Tim Goodman Thursday, June 19, 2003

There is something to be learned about the power of character and its
importance in television as you watch "Monk," the least likely
critically adored cult hit around.

In a world of powerful HBO dramas and smart, taut mysteries both on
the commercial networks and PBS, it was something of a stunner to
find a middling- level cookie-cutter throwback make a name for itself
on the USA cable channel. Not only did it survive in the dense niche
programming of cable, it even thrived so well that ABC, reeling from
its own lack of hits, did what was then considered an admission of
failure, not to mention a startling melding of the classes -- the
highbrow Big Four network bought the rights from USA to re-
air "Monk," and on ABC it found an entirely new audience.

Thus "Monk" became a quite unlikely little TV show. Nowhere was that
more apparent than the critical reception it received, in particular
the accolades for star (and executive producer) Tony Shalhoub. While
it's not news that an otherwise mediocre show could win over the
country -- happens all the time if you check the Nielsens against the
reviews -- it was eye-opening to find that many critics felt
compelled by Shalhoub's wonderful turn as the obsessive- compulsive
detective Adrian Monk to give a free pass to the (mostly) transparent
plots, which had an air of "Murder, She Wrote" about them (not a good
thing).

Shalhoub quickly won over fans, earning a Golden Globe for his first-
season portrayal. Now he and the little show that could are back for
a second season starting Friday on USA.

For those who missed the first season, Shalhoub plays a former San
Francisco detective who was brilliant at solving crimes. He was a
celebrity, a New Age Sherlock Holmes who was a master of deduction in
circumstances where all other cops around him saw nothing. Then his
beloved wife was murdered, and his inability to solve that crime led
to his developing obsessive-compulsive traits that eventually left
him unable to perform and got him removed from the force.

An obsessive-compulsive detective is a nice little gimmick, but the
entire success of the character rests with Shalhoub's mannered
performance. Monk is afraid of virtually everything. He's got a germ
phobia. He counts things. He levels out uneven coffeepots as they sit
unused. He adjusts pillows and drapes, seeking order in his tangled mind.

A GENIUS, BUT . . .
Last season, he was being chased and had to count parking meters
along the way. In this season's opening episode, his nurse and trusty
sidekick, Sharona (Bitty Schram, as sexy and sassy as ever), is
playing chess with Monk -- a classic mismatch. He's a genius, she's a
gum-chewing, street-smart divorced mother who knows more about
getting in someone's face than getting someone's queen. One move away
from defeat, she picks up her queen and licks it.

This is the fine line that "Monk" walks. Obsessive-compulsive humor
fuels the entire show, and Shalhoub's sympathetic tics and quirks
give the viewer room to laugh without feeling guilty. Also, at its
most basic, it's just plain humorous to watch Monk step awkwardly
onto slate tiles -- without touching the cracks -- as he's walking
and talking with a witness.

What leavens all of this is Monk's real and painful loss of his wife.
Bordering on saccharine but never crossing the line too gratuitously,
this relationship is a key to his appeal. With this history and his
sympathetic but funny "problem," he becomes one of television's most
likable characters and floats a show that is, to be frank, riddled
with improbability and simplicity.

But then again, it's far less laughable than "24," and look at the
misplaced critical acclaim for that show.

The San Francisco exterior shots on "Monk" are nice but not generous.
It does seem an apt city in which to place such a character. Less
convincing and more pedestrian is Monk's relationship with his former
boss, Capt. Leland Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine), and the suck-up young
sidekick Lt. Randall Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford). This bumbling team
refracting and verifying Monk's greatness is strictly formulaic, but
also emblematic of the X-factor in this series' popularity: "Monk" is
comfortable to viewers. Sometimes that pat sameness -- plots you can
figure out relatively easily, characters who are familiar in their
central-casting mannerisms -- gives rise to a certain lovability.
Without Shalhoub, of course, the whole souffle implodes.

So here we have one of those unique TV characters -- Columbo, Jessica
Fletcher, etc. -- that the American public gloms onto. If
anything, "Monk" speaks to the throwback nature of crime shows that
the whole family can watch and find entertaining.

SIMPLE PLEASURES
Fans are rabid for this series in a way completely unlike, say, "The
Wire" or "The Shield." Grit and realism are elements that require
effort to appreciate. Sometimes, when measuring a hit, there's
nothing quite so effective as a show that doesn't tax you or
challenge you as you sit back on the couch seeking simple pleasures.

Shalhoub and Schram's chemistry goes a long way in covering up the
conventional plots and cases that close with a too-satisfying click.
Both are outstanding, a tribute to their acting as well as the
characters created for them. In "Monk," the longshot has come home a
winner. Here's a show that pleases both audience and critic and, in
the process, has won over a cable channel and a network.

Randy Newman has recorded a new theme song for the series, "It's a
Jungle Out There," and fans (new and old) who miss the original
episodes on Friday will find them repeated throughout the week on
USA. No word yet if ABC will repeat "Monk" this season -- but the
network's sampling of the series gave it wider exposure, something it
deserves.