[Squaredancing] Mass Media - Mr. Monk Visits a Farm

[ljknews]

My wife and I do not subscribe to Cable TV, and we make up
for that every year or so by buying DVD seasons of "Monk".
With our latest purchase we discovered that Season 5 Episode
14, "Mr. Monk Visits a Farm" has a square dance as a central
part of the plot.  It was originally transmitted over cable
on February 9, 2007.

The regular local square dance is crucial to the proof that
the suspect could not have done it since he was at the dance
at the time of the crime, in front of 50 witnesses.  You will
be relieved to know that it was the first square dance he had
attended in 10 years, so he was not a "regular" square dancer.

The bit player square dancer characters were all in fancy
square dance clothing (but not the hero when he visited a
subsequent square dance the following month to interview
the witnesses regarding the presence of the suspect).

The background choreography seemed like "real" MWSD, except
that when the hero was dragged onto the floor it morphed into
what I think of as being Virginia Reel or Contra moves, with
one couple going down between two lines of other dancers (a
good plot escape for the fact that the hero had no training).

Aside reinforcing the rural image of square dancing, I believe
no harm was done by this exposure.  The hero was not having
fun at the square dance, but this is a series about the hero
not having fun !
-- 
Larry Kilgallen