friday
Featured Pick | Best Bets | Daytime | Primetime | Late Night
A faithful reader I know as “Thumper” writes (and gets it right) re Monk:
A really enjoyable show that has snuck in with little fanfare this summer is USA’s Monk, debuting on Friday nights at 9pm and 11pm Central, and repeating Mondays at 9pm. The pilot the other week was hilarious. Basically, it’s a detective show set in San Francisco, where the detective Adrian Monk, played by Tony Shalhoub (who also produces), is retired from the police, but consults on difficult cases.
The reason he’s off the force is medical; four years ago, his reporter wife was killed in a mysterious unsolved car bombing, and Monk has suffered serious mental trauma as a result. Monk is absurdly neurotic– afraid of heights, crowds, germs, driving, and any number of other things, added to an equally-crippling obsessive-compulsive disorder that fixates on counting. He has a charming but long-suffering personal assistant to mind him, and he pulls off all sort of Sherlock Holmes observations and deductions.
Hilarious and entertaining, highly recommended. The scene where Monk must hoof it for his life while a bad guy tries to run him down with a car, as Monk continues to obsessively touch and count every pole as he flees along the streets and alleys, was truly inspired.
New episodes of Stargate SG-1 (Sci-Fi, 8pm and 10pm) and Farscape (Sci-Fi, 9pm and 11pm)
Debut of a new episode of Monk (USA, 9pm and 11pm)
Bill Cosby on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm)
“Every Mother’s Son” episode of Homicide: Life on the Street
The Great Race (TCM, 3pm).
Rob Lowe, Michael Bolton on a rerun of The Rosie O’Donnell Show (syndicated, check your local listings).
“Recipes to Remember” on Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).
Baseball: Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves (TBS, 6:30pm).
Baseball: Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals (WGN, 7pm).
The Dead Zone (Sci-Fi, 7pm).
New episodes of Stargate SG-1 (Sci-Fi, 8pm and 10pm) and Farscape (Sci-Fi, 9pm and 11pm).
The Fairly Oddparents (Nick, 8pm).
Invader ZIM (Nick, 8:30pm).
“A man who hasn’t left his bed in 11 years is accused of the murder of a local judge” in the “Mr. Monk Meets Dale the Whale” episode of Monk (USA, 9pm and 11pm). Tony Shalhoub, Bitty Schram, and Ted Levine star in this series created by Andy Breckman about an unconventional detective (who happens to suffer from a number of phobias and from at least a couple types of OCD).
“The detectives investigate the rape/murder of a woman whose car contains counterfeit narcotics” on Law & Order: SVU (NBC, 9pm). One of those cases that starts out one way and then takes a bunch of turns ’til it’s a whole different story than the one you expected.
“Sea urchin” on Iron Chef (Food Network, 9pm and 11pm).
Rerun of Alias (ABC Family Channel, 9pm).
“The detectives probe the murder of woman who was dating a married, high-profile judge” on Law & Order: Criminal Intent (USA, 10pm).
Bill Cosby on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).
Antonio Banderas, Goo Goo Dolls on The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm).
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (TV Land, 11pm, 11:30pm).
Chazz Palminteri, Beth Orton on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:35pm).
Martin Mull and Fred Willard in Fernwood 2Night (TV Land, midnight).
Critically acclaimed “Every Mother’s Son” episode of Homicide: Life on the Street (Court TV, midnight).
David Arquette, Mindy Sterling on The Late Late Show (CBS, check your local listings).
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