Why sharona left

But what the cameras filmed is only half of the tale—quite a few interesting stories took place behind the scenes, and we've compiled the best of the bunch for your reading pleasure. Here's what happened Many fans don't realize that casting Adrian Monk was a difficult, lengthy process for producers.

The show was originally developed for ABC in , but the network eventually passed when an actor hadn't been cast for the role after a two-year search. When the producers found eventual Monk star Tony Shalhoub, he didn't want to take the part , not knowing how to relate to the character. After some words of wisdom from his manager, he relented—and the rest was TV history. Bitty Schram, who played Adrian Monk's nurse Sharona Fleming, had established herself as an integral part of the show by season 3, so her departure that season surprised a lot of viewers.

According to some reports, she left due to creative differences between herself and the network; however, industry observers know "creative differences" is often a euphemism for wanting more money. At the time, she and two other supporting actors were renegotiating their contracts with the network. Unfortunately for Schram, the network took this opportunity to " go in a different creative direction ," although the two sides mended fences long enough for her to make an appearance in the eighth and final season.

USA almost filmed a th episode of Monk , but circumstances beyond their control prevented it. For season 3, writers penned an episode entitled "Mr. Monk Is At Sea," and the plot involved a murder mystery on a cruise ship. Unfortunately, the network couldn't find a cruise line that wanted to participate.

But Bitty Schram was let go during the show's third season due to contract disputes, apparently she wanted a higher salary and the creators felt she was replaceable. We've always been miffed about that, but lucky for us, she returned in season 8 for the episode "Mr. Monk and Sharona". However, since then she hasn't been up to much. She was in a episode of the Ghost Whisperer. Her next acting credit came in for the film Moments of Clarity. Emmy Clarke was only 13 when she first appeared on Monk.

She played Natalie's daughter Julie and after the show ended, she took time off from acting to attend school. She enrolled at Fordham University and earned a B.

She pursued a career in the advertising industry, first as a marketer for mobile photo-sharing application Peep, and then as an media planner for Good Apple Digital. In she appeared in the film Apartment Troubles. News Corp is a global, diversified media and information services company focused on creating and distributing authoritative and engaging content and other products and services.

Dow Jones. By Joanne Kaufman. To Read the Full Story. Subscribe Sign In. This he achieves only with the help of his long-suffering nurse, Sharona Fleming, the reason for this article.

But on-show reasons and off-show reasons are rarely in harmony, and online sleuths quickly took to a Monk-like investigation to work out the real reason for Sharona being written out of the show. The rumours deepen to suggest that when the show took off in its early years, its lead actor, Tony Shalhoub who plays Monk , was offered a generous pay rise, while the key supporting actors, including Schram, were not.

What followed again according to the scurrilous rumours , is that Schram and her fellow supporting actors including Ted Levine and Jason Gray-Stanford lobbied the network for their own salary increase, but were unceremoniously knocked back.