Monk

Network: USA
Episodes: 125 (hour)
Seasons: Eight

TV show dates: July 12, 2002 — December 4, 2009
Series status: Cancelled/ended

Performers include: Tony Shalhoub, Jason Gray-Stanford, Ted Levine, Traylor Howard, Stanley Kamel, Bitty Schram, Emmy Clarke, Kane Ritchotte, and Hector Elizondo.

TV show description:
When the wife of Adrian Monk (Tony Schallub) was killed by a car bomb, he suffered a nervous breakdown and was relieved of his police force duties. Unable to leave his house for three years, he meets nurse Sharona Fleming (Bitty Schram) who gives him the strength to return to the outside world.

He persuades Captain Leland Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) to let him rejoin the San Francisco Police Department as a consultant for the homicide unit. Unfortunately, his obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety make it difficult for him and those around him when investigating a case, especially for the Captain and Lieutenant Randall “Randy” Disher (Jason Gary-Stanford), who refers to Monk as the “defective detective.”

On the positive side, Monk’s OCD and many phobias key him in so intensely to his surroundings that it also aids him in solving cases. Dr. Kroger (Stanley Kamel) helps Monk cope with his phobias so that someday he’ll be able to return to the department full-time. Later on, Dr. Neven Bell (Hector Elizondo) helps the detective.

When Monk’s nurse and assistant Sharona moves to New Jersey, he meets single mom Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard) while investigating a burglary in her home. He asks her to become his new assistant. Natalie and daughter Julie (Emmy Clarke) become Monk’s family as he deals with the loss of his wife and works toward solving the case of her murder.