Mr. Monk & the Pleasing Paradigm

Abstract

C(C^ A INTERNATIONAL RIME ^MYSTERY I_- ?' BY ).MADISON DAVIS -""^ Mr. Monk & the Pleasing paradigm Television was once primarily a local, or at least national, force in culture, but as the world has gotten "flatter," to use Thomas Friedman's term, not just movies, but certain television shows have become well known globally. Many American crime dramas, such as Magnum, P.I. and Law and Order, have been exported to audiences abroad, and a few British series have done relativelywell here. From 1980 to 2008 the PBS seriesMystery!, an imported BBC and Granada tele vision series, impressed American viewers with Jeremy Brett's portray al of Sherlock Holmes, Roy Mars den as Inspector Adam Dalgleish, and JoanHickson as Miss Marple, among others. The most successful character in an episodic mystery on Amer ican cable television is, however, theUSA Network's Adrian Monk, a traumatized, obsessive-compulsive detective whose powers of observa tion and memory fordetails allows him to solve cases that baffle the police. Monk is aired now in about fiftycountries around the world, fromtheCzech Republic, (where itis called "My FriendMonk"), to Japan ("Great Detective Monk"), to Brazil ("Monk, an Unusual Detective") to Russia ("Defective Detective"), and to Hungary ("Monk, the Nuts Detec tive"?no joke!).1By theend of 2008, 101 one-hour episodes had been cre 2 ated. At thatpoint, it was only part s way through the seventh season, I and with a 20 percent increase in s? viewership over the sixth season, I theUSA Network, which is a divi p sion of NBC Universal, announced o I 3 that ithad picked up an eighth and "final" season to be premiered in the summer of 2009.2 As we know, very littleis "final" in television,and Monk has enough devoted fans to continue easily for years. However, the expenses of the production of scripted shows have been increasing and would probably have more to do with itsdiscontinuation thanany other factor. The ratings for Monk are a bit anemic by the non-cable standards ofABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC. When NBC aired an episode ofMonk on a Sunday inApril 2008, itdrew 5.7 million viewers. The CBS offering thatnight ofCold Case drew 11.8mil lion viewers.3 The top-rated crime show that week, CSI, drew 20.6 mil lion.4 Monk's best outing on cable drew 7.6 million viewers;5 however, having six- to seven-million viewers forany episode isamajor success for USA. Monk helped make itthecable network with the largest audience above Adrian Monk (Tony Shaloub) in "Mr. Monk and the Lady Next Door" (episode7014) in2007 and 2008, and was a big part of leading it tobrand itself with the slogan "Characters Welcome." With Burn Notice, Psych, In Plain Sight, Law and Order: Criminal Intent,and themedical show House, USA has garrisoned itselfwith a variety of shows focusing on oddball protago nists. Only Law and Order: Criminal Intentpreceded Monk on the air; it originated on NBC until 2007,when original episodes began to be aired on USA.6 The shadow ofSherlockHolmes lurks behind all these USA char acters, and the creators have been frankabout exploiting theparadigm of Conan Doyle's detective. Monk was deliberately conceived as a mir ror of Holmes. His nurse Sharona or Natalie serves as Dr. Watson, both helping and treating their May-June 2009 i 11 companion. Captain Stottlemeyer plays a role like that of Doyle's Inspector Lestrade. When Stottle meyer is bewildered by a case, he will hire Monk as a consultant, but often, likeLestrade, he is irritatedby the detective and the crime-solving becomes competitive.Despite Stottle meyer and Monk's disagreements, they come to respect and have affec tion for each other. Like Holmes, Monk also has a brother (Ambrose, played by John Turturro) who is evenmore neurotic thanhe is.Bobby Goren ofCriminal Intentisbasically in thepattern ofwhat used tobe called "the Great Detective," although he primarily follows police procedures. His partner serves as a female Wat son, and his main frustratingantag onist is a woman, Nicole Wallace, just as Holmes's is Irene Adler. On House, to emphasize the echo of Holmes, Dr. Gregory House, a medi cal "detective," was given the apart ment number 221B, the same...