Monk

"It's a jungle out there"

 

I'm not one for "cringe comedy" normally. It makes me... well, cringe. Not comically either. I also would not have categorized Monk thus before trying to re-watch it recently, and it turns out much of my perception skewed more positive than it should by mostly watching the first couple of seasons when they came out. (And, admittedly, being an angsty analytical type myself, identifying a bit with the heroic freak. (Shalhoub's acting helped.))

 

For one, much as I'd misremembered Dr. Pulaski having a longer run on ST:TNG, I thought Monk's first assistant had lasted at least half the series instead of 2.5 seasons out of eight (actress wanted a raise; studio of course refused) and the switch coincided with an overall tone shift toward the trite and cheesy.

Instead of an edgy single mom from "back east" whose son sometimes gets into trouble, separated from her deadbeat husband, the new assistant's a bereaved, faithful wife of a fallen pilot, chirpy and supportive, with an adorable little girl buying Monk "get well" cards.

The police chief's comic relief sidekick, who'd been showing signs of growing into his role, shown capable at his job when not fawning over his boss, is suddenly forcefully slammed back into his pigeonhole as an idiot child who'd never even be made a beat cop in Podunk, much less a metropolitan lieutenant.

Instead of a trained professional with disabling mental disorders (but aware of his own difficulties) Monk's presented more and more as completely disjointed from reality, going from Sherlock to Rain Man.

The police angle as a whole gradually vanishes. Instead of being called in on cases as a consultant, Monk just stumbles upon murders wherever he goes, Miss Marple style.

More and more of the "plots" are somehow contrived to tie into his personal life, with the sappy dead wife flashbacks leaned on more and more for cheap pathos.

Public service announcements about gambling addiction and... well, fuck it, you get the idea.

 

I was struck from the first re-views by how much filler I'd forgotten with Monk humiliating himself obsessive-compulsing this-and-that while we point our fingers and snicker alongside the extras leering at the freak show. But these minutes-long routines only grow more frequent and extended as actual plots shrink more and more in favor of long-winded padding throughout season 4, to the point the actual case occupies 1/4-1/3 of air time. Incredulous at being only halfway through the show's run, I doubt I'll keep watching given I already find myself skipping more and more of each episode. Still, even as the detective angle disappears the audience apparently got more and more invested in the idiot savant routine, validated by the conflation of intellect with disability and outright incompetence. Season 4 which so annoys me apparently boasted peak ratings.

There is one other oddity. Monk aired from 2002 onwards, just as "reality" TV and wider sports coverage began lowering artistic and production standards across television as a whole. I couldn't believe how many early scripts featured location shots or large, even choreographed crowd scenes with abundant extras and bit players (fairs, parties, rallies, parades, crowded streets, little league games) where the little of that cash available these days would sink into CGI instead. Okay, Cleopatra it ain't, but still an impressive investment for a cable TV show. Really seems to have caught the end of an era in that sense.

 

But damn, the(y) (audience) should've just let it die sooner.

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P.S. That theme song still rocks though.