The third season of ''

Monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

'' originally aired in the United States on

USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...

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. He is known for a variety of roles ranging from comedic to dramatic on stage and screen. He has received several accolades including five Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, s ...

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

, and

Jason Gray-Stanford Jason Gray-Stanford (born May 19, 1970) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for playing Lieutenant Randy Disher in the USA Network television series ''Monk'' and for voicing the role of Raditz in the Ocean Productions dub of '' Dragon Ball Z ...

reprise their roles as the main characters, and

Traylor Howard Traylor Elizabeth Howard (born June 14, 1966) is an American actress. From 2005 to 2009, Howard played Natalie Teeger in the USA Network television series ''Monk''. She has also starred on the sitcoms '' Boston Common'' (1996–1997) and '' Two ...

joins the cast.

Bitty Schram Bitty Schram (born Elizabeth Natalie Schram, ) is an American actress who played Sharona Fleming in the television series ''Monk'' and Evelyn Gardner in the film ''A League of Their Own'' (1992). Early life Schram is from Mountainside, New Jers ...

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 screenwriter, comedian, and radio personality. He is the creator and executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning television series ''Monk'' on the USA Network and is co-host of WFMU radi ...

continued his tenure as

show runner A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over th ...

. 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 division of Universal Studio Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which, in turn, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. It serves as the networ ...

was the primary production company backing the show.

Randy Newman Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter, arranger, pianist, composer, conductor and orchestrator. He is known for his non-rhotic Southern American English, Southern-accented singing style, early America ...

'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 impr ...

'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, producer, and writer. Biography 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 family ...

Jerry Levine Jerry Levine (born March 12, 1957) is an American actor and director of television and theatre. As an actor, he is best known for his roles as Joe on ''Will & Grace'', Stiles in the 1985 feature film ''Teen Wolf'' and Jamie in the 1988 movie '' Ca ...

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 (née Rissien) and William Zinberg. Zinberg graduated from Thoma ...

, and Andrei Belgrader. Zisk received an Emmy award-nomination for his work on "

Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine The third season of ''Monk'' originally aired in the United States on USA Network from June 18, 2004, to March 4, 2005. It consists of 16 episodes. Tony Shalhoub, Ted Levine, and Jason Gray-Stanford reprise their roles as the main characters, an ...

." Writers for the season included Andy Breckman, David Breckman,

Lee Goldberg Lee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter, publisher and television producer, 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'' ...

, 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 (TV series), Monk''. He is a renowned former homicide detective for the San Francisco Police Department. He has obsessive� ...

and

reprised their roles as

Captain Leland Stottlemeyer The following is a list of characters from ''Monk'', an American comedy-drama detective television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk. Monk's assistant Sharona Fleming, portrayed by Bitty Schram, was repl ...

and

Lieutenant Randy Disher The following is a list of characters from ''Monk'', an American comedy-drama detective television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk. Monk's assistant Sharona Fleming, portrayed by Bitty Schram, was repl ...

, 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 from ''Monk'', an American comedy-drama detective television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk. Monk's assistant Sharona Fleming, portrayed by Bitty Schram, was repl ...

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."

Stanley Kamel Stanley Kamel (January 1, 1943 – April 8, 2008) was an American actor. From 2002 until his death in 2008, he played Dr. Charles Kroger on the American television series ''Monk''. Biography Kamel was born to a Jewish family and raised in Sou ...

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 The following is a list of characters from ''Monk'', an American comedy-drama detective television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk. Monk's assistant Sharona Fleming, portrayed by Bitty Schram, was repl ...

, Sharona's son.

Emmy Clarke ''Monk'' is an American police procedural comedy drama detective mystery television series that originally ran on the USA Network from July 12, 2002, to December 4, 2009, with 125 episodes broadcast over eight seasons. It follows Adrian Monk ...

entered the series as

Julie Teeger The following is a list of characters from ''Monk'', an American comedy-drama detective television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk. Monk's assistant Sharona Fleming, portrayed by Bitty Schram, was repl ...

(Natalie's daughter), and

Melora Hardin Melora Diane Hardin Jackson (born June 29, 1967) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Jan Levinson on NBC's ''The Office'' (2005–2013), Trudy Monk on USA Network's ''Monk'' (2004–2009), and Tammy Cashman o ...

returned as Monk's beloved deceased wife,

Trudy Monk The following is a list of characters from ''Monk'', an American comedy-drama detective television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk. Monk's assistant Sharona Fleming, portrayed by Bitty Schram, was repl ...

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 t ...

made his first two appearances as

Harold Krenshaw The following is a list of characters from ''Monk'', an American comedy-drama detective television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk. Monk's assistant Sharona Fleming, portrayed by Bitty Schram, was repl ...

, 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 produce ...

portrays

Kevin Dorfman The following is a list of characters from ''Monk'', an American comedy-drama detective television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk. Monk's assistant Sharona Fleming, portrayed by Bitty Schram, was replac ...

, 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 from ''Monk'', an American comedy-drama detective television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk. Monk's assistant Sharona Fleming, portrayed by Bitty Schram, was replac ...

, the captain's wife.

Episodes

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