Dr. KrogerI watched Friday night’s episode of Monk last night (I had TiVo-ed it). It was a salute to Stanley Kamel, who played Mr. Monk’s psychiatrist since the show began in 2002. Kamel had died in April and this was the first episode since Kamel’s death. Stanley Kamel had a long and very successful career which started with an uncredited role in 1969 on the old TV show, Mission: Impossible. The list of TV shows that he guest starred in for the last 40 years seems endless. McMillan & Wife, Days of Our Lives, Kojak, Charlie’s Angels, Mork & Mindy, Quincy M.E., Three’s Company, Hill Street Blues, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Columbo, Murder She Wrote. He also had one of the first rolls in a TV show as a person with AIDS on the show L.A. Law.

The Monk episode that aired Friday night showed the sadness of the characters for the death of Dr. Kroger, who was portrayed as having died of heart attack just like Kamel. Hector Elizondo is portraying Mr. Monk’s new psychiatrist.