Shark Bytes

What I once enjoyed and looked forward to has evolved (or DE-evolved) into a cliche-ridden, predictable annoyance. I don't know, perhaps familiarity truly does breed contempt:
Mister Monk loses his eyesight;
Mister Monk gets Amnesia;
Mister Monk has jury duty;
Mister Monk goes to his school reunion;
Mister Monk picks up a hooker and gets the clap...
- Talk about cliches up the ass.-
What's left...a Christmas special where Mister Monk is Ebenezer Scrooge in a complete retelling of the Dickens classic?

Natalie replacing Sharona was a step down, true, but the problem with Monk is that for a while at least, the show has been more about himself than about the plot, especially in regard to the case at hand.

Nowadays, when I watch a Monk episode, I'm expecting to see 10 minutes dedicated to the actual case, maybe another 5 minutes with the secondary characters (but rarely involving the case itself, just humour, as in jokes between the Police Chief and Randy), and 30 minutes of Monk's obsessive-compulsive disorder, at the end of which he will unmask the murderer almost by serendipity.

Too much character depth, especially when repetitive, is no better than none at all. Even "Columbo" wasn't nearly as personality-centric as "Monk" is -- and it had not one but two hours to build up Columbo's eccentricities! What "Monk" is doing is roughly the equivalent of Holmes disserting on the distinctiveness of tobacco ashes, or Poirot waxing his mustache, for half an hour, with no bearing at all on the case. This is the type of show that makes me yearn for the good old days of Perry Mason, a character of whom you know next to nothing, and even the violent silliness of Hawaii Five-O (how much did you know about any of the characters, who all seemed married to their jobs?). At one point you feel like saying, get on with the plot!

To be honest, the intrigue was never the strongest point of the series, but nowadays every episode is marked by a complete lack of anything resembling a red herring; there was an example I remember, where Natalie's daughter was interviewing the Police Chief for a school assignment, and where the Chief (with Randy, as usual, next to him), started talking about that "unsolved case" at the country club where DNA samples had been collected, with no matches. Bingo! I thought to myself instantly, this has a bearing on the week's case. Turns out that the victim was about to turn herself in for a crime she had committed, and in doing so, would have submitted her own DNA sample, which in turn would have revealed her brother as the murderer in earlier case at the country club which the Chief was now mentioning.

Exact jumping moment? Probably none to be identified; but it's one of those series irrevocably in decline. Even with Sharona still around, the result would probably have been the same.

Here's the thing...

I can't help but agree on the clunker that was 'Mr. Monk is Underwater'. It did have it's basic elements: Monk/Natalie in peril (the water tank), his quirks (claustrophobia/talking to an imaginary Dr. Bell), and of course a mystery to solve, but I think being confined to a sub for the entire episode there's only so much you can do with that.

One thing that keeps Monk different from other shows is you can mention an episode with just a small phrase and everybody knows the one you're referring to. "The one with the game show", "The one with the lottery","The one with the marathon runner", they try to keep each episode set apart from each other, and make them memorable.

As far as the Natalie/Sharona debates, they're simply two different characters. Bitty Schram leaves, and what are they gonna do, cancel a popular show? They didn't cancel Cheers when Diane left, they just moved forward and people either accepted the change, or kept pining away for the "good ol' days" and forcing themselves not to enjoy it.

Monk hasn't jumped at all, it's still a great show to look forward to each week, and it was a breath of fresh air at a time when every cop/mystery drama was heavy-handed and depressing.

I've loved Monk since the beginning. I like both Sharona and Natalie. The show was awesome until recently. It used to be more that Monk was assigned cases...these days he just seems to run into the murders himself. Monk gets dumber and quirkier by the season and i hate that.
The show is getting so dumb that it will be a miracle if it can save itself from jumping for good


PS... to agree with you all below - the submarine episode did suck!!

sorry monk fans, but i used to love monk then, sharona left, ok, i though they will get a better assistant, wrong, enter natalie.. she is rude to monk, she does all of the work making monk look dumb, she falls for all the traps and well ya, i dislike her character also, monk has no OCD left!

also, what i really hated was the last season finale, monk shoots at capt. and monk "dies" then he is on a beach and has odd emeories, i turned the tv off and never watchd monk again...

I agree with you ChrisB the submarine episode really did suck! I enjoyed the episodes before that one though. I think that with the exception of that episode I think this season will be better than last season. At leaset I'm hoping it will. Last season was the absolute worst.

It's been coming for a while now. Starting with the two part ending of the last season, Monk's been in danger of finally jumping the shark. Tonight was the official jump. The submarine episode is the worst Monk episode EVER. I hate to see such a once superb show die a slow tortured death.

I was worried when Bitty Schram (Sharona) left the show that Monk was going to jump. When Traylor Howard (Natalie) first appeared, there were fins circling in the pool. However, Howard quickly found her grove and formed chemistry with Tony Shaloub (Monk). It's a different dynamic than what Schram's Sharona brought to the table, but it's gone twice as long since and it shows no signs of stopping. Whereby Sharona was saucy and more overt, Natalie plays straight man much better which frees Shaloub to flex his comedic muscle much more. This is not to mention that Howard is better eye candy than Schram. Monk still has a way to go before it can be said to have jumped the shark.

I agree with those who said that Sharona is Sharona and Natalie is Natalie. However, I prefer Natalie, because she is much sweeter than Sharona. Not that Sharona was a bad person, but because I would've not liked if she hooked up with Monk. I know that romance is not necessary in a show, but Monk deserves to be with someone and I could not imagine two persons more perfect for each other than he and Natalie.

Henry is right, that would at least be interesting.

Natalie sux!!! her whiny voice, her bad acting, "Mr. Moooonk!" who on earth cast her??? was it because, like her character, she agreed to work for FREE? Bring Sharona back!!!

Kill off Natalie & her daughter in a car crash at the end of this season. Pleeeeeze!

I agree with the last poster. I think it would be really hot for Natalie to get romantically involved with Monk. Unlike many of you, I don't think it is wrong for her to call him Mister, I think it is kind of hot that she shows deference because he is such a great man. Sharona was a manhadling slut of a bitch. Natalie is way better and a lot more respectful.

I think Natalie is the best and that she should convince Monk to do her up the butt and help Monk get over his germs phobia. And Natalies daughter could eat the seeds.

Can we move on. Sharona is gone, Natalie is here. They are / were both good. On a personal level, I have grown to like Natalie more, although I was worried when Sharona left.
The real problem this show now has is that they are way, way overplaying Monk's phobia's. The really is a thin line between it being fun and being a annoyance.

I really like this show! it's neat! and I especially think Monk and Natalie have a great chemistry together. it made me very sad when Stanley Kamel (who played Dr. Kroger) passed away not too long ago. but I did see the recent season premiere where they wrote his character out, and Hector Elizondo plays his new shrink. they did it really well. and I think Hector Elizondo will do a nice job in the part!!

I hate to say it, but Monk might be officially jumping. I know there have been some clunkers in the last couple of seasons, but that's expected. For the most part Monk has been good, not as good as it once was, but still pretty good. The two part finale of Season Six was weak, in my opinion. It's been followed up by two weak episodes to start Season Seven. I hope it gets back on track soon, or we might be seeing Monk JTS.