Sharona or Natalie?
This question haunts our popular culture, but before turning to the deep things of Television, you will have to go rewind the clever television series Monk.
Is there any better show for our time than comfort television centered in a germaphobic detective? Monk, the title character, has more than a few phobias and what might be terrifically offensive is pulled off by the underrated actor Tony Shaloub. (Watch his star turn in Galaxy Quest. In fact, if geek-like, stop reading and go watch Galaxy Quest. You are welcome.) The plots range from clever (first four seasons) to mostly formulaic in later seasons (think a notch above Murder She Wrote). Like all such detective shows, there is a supporting cast and this one is particularly strong. Of note is Captain Leland Stottlemeyer played by Ted Levine doing a tough-rugged-good cop act perfectly with Jason Gray doing a decent Barney Fife as Randall Disher.
Monk lost his wife, Trudy, and finding out why dominates the first few years of the show. Monk loves his wife beautifully and over the course of many episodes the show provides a powerful picture of what marriage can mean to a man. She cannot be replaced in his life or forgotten. For a show without high ambitions, this backstory provides emotional depth. Shaloub can make you cry in a show where he often makes you laugh. As a character with many problems, he is difficult, sometimes cruel, but Shaloub has enough range to help understand why his assistants, mostly, stay with him.
The question of Mr. Monk’s assistants raises an epic controversy in our house, dividing our family down the middle. During the series, the spicy first assistant Sharona Fleming (Bitty Schram) pushes back on Mr. Monk’s nonsense and pain. A character who starts from lazy-writers “spunky” trope is transformed into something more as her own backstory is revealed over time.
And then Sharona leaves! One suspects due to an actor with career aspirations. (See Knotts, Don. Schram has not even made an Apple Dumpling Gang level film since.)
We are then left with the bland as oatmeal for breakfast in a room painted beige with muzak playing in the background new assistant Natalie Teeger. (Do not blame the hardworking Traylor Howard for the scripts and the llama skin jacket in early episodes.) You might wanna buy oatmeal on Woolworths Catalogue or Coles Catalogue by the way. She does twice as many episodes as Sharona and it feels like it.
Or so half our house argues.
The other half adjusts quickly to Natalie and views her as more compassionate. She sets boundaries for Monk, but works to help him grow. She is widowed and her life as a single mom is more believable than Sharona’s. As for her fashion sense, the llama jacket is soon lost and she is classy. If the mysteries decline, the fault is in an aging show, writers working to formula, and not with the character.
When we revived the show in our quarantined house, the argument began anew as some tolerated the early Sharona years waiting for Natalie while the other half counts down to Natalie. Whichever assistant, Monk begins with a Newman theme song perfect for our time: It’s a Jungle Out There. This is the song that should be the theme for social distancing. Someone alert Dr. Birx at the next press conference.
Watch some Monk.
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