The show's two-part premiere is from 2002, but feels a good 15 years older than that. The score that flips from mild jazz to orchestral movie music. The grainy look to all the nighttime scenes. The minder character's blaring Noo Yawk accent in a San Francisco that's obviously Toronto. It's all very late 1980s.
Monk is a likeable character, and it's fun to watch Tony Shalhoub balance the neurotic and genius sides. Of course I kind of dread to see what he'd be like now, as germphobia is a big part of the character. Hell, I'm amazed he made it through the 2002-04 SARS scare.
2 comments:
A result of our never watching television shows is that neither of us was familiar with Monk until today. The scene I saw on youtube this evening was an exercpt from the pilot episode, the same program you've watched in its entirety, where Monk is there with Sharona in a large kitchen with lots of policemen and a dead young woman on the floor. The police have assumed it was a burglary gone wrong but Monk, in between worrying his nurse about whether his stove at home was shut off, tells them they're wrong and that the man waited for her - he was wearing hospital slippers not to leave his shoeprints in the blood. There were other signs too - like the smell of menthol cigarette smoke on the curtains and that he was very tall..
I can understand why the show would interest you considering Tony Shaloub walks a fine line between quirkiness and his ability to make brilliant deductions in an excellent performance. His character is like a cross between Columbo and Sherlock Holmes. His assistant was great too.
I don't think it's a show I could watch a lot of but I can imagine dipping into an episode at random and be pretty sure of liking it.
Jer found Randy Newman performing the theme song, Monk - It's A Jungle Out There. He's still fun to listen to.
Yeah, that was a good detection scene. It does play like the kind of clues that Sherlock Holmes would be able to put together, to the amazement of all. Of course there's a bit of slapstick comedy to it as well, with his neuroses driving his nurse/assistant batty.
The "dipping into it at random" aspect is a big part of the appeal for me, and also a way in which it's somewhat old-fashioned. Dramatic television now is engineered to get the viewer to watch the whole series from beginning to end (which I've done) sometimes in one sitting (which I will never do.) Even in the rare cases when the narrative and artistic achievement rewards your attention, this is pretty draining. So it's nice to be freed from that obligation.
At this point I've seen episodes with the assistant you saw and the one who replaced her. They're both good. The other is more low-key.
I don't know that I'd call it a great Randy Newman song. Well, obviously he doesn't have to do "Political Science" or "Rednecks" every time. He is a fun listen, you're right.
Post a Comment