The following is a list of characters of Monk, an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series, created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. Except for two changes, the principal cast of the series remained consistent. For the first three seasons Sharona Fleming was Monk's assistant. She left to remarry her ex-husband in the middle of season three. She was replaced by Natalie Teeger in the episode "Mr. Monk and the Red Herring", and Teeger remained Monk's assistant for the remainder of the series. Stanley Kamel, who portrayed Monk's therapist, Dr. Charles Kroger, died in April 2008 during the production hiatus in between seasons six and seven. Hence, starting with season seven, Monk gets a new therapist, Dr. Neven Bell, who remained for the final two seasons.
Adrian Monk is the only character to appear in all 125 episodes.
Main characters
Adrian Monk
Sharona Fleming
Sharona Fleming, portrayed by Bitty Schram, is Adrian Monk's nurse and his assistant during the first three seasons.
Monk was in a catatonic state for three and a half years until Sharona began taking care of him. Monk was able to resume detective work and remarked, "When she found me, I was drowning. She saved my life." The series started a while after she took the assistant's job, and just how she got it and what their early relationship was are never explained, although it is revealed that Captain Stottlemeyer originally engaged her as a nurse for Monk.
It is revealed in the novel Mr. Monk is on Patrol that one of the criteria that the SFPD had for employing Monk as a consultant was that he had to have Sharona with him, in case he has a breakdown. Sharona helps out, sometimes doing independent investigations and sometimes even using her sex appeal to get information that Monk cannot. She also does all kinds of things that Monk's OCD and phobias prevent him from doing as she has few such reservations herself. However, in the season 2 episode "Mr. Monk Goes to the Circus," Sharona is revealed to have a fear of elephants, due to seeing a girl falling into an elephant pit when she was seven years old. She takes up smoking after Monk reacts insensitively to her fear of elephants, telling her to "suck it up".
Sharona drives a tan 1990 Volvo 740 GLE Wagon, which in "Mr. Monk and the 12th Man" is shown to have 100,000 miles. The counter says 99,999, prompting Monk to move the car forwards and backwards until the number is even while staking out Henry Small's house.
She has 'quit' her job as Monk's assistant at least twice; in the episode "Mr. Monk and the Candidate" and "Mr. Monk and the Billionaire Mugger" (this was due to a pay dispute (her paychecks had bounced regularly); she temporarily got a job at a lamp store). Sharona's 'quitting' became a running gag in the show, until she finally left in 2004 to remarry her ex-husband, Trevor Howe, following "Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine". This was because Bitty Schram quit the show over contract disputes. Subsequently, Traylor Howard was introduced as Natalie Teeger, Monk's new assistant, beginning in "Mr. Monk and the Red Herring".
Sharona is mentioned again after her character left the show in "Mr. Monk Is On the Run (Part Two)", having sent flowers for the "deceased" Monk and flying in with Benjy to attend his funeral.
Sharona made a special guest appearance in "Mr. Monk and Sharona", in season 8, in order to meet her lawyer about a lawsuit involving her uncle, Howard Fleming. In this episode she explained what she had been doing since she left. She meets Natalie Teeger, Monk's new assistant, and it seems that they are going to get along until it is revealed that Monk paid Sharona $20 a week more than Natalie. Later, they begin to bicker about assisting styles, the settlement money, etc., The two women later reconile their differences and note that each woman was just what Monk needed at the time they worked for him, and that Sharona's seeming toughness got Monk to a place where he didn't need a full-time nurse at his side. There was also a surprise hug between Monk and Sharona, which shows the first time Monk has returned a hug given by anyone, and also a surprise kiss between Randy Disher, whom Sharona regularly traded teasing barbs and banter in the first seasons.
In "Mr. Monk and the End", it is revealed that Randy spent two weeks on vacation, having landed in Newark, New Jersey (where Sharona lives), and that he and Sharona had found a home which they would share when Randy moves to New Jersey sometime after Monk's last case.