USA Gives Monk An Eighth And Final 16 Episode Season

USA Network announced that it is giving its long-running hit series Monk, an eighth and final-season pickup with a 16-episode order. The final season of the show – starring Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk, a brilliant detective who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder – will debut in the summer. The decision to end Monk after its eighth season was reached mutually by all parties involved with the show who wanted to bring the series to an end while it was still firing on all creative cylinders.

“We want to build to a spectacular conclusion for this wonderful show,” USA Network’s executive vice president of original programming, Jeff Wachtel, said in making the announcement. ” By many measures, Monk is the most successful series in the history of basic cable . . . Our fans have been extremely dedicated, and Season 8 should prove to be a very satisfying reward.”

Monk delivered series-high ratings last February, with 7.55 million viewers.