By Joe Hummel

After seven successful seasons, USA Network's Monk says goodbye this summer/fall, with surprises for long time fans and even the rumoured answer to who killed Monk's wife Trudy over the final sixteen episodes. Season eight's premiere (August 7th, 2009) features Mr. Monk's Favorite Show. Christine Rapp, the former child star of "The Cooper Clan," has been the victim of attempted murder and she hires Adrian to be her bodyguard.

Elizabeth Perkins stars as the grown up Ms. Rapp, and the fact that Monk is her biggest gawking, gushing fan blinds him to the concept that the character she played as a child is nothing like the 'lady' she has become.

The episode features the expected humor, cast of likely suspects, and even more insight into Adrian Monk. Christine Rapp was the child star of Monk's favorite TV program, The Cooper Clan, based on the Brady Bunch, as we see in the flashbacks.

I hate to give too much away, but Adrian's dream sequence shows some hero worship for more members of the TV family than young Ms. Rapp. I also enjoyed a little trivia contest he held with another fan, WITHOUT the benefit of reruns to help his memory that most of us would have at our intellectual disposal. Although knowing we are approaching the final 16 episodes may be giving me a bit of bittersweet nostalgic pressure, I thoroughly enjoyed this episode, and look forward to a finale that will be more satisfying than so many other shows that have let me down in the past.

Along with a few other publications, we had a chance to talk to Tony Shalhoub about the season and more than a little insight into his character, Adrian Monk. Regarding the new, final season, Tony said, "I think people will be really gratified and startled maybe to see that the quality remains really, really high, that the stories are interesting, that we do a bit of what we've tried to do every season, which is kind of break our own rules and do some unexpected things." What would Tony Shalhoub like to see audience members take away from Adrian Monk?

"I think, if I had to choose one thing, I would say that I would want people to take away this idea that sometimes people's problems or neuroses are really the things that are kind of a blessing in disguise, and even though there's, you know, sometimes there's pain associated with these things that sometimes in the face of adversity with obstacles to overcome, people can really kind of soar and find their higher selves and I think that's what we've tried to do on the show is we've portrayed this character as someone who turns his liability, his liabilities into assets per his life," Tony continued, "and that there's - and I hope that when we get to the end - I don't know this for sure, but I hope when we get to the end of season eight that we'll have seen some real healing from Monk, and I believe in that. I believe that there is healing and that there is change, and that all of those things are - they are just really, really key to all of our lives."

How involved were you with the development of the character of Monk?

" I wasn't really there when the character was created. The script was around for a number of years before it came to me, although I do feel that I've had some significant input. When I came to the project, the script and the character was somewhat different, and I had long conversations with Andy Breckman about kind of morphing the character more towards to what I wanted to do, more to my strengths. The original script that I read was somewhat more - was a little more slap sticky, and I wanted to emphasize the kind of darker aspects of this character and more... and so that was a conversation that a lot of the producers had in the beginning. And I think Andy did such a great job morphing what he had originally written to fit me and what I wanted to do."

What sort of legacy does he hope Monk will leave?

"Well, I think one of the things that will be remembered about this show, I hope will be remembered, is that at a time when there was, in a lot of television, especially with the onslaught of cable and in a period where television is kind of redefining itself, that there were precious few shows on the air that were suitable for a wider audience, like a younger audience, you know, people in their 30's and then people like elderly people in the 70's and 80's. That there was a show that all those different demographics could tune into and appreciate, and would appreciate on their own level"
"And I think there aren't a lot of shows like that. There haven't been a lot of shows like that in the last decade. And I hope that that's something that people will focus on and remember for a long time, you know, that it's still possible to do interesting stories and good comedy without having it have to be all exclusively adult themed kinds of things or super violent or with language that some people might feel is inappropriate for younger audiences, and that this show was kind of able to stand out and do that."

Has he learned anything from Adrian Monk? Has Adrian gotten anything from Tony Shalhoub?

"Well, I think yes. I think I have learned something from Adrian. I think I've learned to - sometimes, you know, hyper-focusing on things is actually a good thing to do. Not all the time, and I wouldn't want to be as kind of fixed - you know, get as fixated and as obsessed as Adrian, but sometimes, you know, I've found that it's really helpful to look at things in my own life with the same kind of sort of relentlessness that Monk does, just turning something over and over and over and trying to see it from all angles, and not being too quick to judge something or label something. So in that sense, I feel like I've gained a little real life wisdom."

"What has Monk gotten from me? Boy, I don't know. That's a really good question. I feel like Monk has maybe become a little more - because I was playing the role, maybe Monk has become a little more open to others and embraces to the level, to the degree that he can, embraces other people's point of view. I feel like I've been that kind of a person in my life, open-minded."

Have you found some of his compulsions entering your life?

"Well, you know, they take so many different forms and kind of crop up at the oddest times really. Sometimes I feel like - there are moments when I feel like I'm just nothing like the character. But then something will happen, and I'll just realize that I'm rearranging something on a table at a restaurant, which seems that in that particular moment, seems like it's absolutely essential that the sugar packets are facing one way and that everything else has to stop until this particular task is completed. Then I realize, what the hell am I doing? I'm channeling the character again. So it would take me about an hour and a half to describe all of the things that occur, but just trust me. It just kind of comes over me in waves, and I have to really, really check myself and try and pull myself out of these things."

The character of Monk has been portrayed very respectful, considering his OCD. What was the process you went into in the research to try to make sure you didn't go over the top and play it maybe possibly offensively?

"The process was really one of - it's a process that I use and have used in approaching other characters, which is to find out - you know, knowing that it's a comedy and to find out what - in any comedy, what I try to do is I try and find out what are the more serious aspects of the character. And, conversely, when I do a serious role, I try and find out what's funny about the character. And the beauty of this particular character is that I've had the opportunity to do both comedy and drama within one series, one character."

"So I guess to answer your question, it's really digging out the - when you're doing the comedic moments, digging out what's really, really at stake and what is the most important and most serious thing to the character, which I believe informs the comedy. And then conversely, you know, when the moments are really dark and poignant, trying to infuse those with an unexpected and sometimes inappropriate or seemingly inappropriate comedic flash, you know, a little spark of something absurd or comedic. That's been my approach."

Regarding OCD, Tony told us, "I have an enormous amount of freedom. In terms of dialog, I try to stay really close to the script. We all do, but we do have a writer with us on the set every moment, and we're always pitching ideas to this writer/producer and seeing what we can get away with. But as far as physical behavior and things that I discover that may not be in the script, but are, but we discover in whatever environment we're in, whether it's somewhere outdoors or somewhere in an office or wherever the setting may be."

"I've been able to kind of just find things and work with them. That's what's really been so exciting because it's kind of, there's an endless, believe me, playing an OCD character with some of those tendencies myself, there's an endless, endless array of stuff to become preoccupied with out there in the world, whether it's intentioned by the script or completely unintentional." What's next for Tony Shalhoub?

"Well, I don't really have a preference, to be honest. In fact, my preference, my only preference is to have a lot of variety and diversity in the material that I work on. I've been so fortunate throughout my career, when I was doing theater, more theater than anything else, and when I was doing films that I got a chance just to do a broad range of things. In fact, a lot of my choices that I made were about that very thing. Every project that I had an opportunity to do or chose to do, I wanted it to be different from the last thing I did, and I think that's why I have a good, you know, I had kind of a diverse kind of resume. I'm really - it's what I set out to do as an actor originally."

We kind of know how Monk is dealing with the loss of Dr. Kroger, but can you tell us a little bit about Tony dealing with the loss of Stanley Kamel?

"You know, it's been really tricky, and we all speak... it's almost as if he has never left us because his name comes up in stories, and anecdotes come up about him all the time on the set. And he's missed, but we try to sort of keep him alive in our - you know, keep in our midst. He was there from the very, very beginning, from the pilot episode, and I have to say, you know, those scenes, those Dr. Kroger scenes in the pilot were so important, just in terms of my process, my discovery of who Monk was."

"I think those scenes in particular were the most informative for me and the richest. They really, really helped me to kind of define the parameters of this guy, of my character. So, yes, I kind of carry that with me and have for all these seasons. And now, when I'm in these sessions, these scenes with Hector Elizondo, who plays Dr. Bell, I can't even go into these scenes without just this little - I sort of do this little internal toast, as it were, to Stanley Kamel because he was the original doctor. I like to think that he's kind of there in those sessions with me. He is missed."
Tony told us that the first eleven episodes would be pretyy much stand alone, and that the final five would tie in together leading towards the finale. Season eight guest stars include Elizabeth Perkins, Rena Sofer, Dylan Baker, Meat Loaf, Bernie Kopell, Jay Mohr, Daniel Stern, Alex Wolff, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Eric Balfour, Kelly Carlson and Reed Diamond. Bitty Schram Monk's original sidekick, Sharona Fleming will make an appearance, as will his arch nemesis, Harold Krenshaw. With 124 episodes avaialble at the end, I'm looking forward to a complete Monk box set, hopefully sooner rather than later.