Monk to Clean Up His Final Murder Case in 2009

• Nov 14, 2008 07:29 PM ET
• by Matt Mitovich

Monk

USA Network has announced its pick-up of an eighth and final season of Monk, to debut in the summer of 2009. The OCDetective series, fronted by three-time Emmy winner Tony Shalhoub, will say goodbye with a 16-episode run.

"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.