Star of  Monk, a new series premiering Friday, July 12 at 9:00 p.m. (ET) on USA
Interviewed by: Amy Eslinger
(ONSAT)
Date of Interview: June 6, 2002

What made you want to return to series television after being involved with films for the past several years?

The truth is I've been kind of moving back and forth from movies to television for a long time. When I was doing Wings, for example, I was—because in half-hour series you only work seven to seven-and-a-half months, I always had a lot of time, a long hiatus period to do films and plays—I was always doing theater and film during that time. I did Big Night during that time and a number of other movies, and returned to New York to do Broadway and off-Broadway. I've been doing films for a while. After Wings, I did another half-hour show called Stark Raving Mad, which, unfortunately, only lasted a year. I did some more films after that. I guess the short answer is that I look more for the character or the material rather than what medium it is. Sometimes, as is the case with Monk, a really interesting character and some great material comes along. I decided that's what I wanted to do. It has less to do for me with whether it's film or television. The reality is that there are good and bad things in both mediums.

You're known for your comedic skills on sitcoms like Wings and Stark Raving Mad. This series uses comedy, too, but is considered more of a drama. Do you need to help the TV audience make the transition of seeing you as a more dramatic actor?

Maybe for TV audiences, but I've done a lot of dramatic roles in film. And now because there's so much film that we see on TV, whether it's movies that come to television or videos and DVDs, I think people are getting used to seeing me more on the small screen but in dramatic roles. The nice thing about Monk is that it's sort of a hybrid. It really does alternate between the dramatic and the comedic, I think, kind of seamlessly, where one does not undercut the other. I think that's the beauty of this.

A one-hour weekly series has to be a lot of work. What's your life been like lately?

It's been very intense. It's been like a full-out sprint all the time. The other thing that drew me or attracted me to doing an hour-long on USA, a cable network, is that unlike networks, they only do 13 episodes a year. Most networks do 22 or 24 or sometimes even 26. Because this is cable, our season will be 13 shows long, like The Sopranos, or like Six Feet Under or Sex in the City and those kinds of things. So the advantage of that to me is that instead of taking 10 months to shoot a season, I can do my season in five months. And then again, I have a big block of time where I do films, if I choose, or have some down time.

That was actually one of my questions for you. Doing this on USA is obviously advantageous for you. Do you think it is also an advantage for viewers to see more original programming on the cable networks?

I do. I think that's really true, because networks, I believe, have fallen into a kind of formula. Frankly, I think they need to shake it up a little bit. What's been happening in the last few years, I've noticed, is a big problem—I'm sure it's a bottom-line situation—they don't allow shows to grow and build. They throw something out there and if it doesn't catch fire almost immediately, they drop it. It never really gives the actors, the writers or even the audience, frankly, a chance to kind of grow together. I think it's a mistake, because if you think back to the old economics—I don't know if this is the old economics of TV, but not that long ago—when a show like Seinfeld, for example, started. It really wasn't this out-of-the-box giant hit. People forget that the first 2 years they were sneaking by. The network was picking them up, not for full seasons, but for only 6 or 11 shows at a time. Of course, it was a critical success and had a small devoted following, and then they moved it around in the scheduling. It went from Wednesday to Thursday night. It wasn't until they moved it to Thursday night, that it started to catch fire and it just became a giant, giant hit, of course. It was nurtured. There was real care taking there. I think that's not often the case these days.

In your series, Adrian Monk suffers from anxiety disorders. What did you do to prepare for the role of someone in his position?

I woke up! No, I studied and read a lot about obsessive-compulsive behavior. I was able to get a hold of some tapes of people. I actually had a few sessions with a doctor in Beverly Hills—a psychologist who deals exclusively with obsessive compulsive disorder. He was really, really helpful.

It must have been interesting for you to learn about that problem, too.

What's eye-opening is that when you sort of unravel this and you look under the rock, it becomes apparent that a lot of us really aren't far away from this. It's really a question of degrees, I think. I was starting to recognize it. If I was a little more like this or a little more like that, I certainly would fall into that category, as many of us would. Don't we all have our little idiosyncracies, things that we fixate on, things that unneccesarily and irrationally cause us distress?

With his obsessive-compulsive disorder, especially the first scene with the ladder (Monk can't stop a suspect because he's afraid of heights), do you think viewers will get frustrated with his inability to act.

I hope not. What we're finding in the writing is that his shortcomings and his disorder, in some ways, he uses to his advantage and they become sort of an asset to him. Whether it's his attention to detail or his different way of viewing the world, it actually helps him in his work.

His problems began with his wife's death, right?

Yes, but they were probably always there. In my mind, they were always there; they were just really magnified and sort of brought to bear by her loss.

Will we see a resolution to her murder?

At least for the first season, it will be a running thing. I think in maybe not every show but every other show or every third show, another piece of that puzzle will come in and he'll always be obsessed with it. As we show in the pilot, obsessed with it, but blocked, too, because he's too emotionally involved with it.

Do you actually play the clarinet? Your character plays by his wife's graveside in the pilot.

I didn't before, but I did for the pilot. They found this simple piece and they brought this guy in who taught me and I'd never played a wind instrument before, but it was really fun to do it.

Monk and Sharona look to be like a modern Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Watson. Do you think this is true?

Yes, I think there's a lot of that in there.

They play off one another really well.

Thanks. I hope so. She's a delight to work with.

I know that you have Men in Black 2 in theaters this summer and a film with Meg Ryan coming out in 2003. Any other projects?

I have a movie that I directed that stars—well, I'm in it too—my wife, Brooke Adams, and it's written by my wife's sister, Lynne Adams [who also stars]. It's an independent that we did. We are in the process of taking it around to more film festivals. It's called Made-Up. It won the Jury Prize at the Santa Barbara Film Festival in February, and an audience award at the South By Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas. Just last night, it opened at the Atlanta Film Festival, and this weekend I'm taking it to Lake Placid Film Festival. We're doing the circuit. We're looking for distribution, as they say. So I'm sort of spreading my wings into directing. [Gary Sinise also appears in the film.]

Is there anything you wanted to add about Monk?

I hope that people find it really interesting and entertaining and challenging, and not too irritating! Don't find my character too irritating! I think you want to see this guy succeed. I think you want to see him get better.