Моңк Манхэттенде

"Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan" was written by Andy Breckman and directed by Randall Zisk. Series creator and executive producer Breckman was credited for the script for the fifth time in the series, while it was the sixth time Zisk worked on a Monk episode. While Monk's second season was entirely filmed and produced in Los Angeles, "Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan" was shot in New York City in March 2004.

"Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan" was first broadcast in the United States on the USA Network at 9 pm EST on June 18, 2004. It was the third most watched program on cable television that week with a 3.6 percent household rating and a household audience of 3.9 million. CurrentFilm. com and MovieFreak. com's Dennis Landmann qualified it as one of the best episodes of the season. Seattle Post Intelligencers Melanie McFarland said although it is "a fecund opportunity for cheap laughs", Shalhoub was able to keep the "balance between Monk's power and helplessness without caving into lower comedic impulses." "A welcome return" was how it was described by Robert Lloyd from the Los Angeles Times who asserted its "pleasures are all in the predictable eccentricities of its characters, and the fact that it's clearly being staged for our benefit." Ted Cox of the Chicago area Daily Herald praised the scene when Monk forgives Tennyson dubbing it "great TV." Chris Hicks of Deseret News deemed it as "a terrific example of how the writers come up with simple situations that throw Monk into turmoil but also allow us to identify with him: Monk in Manhattan. The crowds, the noise, the confusion. Perfect." Not all reviews were positive. David Bianculli, writing in the New York Daily News, stated that the idea of putting Monk in New York "sound[ed] great" on paper but it did not take advantage of what could be "a delightful study in contrasts." A review for The Beaver County Times considered it a "stunt episode" and its humor "uncharacteristically forced", saying it "really doesn't do justice to the show's considerable charms." Steve Johnson of the Chicago Tribune affirmed that while the premise is funny, "the writers go out of their way to play the city against his condition." Although excited for the episode's premise prior to its broadcast, Austin Smith of the New York Post was very critical of it. Smith said in this episode "the producers have him [Monk] crossing that fine line between genius and insanity, transforming our hero into a full blown mental patient." Stasi wrote, "It's one thing to be an obsessive/compulsive ex detective who lines up the pins on the murder map and it's another to act like you've got a pin in your brain."