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USA OBSESSED WITH "MONK" AS NETWORK PICKS UP HIT SHOW FOR SECOND SEASON

New York, NY - September 23, 2002 - USA Network's highly-rated, critically acclaimed original series Monk has been picked up for a second season, it was announced today by Jeff Wachtel, Executive Vice President, Series and Longform Programming. Series star Tony Shalhoub and all primary cast members will be returning. USA Network made a thirteen episode commitment for the second season of Monk, set to premiere in the summer of 2003.

"We knew Monk was a great show," Wachtel said. "We hoped it would get a strong response from the critics and believed it would grow into a word-of-mouth hit. But its immediate reception by such a large and enthusiastic audience is the type of thing you only dream about."

With a 3.4 average household rating and an average of 4.5 million viewers tuning in each week, Monk has consistently won Friday nights on basic cable and is pacing to become the top-rated dramatic series in basic cable history.

Monk stars Tony Shalhoub (The Man Who Wasn't There, Galaxy Quest) as the illustrious Adrian Monk... an obsessive-compulsive detective. Monk suffers from a psychological disorder that has already cost him his position as a legendary homicide detective on the San Francisco police force. Due to the tragic unsolved murder of his wife, Monk has developed an abnormal fear of germs, heights, crowds and virtually everything else, which provides an unusual challenge to solving crimes... not to mention his day-to-day existence.

USA Network is cable television's leading provider of original series and feature movies, sports events, off-net television shows and blockbuster theatrical films. USA Network is available in 82% of all U.S. homes, and is seen in 86 million U.S. homes. The USA Network Web site is located at www.usanetwork.com.