Monk

Mr. Monk Meets His Dad - S5-E9

Deliberate mistake: In the opening scene, Wood's tie is grabbed by an exposed fan belt located above the side of the engine. However, this belt/pulley assembly doesn't exist in a real truck's engine compartment - the fan belts are all in front of the engine, where the camera can't see them easily. The prop master must have added this dangerous device to the truck to allow the camera to see the strangulation.

nixiebunny

Mr. Monk and the Sleeping Suspect - S2-E7

Deliberate mistake: All the mail bombs are delivered in packages tied with knotted string. The USPO hasn't allowed string-tied packages since the mid-90s (they get caught in automated equipment), but since the knots were crucial to ID-ing the suspect in this episode, that fact had to be ignored.

Jean G

Mr. Monk and the Blackout - S3-E3

Deliberate mistake: As Monk is using the night vision goggles in his house the lights suddenly come back on and continues on still thinking that the intruder cannot see him. The light coming on should have blinded him or at the very least he should have been able to tell there was more light than before even if he hadn't had much experience using the goggles. All the lights in the house come back on and the amount of light would be too noticeable with night vision. This would have been deliberate as Monk continues to think the intruder still doesn't see him in the dark and is part of the joke in the scene.

Lummie

Mr. Monk Gets Married - S2-E15

Deliberate mistake: Joshua Skinner hid a fortune in gold by melting it down, mixing it with ink and writing it into 947 journals. Monk's producer concedes that in real life, 947 journals would probably hold "only about $11 worth" of gold-laced ink. But the idea was so amusing that he couldn't resist using it anyway. (00:42:00)

Jean G

Mr. Monk and the Panic Room - S3-E2

Deliberate mistake: All the dishes that are usually neatly arranged in Monk's kitchen cupboards (pots, pans, stacks of plates etc.) have been replaced here by cheap plastic ware, so that Darwin the chimp can pull them all out and throw them. Though we hear shattering-glass sound effects as they supposedly hit the floor, the dishes Darwin bangs together and throws are very obviously plastic.

Jean G

Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan - S3-E1

Deliberate mistake: After Monk and Sharona speak to Gratnik in Dumbo, they take the subway back to Manhattan. While Monk is sobbing, in the first exterior shot the "A" train slows into the 42 St station in Manhattan; note the "A" at the left with the driver on the right, as well as the "42" station sign not reflected backwards, all revealing a flipped shot. Then it's the "C" train when it stops, with Monk and Sharona back in Brooklyn, even further now at the "Hoyt-Schermerhorn Street" platform (used for TV shows and films), in lower Downtown Brooklyn. (00:21:55)

Super Grover

Mr. Monk Goes to Jail - S2-E16

Factual error: When Monk visits the prison for the first time, he is searched, passed, and has a mini-panic attack because people have touched him. Sharona steps forward to comfort him, and she puts her arms around him. This is a very serious breach of procedure and it is not possible for the guards to miss it, because Sharona has not been searched. It's a common technique for trying to pass contraband called 'a touch through' - a person with an item to be smuggled into the prison (drugs, usually), passes them on to a person who has been searched and is therefore 'clean'. Monk would be taken back to the guard's station to be searched again. He would not be allowed leniency because the guards happen to know or to like him - visitor ingress and egress is always done under CCTV and the guard would know he was being watched - quite possibly by someone who doesn't know who Monk and Sharona are.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Sharona was searched first by the female guard.

In fact Sharona breaks away from the female guard to go to Monk. She has NOT been searched.

The correction is correct. The female guard already finished patting Sharona down before the male guard even had a chance to start his pat down of Monk.

Bishop73

Yeah, the correction is correct. I went back six times through that clip: Sharona and Monk both get searched, and then Sharona touches Monk.

More mistakes in Monk

Adrian Monk: I don't know how he did it. But he did it.

More quotes from Monk

Trivia: Brooke Adams, Tony Shalhoub's real-life wife, has appeared on the show 5 times. In S1 as Leigh the flight attendant Monk drives crazy in "Mr. Monk and the Airplane"; in S3 as Mrs. Carlyle in "Mr. Monk and the Kid"; in S5 as Sheriff Butterfield in "Mr. Monk Visits a Farm"; in S7, again, as Leigh the flight attendant in "Mr. Monk's 100th Case"; in S8 as the crazy cat lady in "Mr. Monk and the Badge."

More trivia for Monk

Show generally

Question: If Monk is afraid of germs, then why does he keep touching things that could possibly have germs on them like parking meters or books?

Answer: Notice also that in the opening credits scene when he is touching parking meters her also wipes his hand on his clothes each time he does it.

Answer: That's the thing about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It's not something rational. He just has to touch things like that. It's not something he can rationally think through. However, since part of his disorder includes an obsession with cleanliness, he also has an assistant walk around handing him wipes periodically. It's like when he gets a cold and uses both a humidifier (because that's what you use when you're congested) and a dehumidifier (to counteract the effects of the humidifier). He may spout rationalizations after he does something, but his compulsions exist outside of any rational thought whatever.

Garlonuss

More questions & answers from Monk

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.