure out why Natalie's home is a
target - is so-so. However, the interplay between Monk and his
reluctant new aide is first-rate, as usual.
Television : Mr. Monk and The New Assistant - Sharona She's Not -
But That's a Good Thing!
Posted by Sheldon A. Wiebe on 2005/1/21 3:48:04
Even before the opening credits roll on 'Mr. Monk and The Red
Herring' [USA, Friday 10 p.m. ET/PT], we are introduced to Natalie
Teeger [Traylor Howard] - the single mother of a thirteen-year old
girl. And what an introduction it is: when she hears a noise
downstairs, Natalie grabs a baseball bat and heads down to protect her
home. In the ensuing fracas, she manages to kill the intruder just
before he would have killed her! The game is afoot!
After the opening credits, we move to Monk's psychiatrist's office,
where we learn that, three months ago, Monk's assistant, Sharona, had
sold her house, re-married her ex-husband and moved back to New Jersey.
As a result, Monk [Tony Shaloub] is in pretty rough shape - and badly
in need of a new assistant.
When there appears to be no good reason for the break-in, and it turns
out that there was a second man who came into Natalie's home on false
pretenses [said he was the meter reader], Captain Stottlemeyer [Ted
Levine] suggests that she talk to Monk. Clearly, he's hoping that the
unique aspects of the case will intrigue Monk enough to get him back to
work. After a trip to a museum exhibit ['The Sea of Tranquility'],
Julie's [Emmy Clarke] science fair, Monk puts everything together in
his usual grand style.
To be honest, while the mystery, as engineered by writer/creator Andy
Breckman, might be one of the better posers that have occupied our
dysfunctional detective, it is the arrival of Natalie that takes front
stage.
Through a series of unrelated instances, Monk and Natalie learn enough
about each other that when Monk hires her as his new assistant, it
doesn't feel contrived. And while Natalie 'gets' Monk' better
than anyone other than Sharona, there are still gaps - a situation
that is played up in next week's episode [Natalie wants Monk to pay
for her expenses, but he can't/won't because he is still renting
his late wife's downtown office].
That episode, 'Mr. Monk vs. The Cobra', begins with a murder
apparently committed by a martial arts movie star who has been dead for
six years. Again, the mystery [this time conceived by story editor Joe
Toplyn] is well thought out, and the episode is certainly not a
disappointment from that perspective. However, the battle of wills
between Monk and Natalie [which has, might I point out, a completely
different feel from the ones between Monk and Sharona] is the real
reason to watch - and not just because of its eerie denouement!
Bitty Schram may have left the series for any number of reasons, but
what matters is that the new 'Monk' eps do not treat her character with
anything but respect, and introduce a new character that gives us
something entirely fresh for the series - when we first met Monk, he
and Sharona had been working together for years, but with Natalie, we
will get to see the Monk/Natalie relationship evolve from the
beginning. So far, that looks like a journey worth taking.
Final Grade: A
'Monk' obsesses with new sidekick
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Rick Bird
Post staff reporter
Change is not good for the neurotic, obsessive-compulsive detective
Adrian Monk. But what about fans of the show? Can they handle it?
The second half of season three of the award-winning "Monk" premieres
tonight (10 p.m., USA cable network) with Monk's faithful sidekick and
nurse, Sharona Fleming, suddenly gone. It's explained she moved back to
New Jersey to marry her ex-husband. In real life, her absence is
because actress Bitty Schram got into a money dispute with the show's
producers so she abruptly departed. She is said to have several film
offers in the works.
Monk's new companion is Natalie Teeger, played by Traylor Howard
("Boston Common," "Two Guys and a Girl"), a widowed mother of an
11-year-old daughter. She meets Monk after enlisting the detective,
still tortured over Sharona's departure, to investigate break-ins at
her house.
Tony Shalhoub, who has won an Emmy, a Golden Globe and SAG award for
his portrayal of the loveable but phobia-filled detective, acknowledges
that loyal fans could be a little neurotic, too, with the shake-up.
"It's going to be an adjustment for people who were on board from the
pilot when a certain Monk-world was created," Shalhoub said in a recent
interview. "Now that we have two and a half seasons under our belt,
it's really healthy for the show to change it up a little bit and give
the audience something unexpected -- . I think there is enough about
the show that is similar and recognizable for the fans. Yet, there is
this new chemistry and new blood. It moves it on to the next chapter."
Indeed, fans should immediately like this new relationship. Based on
the first two episodes of the season available for review, Natalie is a
refreshing departure from Sharona. She is a self-sufficient, confident
character who moved on with her life after dealing with the loss of her
Navy pilot husband.
Shalhoub is as brilliant as ever in tonight's debut, especially in
hilarious scenes where he is interviewing for a new nurse. When one
asks what the hours would be, the needy Monk replies, "9 a.m. until --
one of us dies."
Howard, who actually read for the part years ago before Schram landed
the sidekick role, said she had never watched the series. And she
discovered on the set there is a lot of Monk in Shalhoub.
"He's got his eye on everything," Howard said with a laugh. "He is just
very particular."
"I get incredibly hung up to the point of paralysis in the details,"
Shalhoub said, jumping into the conversation. "There will be some
minutiae on the set that I think is going to throw the entire scene out
of balance. -- I have a hard time letting go of things."
Howard told a story on Shalhoub from a recent "Monk" filming in which
the detective touches a chandelier (Monk likes to touch things, not
people). She said Shalhoub and the director took time to make sure the
chandelier stopped moving before filming.
"Tony had to get all the little dangling things to stop," Howard
laughed. "That needs to be on the DVD behind the scenes.
Shalhoub, who is an executive producer of the series, did clarify his
hang-ups using his own dry wit: "I don't really have phobias. I have
things that preoccupy me. I am afraid of prolonged interviews. Like a
lot of actors, I'm afraid of obscurity."
Shalhoub said he is pleased that "the little show that could" has
become a major cable hit. And he's also pleased that it seems to have
been accepted in the obsessive-compulsive disorder community to the
point where Monk has become the poster boy for the disorder.
"At first we were wary that people might be offended or take it the
wrong way," Shalhoub said. "We tried very hard early on not to exploit
the disorder, but we still knew we wanted to infuse comedy into it. So
we had to walk that tightrope. The response has been great among the
OCD people. Even though Monk is full of issues and has so much
difficulty getting through the day, he is brilliant. He succeeds. He
always gets his man."
Actually Monk may have started a mini OCD trend on TV. A character on
"Law & Order: Criminal Intent" has the disorder and so does a character
on the new NBC show "Medium." Shalhoub deadpanned: "Movies and
television tend to do what works. The business is 50 percent thievery,
anyway."
Shalhoub, who said he went through some therapy in his life, said he is
very different from his character when dealing with life's issues.
"Unlike Monk, I believe people need to move through therapy quickly. I
think there is a tendency for people to get addicted to their own
problems and crises. I'm a believer in figuring it out quick and moving
on."
Shalhoub said the addition of Natalie lets writers explore Monk's back
story more and, with both losing their spouses, they form an instant
bond.
Indeed, Shalhoub said he'd be open down the road if writers wanted to
explore a romantic relationship between the two. But don't look for
Natalie to cure Monk any better than Sharona could.
"I hope he doesn't get rid of too many fears, because then we wouldn't
have a character or a show left," Shalhoub said.
Publication Date: 01-21-2005
By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY
Looks as if fans can stop obsessing over Sharona. (Related story: Meet
Monk's new sidekick)
Looks like someone actually went to the trouble to write down all of
Andrian Monk's phobias. That's quite a list.
USA Networks
Don't get me wrong: The departure of Monk's Bitty Schram as the
obsessive/compulsive detective's impatient assistant, Sharona, is a
real loss. But for those who feared it would be a fatal blow - and I
was one of them - the great news is that this highly enjoyable series
returns tonight in surprisingly good shape. In fact, it's a far better
Monk you'll see tonight than the excessively silly show you saw over
the summer, when it looked as if the series was in a creative tailspin.
To replace Schram, the writers have created a new
sidekick/hand-wipe-provider for Monk (played by Tony Shalhoub, who has
been the show's one unimpeachably excellent constant). Even more shaky
than usual after Sharona's departure, Monk is shaken out of his
depression by young, single mom Natalie, fetchingly played by Traylor
Howard.
About the show
Monk
USA, Friday, 10 p.m. ET/PT
* * * (out of four)
Howard's arrival seems to have forced the writers to stop just relying
on Monk's eccentricities and come up with some actual plots. No, the
two mysteries available for preview are not exactly airtight. But they
are at least actual mysteries and not just a collection of stray plot
points interrupted by Monkish comic bits.
Alas, the improvements have not yet reached Jason Gray-Stanford's Lt.
Disher, who is still being written as unacceptably dumb. But they can
work on him next.
We may have lost Sharona, but we've regained Monk- and that has to be
counted as a fair trade.
'Monk' gets germ
of new relationship
Tony Shalhoub with Traylor Howard (l.) and Emmy Clarke in new season of
'Monk.'
MONK. Tonight at 10, USA.
The third season of USA's cult hit "Monk," starting tonight, gives the
neurotic, phobic and depressed detective Adrian Monk a potential
pick-me-up.
She's blond.
Natalie Teeger, played by Traylor Howard, is many shared moments away
from being any kind of official girlfriend of Tony Shalhoub's Monk.
All she does in this episode is agree to work for him and replace his
trusted assistant Sharona, who has remarried her ex-husband and moved
to New Jersey.
But the smart, witty and widowed Natalie clearly finds something about
Monk endearing. So does her 11-year-old daughter, Julie (Emmy Clarke).
And, of course, he is endearing, once you get past all his fears about
touching and sitting down and germs and Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
Okay, we made up the Krispy Kreme part. But as faithful viewers know,
Monk is stressed by almost everything, which should make it fun to
watch Natalie as the impact of all these neuroses hits her, one phobia
at a time.
Monk does, of course, fight off the cold sweat long enough to solve a
crime, which in this case is how he meets Natalie.
After visits from two mystery intruders, the second of whom she ends up
stabbing to death with a pair of scissors, she hires Monk to figure out
what they could have been after.
By astute deductions, he narrows the target down to Julie's fish tank,
even though it holds only a few rocks and a 99-cent marble fish. The
rest of the story plays out from there, with side trips so Monk can,
for instance, see a 30,000-year-old skeleton at a science museum and
figure out how the guy was killed.
Now that's clearing up a cold-case file.
Because "Monk" has this heavy humor component, its other characters
have always verged on caricature. He only needs a couple of real people
to flesh out the story, and the Teegers should fill that role nicely.
Whether Natalie and Monk ever become more than good friends, they're
perfect for the kind of old-fashioned TV show that "Monk" really is.
At a time when most TV jokes automatically head for body parts or
functions, "Monk" brings in a melancholy parakeet named Sgt. Pepper and
a museum character who is dressed as a white corpuscle and cheerfully
asks Natalie if she'd like to know more about him.
"Actually," she replies, "I'd like to know less about you."
In another scene, Natalie's obnoxious boss at the bar where she works
threatens to fire her because she wants the night off to attend a
school function.
So what, he says. "I have a kid, too."
"Yeah, Gino," she replies, "but your kid's in jail."
Mr. Monk, your move next.
Originally published on January 21, 2005
'Monk' returns with new costar, new cases
January 21, 2005
BY MIKE DUFFY
FREE PRESS TV CRITIC
Some hardcore "Monk" fans have been in a pouty funk.
'Monk'
THREE STARS
out of four stars
10 tonight, USA Network
That's because obsessive, ultra-finicky San Francisco sleuth Adrian
Monk (Tony Shalhoub) is getting a new Girl Friday. The brassy,
no-nonsense Sharona Fleming (Bitty Schram) has moved back to New Jersey
with her son to remarry her ex-husband. Where we presume they will live
happily ever after off-camera.
The cranky Sharona loyalists think Schram was forced out, though there
also have been suggestions the actress overplayed her hand by demanding
more money. As they euphemistically put it in Hollywood, the show's
producers decided "to go in a different direction."
So back in northern California, Monk meets the woman who will become
his new assistant when the witty, lighthearted mystery returns at 10
tonight on USA Network.
Monk's in a big funk himself when the second half of the fun whodunit's
third season begins.
Without the assistance of Sharona, Adrian's gone dysfunctional in his
daily life. And his emotional heebie-jeebies have also made it
impossible to solve any crimes.
Enter feisty single mom and bartender Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard,
"Boston Common"), who seeks Monk's help when her home is mysteriously
broken into twice in one week.
Any emotional similarities between Natalie and the departed Sharona are
no doubt intentional.
Like Sharona, straight-talkin' Natalie is unflappable and grounded.
Plus, the two characters share a certain forthright, sarcastic sense of
humor in dealing with Mr. Fussy.
But before Natalie becomes his new right-hand woman, Monk has to crack
her oddball case. The cockeyed elements of the mystery include a moon
rock, a tropical fish aquarium and a school science fair.
Ready, set, solve it, Monk.
Meanwhile, inconsolable Bitty Schram fans should just pop the Knack's
"My Sharona" on the CD player and sulk.
The rest of us can go right on enjoying "Monk" with the pleasant
addition of Traylor Howard as nifty Natalie.
Contact MIKE DUFFY at 313-222-6520 or duffy@freepress.com.
Change won't push `Monk' over the edge
By Sid Smith
Tribune arts critic
In an early scene in the season opener of "Monk" (9 p.m. Friday on the
USA Network), Monk tells his psychiatrist that he can't live without
his assistant, Sharona, who has left San Francisco and returned to New
Jersey.
"You're a doctor," Monk tells the shrink. "Can't you make her come
back?" "What do you want me to do?" the psychiatrist replies. "Fly to
New Jersey and drug her?"
"No," Monk, played so inimitably by inimitable Tony Shalhoub, answers.
"But thank you."
Fans of the show may be almost as upset -- though one hopes not as
neurotic -- as the loony, germaphobic, obsessive-compulsive Monk is
about the abrupt departure of Sharona, his hard-edged nurse and
caregiver played for two seasons by Bitty Schram. Instead, this season,
there's a new woman in his life, single mom Natalie (Traylor Howard,
once of "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place"). Monk meets Natalie on a
case, solves it and then hires her to be Sharona's replacement.
There are grumbles among fans about Schram's exit. She was a feisty,
fun-loving foil. But Howard promises her own deadpan, critical distance
from her loopy boss/patient, a San Francisco police consultant who
mixes the detective genius of Sherlock Holmes with the misanthropic
manias of Jack Nicholson's character in "As Good As It Gets." And the
strength of this show, its acidic, goofball humor, remains.
Early on, as Monk interviews would-be Sharona replacements, he's asked
by one dour applicant, "What would my hours be?" "9 a.m. to 1," Monk
replies. "Until 1 p.m.?" she asks. "Until one of us dies."
When Monk explains to Natalie he can't tell a lie, she responds: "Are
you a man? Then you can lie. That's what men do."
Howard's delivery is all the more funny for its speed and bluntness.
Plus, as a widow whose Navy pilot husband was killed in the line of
duty, she's set up to become more in Monk's life than nursemaid. The
downside of the series, if you consider it a downer, is that the
detective tale plays second fiddle to the humor. In this one, titled
"The Red Herring," the writers are wise enough to make it so silly
you're content to sit back and enjoy the laughs. Howard and her young
daughter are being tormented by thieves who are after a moon rock they
stole from a science museum and stashed in an aquarium kit.
Huh? To Monk, who endures tortuous claustrophobia squeezing through a
museum's giant-size exhibit of imitation fallopian tubes, it's hell. To
us, it's hilarious, a little heartbreaking and high-quality TV.
TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE: "Monk," 10 p.m., USA Network.
After a long pause, this first-class detective show starts the second
half of its season with seven new episodes. For fans, the bad news is
that Sharona - Monk's friend and assistant, zestfully played by Bitty
Schram - is gone. The good news is that "Monk" uses that to build a
terrific episode.
We see the neurotic Monk (Tony Shalhoub) in deep denial that Sharona is
really gone. His scene with his psychiatrist reminds us that series
creator Andy Breckman is a veteran comedy writer.
And we meet Natalie (Traylor Howard), fighting off a burglar. She has
no idea why the burglar was in her home. Viewers will quickly realize
that she's destined to be the new assistant. Like Sharona, she's a
single mother. Unlike her, she has a girl - a gender that leaves Monk
perpetually flustered.
Sharona had a flashy, girly kind of look. Natalie looks briskly
confident, the sort of person who could quell a burglar or stand up to
a fidgety boss.
The actual mystery - trying to figure out why Natalie's home is a
target - is so-so. However, the interplay between Monk and his
reluctant new aide is first-rate, as usual.
Television : Mr. Monk and The New Assistant - Sharona She's Not -
But That's a Good Thing!
Posted by Sheldon A. Wiebe on 2005/1/21 3:48:04
Even before the opening credits roll on 'Mr. Monk and The Red
Herring' [USA, Friday 10 p.m. ET/PT], we are introduced to Natalie
Teeger [Traylor Howard] - the single mother of a thirteen-year old
girl. And what an introduction it is: when she hears a noise
downstairs, Natalie grabs a baseball bat and heads down to protect her
home. In the ensuing fracas, she manages to kill the intruder just
before he would have killed her! The game is afoot!
After the opening credits, we move to Monk's psychiatrist's office,
where we learn that, three months ago, Monk's assistant, Sharona, had
sold her house, re-married her ex-husband and moved back to New Jersey.
As a result, Monk [Tony Shaloub] is in pretty rough shape - and badly
in need of a new assistant.
When there appears to be no good reason for the break-in, and it turns
out that there was a second man who came into Natalie's home on false
pretenses [said he was the meter reader], Captain Stottlemeyer [Ted
Levine] suggests that she talk to Monk. Clearly, he's hoping that the
unique aspects of the case will intrigue Monk enough to get him back to
work. After a trip to a museum exhibit ['The Sea of Tranquility'],
Julie's [Emmy Clarke] science fair, Monk puts everything together in
his usual grand style.
To be honest, while the mystery, as engineered by writer/creator Andy
Breckman, might be one of the better posers that have occupied our
dysfunctional detective, it is the arrival of Natalie that takes front
stage.
Through a series of unrelated instances, Monk and Natalie learn enough
about each other that when Monk hires her as his new assistant, it
doesn't feel contrived. And while Natalie 'gets' Monk' better
than anyone other than Sharona, there are still gaps - a situation
that is played up in next week's episode [Natalie wants Monk to pay
for her expenses, but he can't/won't because he is still renting
his late wife's downtown office].
That episode, 'Mr. Monk vs. The Cobra', begins with a murder
apparently committed by a martial arts movie star who has been dead for
six years. Again, the mystery [this time conceived by story editor Joe
Toplyn] is well thought out, and the episode is certainly not a
disappointment from that perspective. However, the battle of wills
between Monk and Natalie [which has, might I point out, a completely
different feel from the ones between Monk and Sharona] is the real
reason to watch - and not just because of its eerie denouement!
Bitty Schram may have left the series for any number of reasons, but
what matters is that the new 'Monk' eps do not treat her character with
anything but respect, and introduce a new character that gives us
something entirely fresh for the series - when we first met Monk, he
and Sharona had been working together for years, but with Natalie, we
will get to see the Monk/Natalie relationship evolve from the
beginning. So far, that looks like a journey worth taking.
Final Grade: A
'Monk' obsesses with new sidekick
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Rick Bird
Post staff reporter
Change is not good for the neurotic, obsessive-compulsive detective
Adrian Monk. But what about fans of the show? Can they handle it?
The second half of season three of the award-winning "Monk" premieres
tonight (10 p.m., USA cable network) with Monk's faithful sidekick and
nurse, Sharona Fleming, suddenly gone. It's explained she moved back to
New Jersey to marry her ex-husband. In real life, her absence is
because actress Bitty Schram got into a money dispute with the show's
producers so she abruptly departed. She is said to have several film
offers in the works.
Monk's new companion is Natalie Teeger, played by Traylor Howard
("Boston Common," "Two Guys and a Girl"), a widowed mother of an
11-year-old daughter. She meets Monk after enlisting the detective,
still tortured over Sharona's departure, to investigate break-ins at
her house.
Tony Shalhoub, who has won an Emmy, a Golden Globe and SAG award for
his portrayal of the loveable but phobia-filled detective, acknowledges
that loyal fans could be a little neurotic, too, with the shake-up.
"It's going to be an adjustment for people who were on board from the
pilot when a certain Monk-world was created," Shalhoub said in a recent
interview. "Now that we have two and a half seasons under our belt,
it's really healthy for the show to change it up a little bit and give
the audience something unexpected -- . I think there is enough about
the show that is similar and recognizable for the fans. Yet, there is
this new chemistry and new blood. It moves it on to the next chapter."
Indeed, fans should immediately like this new relationship. Based on
the first two episodes of the season available for review, Natalie is a
refreshing departure from Sharona. She is a self-sufficient, confident
character who moved on with her life after dealing with the loss of her
Navy pilot husband.
Shalhoub is as brilliant as ever in tonight's debut, especially in
hilarious scenes where he is interviewing for a new nurse. When one
asks what the hours would be, the needy Monk replies, "9 a.m. until --
one of us dies."
Howard, who actually read for the part years ago before Schram landed
the sidekick role, said she had never watched the series. And she
discovered on the set there is a lot of Monk in Shalhoub.
"He's got his eye on everything," Howard said with a laugh. "He is just
very particular."
"I get incredibly hung up to the point of paralysis in the details,"
Shalhoub said, jumping into the conversation. "There will be some
minutiae on the set that I think is going to throw the entire scene out
of balance. -- I have a hard time letting go of things."
Howard told a story on Shalhoub from a recent "Monk" filming in which
the detective touches a chandelier (Monk likes to touch things, not
people). She said Shalhoub and the director took time to make sure the
chandelier stopped moving before filming.
"Tony had to get all the little dangling things to stop," Howard
laughed. "That needs to be on the DVD behind the scenes.
Shalhoub, who is an executive producer of the series, did clarify his
hang-ups using his own dry wit: "I don't really have phobias. I have
things that preoccupy me. I am afraid of prolonged interviews. Like a
lot of actors, I'm afraid of obscurity."
Shalhoub said he is pleased that "the little show that could" has
become a major cable hit. And he's also pleased that it seems to have
been accepted in the obsessive-compulsive disorder community to the
point where Monk has become the poster boy for the disorder.
"At first we were wary that people might be offended or take it the
wrong way," Shalhoub said. "We tried very hard early on not to exploit
the disorder, but we still knew we wanted to infuse comedy into it. So
we had to walk that tightrope. The response has been great among the
OCD people. Even though Monk is full of issues and has so much
difficulty getting through the day, he is brilliant. He succeeds. He
always gets his man."
Actually Monk may have started a mini OCD trend on TV. A character on
"Law & Order: Criminal Intent" has the disorder and so does a character
on the new NBC show "Medium." Shalhoub deadpanned: "Movies and
television tend to do what works. The business is 50 percent thievery,
anyway."
Shalhoub, who said he went through some therapy in his life, said he is
very different from his character when dealing with life's issues.
"Unlike Monk, I believe people need to move through therapy quickly. I
think there is a tendency for people to get addicted to their own
problems and crises. I'm a believer in figuring it out quick and moving
on."
Shalhoub said the addition of Natalie lets writers explore Monk's back
story more and, with both losing their spouses, they form an instant
bond.
Indeed, Shalhoub said he'd be open down the road if writers wanted to
explore a romantic relationship between the two. But don't look for
Natalie to cure Monk any better than Sharona could.
"I hope he doesn't get rid of too many fears, because then we wouldn't
have a character or a show left," Shalhoub said.
Publication Date: 01-21-2005