MR. MONK AND THE MIDNIGHT CALLER

Tonight, we say good-bye to 'Monk' as the series wraps up its two-part finale. I always enjoyed the show, but I will admit that many times - watching the episodes the next morning after I got home from work - I would fast-forward through a lot of the scenes in which Monk was being his obsessive-compulsive self, which you have to admit was often-times padding out the hour. A little goes a long way.

But like I said, I liked the show a lot. I just wish they could have done some cross-overs during its run with other USA Network shows, besides what we'd see in those alternate universe promos where he'd meet the characters from 'Psych', 'The Dead Zone', and 'The 4400'.

Still, every so often an unintentional crossover would pop up with some other show from the past. And I'm not just talking the Numbers from 'Lost' or other theoretical possibilities.

One such example came in an episode earlier this season, "Mr. Monk And The Critic", in which John Hannigan, the murderer, worked at the San Francisco Dispatch as a theater critic. He's not the only TV character who worked there. Back in the 80s series 'Midnight Caller', the gossip columnist at the Dispatch was Becca Nicholson (played by Eugenie Ross Leming. And Deacon Bridges was a reporter for the paper as well, often working in tandem with radio talk show host Jack Killian, the show's main character. (Mykelti Wiliams played Bridges.) The only reason we didn't see them in the 'Monk' episode (working from an inner reality perspective)? Deac was out working a lead for a story and Becca was in the ladies' room.....

My thanks to Jerome Holst of TV Acres for his help on this......

BCnU!