from the chicago sun-times
Drama 'Monk' needs the strong female character it's axing
September 15, 2004
They wouldn't split up Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Everyone knows there would be no Starsky without Hutch.
So why the heck do the folks who produce "Monk" want to split up the main character from his sidekick and trusted nurse, Sharona?
Late last month the cable network USA announced that actress Bitty Schram, who portrays Sharona, would not be returning to the show in the second half of the third season, which begins in January.
A lot has been made about Tony Shalhoub's portrayal of the obsessive-compulsive detective Adrian Monk. For those unfamiliar with the show, Monk was once a celebrated detective in the San Francisco Police Department. The unsolved murder of his wife left him a broken man with so many phobias he lost his job. Now he's a consulting detective to the department and can function at all largely because of his assistant/private nurse, Sharona.
Shalhoub won an Emmy for his role and is up for another Sunday. There's no doubt he does a great job as the unconventional detective. So yes, I realize he's the star of the show. But even the great Sherlock Holmes wouldn't have been who he was without his sidekick. And Schram, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role, is a great, albeit very unlikely, Dr. Watson to Shalhoub's Monk.
It makes me really cranky to think the show's bosses don't realize the value of the lone woman in the cast of regulars. (Was it really an amicable split or money that brought the change?) And Schram's Sharona isn't your usual female TV babe, most of whom seem to portray what men think a woman should be. Sharona is the kind of gal females can relate to readily. She's such a richly drawn character it's a shame to see her go.
In the sea of male detectives in which Monk operates, Sharona holds her own. Here's a woman who's never hesitant to voice an opinion or bluntly tell Monk and the others their theories are dead wrong. In the one episode where everyone else is too afraid to pull the big boss's toupee off his head to nab a killer, it's Sharona who jumps on his back and gives it a good yank.
Despite working among all these male professionals, Sharona doesn't feel compelled to don a sterile nurse's outfit. Nope, she is a woman and she's going to flaunt it. Short skirts, knee-high boots and scooped-out necklines fill her wardrobe. Yet she gives off an air that commands respect from the opposite sex.
She's is a single mom of the now-adolescent Benji. On any other show Benji would appear here and there as a cute accessory. In "Monk" Sharona often has to bring her son along or take her needy boss home with her so Benji isn't left alone. Any working mom juggling a job and kids can relate to her dilemma.
Schram's character is one street-smart female. It's only in love that her decision-making is iffy. (Let's see, there was the murderer she met after the earthquake, the mob enforcer, that unreliable ex-husband . . .) But women forgive her and can sympathize. After all, she's only looking for someone to love and sometimes that need clouds a woman's judgment.
I doubt a "Bring Back Sharona" campaign would work. But I'm telling you, if Monk's new assistant is some ditzy broad, I'm switching channels.
