Tony Shalhoub's Adrian Monk is a classic character, a mix of Holmes' smarts and Columbo's tenacity. The most interesting thing to watch is Monk's inability to find joy in anything except in solving the puzzles that plague his already troubled mind. You have to love the way Adrian needs to figure out what isn't right in any situation, either someone is lying or there is some minute detail that everyone else misses. On the other hand, he also needs to touch things, lamps, parking meters, or car antennas, and arrange everything do that it looks right to him. The first two and a half seasons, with Bitty Schram, are the best. Schram's Sharona just gets, and fits, Adrian better than Howard's Natalie. Rounding out the regulars are Ted Levine as the gruff voiced captain. He is more famous for playing the villain, The Silence of the Lambs and Joy Ride, but he, along with Jason Gray-Stanford's lovable doofus Randy Disher, supply comic relief. My only qualm is that the show too frequently revels in Monk's pain and that there isn't enough forward movement in his life. Finding Trudy's killer won't cure Monk, so it's almost sadistic dragging it out this long. I can't help it, I just have to quibble. It's a curse.
Review of Monk
