Mr. Monk Gets a New Shrink
Encyclopedia
"Mr. Monk Gets a New Shrink" is the seventh episode of the fifth season
of Monk
, and is the 68th episode overall.
Stanley Kamel
listed the episode among his favorites.
and Harold Krenshaw arguing over who should get the 8:00 AM session. He breaks up their argument, and asks them how they got into the waiting room. Monk and Harold admit that the door was unlocked. Dr. Kroger also asks them why the door to his office is open, and he becomes suspicious. Dr. Kroger, Monk, and Harold enter the office, and on the floor of the office, they find the dead body of Teresa Mueller, the building's cleaning lady, stabbed to death with a letter opener.
Apparently, someone walked in on Teresa while she was cleaning the office and scattered around some of the patient files. The time of death has been pinpointed to around 10:00 PM that night, as Teresa ended on the bottom floor. Monk quickly rules himself and Harold Krenshaw out as suspects.
Captain Stottlemeyer
and Lieutenant Disher suspect that one of Dr. Kroger's patients was responsible. While being questioned at the police station, Dr. Kroger admits that there is one patient who may fit the profile: a schizophrenic by the name of Joseph Wheeler. According to Dr. Kroger, Wheeler threatened him in the past and demanded to look at his file, because he thought Dr. Kroger was talking about his ex-wife behind his back.
Dr. Kroger takes the blame on himself for not seeing the murder coming, and decides to retire. He reassures Monk that he will refer him to another therapist as soon as possible. This causes Monk to start going through an accelerated version of the five steps of grief
(in order denial
, anger
, compromise
, depression
and finally overcoming it), which Kroger describes to Natalie as Monk acts out each step. But when Monk goes back through the five steps all over, they find that he has gotten stuck on a recursive loop.
Monk, Natalie, Stottlemeyer and Disher go to the store where Joseph Wheeler works to question him. Wheeler admits that he wasn't thinking straight when he made those threats as he was in the middle of a divorce. He also claims he loved Dr. Kroger and would take a bullet for him, plus he has an alibi
that checks out. Wheeler is quickly ruled out as a suspect.
Needing to talk to someone, Monk returns with Natalie
to Dr. Kroger's office, with Natalie in the doctor's chair. As they are about to walk out, Monk notices some vacuum marks on the carpet. They can only mean one thing: Teresa didn't walk in on the killer. Rather, the killer walked in on her. Just then, Francis Merrigan (Gordon Clapp
), who owns an importing and exporting business based in the same building, walks in on them, since the door was open. He admits that after the death of Teresa, one has to check on the room if the door is slightly open. Monk notices that Merrigan is carrying a milk carton. Merrigan claims that he is utilizing the milk carton for a coffeemaker in his office.
That night, Monk and Harold stake out
Dr. Kroger's house. They carefully conceal themselves while spying on the doctor. All of a sudden, someone throws a rock through the window and an SUV is seen speeding away. But neither of the patients, although rivals, could have thrown the rock. It seems obvious to Stottlemeyer and Disher that one of Dr. Kroger's patients is responsible. As they interview the rest of the Kroger family, we learn several facts about them, most especially their rebellious son Troy, among which are the fact that Charles has taken a paternity test three times at Troy's request, and it's always come back positive, and Troy knows Disher from being arrested. Monk, however, believes that whoever killed Teresa might have thrown the rock through the window as a diversion to make everyone believe that one of Dr. Kroger's patients is involved. He even recognizes the rock, though he doesn't know where. Dr. Kroger also tells Monk some other good news: he has found a therapist by the name of Dr. Jonah Sorenson, who can take Monk in, although he isn't normally accepting new patients.
Monk goes to Dr. Sorenson's office the next day. In session, he is rather uncomfortable by the fact that Sorenson is missing his right arm (from a boating accident two years ago). But as he is lamenting about how he remembered every leaf and every rock's location when he was seeing Dr. Kroger, he finally remembers where the rock came from.
Monk rushes back to Dr. Kroger's office just as Dr. Kroger is packing up. It is clear that Dr. Kroger hasn't seen Dr. Sorenson in a very long time, as he doesn't know about Sorenson's amputated arm. Monk shows Dr. Kroger exactly where the rock that was thrown at his house came from: it came from the courtyard. He has a good memory and he's been in the office enough times to know where everything fits. Now Monk has narrowed down the list of possible suspects to the people who have access to the courtyard.
Dr. Kroger mentions that only two people have access to the courtyard: himself and Francis Merrigan. Going to Merrigan's office, they find powdered milk dust on several of his shelves. Monk immediately remembers how when he and Natalie were in Dr. Kroger's office the day before, Merrigan walked in on them and he was carrying a milk carton. He had claimed that he was using the cartons for supplying a coffeemaker, but right now, there is obviously no evidence that Merrigan even has owned a coffeemaker, meaning he must have been lying to them about the carton's use.
Monk explains to Dr. Kroger that powdered milk is made from lactose
, and drug dealers use it to cut heroin. Merrigan is trafficking drugs, and he probably also killed Teresa Mueller. Dr. Kroger suggests to Monk that he not talk about Merrigan, for a good reason: Merrigan opens the door, pointing a gun at them. The two are tied to chairs and loaded into the back of Merrigan's box rental truck.
) if he has seen Monk.
Inside the truck, meanwhile, Monk gestures for Dr. Kroger to reposition himself on the right side of the truck. After he moves his chair over to that side, Monk instructs him to look at one of the Turkish
figurines in the back of the truck, which is obviously broken.
Monk then explains what this has to do with Teresa Mueller: he remembers that during the initial investigation, he asked Disher if he had checked the vacuum bag. Disher had said that the bag was completely empty. But the bag could not have been empty if she had been vacuuming rugs all night.
The night she was killed, Teresa was cleaning Merrigan's office. She accidentally broke one of the figurines. The heroin was stashed inside the figurines. She didn't think much of it and finished cleaning the room. As Teresa cleaned the building from the top floor down, she left Merrigan's office, and went to Dr. Kroger's office, which was the last office she did each night. Meanwhile, Merrigan came back to his office and he saw the broken figurine. He thought about it, and realized that Teresa's vacuum bag was filled with that heroin. He couldn't take any chances. He caught up with Teresa in Dr. Kroger's office and confronted her. He took out the vacuum bag, and when he found the heroin, he couldn't let her go. Merrigan grabbed a letter opener
and stabbed her, and then spread around several of the patient files to make it look like the killer was one of Dr. Kroger's patients. When he learned that Monk was skeptical, he threw a rock from the courtyard at Dr. Kroger's house to continue to send the police down the wrong trail.
Dr. Kroger tells Monk that there is probably no one who knows where they are. Unbeknownst to them, Harold Krenshaw is in his car and following Merrigan's truck. He calls the police to tell them he has the truck in sight. Monk and Dr. Kroger are unloaded at a warehouse.
Harold grabs a gun from a shelf and Dr. Kroger gestures for Harold to shoot Merrigan and his accomplice, who are emptying the vacuum bag and preparing to destroy the evidence that could send them to jail for life. However, organizing the knick-knacks on the shelf, Harold accidentally makes some noise and gives himself away. As Merrigan prepares to shoot Harold, the police arrive to arrest the men. A shootout ensues between Merrigan, Stottlemeyer and Disher. The police move in to arrest Merrigan, but just then, he points the gun at Dr. Kroger and shoots at him. However, Harold intercepts the bullet in his chest, much to Monk's dismay. Merrigan is quickly taken away.
During a session a few weeks later, Monk questions Dr. Kroger about the words "No Hope" written at the bottom of his file, which he looked at briefly while first investigating Teresa's death. Dr. Kroger explains that those two words Monk saw were actually "N. Hope", since they had been talking about Monk's father, who was born in New Hope, Pennsylvania
.
After some time, they decided that the best method of featuring a vacuum bag was to do the job with a cleaning lady, vacuuming up evidence of a drug ring trafficking heroin into the United States. Whereas cleaning ladies had already been the murder victims of several previous episodes, here it seemed absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, having a cleaning lady as the victim meant that they needed a main character to work with in order to give some personal involvement and reason for Monk to commit himself to the case. Monk was ruled out mostly because he doesn't have a cleaning lady, and if he did, she would never be good enough for him. It was eventually decided that the cleaning lady would end up being Dr. Kroger's cleaning lady. The idea of having Teresa Mueller work for Dr. Kroger was successful, because the writers had been looking to have an episode where Stanley Kamel
was more a special guest star than a secondary character.
This led to further complications. For a few days, it was thought that Monk and Dr. Kroger would work to solve the case, but upon realizing that Monk would not be able to go back to a clinical detachment with Dr. Kroger, they eliminated this idea. So instead, Dr. Kroger does appear in more scenes than he normally does, but he stays out of the investigation scenes. As a result, Monk and Dr. Kroger do not break into Francis Merrigan's office to snoop around, though that would have been the typical thing to do if someone else were there. Rather, they simply peer through the sliding glass door that opens from Merrigan's office into the courtyard.
Another big challenge that came up in production was who Monk's new shrink would be. Several ideas included a woman, someone too strict or too nice, someone driven crazy by Monk's compulsions, and even a bout of scream therapy. The eventual decision came from writer John Collier, who suggested a one-armed psychiatrist. Tony Shalhoub
liked the idea, but required that they recruit an actual one-armed actor to play Dr. Sorenson. The Screen Actors Guild
actually had several actors waiting to audition, and the part was given to Rick Curry.
Monk (season 5)
The fifth season of Monk originally aired in the United States on USA Network from July 7, 2006 to March 2, 2007. It consisted of 16 episodes. Tony Shalhoub, Traylor Howard, Ted Levine, and Jason Gray-Stanford reprised their roles as the main characters. A DVD of the season was released on June...
of Monk
Monk (TV series)
Monk is an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. It originally ran from 2002 to 2009 and is primarily a mystery series, although it has dark and comic touches.The series debuted on July...
, and is the 68th episode overall.
Stanley Kamel
Stanley Kamel
Stanley Kamel was an American actor, best known for his role as Dr. Charles Kroger on the American television series Monk.-Biography:...
listed the episode among his favorites.
Synopsis
Dr. Charles Kroger arrives at his office in Pacific Heights like on any other morning. But this will not be another ordinary morning. As he approaches his waiting room, he hears voices coming from inside. Dr. Kroger opens the door to his waiting room to find Adrian MonkAdrian Monk
Adrian Monk is a fictional character portrayed by Tony Shalhoub and the protagonist of the USA Network television series Monk. He is a renowned former homicide detective for the San Francisco Police Department...
and Harold Krenshaw arguing over who should get the 8:00 AM session. He breaks up their argument, and asks them how they got into the waiting room. Monk and Harold admit that the door was unlocked. Dr. Kroger also asks them why the door to his office is open, and he becomes suspicious. Dr. Kroger, Monk, and Harold enter the office, and on the floor of the office, they find the dead body of Teresa Mueller, the building's cleaning lady, stabbed to death with a letter opener.
Apparently, someone walked in on Teresa while she was cleaning the office and scattered around some of the patient files. The time of death has been pinpointed to around 10:00 PM that night, as Teresa ended on the bottom floor. Monk quickly rules himself and Harold Krenshaw out as suspects.
Captain Stottlemeyer
Leland Stottlemeyer
Captain Leland Francis Stottlemeyer is a fictional police officer played by Ted Levine on the American crime drama Monk. He is Captain of the San Francisco Police Department 's Homicide Detail, and a longtime friend of Adrian Monk from their days on the force together where he served as Monk's...
and Lieutenant Disher suspect that one of Dr. Kroger's patients was responsible. While being questioned at the police station, Dr. Kroger admits that there is one patient who may fit the profile: a schizophrenic by the name of Joseph Wheeler. According to Dr. Kroger, Wheeler threatened him in the past and demanded to look at his file, because he thought Dr. Kroger was talking about his ex-wife behind his back.
Dr. Kroger takes the blame on himself for not seeing the murder coming, and decides to retire. He reassures Monk that he will refer him to another therapist as soon as possible. This causes Monk to start going through an accelerated version of the five steps of grief
Grief
Grief is a multi-faceted response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or something to which a bond was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, it also has physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, and philosophical dimensions...
(in order denial
Denial
Denial is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence.The subject may use:* simple denial: deny the reality of the...
, anger
Anger
Anger is an automatic response to ill treatment. It is the way a person indicates he or she will not tolerate certain types of behaviour. It is a feedback mechanism in which an unpleasant stimulus is met with an unpleasant response....
, compromise
Compromise
To compromise is to make a deal where one person gives up part of his or her demand.In arguments, compromise is a concept of finding agreement through communication, through a mutual acceptance of terms—often involving variations from an original goal or desire.Extremism is often considered as...
, depression
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
and finally overcoming it), which Kroger describes to Natalie as Monk acts out each step. But when Monk goes back through the five steps all over, they find that he has gotten stuck on a recursive loop.
Monk, Natalie, Stottlemeyer and Disher go to the store where Joseph Wheeler works to question him. Wheeler admits that he wasn't thinking straight when he made those threats as he was in the middle of a divorce. He also claims he loved Dr. Kroger and would take a bullet for him, plus he has an alibi
Alibi
Alibi is a 1929 American crime film directed by Roland West. The screenplay was written by West and C. Gardner Sullivan, who adapted the 1927 Broadway stage play, Nightstick, written by Elaine Sterne Carrington, J.C...
that checks out. Wheeler is quickly ruled out as a suspect.
Needing to talk to someone, Monk returns with Natalie
Natalie Teeger
Natalie J. Teeger is a fictional character on the American crime drama Monk. She becomes Adrian Monk's personal assistant midway through the third season of the show...
to Dr. Kroger's office, with Natalie in the doctor's chair. As they are about to walk out, Monk notices some vacuum marks on the carpet. They can only mean one thing: Teresa didn't walk in on the killer. Rather, the killer walked in on her. Just then, Francis Merrigan (Gordon Clapp
Gordon Clapp
Gordon Clapp is an American actor, best known for portraying the role of Det. Greg Medavoy for all 12 seasons on the television series NYPD Blue, winning an Emmy Award in 1998.-Early and personal life:...
), who owns an importing and exporting business based in the same building, walks in on them, since the door was open. He admits that after the death of Teresa, one has to check on the room if the door is slightly open. Monk notices that Merrigan is carrying a milk carton. Merrigan claims that he is utilizing the milk carton for a coffeemaker in his office.
That night, Monk and Harold stake out
Stakeout
Stakeout is a 1987 film directed by John Badham and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Emilio Estevez, Madeleine Stowe, Aidan Quinn, and Forest Whitaker...
Dr. Kroger's house. They carefully conceal themselves while spying on the doctor. All of a sudden, someone throws a rock through the window and an SUV is seen speeding away. But neither of the patients, although rivals, could have thrown the rock. It seems obvious to Stottlemeyer and Disher that one of Dr. Kroger's patients is responsible. As they interview the rest of the Kroger family, we learn several facts about them, most especially their rebellious son Troy, among which are the fact that Charles has taken a paternity test three times at Troy's request, and it's always come back positive, and Troy knows Disher from being arrested. Monk, however, believes that whoever killed Teresa might have thrown the rock through the window as a diversion to make everyone believe that one of Dr. Kroger's patients is involved. He even recognizes the rock, though he doesn't know where. Dr. Kroger also tells Monk some other good news: he has found a therapist by the name of Dr. Jonah Sorenson, who can take Monk in, although he isn't normally accepting new patients.
Monk goes to Dr. Sorenson's office the next day. In session, he is rather uncomfortable by the fact that Sorenson is missing his right arm (from a boating accident two years ago). But as he is lamenting about how he remembered every leaf and every rock's location when he was seeing Dr. Kroger, he finally remembers where the rock came from.
Monk rushes back to Dr. Kroger's office just as Dr. Kroger is packing up. It is clear that Dr. Kroger hasn't seen Dr. Sorenson in a very long time, as he doesn't know about Sorenson's amputated arm. Monk shows Dr. Kroger exactly where the rock that was thrown at his house came from: it came from the courtyard. He has a good memory and he's been in the office enough times to know where everything fits. Now Monk has narrowed down the list of possible suspects to the people who have access to the courtyard.
Dr. Kroger mentions that only two people have access to the courtyard: himself and Francis Merrigan. Going to Merrigan's office, they find powdered milk dust on several of his shelves. Monk immediately remembers how when he and Natalie were in Dr. Kroger's office the day before, Merrigan walked in on them and he was carrying a milk carton. He had claimed that he was using the cartons for supplying a coffeemaker, but right now, there is obviously no evidence that Merrigan even has owned a coffeemaker, meaning he must have been lying to them about the carton's use.
Monk explains to Dr. Kroger that powdered milk is made from lactose
Lactose
Lactose is a disaccharide sugar that is found most notably in milk and is formed from galactose and glucose. Lactose makes up around 2~8% of milk , although the amount varies among species and individuals. It is extracted from sweet or sour whey. The name comes from or , the Latin word for milk,...
, and drug dealers use it to cut heroin. Merrigan is trafficking drugs, and he probably also killed Teresa Mueller. Dr. Kroger suggests to Monk that he not talk about Merrigan, for a good reason: Merrigan opens the door, pointing a gun at them. The two are tied to chairs and loaded into the back of Merrigan's box rental truck.
Here's What Happened
Natalie realizes that Monk is missing. She asks Stottlemeyer and Disher (who are playing a game of chessChess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
) if he has seen Monk.
Inside the truck, meanwhile, Monk gestures for Dr. Kroger to reposition himself on the right side of the truck. After he moves his chair over to that side, Monk instructs him to look at one of the Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
figurines in the back of the truck, which is obviously broken.
Monk then explains what this has to do with Teresa Mueller: he remembers that during the initial investigation, he asked Disher if he had checked the vacuum bag. Disher had said that the bag was completely empty. But the bag could not have been empty if she had been vacuuming rugs all night.
The night she was killed, Teresa was cleaning Merrigan's office. She accidentally broke one of the figurines. The heroin was stashed inside the figurines. She didn't think much of it and finished cleaning the room. As Teresa cleaned the building from the top floor down, she left Merrigan's office, and went to Dr. Kroger's office, which was the last office she did each night. Meanwhile, Merrigan came back to his office and he saw the broken figurine. He thought about it, and realized that Teresa's vacuum bag was filled with that heroin. He couldn't take any chances. He caught up with Teresa in Dr. Kroger's office and confronted her. He took out the vacuum bag, and when he found the heroin, he couldn't let her go. Merrigan grabbed a letter opener
Letter opener
A paper knife or letter opener is a knife-like object used to open envelopes or to slit uncut pages of books. Electric versions are also available, which work by using motors to slide the envelopes across a blade...
and stabbed her, and then spread around several of the patient files to make it look like the killer was one of Dr. Kroger's patients. When he learned that Monk was skeptical, he threw a rock from the courtyard at Dr. Kroger's house to continue to send the police down the wrong trail.
Dr. Kroger tells Monk that there is probably no one who knows where they are. Unbeknownst to them, Harold Krenshaw is in his car and following Merrigan's truck. He calls the police to tell them he has the truck in sight. Monk and Dr. Kroger are unloaded at a warehouse.
Harold grabs a gun from a shelf and Dr. Kroger gestures for Harold to shoot Merrigan and his accomplice, who are emptying the vacuum bag and preparing to destroy the evidence that could send them to jail for life. However, organizing the knick-knacks on the shelf, Harold accidentally makes some noise and gives himself away. As Merrigan prepares to shoot Harold, the police arrive to arrest the men. A shootout ensues between Merrigan, Stottlemeyer and Disher. The police move in to arrest Merrigan, but just then, he points the gun at Dr. Kroger and shoots at him. However, Harold intercepts the bullet in his chest, much to Monk's dismay. Merrigan is quickly taken away.
During a session a few weeks later, Monk questions Dr. Kroger about the words "No Hope" written at the bottom of his file, which he looked at briefly while first investigating Teresa's death. Dr. Kroger explains that those two words Monk saw were actually "N. Hope", since they had been talking about Monk's father, who was born in New Hope, Pennsylvania
New Hope, Pennsylvania
New Hope, formerly known as Coryell's Ferry, is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA. The population was 2,528 at the 2010 census. The borough lies on the west bank of the Delaware River at its confluence with Aquetong Creek. A two-lane bridge carries automobile and foot traffic across the...
.
Continuity
- The events of this episode, and Dr. Jonah Sorenson, are mentioned in passing in the novel Mr. Monk Goes to GermanyMr. Monk Goes to GermanyMr. Monk Goes to Germany is the sixth novel by Lee Goldberg to be based on the television series Monk. It was published on July 1, 2008.-Plot summary:...
. First, Dr. Kroger mentions Dr. Sorenson's name to Monk on their last appointment before he leaves for Germany. Later, when Dr. Kroger confronts Natalie about helping Monk stalk him to LohrLohrLohr am Main is a town in the Main-Spessart district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany and the seat of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft of Lohr am Main.- Location :The town lies on the Main in the Spessart about halfway between Würzburg and...
, she defends herself by claiming that Monk was going to fall completely apart without him and would never see a psychiatrist who was missing an arm, suggesting that her actions probably were influenced by the events depicted in "Mr. Monk Gets a New Shrink." - This episode marks the first appearance of Harold Krenshaw since season 3's "Mr. Monk and the Election". Subsequently, Harold made appearances in the episodes "Mr. Monk and the Daredevil," "Mr. Monk's 100th CaseMr. Monk's 100th Case"Mr. Monk's 100th Case" is the seventh episode of the seventh season of the USA Network TV series Monk, and, true to its name, it is the 100th episode overall...
", "Mr. Monk Gets Hypnotized", "Mr. Monk Fights City Hall", "Mr. Monk Is Someone Else," and "Mr. Monk Goes to Group Therapy". - Dr. Kroger was said in "Mr. Monk and the Election" to have a daughter as well. Here, however, Troy is shown as an only child.
Production
The idea of hiding the crucial piece of evidence in a vacuum bag had been on the writing table for years at the time that Mr. Monk Gets a New Shrink was written. The problem was, they couldn't get a realistic idea on how to use it. One idea had actually been to have a killer hack up his victim, place the dismembered limbs into a self-cleaning oven one at a time, then vacuum out the remains and have the bag filled with the victim. This, however, seemed very gruesome. Other ideas had included hiding something valuable in the bag and even having the killer stalk Monk while trying to recover it.After some time, they decided that the best method of featuring a vacuum bag was to do the job with a cleaning lady, vacuuming up evidence of a drug ring trafficking heroin into the United States. Whereas cleaning ladies had already been the murder victims of several previous episodes, here it seemed absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, having a cleaning lady as the victim meant that they needed a main character to work with in order to give some personal involvement and reason for Monk to commit himself to the case. Monk was ruled out mostly because he doesn't have a cleaning lady, and if he did, she would never be good enough for him. It was eventually decided that the cleaning lady would end up being Dr. Kroger's cleaning lady. The idea of having Teresa Mueller work for Dr. Kroger was successful, because the writers had been looking to have an episode where Stanley Kamel
Stanley Kamel
Stanley Kamel was an American actor, best known for his role as Dr. Charles Kroger on the American television series Monk.-Biography:...
was more a special guest star than a secondary character.
This led to further complications. For a few days, it was thought that Monk and Dr. Kroger would work to solve the case, but upon realizing that Monk would not be able to go back to a clinical detachment with Dr. Kroger, they eliminated this idea. So instead, Dr. Kroger does appear in more scenes than he normally does, but he stays out of the investigation scenes. As a result, Monk and Dr. Kroger do not break into Francis Merrigan's office to snoop around, though that would have been the typical thing to do if someone else were there. Rather, they simply peer through the sliding glass door that opens from Merrigan's office into the courtyard.
Another big challenge that came up in production was who Monk's new shrink would be. Several ideas included a woman, someone too strict or too nice, someone driven crazy by Monk's compulsions, and even a bout of scream therapy. The eventual decision came from writer John Collier, who suggested a one-armed psychiatrist. Tony Shalhoub
Tony Shalhoub
Anthony Marcus "Tony" Shalhoub is an American actor of Lebanese descent. His television work includes the roles of Antonio Scarpacci on Wings and sleuth Adrian Monk on the TV series Monk. He has won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for his work in Monk...
liked the idea, but required that they recruit an actual one-armed actor to play Dr. Sorenson. The Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
actually had several actors waiting to audition, and the part was given to Rick Curry.