Published Jul 12, 2002

I keep wanting to shoot down the cop genre -- and I keep getting stalled. At the end of last season, "The Job" ended its too-short run with a series of hilarious, haunting episodes in which Denis Leary's detective discovers that nailing bad guys is a cakewalk compared to controlling his addictions.

Then in March, FX gave us "The Shield," a consistently challenging drama about a police department so corrupt, it thinks Miranda rights refers to the freedom to wear a colorful dress and put fruit on one's head. This summer, HBO contributed "The Wire," a show that somehow managed to turn police bureaucracy into heart-pounding adventure.

And now there's "Monk," a new USA Network series that's as fresh and funny as anything you'll see this summer.

Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) is a brilliant detective who can break down a murder scene by taking in the teensiest detail -- picking up the smell of menthol cigarettes on the living-room curtains, observing what time zone a suspect's watch is set to, noticing a sloppy knot on a necktie. He's about 50 IQ points ahead of Columbo.

But Monk has more to worry about than a crumpled raincoat and dandruff. He's an obsessive-compulsive -- and we're not talking about the kind who likes to keep the kitchen floor clean.

He's the kind who has an emotional breakdown when surrounded by coughing kindergarteners. He's the kind who has to touch and count every parking meter, even when a killer is trying to run him down with a car. He's the kind whose fear of heights keeps him frozen on a fire escape while a cackling criminal steps over him. He's even afraid of milk.

"Someone tried to kill my husband, and you bring in Rain Man?" says one exasperated character.

This multi-layered, multi-afflicted hero has the potential of being one of TV's greatest treasures, thanks in large part to Shalhoub, a talented actor who is finally getting compensation for the time he served on the series "Wings" and "Stark Raving Mad."
Shalhoub, who got rave reviews last year for his work as a slickster lawyer without any fears in the Coen brothers' movie "The Man Who Wasn't There," is so convincing that you start to itch and sweat right along with him. He's contagious.

Credit also goes to Ted Levine, in the usually hapless role of a frustrated supervisor, and Bitty Schram, as a gum-snapping nurse who serves as a sort of street-smart Dr. Watson.

But the primary reason that this show is so likable -- and the cop genre refuses to die -- is inventive writing.

I long ago gave up on cop shows in which the detective finds a discarded matchbook with the killer's number on the flap. "Monk" is smarter than that. His observations make him seem psychic, but the show's writer and executive producer, Andy Breckman, breaks down each of Monk's uncanny observations with logic. For example, Monk deduces that a man in a wheelchair is faking it, because the tips of his shoes are scuffed up.

You don't expect that kind of thoughtful detail from TV -- especially on USA, a cable network that gives "Nash Bridges" reruns a prime-time spot. It's unexpected developments like these that make it hard for me to slam cop shows -- and I couldn't be happier.