As the fifth season of "Monk" continues, fans get to delve even deeper into the defective detective's psyche.
In November, viewers gained insight into Monk's past after meeting his dad, Jack (Dan Hedaya), who abandoned his son at a tender young age. Now that the hit show has returned, Adrian Monk reveals just how much his childhood loneliness affected him.
In the Jan. 19 episode "Mr. Monk Makes a Friend," he laments: "I always wanted a best friend. I used to pray for it every Christmas."
At the local grocery store, Monk bumps into jolly everyman Hal Tucker (Andy Richter), and oddly enough they hit it off. Before you know it, Monk is "hanging" with his pal Hal, even attending bloody hockey games, all in the name of friendship.
"That's kind of the beauty of doing this part," Emmy winner Tony Shalhoub says about playing Monk. "Sometimes I open the script and I discover a thing about my reading that I hadn't really thought of."
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Revealing more about Monk's backstory is one way the series' writers have kept the show fresh after four successful seasons. They're also continually sticking him into new situations that highlight his persnickety ways. In the Jan. 26 episode "Mr. Monk Is at Your Service," a wealthy man (Sean Astin) mistakenly hires Monk to be his butler, a job for which he finds him-self remarkably well suited.
His duties include setting up a housecleaning schedule, overseeing a luncheon and scrutinizing other details.
Richter and Astin are two of the guest stars gracing the "Monk" sound stage this season.
"Charles Durning is in an episode," says Shalhoub. "Ricardo Chavira, who's from 'Desperate Housewives,' is a kind of a farmer who's growing pot, and Monk stumbles on this big pot field (in Friday's episode). And we have Steven Weber, my old colleague from 'Wings.' "
Even with all these new elements, certain aspects of the show are reliably the same: Monk's obsessive-compulsive disorder, his remarkable ability to solve cases and his love for his late wife, Trudy. This is one of the reasons why it's unlikely that Monk will become romantically involved.
On TV
"Monk" airs at 10 p.m. Fridays on USA.
