I don't know if anyone feels this way, but season 7 was relatively weak and likely the low-point of the series. Watching that season again on DVD, the memorable episodes are few and far between and it seemed like the show had run out of gas. I'm not sure if any of my favorite episodes are from season 7.

But season 8 has been so much better and ranks among the better seasons the show has had. Even episodes I didn't think I would have liked, such as the UFO one, turned out to be good. An episode like Mr. Monk Is Someone Else is an all-timer... one could argue it's the best of the series... and Sharona's one episode return was well done.

Thoughts?

I definitely agree that this 8th season is magnificent, but I thought the 7th season was good too. Maybe it's just me, but I find it very hard to criticize the show in anyway, because I just love it so much. I believe all of the episodes to be equally entertaining and enjoyable. Some episodes stand out more than others, but I personally have enjoyed every episode of Monk that I have ever seen. Perhaps you are right about the ratings being higher this season but that just could be because it is the last season/Trudy's mystery will be solved/Sharona came back. I am not 100% sure though.

Personally, I loved season 7. I thought there were a lot of really strong episodes, especially "Genius," "Lotto Fever," "Falls in Love," which is one of favorite episodes of the whole series, "The Miracle," "100th Case," "On Wheels," and another one of my favorites from season 7, "The Lady Next Door." There are more I'm probably forgetting, but I thought season 7 had a lot of great episodes, too! Yes, some episodes certainly stand out over others in the series as a whole, but I've got to say, overall I think this show has had a very solid eight seasons with no real clear high point or low point...just a good, steady, quality run. Personally, there is only one episode I positively, absolutely HATED, and that was the season 6 episode, "Mr. Monk and the Rapper." Part of it is, I just hate rap music so the rapping of the "here's what happened" just absolutely did not do it for me, but also I just thought the story was really weak.

I actually would have to agree with you on "Mr. Monk and the Rapper." Actually, if I could pick what I consider the lowest point in Monk history, it would have to be the entire first half of season 6 with *maybe* the exception of a few episodes like "Mr. Monk and His Biggest Fan" or maybe "Mr. Monk and the Buried Treasure." But really, I didn't like many of the others up until the second half of the season. Even the holiday episode was kind of weak.

I agree on season 6. I recently brought the DVDs for the last season and the 2nd half is infinatley superior. I think that "Goes to the Bank" "Three Julies" "Masterpiece" and "On the Run parts 1 and 2" are all time Monk classics.

The first half, while it does have it's moments just isn't as good as the 2nd.

Yes, all of those are definitely classic. The scripts and the characters all worked well together.

But the first half... I can still remember the episode discussions for them! I remember it being tossed around on tv.com about how "The Bad Girlfriend" seemed too much like a filler episode in order to get rid of a character that just wasn't working. And then, I remember the arguments that "Birds and the Bees" had the worst case ever and that solving the case via a t-shirt was ridiculous. The scripts were indeed weak. I wonder if it's because all the time went to the second half and that epic 2 part-er.

[font="Courier New"][/font] Natalie and Monk together? Of course it could happen! I believe that it should happen!

I also wasn't a big fan of season 4, however I may need to watch that season again because when I watched it originally I was in my "I hate Natalie because she isn't Sharona phase" and I think that clouded my judgement. I think if I were to watch those episodes again now I might think differently about them.