Monk: Series Finale Brings Record Number of Viewers

Mr. Adrian Monk has left television on a high note. The last episode of the quirky Monk series drew a record number of viewers to USA.

The last episode of Monk, which aired Friday night, attracted some 9.4 million viewers with a little less than a third of them in the 18-49 demographic. According to THR, that marks the show’s largest audience for not only the show but for a commercial cable channel as well. The previous record-holder was an episode of TNT’s The Closer with 9.2 million viewers.

That high performance helped bring a season-high audience to White Collar as well. The fall finale of the freshman series attracted 5.5 million viewers, marking USA’s best Friday night performance at 10pm in more than three years.

Of the performance, USA’s president of original programming Jeff Wachtel, said, “What a perfect way for Monk, our first tentpole success, to finish its run — going out even stronger than it came in, and helping to launch another great show, White Collar.”