The third season of ''

Monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

'' originally aired in the United States on

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

from June 18, 2004, to March 4, 2005. It consists of 16 episodes.

Tony Shalhoub Anthony Marc Shalhoub ( ; born October 9, 1953), is an American actor. His accolades include five Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, six Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Tony Award, and a Grammy Award nomination. He played Adrian Monk in the USA N ...

Ted Levine Frank Theodore Levine (born May 29, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the roles of Buffalo Bill in the film '' The Silence of the Lambs'' (1991) and Leland Stottlemeyer in the television series ''Monk'' (2002–2009). Le ...

, and

Jason Gray-Stanford Jason Gray-Stanford (born May 19, 1970) is a Canadian film, television and voice actor. He is best known for playing Lieutenant Randy Disher in the Emmy, SAG and Golden Globe-winning TV program ''Monk'' and for voicing the role of Raditz in ''Dra ...

reprise their roles as the main characters, and

Traylor Howard Traylor Elizabeth Howard is an American actress. Her roles include Sharon Carter on the television series ''Two Guys and a Girl'', and Natalie Teeger on the USA Network series ''Monk''. Early life Howard was born in Orlando, Florida, to Peg ...

joins the cast.

Bitty Schram Elizabeth Natalie Schram (born July 17, 1968) is an American actress best known for playing Sharona Fleming in the television series ''Monk'' and for playing Evelyn Gardner in the film '' A League of Their Own'' (1992). Early life Born in Mountai ...

left the show due to a contract dispute during the Winter hiatus. A DVD of the season was released on July 5, 2005.

Crew

Andy Breckman Andrew Ross Breckman (born March 3, 1955) is an American television and film writer and a radio personality on WFMU. He is the creator and executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning television series ''Monk'' on the USA Network, and is co-hos ...

continued his tenure as

show runner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...

. Executive producers for the season include Breckman and David Hoberman.

NBC Universal Television Studio Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a prede ...

was the primary production company backing the show. Randy Newman's theme (" It's a Jungle Out There") continued to be used, while

Jeff Beal Jeff Beal (born June 20, 1963) is an American composer of music for film, television, recordings, and the concert hall. Highly regarded as a jazz instrumentalist and versatile composer, Beal creates music that often incorporates a synthesis of im ...

's original instrumental theme can be heard in some episodes. Directors for the season include

Randall Zisk Randall "Randy" Zisk is an American television director and producer. He graduated from the University of Southern California and is a native of Dallas, Texas, where he graduated from St. Mark's School of Texas. His brother, Craig Zisk, also wo ...

, Jerry Levine,

Michael Zinberg Michael Allan Zinberg (born March 22, 1944), is an American television director, producer and writer. Early life and education Zinberg was born in Bexar County, Texas to Dorothy Zinberg (née Rissien) and William Zinberg. Zinberg graduated fro ...

, and Andrei Belgrader. Zisk received an Emmy award-nomination for his work on " Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine." Writers for the season included Andy Breckman, David Breckman,

Lee Goldberg Lee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter, publisher and producer known for his bestselling novels ''Lost Hills'' and ''True Fiction'' and his work on a wide variety of TV crime series, including '' Diagnosis: Murder'', ''A Nero Wolfe M ...

, William Rabkin, Joe Toplyn, Daniel Dratch, Hy Conrad, and

Tom Scharpling Thomas John Giuliano II (born February 9, 1969), known professionally as Tom Scharpling, is an American comedian, television writer, producer, music video director, voice actor, and radio host. He is best known for hosting the weekly Internet r ...

Cast

returned as the titular character and OCD detective,

Adrian Monk Adrian Monk, portrayed by Tony Shalhoub, is the title character and protagonist of the USA Network television series '' Monk''. He is a renowned former homicide detective for the San Francisco Police Department. Monk has obsessive–compuls ...

and

reprised their roles as Captain Leland Stottlemeyer and

Lieutenant Randy Disher The following is a list of characters of ''Monk'', an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series, created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. Except for two changes, the principal ca ...

, respectively.

portrayed Monk's nurse, Sharona Fleming, for the first half of the season, but left due to a contract dispute.

was then cast as

Natalie Teeger The following is a list of characters of ''Monk'', an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series, created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. Except for two changes, the principal cast ...

in a main role as Monk's new assistant.

, the show's creator, stated, "I will always be grateful to Traylor because she came in when the show was in crisis and saved our baby ...We had to make a hurried replacement, and not every show survives that. I was scared to death." Guest stars for season three are in even more abundance than the previous two. Stanley Kamel reprised his role as Monk's psychiatrist, Dr. Charles Kroger, in nine episodes, while

Kane Ritchotte Devo 2.0 (also known as DEV2.O) was a pop group quintet, created for Walt Disney Records (with the participation of Devo), of child actors who sing, dance, and (in their music videos and photo shoots) mime playing instruments along to songs re-r ...

continued to play Benjy Fleming, Sharona's son.

Emmy Clarke Mary Elizabeth Clarke (born September 25, 1991), better known as Emmy Clarke, is a former American actress. Early life Clarke was born in Mineola, New York, but at the age of one she moved with her parents to Houston, Texas. At age six, she mo ...

entered the series as

Julie Teeger The following is a list of characters of ''Monk'', an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series, created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. Except for two changes, the principal ca ...

(Natalie's daughter), and

Melora Hardin Melora Hardin (born June 29, 1967) is an American actress, known for her roles as Jan Levinson on NBC's ''The Office'' and Trudy Monk on USA Network's ''Monk'', and Tammy Cashman on Amazon Prime Video's '' Transparent'', for which she received ...

returned as Monk's beloved deceased wife,

Trudy Monk The following is a list of characters of ''Monk'', an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series, created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. Except for two changes, the principal ca ...

Tim Bagley Timothy Hugh Bagley (born August 17, 1957) is an American actor and comedian, who has appeared in numerous films and television programs. He had recurring roles on the TV series ''Will & Grace'', ''Hope & Gloria'', ''Strip Mall'', ''According to ...

made his first two appearances as

Harold Krenshaw The following is a list of characters of ''Monk'', an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series, created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. Except for two changes, the principal cas ...

, Monk's main rival.

Jarrad Paul Jarrad Paul (born June 20, 1976) is an American screenwriter, director, and actor. Early life and education Paul grew up in Miami, Florida. After graduating from high school, he moved to Los Angeles. Career Paul co-created and executive produ ...

portrays Kevin Dorfman, Monk's annoying upstairs neighbor, while

Glenne Headly Glenne Aimee Headly (March 13, 1955 – June 8, 2017) was an American actress. She was widely known for her roles in '' Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'', ''Dick Tracy'', and '' Mr. Holland's Opus''. Headly received a Theatre World Award and four Joseph ...

continues to portray

Karen Stottlemeyer The following is a list of characters of ''Monk'', an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series, created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. Except for two changes, the principal ca ...

, the captain's wife.

Episodes

Unfilmed episodes

An episode called "Mr. Monk Is at Sea" was written but never filmed for the first half of season 3. The premise was that Monk and Sharona investigate a murder committed on a cruise ship. It was never filmed because no cruise line was willing to loan a ship to the production crew to use for shooting, out of sensitivity to the idea of murders being committed on-board or people falling overboard. This script became considered the series' "white whale" or 126th episode. It only came to light in early 2014, when it was rewritten and published by Hy Conrad as ''

Mr. Monk Gets on Board ''Mr. Monk Gets on Board'' is the seventeenth novel based on the television series ''Monk''. It was published on January 7, 2014. Like the other novels, the story is narrated by Natalie Teeger, Monk's assistant. It is the second novel in the series ...

'', which maintains most of the original plot, but substitutes Natalie for Sharona, and adds in a subplot involving a book collector.

Awards and nominations

Emmy Awards

*Outstanding Actor – Comedy Series (Tony Shalhoub, won) *Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series (

for "Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine", nominated)

Golden Globe Awards

*Best Actor – Musical or Comedy Series (Tony Shalhoub, nominated)

Screen Actors Guild

*Outstanding Actor – Comedy Series (Tony Shalhoub, won)

References

{{Monk (TV series) Monk (TV series) 2004 American television seasons 2005 American television seasons Monk (TV series) seasons