Starring: Tony Shalhoub, Ted Levine, Traylor Howard, Jason Gray-Stanford, Bitty Schram
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.
Mr. Monk Goes to Jail - S2-E16
Factual error: Death row prisoners cannot donate organs. No doctor participates in an execution and after the lethal injection the medical examiner must wait at least fifteen minutes to test for cardiac activity before pronouncing the prisoner dead. This is enough time for hypoxia to render the heart, lungs and kidneys useless for transplant. Apart from this, organs intended for transplant must be removed within minutes of the death of the donor. Prisoners are not executed in operating theatres.
Adrian Monk: Here's what happened.
Mr. Monk Goes to Mexico - S2-E2
Trivia: According to co-producer Tom Scharpling, the Mexican homicide cops are purposely written as parodies of Stottlemeyer and Disher, right down to their attitudes, their ranks, their suits, and Captain Alameda's mustache. Even the bumbling lieutenant's name is a little joke on Disher. Plato means "dish" in Spanish.
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: 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.
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.