Monk (TV series)
The series debuted on July 12, 2002, on USA Network. It continued for eight seasons, with the final season concluding on December 4, 2009. The series held the record for the most-watched scripted drama episode in cable television history from 2009 through 2012 (broken by "The Walking Dead") with "Mr. Monk and the End – Part II", its series finale, with 9.4 million viewers, 3.2 million of them in the 18–49 demographic.
Mr. Monk and the Candidate
As distributors of the show, ABC and Touchstone, could not find a lead actor, it entered in development hell. This situation remained until Jackie Lyons, a former ABC's executive who joined USA, recommended "Monk" to her boss, Wachtel. Trying to change USA's reputation of "a muscles-and-mayhem" network, Wachtel and then USA president Doug Herzog, decided to charge on "Monk", "a cerebral series". Watchel wanted to cast Tony Shalhoub, "someone who could bring the humor and passion of Monk to life", as Monk. Shalhoub initially was not interested, but after his manager's insistence and the fact the pilot director was Dean Parisot, he accepted. Parisot declared, "The pilot was a strong collaboration between myself, David Hoberman, Andy Breckman and Tony Shalhoub."