Monk (season 5)
| Monk – season 5 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country of origin |
 United States |
| No. of episodes | 16 |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | USA Network |
| Original run | July 7, 2006 – March 2, 2007 |
| Home video release | |
| DVD release date | June 26, 2007 (Region 1) |
| Season chronology | |
Season five of Monk originally aired in the United States on USA Network from July 7, 2006 to March 2, 2007. It consisted of 16 episodes. Tony Shalhoub, Traylor Howard, Ted Levine, and Jason Gray-Stanford reprised their roles as the main characters. A DVD of the season was released on June 26, 2007.
Crew
Andy Breckman continued his tenure as show runner. Executive producers for the season included Breckman, David Hoberman, series star Tony Shalhoub, and writer Tom Scharpling. NBC Universal Television Studio was the primary production company backing the show. Randy Newman's theme ("It's a Jungle Out There") continued to be used, while Jeff Beal's original instrumental theme could be heard in some episodes. Directors for the season included Randall Zisk, Jerry Levine, Peter Weller, and Andrei Belgrader. Writers for the season included Andy Breckman, David Breckman, Jonathan Collier, Hy Conrad, Daniel Dratch, Lee Goldberg, Dylan Morgan, William Rabkin, Josh Siegal, Joe Toplyn, and Tom Scharpling.
Cast
All four main characters returned for the fifth season. Tony Shalhoub returned as former homicide detective Adrian Monk, with Traylor Howard returning as Monk's faithful assistant, Natalie Teeger. Ted Levine returned as the SFPD captain, Leland Stottlemeyer, and Jason Gray-Stanford reprised his role as the lovable but oblivious Lieutenant Randy Disher.
The astronomical number of guest stars grew even higher for the fifth season. Stanley Kamel returned as Monk's psychiatrist, Dr. Charles Kroger. Emmy Clarke portrayed Julie Teeger, Natalie's daughter, in a third season. Melora Hardin continued to portray Trudy Monk, Monk's deceased wife (whose murder is the series' main story arc), while Lindy Newton played a younger version of the character. Tim Bagley returned to play Harold Krenshaw, Monk's main rival, after a one-season absence. The character of Monk's annoying upstairs neighbor, Kevin Dorfman, was brought back, portrayed by Jarrad Paul. Cody McMains starred, for the first time, as Dr. Kroger's son, Troy Kroger. Michael Cavanaugh and Holland Taylor returned for the final time as Natalie's ultra-rich parents, Bob and Peggy Davenport, and Sharon Lawrence made her debut on the series as Stottlemeyer's girlfriend, Linda Fusco. Additionally, several non-recurring guest stars made appearances, including Brooke Adams, Joshua Alba, Sean Astin, Catherine Bach, Graham Beckel, Paul Blackthorne, Stephen Bogardus, Ivar Brogger, Sarah Brown, Dan Butler, Ricardo Chavira, Gordon Clapp, Alex Cohen, Alice Cooper, David DeLuise, Charles Durning, Art Evans, Tom Everett, Kevin Farley, Tamara Feldman, John Furey, Deborah Geffner, Greg Grunberg, Dan Hedaya, Brad Hunt, Jamie Kaler, Brian Kerwin, Jennifer Lawrence, James Logan, Chi McBride, Brian McNamara, Jacob Miller, Silas Weir Mitchell, Sandra Nelson, Lawrence O'Donnell, Jim Piddock, Andy Richter, Bryce Robinson, Kiernan Shipka, Peter James Smith, Cynthia Stevenson, Heather Tom, Stanley Tucci (in an Emmy award-winning performance), Reginald VelJohnson, Steven Weber, Frederick Weller, Peter Weller, Chris Williams, Danny Woodburn, and Odette Yustman.
Episodes
| No. in series |
No. in season |
Title | Written by | Directed by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 62 | 1 | "Mr. Monk and the Actor" | Hy Conrad and Joe Toplyn | Randall Zisk | July 7, 2006 |
| Renowned method actor David Ruskin (Stanley Tucci) is preparing to play Monk in a film adaptation of the events of "Mr. Monk and the Astronaut", but he gets a little too close when Monk tries to figure out the connection between the murder of a young woman killed in a lover's quarrel and that of a pawn shop owner shot during a robbery. | |||||
| 63 | 2 | "Mr. Monk and the Garbage Strike" | Andy Breckman and Daniel Gaeta | Jerry Levine | July 14, 2006 |
| When a union boss's death threatens to prolong a city-wide garbage strike in San Francisco, it is up to Monk to help end the strike by determining whether the boss' death was suicide or murder. Along the way, Monk accuses the mayor (Chi McBride) and even Alice Cooper of murder. | |||||
| 64 | 3 | "Mr. Monk and the Big Game" | Jack Bernstein | Chris Long | July 21, 2006 |
| When their beloved basketball coach is lethally electrocuted while showering in a school locker room, Julie and her teammates hire Monk to investigate. | |||||
| 65 | 4 | "Mr. Monk Can't See a Thing" | Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin | Stephen Surjik | July 28, 2006 |
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When Monk goes to his firehouse to get his smoke detectors inspected, the crew is quickly called away to a fatal house fire in which a young woman is killed. Minutes later, a mysterious intruder walks into the firehouse, lethally bludgeons a veteran fireman, blinds Monk with cleaning acid, then escapes. Despite Monk losing his eyesight, Stottlemeyer coaxes him to continue investigating, and Monk soon finds that the fire and his attack are connected. Note: This episode was adapted from the novel Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse. | |||||
| 66 | 5 | "Mr. Monk, Private Eye" | Tom Scharpling and Daniel Gaeta | Peter Weller | August 4, 2006 |
| While Stottlemeyer and Disher investigate the disappearance of a school teacher, Natalie convinces Monk to go into business as a private eye. He is soon hired by realtor Linda Fusco, (Sharon Lawrence) who wants him to investigate a seemingly innocuous fender bender that leads him to a doctor (Fred Weller) who may be involved in much more that meets the eye. | |||||
| 67 | 6 | "Mr. Monk and the Class Reunion" | Daniel Dratch | David Grossman | August 11, 2006 |
| Monk and Natalie go to UC Berkeley for Monk's college reunion, but when Stottlemeyer and Disher show up investigating the murder of a longtime retired nurse who worked there, Monk discovers a murder plot against Trudy's roommate (Cynthia Stevenson). | |||||
| 68 | 7 | "Mr. Monk Gets a New Shrink" | Hy Conrad | Andrei Belgrader | August 18, 2006 |
| When Dr. Kroger's cleaning lady is stabbed and killed in his office, apparently by one of the shrink's patients, Dr. Kroger believes he's responsible and decides to retire. It's up to Monk to solve the case and get Dr. Kroger back to work. | |||||
| 69 | 8 | "Mr. Monk Goes to a Rock Concert" | Blair Singer | Randall Zisk | August 25, 2006 |
| Monk and Natalie go to a major rock concert (as far outside Monk's comfort zone as he could possibly get) to look for Captain Stottlemeyer's son Jared (Jon Kyle Hansen), who has ditched school, when a roadie (Terry Fradet) turns up dead in one of the port-a-potties. The dead man's girlfriend (Tamara Feldman) angrily refuses to believe that her boyfriend died of an accidental overdose, and ropes Monk and Natalie into investigating. | |||||
| 70 | 9 | "Mr. Monk Meets His Dad" | Tom Scharpling and Dan Dratch | Jerry Levine | November 17, 2006 |
| When Monk's truck driving father Jack (Dan Hedaya) rolls into town at Christmas time, Monk joins him on the road, where they stumble across a very peculiar mystery after Jack's boss is killed. | |||||
| 71 | 10 | "Mr. Monk and the Leper" | Charles Evered | Randall Zisk | December 22, 2006 |
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A missing billionaire suffering from leprosy (Stephen Bogardus) comes out of hiding to hire Monk, who soon finds himself in the midst of a shadowy murder plot worthy of a classic Hollywood film noir. The investigation leads Monk and Natalie to the man's wife (Sarah Brown), who originally has a difficult time believing their story. Note: The episode was broadcast in black & white as well as in color. Tony Shalhoub provided a recorded introduction for the black-and-white version, while Ted Levine and Jason Gray-Stanford introduced the color version. | |||||
| 72 | 11 | "Mr. Monk Makes a Friend" | Andy Breckman and Daniel Gaeta | Randall Zisk | January 19, 2007 |
| A fun-loving everyman (Andy Richter) bumps into Monk, and the two become fast friends. For the first time in his life, Monk appears to have a buddy. | |||||
| 73 | 12 | "Mr. Monk Is At Your Service" | Rob LaZebnik | Anton Cropper | January 26, 2007 |
| When Natalie suspects foul play in the deaths of her parent's (Michael Cavanaugh and Holland Taylor) wealthy neighbors, Monk goes undercover as a butler to the deceased's son (Sean Astin) to investigate, but he soon finds himself more obsessed with his job than with investigating. | |||||
| 74 | 13 | "Mr. Monk Is On the Air" | Josh Siegal and Dylan Morgan | Mike Listo | February 2, 2007 |
| Monk and Natalie suspect a popular radio shock jock (Steven Weber) of murdering his wife. There's only one problem: at the time of death, he was on the air broadcasting a live show. | |||||
| 75 | 14 | "Mr. Monk Visits a Farm" | David Breckman | Andrei Belgrader | February 9, 2007 |
| When Randy's uncle Harvey Disher apparently dies by his own hand after accidentally killing his beloved prize pig, and leaves his farm to Randy in his will, Randy decides to quit the police force and start a new life in the country. But Randy soon suspects that his neighbor (Ricardo Chavira) may have murdered Harvey, so Monk joins him on the farm to investigate. Along the way Monk must also woo the local sheriff (Brooke Adams) and go undercover as a farmhand to investigate Randy's neighbor. | |||||
| 76 | 15 | "Mr. Monk and the Really, Really Dead Guy" | Joe Toplyn | Anthony R. Palmieri | February 23, 2007 |
| When the mysterious "Six Way Killer" strikes in San Francisco, Monk must match his detective skills against the flashy forensic technology of a federal agent as they both pursue the murderer. | |||||
| 77 | 16 | "Mr. Monk Goes to the Hospital" | Jonathan Collier | Wendey Stanzler | March 2, 2007 |
| Monk goes to the emergency room for a bloody nose, but when a doctor in the hospital turns up dead, Monk joins the murder investigation, and soon his own life is in grave danger. | |||||
Awards and nominations
Emmy Awards
- Outstanding Actor - Comedy Series (Tony Shalhoub, nominated)
- Outstanding Guest Actor - Comedy Series (Stanley Tucci for playing "David Ruskin" in "Mr. Monk and the Actor", won)
Golden Globe Awards
- Best Actor - Musical or Comedy Series (Tony Shalhoub, nominated)
Screen Actors Guild
- Outstanding Actor - Comedy Series (Tony Shalhoub, nominated)
Trivia
- Traylor Howard was pregnant for most of the production of season 5, which explains why Natalie is usually hidden behind various objects, such as boxes and tables. However, Howard's pregnancy worked out rather well for a scene in the episode "Mr. Monk Is At Your Service" where Natalie pretends to be pregnant to Paul Buchanan, although she later confides to Monk that it's just a pillow.
- The DVD release of this season contained both the black & white and color versions of the episode "Mr. Monk and the Leper".
- The DVD release of this season also included the Pilot episode of the USA Network show Psych.
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