I love these! I do miss when you tease the next set of trivia though--then I have something extra to drive me nuts until you post more trivia the next day.

Oops, this is what happens when you work without an editor! It's probably going to be some more nit-picks and goofs and then onto 'lessons learned'.

Some more plot holes, oversights and goofs...

• One of the best character-driven episodes in Monk is season 2 story, 'Mr. Monk Meets the Playboy' which according to Andy Breckman, is just a well because the crime plotting was a little shaky. The plot centered around building an electromagnet which would be used to attract a barbell to strangle the murder victim whilst he was working out. The team didn't know if it was that easy make an electromagnet and knowing exactly when to turn it on would be a little iffy but Andy Breckman says, 'it was an insane murder but I just want to believe that it's easy!'

• In season 3 premiere episode, 'Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan' the crew filmed a series of sequences on the busy streets of New York. The actors hired to play the three-card monte guys were rehearsing their scene when the police busted them. Director Randy Disk was with the crew down the street filming Monk trying to hail a cab and had to interrupt the shoot to go and sort it out. If you look closely at the finished scene, you'll see Andy Breckman make an appearance amongst the crowd who have gathered to watch the card game.

• For the trolley car sequence in season 3 episode, 'Mr. Monk Takes his Medicine', the team rented the only one in LA as it was too costly to shoot the scene in San Fransisco for just one day. Unfortunately the trolley car sits on rubber wheels so the crew had to build skirts over the wheels. If you look closely you can tell the bottom half of the trolley is on wheels.

Coming up, a few behind the scenes stories from 'Mr. Monk and the Leper'.

Loving it! Thank you!

Some fun stuff from season 5 episode, 'Mr. Monk and the Leper'...

• Actor Sarah Brown played the villainous Mandy Bronson but no amount of evil plotting could help her walk in her heels. For the scene in the underground car park, the floor had been soaked but unfortunately Sarah's high-heeled shoes were too big and she had trouble staying upright on the wet floor so she adopted quite a stiff gait to complete her scene opening walk, leading Sarah to think she looks like she has a broom up her back for that sequence.

• During the sequence when Monk and Natalie are in the balloon, even the cast agree that you can quite clearly tell a stunt man is standing in for Tony Shalhoub. The stunt man is wearing a much curlier and fuller hairpiece than Monk's own hair, and as Tony Shalhoub points out, 'he's about 25-years younger than me!

• Traylor Howard was around 8-months pregnant when this episode was filmed so swapped her normal high-heels for flats, but still had to convey the hardships of being Monk's assistant, for example, being expected to carry heavy ladders. Traylor was really game for most things, but the first ladder she was given was way too heavy and she couldn't lift it. It was quickly replaced but by one that was laughably small. In the end, Traylor's stunt double stood in to do all the ladder sequences but Traylor did her own running, in 106 degrees heat when Natalie and Adrian are racing to get to the hot air balloon.

• Tony Shalhoub feared guest actor Paul Blackthorne had broken his arm when pulling him up from the cliff edge. The sequence was filmed on a sound stage and Tony was dangling off the side of the fake edge on and off for about 7 hours. Paul unintentionally bent Tony's elbow at a weird angle and although Tony thought he may pass out from the pain, he gamely completed the scene although he later commented that, 'Paul has the strength of a gorilla!'

• Look closely at the sequence where actor Sarah Brown fires a gun - you'll notice that she doesn't blink. Sarah felt that a true sociopath would be focused, wouldn't flinch and therefore wouldn't blink when murdering someone in cold blood so she worked with the props guy to perfect her non-blinking-trigger-pulling action. Her character does allow her victim to finish playing his piece on the piano though, so maybe she's a murderer who can stop to appreciate nicely played music!

Next time, some lessons learned...

Oh yeah--two scoops!! Yes!!

I was just reading back to previous trivia posts and decided to comment on this one, since I just rewatched the Earthquake episode. It's hilarious at the end where he fakes gibberish when Sharona asks about getting paid. Tony's brilliant. The gibberish he speaks during the episode is different from the gibberish at the end when the character's supposed to be faking it within the context of the episode. Not many actors would have thought of that--that doing it in a dissociative episode would necessarily be different than doing it when he was trying to fake it. It never would have occurred to most other actors. Most actors would have just gone back into the same gibberish they did before, when their character was supposed to be "out of it." It's the water in the balloon again. He's under-appreciated. I'm convinced he's a genius. In my head, he's so close to James Cagney in skill and brilliance, that he can reach out and straighten Jimmy's tie.

The two helpings for today are just Awesome!! Thanks!!

Bumping....and anxiously awaiting today's dose of trivia.

I miss ya trivia, GG!

Mi

Some lessons learned from the creative team behind Monk...

• The team felt that taking Monk out of his environment in 'Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan' had less than positive results so the producers knew they needed to approach season 3 episode, 'Mr. Monk Goes to Vegas' with care. This time the location didn't drive Monk's behavior, so rather then set Adrian loose in Sin City, the action was kept confined to the casino, with Randy experiencing gambling issues rather than Monk being beset with trouble brought on by the location.

• Season 2 episode, 'Mr. Monk and the 12^th Man' begins with an unusually horrific murder, which was too grisly to show on-screen for a family oriented programme. Surprisingly, this isn't what made ratings dip for the 2^nd half hour – the writers think they tipped their hand too early by revealing toward the end of the 1^st half hour that the victims had been members of a jury and by having Monk interview people for the rest of the episode. The writers also think too many interviews is a no-no for Monk, even though this is a format that works for many police procedurals. They try and do something a little odd, like put a pipe in the interviewee's head, which is what happened for '12^th' man' and comedian Billy Gardell's twitchy performance as accident victim Ian Agnew, complete with a very visible pipe in his head, was a genuine highlight of '12^th man'.

• Still on '12^th Man', the writers feel a bit guilty about the sequence with Monk's dry cleaner, Mrs. Ling played by Lauren Tom. A combination of the writing, Tom's performance and the costume pushed the character into a stereotype and according to Monk producer, Hy Conrad 'she looked like she was straight out of a Charlie Chan movie'.

Next time, who pitched the idea for 'Mr. Monk Takes his Medicine', the street where you don't want to live and how the UK's 'The Office' influenced a story line for a season 3 episode featuring the Captain's wife.

Thank you Goodbyegirl!!!

Mi

Huh, that's funny (ironic), cuz I have a couple of aunties who talk and dress and act just like Mrs. Ling!

Personally I think the creative team are sometimes too hard on themselves. 'Manhattan' and '12th Man' are amongst my favourite episodes (even though the tollbooth murder in 12th is a bit gruesome, there are many other great scenes to recommend it) and I've posted somewhere else here that I'd like to see the return of Mrs. Ling! Love how she interacts with Monk.

They also thought they came too close to stereotyping in the 'Cabin' episode.

Oddly enough, I've thought about this... the toolbooth victim, had he been thinking quickly, could have grabbed the coil of rope and tossed it over one of the stanchions. Then the force of the car would have been taken by the stanchion, and it likely would have ripped the bumper off of the car. "Taking a turn" on two or three stanchions, had time permitted, would have increased his safety.

These are GREAT! Keep em commin!

I've always loved the way Monk reacts in "Manhattan" - "Fornicator! She's a fornicator!" One of my favorite lines!

Ashley

Thanks GoodbyeGirl! These two episodes are two of my favorites!

Thank you! It was a long time before I could come in today and catch up on my trivia, but love them as usual--anxiously awaiting tomorrow's installment....

I am missing my behind the scenes trivia for today...

Oh, now you tell us. Where were you at the time of the crime? He could have used your advice.


GG I love this trivia!!!!

Same place you were... watching on TV. I yelled at the screen, but did the guy listen to me? "Throw it over the stanchion! TAke a turn! double up all lines! Heave to, there, matey!" But did he listen to me...? Noooooo.....

No trivia today? Waaaaa!

Here we go with who pitched the idea for 'Mr. Monk Takes his Medicine', the street where you don't want to live and how the UK's 'The Office' influenced a story line for a season 3 episode featuring the Captain's wife.

• Viewer favorite, 'Mr. Monk Takes his Medicine' from season 3 was Tony Shalhoub's pitch. The actor had been studying Tourette's syndrome and discovered that some jazz musicians with Tourette's found taking their meds inhibited their ability to improvise. Tony wanted Monk to be at a crossroad, having to decide whether to feel good or detect well. It was Andy Breckman's idea to sprinkle in the complication that Monk could no longer conjure up Trudy after he took the medicine. Incidentally, the touching scene in which Trudy appears to Monk after he smells her pillow is the same scene that Melora Hardin had read with Tony while trying out for the role - a few days later she got to play it again in front of the camera!

• Still on 'Medicine', Tony, director Randy Zisk and costumer designer Ileane Meltzer worked together to figure out how 'The Monk' would dress and decided he would wear what he thought was cool back when he was capable of registering what cool was. So his wardrobe is a tribute to the cool detectives from the 50's through 70's including 'Magnum' and 'Rockford'.

• Attentive viewers will have spotted that a high number of the crimes Monk investigates takes place on Vinton Street. The crime spree started in season one with 'Dale the Whale' and has continued up to the present season with the street playing host to at least 12 recorded crime investigations. So where is Vinton Street? It's a street near Andy Breckman's home in New Jersey. Plan your vacation around it.

• In season 3 episode, 'Mr. Monk gets Fired' much of the humor springs from Karen's Stottlemeyer's attempts to manipulate her husband into allowing her to document his work on film. This concept originated from Andy Breckman's affection for the UK tv show, 'The Office'. By the time 'Gets Fired' aired, 'The Office' had gone from a cult hit to an international success and Andy was embarrassed by the thought of people catching on to where the idea had been pilfered from!

Coming up, the origins of the six-fingered man, how Randy Disher narrowly avoided taking a hit in the crotch and Tony Shalhoub's obsession with a scarf.

These are great! I love them! Thanks so much!

These are great! I love this thread! I can't wait until tomorrow!

Thanks for saying nice things - one of the problems I have with this thread is that I want to add my thoughts to what I'm writing, but in the interests of unbiased reporting, I'm going with the researched and fact-checked info only!

Hello Goodbyegirl

Facts are super...but we would all like to hear your spin on things...add your own comments at the end..so we know they are your own thoughts...

Quinnie

Feel free to jump in and add your thoughts to the posts as well. We would love to hear them!

Thank you for this day trivias! ´Takes his Medicine´ is a great episode! I love to hear some trivias about it.

It would be interesting to hear your comments also. Feel yourself free to add them with!


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Thank you, Goodbyegirl for today's installment! And I, for one, would like to hear your own thoughts on the trivia you give us. It seems a shame for everyone to get in their two cents except for you.

Also, everybody probably knows this already, but I found out today that Emmy Clarke's full name is Mary Elizabeth Clarke. She gets her nickname from the first letters of her first and middle name: M.E.

Thanks for the trivia, goodbyegirl! I am always looking forward to it. It would be great if you provided your comments to your posts. Here's an idea, you could put your comments in a different color.





Thanks for the info, Foxtrot. I did not know this.

Thanks for the information, Foxtrot! I didn't know this.

You can learn new every day...

So she is my namesake. Mari=Mary


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Looking for trivia nuggets, as I always am...

Love the trivia, hope to read some more soon!

You're keeping us in suspense! I want to know how Jason almost got whonked in the kiwis and all about Tony's scarf obsession!

I want to know about these things as well. The suspense is killing me!

Same here! Goodbyegirl, where are you? We can't wait for the information.

I have been lurking here quite a lot, and I gotta say goodbyegirl, I am completely addicted to this thread!

When you said "scarf obsession" (being a Doctor Who fan) I immediately thought of Tom Baker's Doctor...lol

Welcome jedielf --

And I've been liking the trivia too-- GG.

Raven, I noticed the other day that my shower soap is called "kiwi lime". I instantly thought of you.

Let's take a light-hearted look at the origins of the six-fingered man, how Randy Disher narrowly avoided taking a hit in the crotch and Tony Shalhoub's obsession with a scarf.

• In the 1987 film, 'The Princess Bride', character Inigo Montoya spends most of the movie tracking down the six-fingered man who murdered his father. However this was not the inspiration for giving the man who made the bomb that killed Trudy six-fingers. Andy Breckman used to work in a place in New York where his co-workers would repeatedly talk about a restaurant nearby that had a six-fingered busboy. Andy was quite excited about this and a few years later visited the restaurant and that's where he started to think about clues to Trudy's murder, a key one being the six-fingered man.

• The writer of season 2 episode, 'Mr. Monk Goes to the Circus', James Kreig is an experienced contributor to a number of animated shows like 'Scooby-Doo' which may explain the almost cartoon like feel to the episode. The first drafts of the script contained some broad physical humour including Monk deciding that he wants to recreate the killer's escape once he hears that the murderer bounced off an overhanging bar to make his/her getaway. Randy Disher is volunteered for the exercise and when he duplicates the move he gets hit in the crotch (or as Raven puts it, 'gets whonked in the kiwis') which would have confirmed to Monk that the killer was a woman. Viewers never got to have a laugh at Randy's expense though, as this scene was dropped in later drafts of the script.

• Tony Shalhoub is a much respected actor and is known for his keen eye to detail, often mirroring Monk for spotting the slightest change on set. The writers had fun with this in season 2 episode, 'Mr. Monk and the TV Star' by having Tony's character point out each and every discrepancy he finds between takes while watching the filming of a tv show. Traylor Howard has gotten used to Tony being so good at what he does, so patiently waited during the filming of the elevator scene in season 3 episode, 'Mr. Monk Goes to Vegas', whilst Tony became obsessed with making the long scarf the proper length to match a previous take. It took 15 minutes and the difference in matching was about half an inch, but it made Tony feel better!

Coming up, ahead of next week's 'Underwater' episode, the practical problems of trying to get a Monk story set on a ship, Karen's love letter to Leland and the blink and you miss it personal ad for 'missing' Benji.

Thanks again, goodbyegirl! I especially love the trivia about the scarf.

I can't wait for the next installment! Keep up the great work.

Thanks GG -- You know -- normally I'm not fond of humor like this -- but I'm rather sad this scene was cut -- it sounds extremely funny.

Hello - glad you've come out of lurking Jedielf and pleased you are enjoying the trivia. Tom Baker was a cool Dr. Who but his stripy scarf was sooooooooo long, I was always concerned he was going to trip up. Quite a relief when he regenerated!

You rule! I especially enjoyed the tidbit about the six fingered busboy. I think sometimes the best fictional characters are the ones patchworked together from those you know in real life. Loved it!

Hello BfloGal - me too. I think it was ditched because it confirmed the identity of the murderer too soon and there were concerns over the physical comedy getting too broad with the 'annoying clown' runner, but how cute would Randy have been trying be an acrobat! Jason Gray-Stanford really relishes the chance to play physical comedy, would really have loved to seen him do this.

I agree - write about what you know and who you know - or rather a hybrid of personalities so you can avoid a lawsuit! The writers are really fond of name-tagging characters for their loved ones - which reminds me, I must include somewhere who Monk's garbage collector guys are named for. I really like these two, think they've made a couple of appearances now.

You're thinking of Raven when you're in the shower? Does Natalie know about this?