It is nearly impossible to escape the common comparisons between Monk and Columbo. But don’t get this show expecting it to be at all like the well-loved bumbling detective played for decades by Peter Falk. The two characters are nothing alike. The comparisons are made because we haven’t had a detective show since Columbo where the quirks and personality of the character himself were more important than the cases he solved.

Tony Shalhoub’s Adrian Monk suffers from a long list of phobias from germs to drink...ng milk. He also suffers from O.C.D. (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). This means that Monk can’t stand disorder of any kind. This, of course, doesn’t help when you consider how few “neat” crime scenes there are. The series uses different writers to bring out the comedy and the mystery elements of the show. Shalhoub is what really makes everything fly. Expect that the show does go way over the top. But it’s all in good fun. On of the big surprises here is Ted Levine as the police captain. Levine, of course, is best known as the killer from Silence of the Lambs.