Monk Bits - Pamela Leigh Powers

"Monk" started on USA on Friday, July 12th - and I liked it. It makes you kind of nervous with all his neuroses, and you feel sorry for him trying to survive in a world where few people acknowledge his brilliance. It's sort of a "Colombo" in a way. He stumbles and bumbles around, but then comes up with the right answers to solve the cop's ineptitude. It starts regularly a week later at 10:00pm. It's based in San Francisco, and they have nice shots of the city.

My only concern is that it will run the way so many cop shows do, with the uniqueness and quirkiness slowly being weeded out for straight cops and robbers fare. "Nash Bridges" was great at the beginning, with Nash dealing with 3 ex wives, his daughter, his father and his sister. As time went along, all that went by the wayside. We've seen every cop scenario ever written a hundred times in a hundred different ways. At this point the focus should be on the peace officers themselves. Oh sure, they moved the focus to Cheech Marin and his swedish wife on screen, but that wasn't the same. So one wonders if we should start to "care" about "Monk" and his quirkiness, if it gets eradicated along the way.

Tony Shalhoub

Tony Shalhoub was born in Green Bay Wisconsin on October 9 1953. He has a Libra sun conjunct Neptune and Saturn, and a Scorpio Moon conjunct Mercury. The Sun and Neptune combination provides the theatrical leaning, yet Saturn will come in to make practical choices. The Moon and Saturn together, would indicate a parent, probably mother, who was a no nonsense kind of person. He has been married to Brooke Adams since 1992. They have two girls. Brooke is an actress in her own right, and is the sister of Lynne Adams who starred in "The Guiding Light" many moons ago. It's said that his directorial debut came in Lynne's film, "Made Up". One of his stand out jobs was on "Wings". He was born in the Year of the Snake, the month of the Horse. The Snake wants to be accepted, and will sometimes turn himself inside out in order to please. The Horse wants to be mated; so the two of them in tandem in his chart should work together for marital happiness.

Bitty Schram

"Sharona" is played by Bitty Schram. There is no birthdate listed on the IMDB. She's been in "The Pallbearer", "Marvin's Room" and "A League of their Own", among other films.

Ted Levine

Was born on May 29, 1958 in Cleveland Ohio, so says IMDB. I would think he'd be a little older. He was born with his Sun in Gemini, and his moon in Libra - quite an airy combination! One wonders what his rising is the make him more of the authoritarian figure. He was born in the Year of the Dog and the month of the Tiger if true. The Dog, remember, can be reticent, or can be a womanizer unless he combines love and sex together to become one. They usually like uncommitted relationships to those of the committed variety as they have committment issues and can get 'cold feet' rather easily.