06/20/03

Take a gander over at the prime-time programming grid to my right (that's your left as you read this), and you'll see the 9 p.m. episode of Monk has an N designation.

That means a new episode, and for the last little while we've been going with the N for new instead of marking episodes with an R for rerun. The firm that provides the television program listings to the newspaper tells us this is more useful and accurate than the old system, which didn't always provide the R when it should have.

There are a few more modifications to our listings in the works, including the additions of Pax and WE (that's Women's Entertainment) to the grids since those channels are now available to more viewers (and readers) in our area via satellite and some cable services.

Stay tuned, as they say.

Meanwhile, speaking of Monk, the return of this USA original series (which last year also aired on ABC) is the TV event of the night. To be frank, there's not another program on the summer horizon that has been more eagerly anticipated by me.

If you've yet to sample Monk, now is your chance to get with the program.

Golden Globe winner Tony Shalhoub stars as TV's defective detective in this uncommonly fun series. His character, Adrian Monk, suffers from a psychological disorder that has cost him his position as a detective on the San Francisco police force.

Following the murder of his wife, he has developed an acute fear of germs, heights, crowds and virtually everything else, which provides a challenge to solving crimes. But his abilities to spot clues and deduce the motivations of criminals keep him in demand, as the police keep turning to him for assistance.

He is aided by his trusted nurse, Sharona (Bitty Schram).

The series returns for a second season with a new theme song, Randy Newman's It's a Jungle Out There. The season premiere puts Monk to work solving a murder case at a prep school.