USA Network set the standard for original cable series with the premiere of Monk, a crime drama about an obsessive compulsive detective portrayed by Tony Shaloub. Now after seven successful seasons the series is coming to an end with one final run of sixteen episodes.
Season eight kicks off on August 7 with an episode entitled "Mr. Monk's Favorite Show." Elizabeth Perkins guest stars as an aging child star who has just written a tell-all memoir and starts receiving death threats. Monk is ecstatic when she hires him to be his bodyguard. But that thrill disappears quickly once he starts reading the book and realizes what a sordid life his idol has actually lived.
I'm not sure whether the premise was inspired by Maureen McCormick's memoir published last year but the writers do a great job at skewering the fast-paced life of Hollywood actors and our insatiable appetite for celebrity gossip. Monk's reading of the memoir and his reaction to it is one of the funniest moments of the episode and will likely be remembered as one of the best comic moments of the series.
Many other guest stars are lined up to appear this season including Jay Mohr, Daniel Stern, Bernie Koppell, and Meat Loaf, among others. In addition, Tim Bagley will return in his role as Harold Crenshaw. But the biggest news is that Bitty Schram, who played Monk's nurse Sharona for the first three seasons, will return late in the season and reprise her role.
The other big promise being made is that all the lingering questions of the series will be answered. Will Monk be reinstated with the San Francisco Police Department? More importantly, will his wife Trudy's murder finally be solved? The producers will only promise that all questions will be answered by the time the series concludes although they won't really deal with most of the questions about Trudy's murder until the last few episodes.
.jpg?t=20120209092158)
Article comments
1 - Mike
Can't wait to see all of those guest stars this season. "Monk" has some of the best characters, like these five.
2 - NancyGail
Question has been WHO murdered Trudy. That should be the series finale, in an ideal world anyway.
3 - Tertesa
What a great season opener for Monk. All true Monk fans have come to expect the unexpected, but the Brady parody came as a delightful surprise. Monk, with his Greg Brady afro and wild 70's clothes was hilarious. I challenge anybody to watch this episode and try to stop themselves from laughing out loud. Elizabeth Perkin's role was based loosely on Maureen McCormick and her tell-all book from last year. I laughed when Monk's ever faithful Natalie Teger kept "ewwwing" over the contents of the book -- pretty much everybody's reaction to Maureen's tell-all book. Hopefully, our formerly favorite child-star Marcia, Marcia, Marcia will embrace the humor and thank Monk later for a sudden surge in her book sales.