"Monk" is a decent new TV show. The title character is a former police detective who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). At first I was worried that the show would milk his OCD too much for humor value and make it a mean spirited run-on joke, or that it would become too sappy with fawning sympathy for him. Thankfully, the show's writers and director have found a good middle path combining human dignity with enough humorous situations to keep it fresh and upbeat. The characters are fairly good, with two exceptions: the police chief's assistant and the weekly villains. The assistant is one-dimensional as a dunce. He's the sort of character who's funny once but unbelievable and annoying as a regular role. The weekly villains often engage too much in chewing the scenery. It's like watching Scooby Doo, where at the end the apprehended bad guy always sneers, "And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for this crazy guy and his sexy nurse!"<br /><br />The aspect of the show that's weakest in my opinion is its believability as a police procedural. Yes, I know this is character drama and not another spinoff from the Law & Order franchise, but I did see an interview with the show's creator where he said that one of the main goals of this show is to function as a clue-finding whodunnit, much like a Sherlock Holmes story. In that respect I have difficulty believing Monk's abilities. His astute eye for detail, I'll accept as a combination of him being a smart guy, a trained detective, and an OCD sufferer. But his encyclopedic knowledge of seemingly every topic that comes up in the course of evaluating evidence, I can't swallow. In addition, that preternatural genius removes some of the plot buildup. There's no increasing tension as Monk puts in legwork or research time figuring things out; he just has to see all the clues and, Bam!, he's got the answer.<br /><br />On the whole, Monk is a good show. It's definitely above average for network and cable TV series. But I'm a very picky viewer (I currently watch about 5 hours/week), and after watching several episodes I find the show's shortfalls put it right at the borderline between what I think is worth watching and what is not.