Monk: A press kit that works
By Michael Storey
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

I get a ton of press kits every week. Each is vying for a moment in my busy, busy schedule--fighting for precious time in my Sisyphean attempt to watch absolutely everything that's going to be on the tube.  The purpose of a press kit is to make its contents stand out for the 3.6 seconds it takes for the brain to place it on the "must-check" pile or relegate it to the "back-burner" mound.  There are press kits in my back-burner stack dating to the first Bush administration.

I've got to hand it to the creative folks of USA Network's press and publicity department. They had me at the eyeball.  The press kit for USA's new summer series, Monk, arrived with a giant eyeball staring out through a magnifying glass. The cover had the enticing teaser, "Crime solving is a dirty business. That's the
problem."

I was ... intrigued.

When I opened the kit, I found three hermetetically sealed Ziploc bags. One was labeled "evidence," the next "phobots," and the third, "anti-bacterial wipes."
The headline read, "Introducing the first obsessive/compulsive detective."

I was hooked.

USA's new detective drama actually debuted a couple of weeks ago with a two-hour premiere. The show has since settled into its regular hour, 8 p.m. Friday. Mark the calendar--this is fun stuff.  Think of Monk as a cross between Sherlock Holmes and Felix Unger.  Playing the obsessive Adrian Monk is Tony Shalhoub, who most viewers will fondly recall as the beloved taxi driver on Wings, Antonio Scarpacci.  Monk is a brilliant, legendary police detective who suffered a psychological disorder following the unsolved car bombing murder of his beloved wife.

The affliction has resulted in Monk having an abnormal fear of germs (hence the wipes in the press kit), heights, crowds and darned near everything else.  That means Monk has acrophobia, enochlophobia and misophobia. The problems cost Monk his badge. But, as the pilot demonstrated, the city of San Francisco needs him and, oneirophobia or no, the cops can't do without him.

Seeing that Monk gets where he needs to be is his nurse and "gal Friday," Sharona Fleming, played with street-smarts practicality by Bitty Schram. Schram, who made her film debut in "A League of Their Own," is a perfectly grounded Dr. Watson to Monk's often ditzy Sherlock.

Shalhoub makes Monk a sympathetic character, giving him depth and complexity. His phobias are not contrived or foppish.  Check the series out and if you like it, thank those rascals at USA Network publicity. Their press kit worked.