MONK is a comedy-mystery that is fun to watch. Though the mysteries may not be as challenging as Agatha Christie, Adrian Monk is as entertaining as Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Solving mysteries are easy for TV detectives, they do it each week. Big deal. The fun here is watching Monk live his life. Think 70's TV show MORK AND MINDY as a mystery. Like Mork, Monk struggles to live in a world different from his own. He sees importance in every detail, and appreciates the role and order in things that have become so common in our lives we no longer pay attention to. Like Mork, Monk is documenting the world one brick at a time. Monk's assistant Sharona Fleming is his Mindy, and despite Monk's superhuman mental capabilities, Sharona is the adult in everything that is practical, with the emphasis of her being a parental figure. Monk could just as well been a newspaper reporter, a dentist, or TV talk show host and the show would still have worked. Being a detective just gives him a little more chance to show off.
