Adrian Monk is a fictional character portrayed by Tony Shalhoub and the protagonist of the USA Network television series Monk. He is a renowned former homicide detective for the San Francisco Police Department. Monk suffers from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder and multiple phobias, all of which intensified after the murder of his wife Trudy, resulting in his suspension from the department. He works as a private police homicide consultant and undergoes therapy with the ultimate goal of overcoming his grief, taking control of his phobias and disorder, and being reinstated as a police detective.
Series co-creator David Hoberman says that he based Monk partly on himself, and also on other fictional detectives, such as Lt. Columbo and Sherlock Holmes. Other actors considered for the role included Dave Foley, John Ritter, Henry Winkler, Stanley Tucci, Alfred Molina and Michael Richards. The network eventually chose Shalhoub because they felt he could "bring the humor and passion of Monk to life." However, co-creator David Hoberman came up with the idea of a detective with obsessive-compulsive disorder. This was inspired by his own bout with self-diagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder; in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette interview, he stated that, "Like Monk, I couldn't walk on cracks and had to touch poles. I have no idea why – but if I didn't do these things, something terrible would happen."
Other fictional inspirations include Columbo and Sherlock Holmes, and his obsession with neatness and order may be an homage to Hercule Poirot. Monk's two major allies from the police department, Captain Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher (credited as "Deacon" in the pilot episode), are reminiscent of Inspector Lestrade and Chief Inspector Japp, Holmes's and Poirot's well-meaning but ineffectual respective police counterparts. In addition, Monk has a brother whose abilities of deduction are even more amazing than his, yet much more geographically limited due to his own personal problems, somewhat in the style of Mycroft Holmes (who is more adept but also notoriously lazy.)
When trying to think of a possible name for the character, co-creator Andy Breckman decided to look for a "simple monosyllabic last name".
Casting
Co-creator David Hoberman revealed that the casting sessions were "depressing". USA Network's executive vice president Jeff Wachtel stated that looking for the right actor to portray Monk was "casting
hell". After two years of developing, the producers still had not found an actor to play the part. After Richards dropped out of the project, he went on to star in another series about a private detective,
The Michael Richards Show, which was canceled after six episodes.
Personality
In the script for the pilot episode, "
Mr. Monk and the Candidate," Monk is described as being "a modern day
Sherlock Holmes", only "nuts". They also take an active role in organizing his consultancy work, and sometimes investigate cases themselves. After her abrupt departure, Monk has a chance meeting with
Natalie Teeger (
Traylor Howard), whom he hires as his new assistant starting in "
Mr. Monk and the Red Herring".
Monk carries out futile and endless attempts to make the world "balanced". While his obsessive attention to minute detail cripples him socially, it makes him a gifted detective and profiler. he shows signs of OCD in flashbacks dating back to childhood. To deal with his OCD and phobias, Monk visits a psychiatrist (Dr. Charles Kroger in the first six seasons or Dr. Neven Bell in the last two seasons) weekly, and at several points, daily.
Over the course of the show (roughly 8 years), Monk overcomes many of his phobias and some aspects of his OCD. Though he hasn't been cured of many of them, if any at all, he has been able to put them in the back of his mind when involved in case work. Possibly due to this alone, Monk is reinstated as detective first class by Stottlemeyer in the season 8 episode "Mr. Monk and the Badge". Though he is very excited about his reinstatement initially, Monk realizes that becoming a detective again didn't mean that he would be happier. In a session with Dr. Bell, Monk realizes he was always happy as a private detective and consultant to the SFPD as his own boss. After overcoming his fear of heights and singlehandedly capturing a killer window-washer, Monk turns in his badge. In the series finale, he learns that he, in fact, has a stepdaughter (see section Closing Trudy's Case). The knowledge and events of the episode lead to a complete change in his personality.
Character background
Childhood and family
Monk is of
Welsh ancestry and was born October 17, 1959. This is shown in the episode "Happy Birthday, Mr. Monk", which takes place on a Wednesday of the week of October 16, 2009. It is stated that his 50th birthday is the next day, which would be Thursday, October 17, 2009. His parents were very strict and over-protective. Monk has an
agoraphobic brother named
Ambrose (
John Turturro), from whom he was estranged for seven years following Trudy's death. Monk states that his mother died in 1994.
In the episode "Mr. Monk and the Three Pies," it is revealed that Monk was angry at his brother for never contacting him after Trudy's death.
Trudy's death
Throughout the series, Adrian mourns his wife
Trudy (
Melora Hardin/Stellina Rusich), who was killed by a
car bomb he believes was meant for him on December 14, 1997. The death of his wife exacerbated Monk's already existing
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). One year later, the
San Francisco Police Department granted him a psychological discharge. His grief over Trudy's death is intense and with him every day of his life; he has stated more than once that he is never truly happy and never expects to be truly happy ever again. Since Trudy's death, Monk has been consulting with
San Francisco police detectives on various cases. He discovered that the car bomb was indeed meant for Trudy and was built by a man named Warrick Tennyson (
Frank Collison), who was hired by a
six-fingered man named Frank Nunn (
Courtney Gains). In the sixth-season finale, he finally catches up with Nunn, who claims to be yet another pawn with no idea why Trudy was killed. In a review of the show's pilot, Tim Goodman of
The San Francisco Chronicle stated: "With his history and his sympathetic but funny 'problems', he [Monk] becomes one of television's most likable characters and floats a show that is, to be frank, riddled with improbability and simplicity". Monk is ranked number 99 on
Bravo's list of The 100 Greatest Television Characters of All Time.
Shalhoub's performance in the series has also been praised. Michael Sauter of Entertainment Weekly called Shalhoub's performance "original and splendid". Nancy Franklin of The New Yorker said that Shalhoub is "brilliant at conveying the tension between Monk’s desire to conquer his disorder and his dug-in defense of his behavior". Michael Abernethy of PopMatters describes Shalhoub's performance as "exceptional", and Melanie McFarland of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer states that Shalhoub is a "careful and nuanced actor". Alan Sepinwall of the Star-Ledger described Shalhoub as "the perfect fit" for the character.
Awards
Shalhoub has earned various awards and nominations for his work in
Monk. He has been nominated for
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Comedy Series each year from 2003 to 2010, winning in 2003, 2005 and 2006. In 2003, Shalhoub won the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy; he was nominated for the same category in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2009. He received the 2004 and the 2005
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series, with nominations in the same category in 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Notes and Sources
References
External links
Adrian Monk at the TVIV
Category:Monk characters
Category:Fictional characters from California
Category:Fictional American people of Welsh descent
Category:Fictional detectives
Category:Obsessive–compulsive disorder in fiction
Category:Fictional San Francisco Police Department detectives
Category:Fictional private investigators
Category:Fictional characters introduced in 2002
