A friend of mine pointed me at a cool article at the NYTimes about how "TV's Damaged Detectives Are Sherlock's Children".

THERE is an eccentric new generation of crime fighters in prime time ÷ brilliant, obsessed and, if not dysfunctional, then at the very least damaged. They are modern descendants of the detective story's greatest hero, Sherlock Holmes. And by reaching back to this early model, their creators have revitalized the genre, reclaiming it from several decades of psychic charlatans, grandmotherly amateurs and foot-weary plodders with booze on their breath.

I've become a big fan of both Monk and CSI in the past few months. I think CSI has better mysteries in general, but Monk has the more interesting character interactions. But in general, both shows have fairly intricate mysteries that are slowly pieced together throughout the course of the show. On the downside, CSI has spoiled me for some other shows. Many times I'll be watching and wondering how come the cops haven't done more of the hi-tech stuff I see on CSI.