MR. MONK AND THE GAME SHOW, from the series
Monk's third season in 2004, is one of those episodes I first saw at its very end...and it's that ending that makes it stand out so much for me as one of most hilarious episodes of a mystery show. Later on, though, I saw it in its entirety, and while still excellent it seemed much sadder. Former San Francisco police detective Adrian Monk, played by Tony Shalhoub, left the force after his wife was murdered...it's unsolved...and his pronounced obsessive-compulsive disorder sidelined him. In the series he pays his bills working as a paid consultant for the police, and they often partner together to solve crimes and mysteries. His father-in-law, who happens to be a big TV executive, leans on Monk in this episode to surreptitiously investigate what he suspects to be corrupt tampering on one of his quiz game shows: the host seems to be in collusion with a particular contestant who seems unstoppable with his constant winning and improbable answers to even the most obscure questions. The "accidental" death of one of the show's staff adds a new dimension to the story, and Monk decides that he needs to get on the show as one of its contestants in order to discern what is really going on. His OCD comes out strong when he keeps polishing clean his answer buzzer, constantly setting it off and annoying the host and everyone else...but soon enough he solves the secret plot and exposes it all live, on the air, with a great comedic twist and an uncannily accurate hunch. But I won't give it away here, you'll have to watch it yourself...
Monk is one of those series of which I've missed the greater part, not because it's a bad series...no, it's a great series...but because my ongoing life at the time always seemed to conflict with the aired episodes. Now, though, at least for the time being I can view the series for "free" on Amazon Prime Video since I'm a paid subscriber already...I think I'll now try out another episode...
That was one of my favorite shows and I'm pretty sure that I have seen every one of them. When I'm in the States I can usually find it on TV somewhere and still enjoy it as much as I ever did. I also used to enjoy Tony Shalhoub when he played the taxi driver in Wings. There's one episode of Monk where he runs into Tim Daly (the actor who played Joe Hackett in Wings) on a commercial flight. For a very brief moment there's a bit of interaction between the show Monk and the show Wings. Those are both shows I can watch over and over and still enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI never saw Wings, but you make it sound really good. One problem I have with some of these series is the evolving backstory...sometimes it will dominate an episode and you're lost if you haven't been watching the series from its beginning. I find the same to be true when reading novels in series, too.
ReplyDeleteWings was more in line with Cheers and another favorite of mine, Taxi (what a gym that was with both Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd!). On that Monk episode with Tim Daly someone mentions to Monk that Tim Daly used to star in the show Wings to which Monk dryly replies "(I) never saw it". And you're right, part of the enjoyment of all of these shows was that you don't need to know the backstory in order to enjoy them.
Delete