Product Details

• Actors: Bitty Schram, Gail O'Grady, Jason Gray-Stanford, Stanley Kamel, Ted Levine
• Format: Box set, Color, Limited Edition, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 32
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Universal Studios
• DVD Release Date: October 5, 2010
• Run Time: 5451 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B003WVJ65Y
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,530 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

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Season One
The ranks of fictional genius gumshoes were joined by former San Francisco detective Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) in the summer of 2002, and he is indeed a welcome addition. Cable channel USA Network introduced Monk, a bright comedy-drama series about an obsessive-compulsive sleuth drummed out of police work following the murder of his wife and a subsequent spike in his overwhelming neuroses. Once a rising star in the homicide department, the twitchy savant is still valuable to Captain Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine), who reluctantly calls on Monk to solve difficult, high-profile murders of judges, billionaires, police informants, and famous attorneys. Monk's talent for finding clues and seeing the big picture in criminal investigations makes him a force to reckon with, but his many phobias (germs, heights, asymmetry, and much, much else) aggravate Stottlemeyer and make Monk completely dependent on a long-suffering assistant, Sharona (Bitty Schram), a single mom who functions as Dr. Watson to Monk's Sherlock Holmes. Each of the 12 episodes included in Monk: The Complete First Season is a delightful mix of clever whodunit puzzler, neurotic schtick, and deepening relationships. Among the latter, the bond between Monk and Sharona is most touching, as the platonic friends, sometimes aghast at how involved they are in each other's lives, surprise themselves with the breadth of their trust and commitment. In "Mr. Monk Goes to the Asylum," Monk is forced into a stay at a mental hospital, where a murderer has convinced him he's crazy; it's Sharona who makes her boss realize he's not. In "Mr. Monk and the Earthquake," it's Monk who rushes to Sharona's aid when he deduces that a lying friend is about to kill her. In almost every episode, Monk is confronted with a phobic limitation he must overcome in order to save the day. The question is whether he will heal enough, one day, to re-join his old squad. For the sake of Monk's winning formula and fans, one has to hope such good news never comes to pass. --Tom Keogh

Season Two
Monk: Season Two finds the popular cable dramedy all the more satisfying and fun in its second year. Relationships between the series' core characters have (against all odds) actually deepened and sweetened, while the new whodunit storylines challenge obsessive-compulsive investigator hero Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) in fresh and novel ways. There are no big changes, but there is more compassion, even friendship, exchanged between Monk and his former boss, Captain Leland Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine), and grudging admiration for the difficult private sleuth from Stottlemeyer's second-in-command, Lieutenant Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford). As for Monk's crucial bond with his long-suffering assistant, Sharona (Bitty Schram), well, nothing comes easier than before. On the other hand, Sharona continues to draw Monk out of his self-obsession by giving him someone to care about.

Highlights include the strong season opener, "Mr. Monk Goes Back to School," starring Andrew McCarthy as a science teacher whom Monk instantly suspects of killing a colleague. (The latter's death was disguised as a suicide.) Monk's investigation leads him to take, with many pitfalls and funny moments, a post at the school as a substitute teacher. But the episode also demonstrates the series' increasing preference for mysteries that concern how a crime was committed rather than who did it. Also good is "Mr. Monk Goes to Mexico," in which Monk finds himself in a panic without bottled water while working alongside two south-of-the-border equivalents (in looks and personality) of Stottlemeyer and Disher. "Mr. Monk Meets the Playboy" stars Gary Cole as a girlie-mag publisher who blackmails the chivalrous Monk by acquiring, and threatening to print, old topless photos of Sharona. One of the season's best shows, "Mr. Monk and the Paperboy," finds the fastidious, orderly detective in a major freakout when his own home becomes a crime scene. Still a comic joy and still stimulating for mystery buffs, Monk: Season Two is highly recommended. Among appealing guest stars are Rachel Dratch, Glenne Headley, Tim Curry, and John Turturro as Monk's Mycroft-like brother. --Tom Keogh

Product Description

He’s obsessive. He’s compulsive. He’s Monk, “TV’s most original sleuth ever” (Howard Rosenberg, Los Angeles Times).

Primetime Emmy® and Golden Globe® winner Tony Shalhoub cleans up crime and grime galore in the beloved series that critics hailed as “fresh, exciting and utterly original” (Chicago Tribune).

Once upon a time Adrian Monk was a rising star with the San Francisco Police Department, but he lost his nerve, his mind and then his badge. Now, this obsessive-compulsive detective is determined to get back on the force by solving one crime at a time in “the best detective show to come along in decades” (New York Post).

Featuring hilarious guest stars, including Stanley Tucci, John Turturro and Sarah Silverman, and packed with every episode from all 8 seasons, this 32-disc set includes hours of behind-the-scenes bonus features along with the collectible 32-page Defective Detective Handbook, making Monk: The Complete Series a compulsively essential addition to any DVD obsessive’s collection.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Show, Highly Recommended February 2, 2011

By Connie Rose

Format:DVD

I just watched Monk from start to finish, 8 seasons, one season a week for the past 8 weeks. It has to be the best -- or one of the very best -- TV shows ever produced, IMO. Terrific acting, great humor bordering on slapstick sometimes, good drama, fantastic character development. Tony Shalhoub is simply outstanding. Not to be missed.

77 of 87 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars It's a gift, and a curse July 25, 2010

By E. A Solinas HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

Sherlock Holmes, Columbo, Hercule Poirot -- genius detectives are usually a bit quirky. But no other is as quirky as Adrian Monk, the obsessive-compulsive detective -- and "Monk: Complete Series " compiles every episode of this funny, likable little mystery series. Tony Shalhoub shines as title character, solving the case with his gift/curse and his willingness to go anywhere... that doesn't have germs.

Adrian Monk's wife Trudy was killed in a car-bombing, and the devastated detective fell apart completely. Years later, Monk (Tony Shalhoub) is partially recovered, but he still is obsessive-compulsive and has dozens of phobias. The only way he manages is with his assistant Sharona (Bitty Schram) -- and later her successor Natalie (Traylor Howard) -- babysitting him.

Courtesy of his friend Captain Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine), Monk is called in for dozens of bizarre, baffling cases. His excellent memory and his OCD ("It's a gift.... and a curse") allow him to see patterns and details where other people see nothing.

Among Monk's cases are going undercover at a prison, a killer dentist, a deadly Christmas gift, an elephant used as a lethal weapon, a billionaire mugger, saving Willie Nelson from a murder rap, trapping a black widow, the death of a 115-year-old man, the Mafia, garbage strikes, rock concerts, a cult, real estate, a murder on a sub, a voodoo curse, UFO sightings, martial-artists, murdered models, and a guy who leaped out of a plane -- and died by drowning.

But as quirky and bizarre as the cases is, it never stops hitting the heartstrings. Monk becomes attached to a little boy and a murder victim's dog, and it's a credit to this show's writers that the ending of those episodes aren't maudlin or sappy. And he is still passionately devoted to his dead wife, and his quest for her killer is a story that stretches across the whole series.

"Monk" is the sort of show that usually gets cancelled after five episodes -- it's well-written, amusing, and smart. So by TV standards, lasting eight seasons is nothing short of miraculous. Like any long-running show it has its duds ("Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine" always makes me cringe), but overall it's a brilliant series.

There are gunfights and SWAT teams, like on any cop show, but the main focus here is on detecting. And the writers are skilled at coming up with all sorts of bizarre or unsolvable crimes, which only Monk could unravel. Not to mention the dialogue, which leans heavily on dry humour ("So you're saying the opposite of a spider is a tall building?")

But the series wouldn't be what it is without Tony Shalhoub. He played weird roles in movies like MIB and "Galaxy Quest," and so he knows how to balance out Monk's weirdness and genius without leaning too heavily on either. When told to sit on the ground, he says nervously, "I can't. Animals do things on the ground. Terrible, terrible things."

Schram and Howard are both good as his assistants, and they're similar without being TOO alike -- one was a hardened New York gal, and the other is a rebel rich girl with a checkered employment past. And Levine and Jason Gray-Stanford round off the cast as genial cop Stottlemeyer and his earnest (if slightly goofy) sidekick Disher.

"Monk: The Complete Series" shows us all of this excellent show, with its uniquely appealing hero. It's a gift... and a curse.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Monk must have February 23, 2011

By S. McGee

Format:DVD

The complete box set is a necessary purchase for every Monk fan who wants to laugh over and over again. The only negative I have found with my purchase is that the first season's bonus footage has defective audio.