Tony Shalhoub returns as skittish sleuth Adrian Monk-with humor, brilliance and tics intact

BY DAVID HOCHMAN

There's not a Handi Wipe in America big enough to clean up this mess.

Television's nuttiest private eye-the obsessive, pillow-arranging, milk-averse germophobe Adrian Monk-has been summond to a circus (egad!) to unravel yet another mysterious murder.  And now on the Los Angeles set of Monk, the popular USA Network detective series that began its second season last week, the sleuth's prime suspect, an 8,700-pound Asian elephant, is just out of camera range doing what elephants do...sometimes.

"I guess we wait," says Tony Shalhoub, 49, who plays the bizarrely brilliant San Francisco police investigator, whose obsessive-compulsive disorder emerged after the tragic death of his wife in a car bombing.  When the elephant finally lumbers toward his mark, all eyes are on Shalhoub, but he neither shudders nor reaches for his rubber gloves.  Instead, he gives Jumbo's trunk a generous hug.

"I don't have Monk's hang-ups," says the actor.  "Really."  His Golden Globe-winning performance last season helped make the hour-long cop comedy the highest-rated original scripted series in basic cable history.

He may be less neurotic than Monk, but Shalhoub, who'll next appear in the upcoming boxing flick "Against the Ropes" with Meg Ryan and Omar Epps, is obsessed with getting his portrayal right.  "I didn't want to laugh at this guy," Shalhoub says.  "There are real crimes being committed, his wife died, he has a serious illness.  So the key [has been] striking a balance between tragedy and the child-like innocence that makes Monk charming."

In the 16 new episodes (nine air this summer, the other seven next winter), Monk continues his search for the truth about his wife's murder as well as his quest to get reinstated into the San Francisco police force-helped out by his feisty nurse and assistant, Sharona, played by Bitty Schram.

Also this season, Sharona's meddling mother (Betty Buckley) brings out some of her daughter's own neuroses-which will draw Monk and Sharona closer.  "We're like a married couple without the sex," Schram jokes.  "They both get something from the relationship.  She gets the excitement and a job she loves, and he gets antibacterial wipes."

Will there be romance?  "That depends on how soon we reconcile Monk's issues surrounding the death of his wife," Shalhoub says.  In the meantime, viewers will learn more about Lieutenant Stottlemeyer, played by Ted Levine, and his wife, Karen (Glenne Headly), a spunky former hippie.

ALTHOUGH VIEWERS HAVE BEEN watching Monk compulsively, the effort it took to get the show on the air nearly drove the producers batty.  The series was straitjacketed in development for three years at ABC.  "[The network} couldn't get past the physical-comedy aspect," says executive producer David Hoberman.

"So we ran through every comedian in Hollywood, but that approach reduced Monk to physical tics and twitches."  Judd Nelson, Danny Bonaduce and The Practice's Ron Livingston were also contenders.

Writer and executive producer Andy Breckman notes that Monk walks what he calls "this incredible tightrope.  He's the smartest man in the room and also the guy with the most problems.  He's the saddest and the funniest.  He's antisocial, but everybody kinda loves him."

Shalhoub, who was brought in after USA purchased the rights to Monk, understood the challenge.  "I didn't want [Monk] to become Inspector Clouseau," he says.  Rather, he drew inspiration from another Peter Sellers character: the wistfully dim-witted gardener, Chance, from "Being There."

HIS EFFORTS WORKED TO MAKE THE show a hit-with some help from ABC, which retained the rights to rebroadcast Monk after episodes ran on USA.  The unique arrangement proved successful for both networks-especially for USA, which saw awareness of the show increase after the repeats and positive word of mouth began to spread.

For his part, Shalhoub prefers making the series for cable.  "We're not tryingto be CSI," he says.  On a network, Shalhoub adds, the series would have focused more on plot, clues and betrayal.  "Instead, we get Monk on the other side of the interrogation-room mirror obsessibely cleaning the glass."

And fans will be happy to see that Monk remains true to form when the cast heads to Mexico to unravel another crime.  "You can imagine Monk south of the border," Schram says.  "He can't find a certain brand of bottled water, so he doesn't drink and his mouth gets dier and until he can't speak."

But as with all TV illnesses, the cure for Monk's mania is only a few episodes away, right?  Don't be crazy.  "I don't know what's going to happen with the future of this show," Breckman says, "but the biggest mistake we could ever make is to [let] Monk get better.  We love him just the way he is."

OCD LIKE ME
One Monk fan finds she has lots in common with her favorite detective

Last summer I heard about a TV detective with obsessive-compulsive disorder.  I wasn't very excited.  I have OCD myself and I figured the writers would get it wrong.  Besides, I never cared for detective programs.

But by August, I found myself accidentally setting off a host's burglar alarm as i raced past her to catch a Monk episode.  And whenever I found myself in difficult situations-flying or walking across parking lots, for instance-I'd quietly hum Monk's theme tune and smile.

Det. Adrian Monk is like a lost twin.  We both fear handshakes, cash, rust, dirty car parts, crowds and many other things.  We can barely make decisions, although we're both high-functioning-if anxious-professionals.  Monk even shares my fondness for chicken pot pie.

Some viewers argue that Monk trivializes a serious neurological condition.  OCD isn't necessarily funny, but it often affects those intelligent enough to see humor in their behavior.  Tony Shalhoub and the programs's writers bring Monk to life so skillfully, I'd like to shake their hands.

Well...maybe not.  -Chelsea Lowe

A COMPULSION TO WATCH
TV Guide critic Matt Roush celebrates Monk's return

To enjoy Monk to its fullest, best not to dwell on the usuall crime-series trappings.  Mystery and suspense are incidental to this show's many pleasures.

Monk is Murder Lite, where the who-dunit takes a backseat to our affectionate, amused fascination with who's solving it.

Few TV detectives have made as winning a first impression as Adrian Monk.  Absurdly fussy and particular-watch him navigate a cobbleston path trying not to step on any cracks-this is a character who could too easilybe played just for laughs.

And Tony Shalhoub is indeed hilarious.  But he wouldn't be nearly so memorable if he didn't also take Monk absolutely seriously, delicately conveying the pain, sorrow and wounded wit that lurks beneath this widower's many tics and quirks.

Monk wishes he weren't so peculiar, but he also realizes his obsessions feed his genius for crime-scene observation.  "It's a gift-and a curse," he tells the devoted Sharona, played with such sassy, winning vigor by Bitty Schram.

They're a marvelously, madcap duo, even when their cases are simplistic.  Not that there's anything simple about Monk's appeal.  It's deeply satisfying.

June 20: Mr. Monk Goes Back to School: Golden Globe winner Tony Shalhoub's obsessive-compulsive sleuth returns for a second season with a new theme song and an ingenious murder case at a prep school. Randy Newman's dry-humored "It's a Jungle Out There" opens the episode on a suitably droll note as Monk annoys Sharona by fidgeting with a chess set. "You've sexually harassed every piece on this board," she gripes. As usual, their banter is interrupted by word of a suspicious death, this time an apparent suicide at the alma mater of Monk's late wife. To investigate the faculty member's demise, Monk installs himself as a substitute teacher. There, a smug science instructor (Andrew McCarthy) uses his skills to stymie Monk's probe, while the school's meathead coach (David Rasche) bullies the pensive detective.