NBC’s early 2000s TV show Monk, starring Tony Shalhoub as detective with OCD, is one of the best mystery series of today for its characters and various puzzles. No evidence gets past Detective Adrian Monk and as he puts the pieces together, we wonder if we’ll come to the same complex conclusion. According to executive producer David Hoberman, Monk began as a concept based on two other series.
When Monk was first being developed by ABC, developers wanted to portray a character similar to Detective Clouseau and for this character to be played by Michael Richards of Seinfeld. Richards had played a socially awkward investigator in The Michael Richards Show and ABC wanted to see more of this particular personality (even if the series was a total disaster), but Richards turned the offer down. Shortly after, the series was picked up by NBC, and the creators introduced some characters inspired by Sherlock Holmes including Captain Stottlemeyer as the Inspector Lestrade-like character and Monk’s therapist Dr. Kroger as the Watson-like character.
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It’s hard to believe that the concept got off to a rocky start and didn’t even include actor Tony Shalhoub, who portrays Monk, in the first place. In a conversation with Cinema Blend, Shalhoub explains he wasn’t there when the character was developed and that originally Monk’s personality was more “slap-sticky.” Shalhoub convinced creator Andy Breckman to lean more into the “darker aspects” of the character and the version of Monk we know was born.
If you’re not familiar with the series, Monk is a 2002 police crime drama starring Tony Shalhoub of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as the obsessive-compulsive Detective Adrian Monk. Monk is traumatized after his wife is killed by a car bomb and becomes a shut-in for a period of time, but with the help of his private nurse, Sharona Fleming, and his work as a consultant with the police, he gradually regains his confidence in the world. He also investigates his wife’s death on the side. Here’s why Monk is the ideal model for fun detective shows.
Adrian Monk is a Relatable, Comedic Detective
Although Monk’s case of OCD is severe, many viewers can relate to his fixation with certain things such as hand-sanitizing and worrying if you’ve shut off the stove. But Monk’s preoccupation with little things isn’t all bad; it actually helps him notice essential details to unraveling the crimes he comes across. Monk often knows, sometimes at the beginning of the episode, who did the crime because of his impeccable ability to notice details but must figure out how and why the perpetrator committed the act.
For example, in one episode Monk suspects that a TV star murdered his wife, but the star was seen on the front lawn by multiple paparazzi at the moment that his wife cried for help. So how did he do it? Monk always figures it out. At the same time, the show doesn’t skim over how frustrating Monk’s condition can be for both himself and his peers. His impatience with crooked pictures and greasy windows often distracts him at crime scenes and makes the process that much longer.
However, Monk’s alternative tactics for piecing together mysteries are something viewers find interesting and relatable. Sometimes in true-crime series, people around the situation intuitively know who committed the act, but there aren’t enough details to confirm how, and it seems like the audience is being cheated out of a chance to solve it as well. Monk doesn’t cheat as a show, and its titular character is someone we wish we had in reality. His connections with other close characters who lack OCD traits, such as Captain Stottlemeyer, endearingly played by Ted Levine of The Silence of the Lambs, and the spunky Sharona Fleming, played by Bitty Schram of A League of Their Own, are also endlessly entertaining.
The Puzzles in Monk
Besides Monk and the appeal of his supporting characters, the other piece that makes the show such a success is the structure of the mysteries. First, there is the overall mystery of Monk’s wife Trudy’s death which gets chipped away every couple of episodes. But the investigations in between are what make things so interesting.
According to writer Hy Conrad, who spoke with Stephen Shapiro, “creating whodunit puzzles is a learned skill.” Conrad explains that while working on Monk he would develop the twist first and then work backward from there to build the how and why. Conrad also tells Shapiro that a tactic he used, inspired by Agatha Christie, is “changing the perceived time of death, making the murder seem to have happened before or after it did, in order to give the killer an ironclad alibi."
Writer Hy Conrad says that Monk had multiple strengths, including “Tony Shaloub’s wonderful character and OCD moments,” but the series was also supported by “the spine of an intriguing mystery” and a generous amount of both “art and skill.” Although Monk concluded in 2009 after eight seasons, the series is an excellent model for future series that function in a similar genre. Monk is predictable in that it lacks gruesome or shocking moments and often finds a good resolution, but still provokes thought and expands characters you can get attached to. You can see this model present in numerous recent shows which attempt to incorporate humor, a flawed main character, and solvable, interesting, episodic mysteries.
