'Monk' Raised in the Garden State - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Skywalker · 09-15-2007, 09:55 PM

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?...Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3

'Monk' raised in the Garden State

Thursday, September 13, 2007

By VIRGINIA ROHAN
STAFF WRITER

Los Angeles: the television industry's home base, where the vast majority of entertainment series get pitched, ordered, cast, written, shot and edited.

New York City: an increasingly popular place to shoot, but still far behind L.A. when it comes to television-making. (Some New York-based series are even largely written on the West Coast.)

Summit: the unlikely locale whence USA's hit series "Monk" springs to life.

True, the detective series is filmed 3,000 miles away on and around the famed Paramount lot, but "Monk" co-creator-executive producer-head writer Andy Breckman is firmly rooted in New Jersey, along with most of his writing staff.

This arrangement is highly unusual, no?

"Unprecedented," Breckman confirms. "I don't know how it happened. I somehow convinced them that I was impossible to replace."

Also unusual, he says, is that "almost no one seems to know" what sort of business he and his five full-time writers are conducting in the unprepossessing brick building on Springfield Avenue, which mostly houses the suites of doctors and dentists.

"When we first started, there were some articles in the paper that said where our address is, and I thought we'd be deluged [by visitors], but we've never had any problems, which is how we like it. I wouldn't know what to do with people dropping by," Breckman says, noting the one exception to their anonymity. "We go to the same restaurant every day for lunch, and some ... waitresses who know we work on the show say very kind things."

Breckman lives in Madison with his wife, Beth Landau, a documentary filmmaker, and their two young children. A few times a year, he does have to visit Los Angeles, where two other "Monk" writers -- including his kid brother, David -- are stationed.

Otherwise, though, it's a Garden State grindstone.

"I work with my staff of writers in Summit, but then, I do a lot of the actual writing of the show at home in Madison late at night," Breckman says. "It's like I have two shifts."

A phobic sleuth

"Monk," which debuted in July 2002, revolves around brilliant but eccentric former San Francisco police detective-turned-freelance-sleuth Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub), whose obsessive-compulsive disorder, and variety of phobias, intensified after the murder of his wife, Trudy.

"People from the OCD community were very concerned when we went on the air, but they have truly embraced it," Breckman says. "I think they loved that Monk is someone who faces his problem squarely. He's the hero of the show. He gets to put bad guys behind bars every week. Nobody's laughing at him. I think that's thanks in large part to Tony Shalhoub. People are very sympathetic to the character. It's not played at all for cheap laughs."

By the end of this sixth season – the season finale airs Friday night – "Monk" will have produced 86 episodes.

"We're on the air longer now than 'Columbo,' the show which was my favorite," says Breckman, noting that the original "Columbo" went 45 episodes. "And if I'm not wrong, Sherlock Holmes was 60 stories. I never thought I'd be asked to come up with 80, 90, 100 stories to keep this thing alive. It's hard. The challenge is keeping it fresh, keeping it original."

He credits the show's success to his writing staff, support from the network, good luck, and a great cast, led by Shalhoub -- whose comic style he compares with Bob Newhart's. "They have some similarities in the pacing, the tone, and the pauses," Breckman says. "They're both great with a line. They deliver it, often with great deadpan."

For 14 years, Breckman has also been doing a weekly radio show called "Seven Second Delay," on WFMU-FM (91.1 FM), which broadcasts from Jersey City. (His show, co-hosted by WFMU general manager Ken Freedman, is on from 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays.) The gig came about, he explains, because he once confided to an assistant, who had contacts at WFMU, that "one of my secret fantasies was to have a call-in show."

"For me, it's like going to therapy every week. I just get to vent and babble and get things off my chest. It keeps me sort of stabilized," Breckman says. "I always forget people are listening. It's great."

Early writing success

Raised in Haddonfield, Breckman, 52, dropped out of Boston University to "pursue a career as a singer-songwriter of humorous songs." After about eight years of doing that, he "moved sort of sideways into television writing."

His first television job, for which he won an Emmy Award, was writing for the NBC teen show "Hot Hero Sandwich."

"Then I got my first break with the David Letterman show," says Breckman, who, in 1982, started writing comedy full time on the original staff of NBC's "Late Night With David Letterman." (During that time Breckman fulfilled his desire to live in a college town by moving with his ex-wife to Madison, home to Drew University and a branch of Fairleigh Dickinson University.)

He did that for a couple of years then spent another few writing for "Saturday Night Live." One of Breckman's "SNL" sketches was the famed "White Like Me" segment, in which Eddie Murphy disguised himself as a white man for a day. Breckman's writing credits also include the feature films "Sgt. Bilko," and "Rat Race," as well as Comedy Central's "TV Funhouse," and the 2003 Academy Awards with Steve Martin.

And then there's "Monk."

"Seven years ago, my partner, David Hoberman, took me out to lunch and said he had an idea," Breckman recalls. "He wondered if we could do a show about a detective who had OCD."

Asked how Hoberman got that idea, he says, "He himself suffers, I think, from a mild form of OCD. And I think he had just seen the Jack Nicholson film 'As Good as It Gets."

The big question: How much longer can "Monk" last?

"We're renegotiating now. We hope the show continues for another two years," says Breckman, adding that two years would be his limit as well as Shalhoub's.

Better focus in N.J.

He well knows that when "Monk" does end, he may also have to say goodbye to his unusual screenwriting arrangement, and he says he'd move to Los Angeles "in a heartbeat" if he had to.

For now, he's enjoying working in New Jersey, which he says really helps his writing.

"Obviously, most people live in New York or L.A. I'm easily distracted. I would have trouble focusing if I lived [either place]. For me, this is working. This is the best of scenarios."

Schmoopie · 08-25-2008, 12:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skywalker

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?...Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3
The big question: How much longer can "Monk" last?

"We're renegotiating now. We hope the show continues for another two years," says Breckman, adding that two years would be his limit as well as Shalhoub's.

Interesting. I never knew that. I did hear Tony say once that he hoped "Monk" would continue for a few more years, but that was a while back. Although I really hate the thought of it ending, it would be ruined if they kept it on too long.

Andrea

09-15-2007, 09:55 PM	#1
Skywalker Member Forum Fanatic Join Date: Apr 04, 2003 Posts: 14,204	'Monk' Raised in the Garden State http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?...Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3 'Monk' raised in the Garden State Thursday, September 13, 2007 By VIRGINIA ROHAN STAFF WRITER Los Angeles: the television industry's home base, where the vast majority of entertainment series get pitched, ordered, cast, written, shot and edited. New York City: an increasingly popular place to shoot, but still far behind L.A. when it comes to television-making. (Some New York-based series are even largely written on the West Coast.) Summit: the unlikely locale whence USA's hit series "Monk" springs to life. True, the detective series is filmed 3,000 miles away on and around the famed Paramount lot, but "Monk" co-creator-executive producer-head writer Andy Breckman is firmly rooted in New Jersey, along with most of his writing staff. This arrangement is highly unusual, no? "Unprecedented," Breckman confirms. "I don't know how it happened. I somehow convinced them that I was impossible to replace." Also unusual, he says, is that "almost no one seems to know" what sort of business he and his five full-time writers are conducting in the unprepossessing brick building on Springfield Avenue, which mostly houses the suites of doctors and dentists. "When we first started, there were some articles in the paper that said where our address is, and I thought we'd be deluged [by visitors], but we've never had any problems, which is how we like it. I wouldn't know what to do with people dropping by," Breckman says, noting the one exception to their anonymity. "We go to the same restaurant every day for lunch, and some ... waitresses who know we work on the show say very kind things." Breckman lives in Madison with his wife, Beth Landau, a documentary filmmaker, and their two young children. A few times a year, he does have to visit Los Angeles, where two other "Monk" writers -- including his kid brother, David -- are stationed. Otherwise, though, it's a Garden State grindstone. "I work with my staff of writers in Summit, but then, I do a lot of the actual writing of the show at home in Madison late at night," Breckman says. "It's like I have two shifts." A phobic sleuth "Monk," which debuted in July 2002, revolves around brilliant but eccentric former San Francisco police detective-turned-freelance-sleuth Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub), whose obsessive-compulsive disorder, and variety of phobias, intensified after the murder of his wife, Trudy. "People from the OCD community were very concerned when we went on the air, but they have truly embraced it," Breckman says. "I think they loved that Monk is someone who faces his problem squarely. He's the hero of the show. He gets to put bad guys behind bars every week. Nobody's laughing at him. I think that's thanks in large part to Tony Shalhoub. People are very sympathetic to the character. It's not played at all for cheap laughs." By the end of this sixth season – the season finale airs Friday night – "Monk" will have produced 86 episodes. "We're on the air longer now than 'Columbo,' the show which was my favorite," says Breckman, noting that the original "Columbo" went 45 episodes. "And if I'm not wrong, Sherlock Holmes was 60 stories. I never thought I'd be asked to come up with 80, 90, 100 stories to keep this thing alive. It's hard. The challenge is keeping it fresh, keeping it original." He credits the show's success to his writing staff, support from the network, good luck, and a great cast, led by Shalhoub -- whose comic style he compares with Bob Newhart's. "They have some similarities in the pacing, the tone, and the pauses," Breckman says. "They're both great with a line. They deliver it, often with great deadpan." For 14 years, Breckman has also been doing a weekly radio show called "Seven Second Delay," on WFMU-FM (91.1 FM), which broadcasts from Jersey City. (His show, co-hosted by WFMU general manager Ken Freedman, is on from 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays.) The gig came about, he explains, because he once confided to an assistant, who had contacts at WFMU, that "one of my secret fantasies was to have a call-in show." "For me, it's like going to therapy every week. I just get to vent and babble and get things off my chest. It keeps me sort of stabilized," Breckman says. "I always forget people are listening. It's great." Early writing success Raised in Haddonfield, Breckman, 52, dropped out of Boston University to "pursue a career as a singer-songwriter of humorous songs." After about eight years of doing that, he "moved sort of sideways into television writing." His first television job, for which he won an Emmy Award, was writing for the NBC teen show "Hot Hero Sandwich." "Then I got my first break with the David Letterman show," says Breckman, who, in 1982, started writing comedy full time on the original staff of NBC's "Late Night With David Letterman." (During that time Breckman fulfilled his desire to live in a college town by moving with his ex-wife to Madison, home to Drew University and a branch of Fairleigh Dickinson University.) He did that for a couple of years then spent another few writing for "Saturday Night Live." One of Breckman's "SNL" sketches was the famed "White Like Me" segment, in which Eddie Murphy disguised himself as a white man for a day. Breckman's writing credits also include the feature films "Sgt. Bilko," and "Rat Race," as well as Comedy Central's "TV Funhouse," and the 2003 Academy Awards with Steve Martin. And then there's "Monk." "Seven years ago, my partner, David Hoberman, took me out to lunch and said he had an idea," Breckman recalls. "He wondered if we could do a show about a detective who had OCD." Asked how Hoberman got that idea, he says, "He himself suffers, I think, from a mild form of OCD. And I think he had just seen the Jack Nicholson film 'As Good as It Gets." The big question: How much longer can "Monk" last? "We're renegotiating now. We hope the show continues for another two years," says Breckman, adding that two years would be his limit as well as Shalhoub's. Better focus in N.J. He well knows that when "Monk" does end, he may also have to say goodbye to his unusual screenwriting arrangement, and he says he'd move to Los Angeles "in a heartbeat" if he had to. For now, he's enjoying working in New Jersey, which he says really helps his writing. "Obviously, most people live in New York or L.A. I'm easily distracted. I would have trouble focusing if I lived [either place]. For me, this is working. This is the best of scenarios."