THE MONKEES on IFC Weekend Mornings

[TeeVeeCloset]

As I post this and start thread, The IFC 2015 Memorial Day "The Monkees" marathon is airing till 4PM eastern. The premiere of the series on IFC.

I encourage, though they have extended commercial breaks in 35 minute blocks, any younger new viewer or viewer that doesn't own the DVD's to tune in as the IFC airings are unedited!

I support Antenna TV for their loyality to the pre-fab four, but during their entire since launch years so far on Antenna, what some fans consider the best part of the two season series is chopped from Antenna TV airings.

Musical segments, and the famous "One minute short" interview segments, trust me if you have only seen the series on Antenna TV, you will now see it in a completely different form.

Brief History, "The Monkees" is unique in the history of network/syndication airings as at least 3 versions exsist of each of the 58 episodes produced, some differences illustrated below.

1- The Original NBC primetime airings, which included two openings, one for each season. Available on DVD, though some episodes on the DVD's still contain different songs which are not from the original NBC airings.

2- The 1969 CBS Saturday Morning airings, these were re-edits with different songs inserted from NBC network airings.

3- The syndication package, starting in the mid 70's, which is a mash-up of both of the above mixing the original songs & newly added songs. The credits were never redone, so that is why some episodes contain song titles that do not appear in the episode. These also aired during the famous MTV 80's Marathons.

4. The new 90's syndicated package, which appeared on a few local stations, packaged as the short lived "Screen Gems Network", sped up and time compressed.

5. The Antenna TV airings, first and still presented in 21 minute form, though not sped up, the first to contain edited versions of the songs & removing the interview segments entirely.

The series has been owned and circulated by several companies, airing through the years with numerous closing bumpers, Screen Gems originally, Colex, Columbia Pictures and now Sony!

IFC is running a mix of all, but still contain no music edits and don't remove the very enjoyable interview segments, usually at the end of some episodes. I have also seen some episodes air with their original sponsor logo along side the credits, but so far no sight of the original season one opening.