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''Monk'' is an Emmy Award winning Television Show about the private Detective Adrian Monk ( Tony Shalhoub ), afflicted by Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and multiple Phobias . ''Monk'' began airing on July 12 , 2002 on the USA Network . The sixth season of Monk debuted on July 13 , 2007 at 9/8c. The show has yet to be renewed for a 7th season. ''Monk'' is produced by the USA Network and was created by Andy Breckman . PLOT Adrian Monk grew up with Obsessive-compulsive Disorder , including a variety of Quirk s and Tic s. He has a full brother, Ambrose , and a half-brother, Jack, Jr. (named after Adrian's father and referred to in " Mr. Monk Meets His Dad "). In the 2004 episode " Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan ", his age was given as 45. Monk was a brilliant homicide detective working for the San Francisco Police Department until his wife Trudy died in a car bomb attack in 1997 while picking up cough medicine for Ambrose. The news of Trudy's death caused Monk to suffer a Nervous Breakdown . He resigned from the force, and became a shut-in, refusing to leave his house for three years. With the help of practical nurse Sharona Fleming ( Bitty Schram ), he was finally able to leave the house. He began to perform consulting work for the police on particularly difficult cases. Captain Leland Stottlemeyer ( Ted Levine ) and Lieutenant Randall "Randy" Disher ( Jason Gray-Stanford ) call on Monk when they can't solve an investigation. Stottlemeyer is often infuriated by Monk's disorder, but respects his friend and former partner's amazing observational abilities, as does Disher. Monk's obsessive attention to detail allows him to spot tiny discrepancies, find patterns, and make connections that others fail to make. Monk continues to search for information about his wife's death, the one case he has been unable to solve. In the third season, Sharona decides to re-marry her ex-husband and moves to New Jersey . Natalie Teeger ( Traylor Howard ), a single mother with an eleven-year-old daughter, is soon hired as Monk's new assistant. Monk is almost never described as having OCD . Sometimes the characters go out of their way not to mention it, even to avoid an inconvenient misunderstanding. For example, in Mr. Monk And The Marathon Man , Monk shakes the hand of two white women, then a black man, then wipes his hands. Monk and Sharona allow this to be taken as evidence of racism rather than explain his disorder. Natalie has referred to him as "particular" and "persnickety" rather than explaining the true extent of his problems. CHARACTERS Main Characters Former
Recurring
Guest characters
GUEST STARS The show has featured many guest stars over its five seasons, including Brooke Adams , Jason Alexander , Sean Astin , Diedrich Bader , Danny Bonaduce , James Brolin , Brooke Burke , Dan Butler , Rosalind Chao , Enrico Colantoni , Alice Cooper , Brett Cullen , Tim Curry , Tim Daly , Charles Durning , Carmen Electra , Fred Ewanuick , Jon Favreau , Willie Garson , Joy Giovanni , Bob Gunton , Dan Hedaya , Korn , Brooke Langton , Chi McBride , Andrew McCarthy , Malcolm McDowell , Laurie Metcalf , Larry Miller , Glenn Morshower , Alfred Molina , Charles Napier , Kevin Nealon , Willie Nelson , Judge Reinhold , Andy Richter , Amy Sedaris , Sarah Silverman , Nicole Sullivan , Holland Taylor , Danny Trejo , Stanley Tucci , Steven Weber , Mykelti Williamson , Rainn Wilson , Janet Wright and, most recently, Snoop Dogg . LOCATION Although set in San Francisco and its area, ''Monk'' is for the most part shot elsewhere except for occasional exteriors featuring city landmarks. The pilot episode was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia , and the subsequent Season 1 episodes were shot in the Toronto, Ontario , area. Most of the episodes in Seasons 2-5 were filmed in the Los Angeles, California , area, including on-stage at Ren-Mar Studios (these include Adrian’s apartment, Sharona's house, the homicide office, Dr. Kroger’s office, and Natalie’s house). EPISODES See Also: List of Monk episodes USA Network planned an unusual re-broadcast of the episode "Mr. Monk and the Leper," first broadcast on December 22, 2006, in black and white and then rebroadcast immediately afterward in full color. Tony Shalhoub introduced the episode as having "all the elements of a timeless Film Noir movie" and thought it would be interesting to present it in that way. Those watching were encouraged to go to the official Monk website and vote for the one they liked better. Both versions are available on the Season Five DVD. The episode Mr. Monk and the Rapper, which aired July 20 , 2007 , featured a special version of the theme song performed by Snoop Dogg, who also guest starred in the episode. Snoop Dogg's version was also used in commercials promoting the sixth season. PRODUCTION According to an interview with executive producer David Hoberman ,"Mr Monk and His Origins," a special feature packaged with the Season One DVDs, ABC first conceived the series as a police show with an Inspector Clouseau -like character suffering from Obsessive-compulsive Disorder . According to Hoberman, ABC wanted Michael Richards for the show, but Richards turned it down (Hoberman doesn't mention whether these events took place before or after the failure of '' The Michael Richards Show '', which also featured Richards as a detective). Hoberman brought in Andy Breckman as creator, and Breckman, inspired by Sherlock Holmes , introduced a Doctor Watson -like character as Monk's nurse and an Inspector Lestrade -like character which eventually became Captain Stottlemeyer . Season 5 premiered Friday, July 7 , 2006 , at 9 p.m. Eastern time. This marked the first official time change for the program, which aired at 10 p.m. during its first four seasons. The change is due to its popularity and to work as a lead-in to the new USA Network series '' Psych '', another offbeat detective program. Monk has followed a consistent format of airing half of its 16 episodes in the summer and the second half in the winter. Theme music debate This debate was acknowledged in the episode '' Mr. Monk And The TV Star '', which features an actor who plays a detective in a TV show, and several characters mention an in-story controversy over the change of that show's theme music, including obsessed fan Marci Maven, played by Sarah Silverman . In the epilogue of the story, she implores Monk to promise her that he will never change the theme music if he ever gets his own show. When Monk agrees to the promise (only so he can go back to bed), the original music is heard as the scene fades to credits. The original theme can be downloaded from the official ''Monk'' site {Link without Title} . The lyrics and a link to listen to the current theme song are also published there. For the season 6 episode, "Mr. Monk and the Rapper", guest star Snoop Dogg performed a hiphop version of "It's a Jungle Out There" as well as accompanied Monk with "here's what happened" in rap form. Sharona vs. Natalie She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of the character. Schram's replacement, Traylor Howard (as Natalie Teeger ), brings a different dimension to the role of Monk's assistant and naturally opens the debate among audiences. As of the episode aired February 23 , 2007 , Natalie has appeared in more episodes (38) than Sharona (37). The 2007 novel "Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants" had Sharona returning to get her job back after her husband was arrested for murder, thus clashing with Natalie. When both are framed for murder, they share a talk in their jail cell and bond over their feelings about working with Monk. Eventually, Monk clears both of them, and Sharona goes back to New Jersey with her husband, knowing Monk was in good hands with Natalie. This seemed to serve as closure for the character and her relationship with Monk that was not given in the series. IN OTHER MEDIA Novels Lee Goldberg , a prolific television screenwriter and author, has written several novels based on the show. The novels are written through the eyes of Natalie, Mr. Monk's assistant.
DVD RELEASES AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS Years won in bold
INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTERS TRIVIA
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