Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) was one of San Francisco’s finest detectives, always a bit quirky but he got the job done and solved a lot of difficult cases. The murder of is wife and his inability to solve the crime amplified his existing quirks to the point of obsession, eventually making it impossible for him to function in society and ultimately putting him on psychiatric leave from the Police Department.

With his permanent department funded Nurse Sharona Felming (Bitty Schram) in tow, Adrian acts as an independent consultant on difficult crimes for his old boss Captain Leland Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) in an attempt to convince the force that he is ready to return to work.

Monk follows a pretty standard and successful crime show formula with a strong and brilliant main character able to derive clues and leads from the most obscure events and situations, eventually solving the crime and putting the perpetrator behind bars.

What makes Monk different from any other crime show is the comedic element, which co-exists with the crime and mystery elements in a way that isn’t highly original either (see Columbo) but seems to work regardless.

The comedy in Monk stems from the obsessive compulsive behaviours of the main character, his fear of germs, needles, milk, death, snakes, mushrooms, heights, crowds, elevators and just about everything else.

Teamed up with Monk is Sharona, a clinical Nurse with a shady past, continually having to make excuses for Monk’s behaviour to befuddled bystanders, her well grounded attitude acting as the perfect foil to Monks quirks.

When a new show comes on TV that looks mildly interesting I try to give it my ‘15 minutes test’. If it doesn’t grab me in those 15 minutes I’ll switch off and likely never watch it again (some shows don’t even make it past the first ad break). While I’m not usually a fan of crime shows by 5 minutes I was hooked and ended up watching the entire season over the coming weeks.

The success of the Monk is evident with end of the third season approaching in the US and while there is no news of a fourth the ratings and number of awards the show is receiving will guarantee that at least another season is produced after the current one.

This 4 disc box set includes all 12 episodes (including the movie length pilot) from the first season of Monk as broadcast (and recently repeated) in Australia as follows:

When the first disc of this box set spun up in my DVD player I had high hopes as the Universal logo came up on screen. My amp reported 5.1 sound and the picture was 1.85:1 and 16:9 enhanced. Unfortunately as the 4:3 menu loaded the illusion was shattered and the disappointment continued from the first episode.

While the original broadcast aspect ratio for Monk is 1.78:1 this DVD set is presented in 1.33:1 Pan & Scan. I don’t think even Monk could solve the mystery surrounding the decision to downgrade the video content of the show in such a way.

All complaints about aspect ratio aside the video quality of Monk on DVD is adequate for the content. Colour levels are fine as are black and shadow detail but the picture does tend to be very grainy throughout most of the episodes giving an overall soft look, not to be unexpecetd in a TV show but a little dispointing on one that is only a couple of years old.

The audio presentation is available only in a Dolby Digital 2.0 mix which is fine for the content. The show is almost entirely dialogue driven and the 2.0 format is fine for this purpose. The dialogue is clear and audible at all times.

The extras contained within this set consist of about 21 minutes of what is essentially shameless self promotion in the form of a series of Monk documentaries named in the same vein as the episodes, featuring interviews with cast and crew. All these featurettes appear to have been edited from one longer version most likely first broadcast on TV for promotion of the show (hence the 21 minute running time).

Mr Monk and his origins (4:20)
Writer Andy Beckman and Producer David Huberman discuss the original idea for Monk and the process involved in creating the character and the show.

Mr Monk and his OCD (3:01)
Cast and crew discuss the details of Adrian Monk’s Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

Mr Monk and his fellow sufferers (4:15)
Focusing on how everyone has a little OCD in them and how this makes it easy to relate to Monk even if his particular affliction is greatly amplified.

Mr Monk and his award winning performances (3:55)
Tony Shalhoub won an Emmy for his performances in Season One, this short section discusses his performance within the show.

Mr Monk and his partners in crime (4:35)
This fragment mainly focuses on Bitty Schram (Sherona) and her role within the show, also touching briefly on the other main characters including Captain Stottlemeyer.

The special features on this set are a token effort at best, an audio commentary on an episode or two would have been nice, perhaps a TV spot so fans can see how the show was promoted would have been a nice little addition.

Overall, the release of this DVD set should make fans of good comedy and crime happy and the extras package is an added bonus despite the substandard treatment of the video material.