Nostalgia

Have you seen this promo? I nearly die from laughter every time it cycles. Sadly, it also reminds me of how poorly written its source material has become.

I know a lot of people feel the turning point was the departure of Betty Schram’s Sharona character, but since I never liked her that wasn’t true for me. I thought Natalie and Monk had a better chemistry overall. No, I realized the show had begun a marked decline upon viewing two episodes (after all, *every* show has a clunker, but several in a row is never a good sign). The eps in question were ‘Mr Monk Makes a Friend’ & ‘Mr Monk at Your Service’. They were the kind of bad that force you to admit how bad they are, even if you don’t want to. Sort of like that moment in a dream where you realize you’re dreaming because the events have become so absurd your mind refuses to accept them as reality.

Both episodes treat either Monk or the viewer as though they were complete idiots. In the case of the former, we’re supposed to believe Monk is so desperate for a friend that he fails to recognize even the most obvious clues that his new ‘friend’ is actually the criminal. In the latter, we’re expected to buy into the idea that Sean Astin pretending to be his father on a 911 tape is even *remotely* believable. You’d have to watch the episode to know what I’m talking about, but I remember that when I viewed it for the first time I instantly laughed at how outlandish the whole thing was. After these episodes, I never appreciated Monk in quite the same way.

At any rate, this promo for the latter half of season 7 – utilizing the music from Magnum PI – is a belly-buster. Oh, and compare it with the real intro to Magnum below.