Bitty Schram

Oh yes, I totally agree about Sharona/Bitty.

I find the actress who played Natalie shallow and without many skills. Her voice alone drove me crazy. She was just not believable. She had no compassion for Monk, would mock him with men she was dating who were just fly by nights. And the young woman who played her daughter was so stiff and wooden. Beautiful child but more of a model than an actress.

I am an old lady and stumbled onto this series and I was just heart broken when they fired Sharona. I continued to watch but the ones that feature "Natalie or her so called daughter" I just do not watch again. Even the talented crew could not pull those two wooden actresses across the finish line IMHO. Just really never enjoyed it as much not that you could tell, ha.

Not exactly fired. They just decided not to renew her contract because she was asking more money than they were willing to pay.

It's not the fault of the other actress, but I just liked Sharona more. She seemed to have a much deeper relationship with Adrian. After all, she was with him from the beginning when he was catatonic and mourning the death of his wife. And she called Adrian by his first name. They were on a more equal level.

Natalie was a fine replacement. But she always called him Mr. Monk and acted more like his "Girl Friday". Sharona didn't put up with all of Monk's nonsense the way Natalie did. Of course after a while, Natalie toughened up a bit and didn't baby Monk.

One thing is that I liked Benjy better than Natalie's daughter. He was funny and quirky and he really seemed to care for Monk. Natalie's daughter was a cute girl but it got a bit annoying the way everyone drooled over the kid like she was a budding Elizabeth Taylor. Cute kid but no raving beauty.