Monk.

Okay, I lied and I'm sorry.  Next time I'll really write about Netflix Original Series but I just finished watching Monk on Monday and I wanted to write about it while it was still fresh in my mind.
 

So, Monk.  This show is crazy amazing.  I had watched some episodes back-in-the-day when they were new but I really wanted to watch the series from beginning to end.  Boy am I glad with that decision!  This show offers something that a lot of crime dramas do not, which is plentiful humor and good old fashioned detectives.

Adrian Monk is a peculiar man who is a germaphobic (is that a real word?), has severe obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and an eye for clues that no one else sees.  He walks into a room, hands up to examine the crime scene, and knows if it was murder or not.  Some episodes he could have everyone against him but he'd always say "he's the guy" or "here's what happened."  Monk is always right.  Sure, there was an episode for each of the supporting characters to solve a crime but it was Monk the majority of the time.

The series started in July of 2002 and ran through December 2009.  It ran for eight wonderful seasons, breaking the record from The Closer for most watched scripted drama episode in cable television history.  The finale episode, "Mr. Monk and the End - Part II" racked in an impressive 9.4 million viewers.

Tony Shalhoub plays Adrian Monk.  Shalhoub is incredibly talented in this role, so much that whenever I see him in anything else I start thinking "It's a jungle out there, disorder and confusion everywhere...." In the series, Monk goes undercover a number of times and Shalhoub's acting ability just shines.  Along with Shalhoub are a few more talented actors who could steal many a scene with their timely acting and of course the great writing and directing.

Ted Levine plays Captain Leland Stottlemeyer and Jason Gray-Stanford plays Lt. Randall "Randy" Disher, a hilarious pair of cops working for the San Francisco Police Department.  Stottlemeyer is a good friend to Monk, a great cop, and a role-model for goofy Randy.

Then there's Sharona, played by Bitty Schram, and Natalie Teeger played by the lovely Traylor Howard.  First Sharona then Natalie were Monk's "assistants."  After Monk's wife died he sort of had a breakdown.  His nurse, Sharona, turned into his assistant and of course his friend.  These ladies hilariously put up with all of Monk's ridiculous antics to help him live his life.

The show ran for eight seasons but almost every main character stayed for the entire run.  Sharona left but she was replaced with someone great and of course she did come back for an episode in the final season to tie up loose ends.  Monk's original shrink, Dr. Kroger played by Stanley Kamel, actually died in real life in 2008 and needed to be replaced.  I think Hector Elizondo was an excellent choice to play Dr. Bell.

Only, Shalhoub, Levine, and Gray-Stanford were in all 125 episodes of the series.  An interesting thing about Monk are the titles to each episode.  All but one episode have titles in the form of "Mr. Monk and (a person or thing)."  The only exception to this rule is the season eight episode "Happy Birthday Mr. Monk."

Another interesting thing is the plot format for the series.  While browsing Wikipedia I found a list of four basic plot lines that Monk follows:

• The killer is known, and how the crime was committed is known. The episode is spent trying to find evidence to arrest that person.
• Monk knows who the killer is, and knows what the motive is, but the killer has a seemingly air-tight alibi. The episode is spent trying to break that alibi and find out how the killer did it.
• In a number of episodes, the plot involves trying to find out the killer, how the murder was done, and why.
• In some episodes, the killer's M.O. is known, but not who did it or why.

The show is predictable.  The episodes all follow one of the four basic plot lines, however the show is still fantastic.  How did they do it?  By the end, my fiance and I were predicting everything that was going to happen but we had so much fun doing it!  How can such a predictable show still be so enthralling?  I'm not sure, but a huge thumbs up goes to creator Andy Breckman and everyone else involved in making this show happen.  It is genius.

It is going to take me while to stop singing "It's a Jungle Out There" by Randy Newman everyday.

Check out the video below where Tony Shalhoub talks about playing Adrian Monk.  He truly is the only one I could ever picture playing that role.