I don't think the show ever turned to crap, but at some point the decline in quality really became noticeable. I think it happened in season 5 when the focus shifted away from the mysteries and more to celebrity cameos and Monk's crazy antics. The writing became lazy. The first half of the show was so great because of the balance of everything.
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I saw the series once through, and didn't notice any fall off. In fact, I thought it improved with the change of actress for his assistant.
I don't find this series very repeatable and probably won't watch it again, but I thought it was consistently good through its run.
"I thought it improved with the change of actress for his assistant."
Wow, got to disagree with that. Not that the new actress immediately brought down the show, but the first one had much better comedic timing and more personality. Also, around that same time the writing started to become weaker.
The first half is very rewatchable, the second half much less so.
I would add that it bcame repetitive and uninspired.
But above all, replacing the assistant with a clone was very stupid, same for the shrink.
If you have to change the actor, go in a different direction with a ew character , never try to force the identical dynamics. That is such bad writing.
I think it could have had a few more years in it. Would love to at least have seen it make it to Ten. If only for Monk's sake.
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