Sabu?

Sometimes I pick up on a good TV show early-Bones, Veronica Mars, Boston Legal. But more often than not it can take me a few seasons before I start watching something & find out I really like it-24, House, Psych.

I then start hunting down all the previous episodes on DVD (thank God for the wonder of man's technology). My most recent late-date discovery? Monk, which is in its fifth season now. I'd had the show recommended to me by a friend or two, but never sat down to watch an episode until USA ran a "viewers choice marathon" a few weeks ago.

Well, I had nothing else to do that day. And I figured if these were the episodes that Monk fans liked it should certainly tell me whether I had the capacity to be a Monk fan. Turns out I do, and I am.

Why? Well, let me put it this way. One reason is...I don't want to make too big a great deal of this, but something occured to me recently. One thing that all my favorite TV shows, including all of those listed above, have in common is this: A lead character who, to one degree or another, has difficulty living but is redeemed by at least one really cool thing they can do. I don't think it requires too much insight to see why.

Anyway, getting back to Monk, there seem to have been two "debates" among longtime fans of the series. One is which version of the theme music they prefer, the original, instrumental guitar-based version, or the song written and performed by Randy Newman.

For what it's worth in that one I come down on the Newman side, which is weird because I've never really been a part of his cult following. It probably helps that the theme is over in less than a minute. For me a little of Newman's voice goes a long way.

The other "debate" has been over which of the two assistant characters the fans prefer, Sharona or Natalie. And here again I come down in favor of version 2.0, Natalie, played by actress Traylor Howard. Natalie just seems nicer, though I don't really dislike the Sharona character.

Actually, it's Howard's real-life situation that sparked this post, which I'd been off-handedly looking for an excuse to write and "declare my affections." Last Spring she became pregnant and she gave birth to a son this past November.

According to this Monk site, she named him "Sabu." So I was going to ask, what kind of a person names their son "Sabu" in this day and age? And then it dawned on me: The kind of person whose parents evidently saddled her with the name "Traylor."

I can't think of any way that could have been turned around on her in the schoolyard, can you?