'Monk' Returns To USA For Seventh Season
'Characters' Network Will Premiere First Half Of Campaign This Summer
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 2/20/2008 12:50:00 AM MT
USA Network is rolling a seventh season with its award-winning comedy Monk.
The characters network has ordered 16 episodes of the Tony Shalhoub-starrer, with the first half expected to debut in July, followed by the remaining batch next January.
One of cable’s all-time original ratings performers, Monk’s seventh-season renewal was delayed by the Writers Guild of America strike. Shalhoub’s turn as the obsessive-compulsive Adrian Monk has earned him a trio Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe and a pair of SAG Awards for best comic TV actor.
Teaming with lead-out Psych, Monk has made USA cable’s ratings kingpin on Friday nights. USA’s summer original schedule is also likely to include fresh installments of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Burn and The Starter Wife, last season’s successful miniseries, starring Debra Messing, which is being converted into a series format. In Plain Sight is scheduled to premiere April 24.
Monk is about to get even more exposure as it will be repurposed along with Psych in a Sunday-night block on broadcast brethren NBC, starting March 2.
It was unclear at press time if the upcoming season would also be open for repurposed runs on NBC, which announced yesterday that in April it will unveil plans for a 52-week schedule of fresh fare.
However in announcing the Sunday-night block on NBC, USA and Sci Fi president Bonnie Hammer said that the budgets for sixth season of Monk and Psych’s second campaign were drawn with broadcasting airings in mind.
Universal Media Studios produces Monk in association with Mandeville Films and ABC Studios.
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01/20/2008
