I also enjoy "Monk," however I believe there is far too much unrelated slapstick comedy. To a degree, this also started happening in "Columbo" but the plots on "Columbo" were still generally strong which helped balance the unnecessary comedy filler.

Unfortunately with "Monk" the slapstick comedy is thrown in to fill out mystery plots that are generally weak. When "Monk" hits its mark, it can be very good, but recently "Monk" hasn't been hitting its mark too often. And I'm not much of a Natalie fan, but with stronger material she probably would be more watchable.

I once heard someone say that they thought that Monk was the new generations' Columbo.

I've been a bit of a champion for Monk before on this site. It's no Columbo but it sure beats all those crime procedural shows around now...C.S.I, Criminal Minds, Cold Case, Without a Trace, Numbers,..ad nauseum.
I like Monk's powers of observation (like Columbo), his phobias (like Columbo's but raised to the n-th degree), and the relationship with his wife, (like Columbo's but she's dead).

Reminds me of another fav show of mine... Jonathan Creek.

Mark D.- Couldn't agree with you more!!It seems like the newest crime/mystery shows have to have graphic depictions or else generation xyz won't watch. Must be the lack of an attention span.