Monk: Season Five

Monkish galore
Most cult TV dies pretty quickly, but Adrian Monk has been charming viewers with his quirky detecting for five seasons now. The fifth season occasionally crosses the line into cartoonishness, but overall it's still an entertaining, amusing little detective show... with the world's only OCD detective.

In the opening episode, a movie is going to be made about Monk's (Tony Shalhoub) life and amazing abilities, with well-known actor David Ruskin (Stanley Tucci) as Monk. But Ruskin turns out to be the world's best method actor, as he observes Monk doing his detective work -- and starts to acquire Monk's OCD and personality. Sometimes acting can be TOO good.

But Monk's problems don't cease when he's paralyzed by a garbage strike, and the strike leader is murdered. Other cases include a mysterious electrocution in a gym shower, being blinded by a murderer, a stint as a private eye, a college reunion, a disastrous rock concert, a leper, posing as a butler, a radio host...

Once again Mr. Monk shines as the fifth season starts
I have always been a big fan of the USA original series, Monk. So when Monk season 5 was released I immediately set out to purchase it and trust me, you will not be disappointed with this season. Season five comes on 4 disks and 16 episodes, including:

Mr. Monk and the Actor:
A famous actor plays Monk in a movie about the obsessive compulsive detective. However, the more he spends time with Monk, the more Natalie grows concerned about how the actor's behavior takes a weird turn. He also gets too involved in a murder case Monk is currently trying to solve.

Mr. Monk and the Garbage Strike:
When a union boss' death threatens to prolong a city-wide garbage strike in San Francisco, it's up to Monk to help end the strike by determining whether the boss' death was suicide or murder. It also is very funny to see Monk try to clean up the city by himself.

Mr. Monk and the Big Game:
Julie and her friends hire Monk to look into the suspicious death...

Messing around with a winner
Why is it in recent years that the producers of successful television shows frequently allow writers to screw around with the successful formula which gave them a winning in the first place? We are big fans of this series, which we only view on DVD since it is the only way we can get it. We eagerly awaited the fifth season, and have gone through it one episode after the other since we received the set. It was a big letdown compared to the previous four years. There may be more to it, but it seems the major problem is a significant drop in the quality of writing. While our view at this point is that "bad Monk is better than no Monk at all," that's not much of a recommendation. It would be good if the people in charge of this show could clean up their act and get interested in it again, or turn the show over to better handlers. This show could be a cash cow for many more years in the right hands, assuming loyal followers are not driven away.

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