The Monkees Return to Television

[mickeymouseclubfan]

Hello Out There From TV Land,

I have GREAT news: after nearly a decade off TV, "The Monkees" are returning to TV, on the IFC Cable Channel on Monday, May 25 with an all-day marathon from 6 A.M. to 6 P.M. ET/PT

Here's info for proof: http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/the-m...stings/100494/

EDIT: My apologies for neglecting to remember that "The Monkees" had been on Antenna TV since 2012.

For those of you unfamiliar with the show, I'm gonna give you readers the Inside Scoop, info of which unless otherwise noted is courtesy of "The Monkees: The E! True Hollywood Story."

"The Monkees" was a hit TV show about an out-of-work rock group who supported themselves by taking various odd jobs; the show was created by Bob Rafelson & Bert Schneider.

"The Monkees" was first pitched in early 1965 to Bert's father, Abe, the then-current President of Columbia Pictures; on April 16, 1965, Screen Gems, Columbia Pictures' television division, gave the go-ahead to shoot a "Monkees" pilot.

On September 8, 1965, 437 young adult men auditioned to become "Monkees." Among those who auditioned, but were passed over for "The Monkees," included Danny Hutton (future vocalist for "Three Dog Night"), Steve Stills (future founder of Buffalo Springfield and later Crosby, Stills & Nash with David Crosby & Graham Nash), Harry Nilsson (who among other known songs included "Midnight Cowboy") & Paul Williams (actor/songwriter who among other artists he wrote for included The Muppets).

Of those nearly 500 auditionees, 4 were hired: 22-year-old Robert Michael "Mike" Nesmith (born on December 30, 1942 in Houston, Texas); 21-year-old Peter Halsten Thorkelson (born on February 13, 1944 in Washington, D.C.), soon rechristened Peter Tork; 20-year-old George Michael "Micky" Dolenz, Jr. (born on March 8, 1945 in Los Angeles, California); and 19-year-old David Thomas "Davy" Jones (born on December 30, 1945 in Manchester, England).

According to "The Monkees: The E! True Hollywood Story," Davy Jones was the only one of "The Monkees" hired who NEVER auditioned.

All 4 cast members had had careers in entertainment before being selected for "The Monkees." Mike was a songwriter under the pen name Mike Blessing; Peter was a folk-singer in Greenwich Village; Micky was a child actor who already had a series, "Circus Boy," under his belt; and Davy was a jockey in England.

The pilot episode, "Here Come The Monkees," was filmed in November 1965; in January 1966, less than 2 months after the pilot completed filming at Sunset Gower Studios in Los Angeles, California, Davy married his first wife, Linda Haines (the mother of his 2 eldest of 4 adult daughters), a fact kept hidden from the public until late 1968.

According to Mike Nesmith, before Don Kirshner was hired to supervise the series' music, he and his fellow "Monkees" recorded over 100 tracks as an actual band until Don's hiring, after which the stars were told they were only going to be singing on the records to pre-recorded tracks--a move that made Mike VERY unhappy.

Despite that fact, "The Monkees" released their first single as a vocal group, "Last Train To Clarksville," in August 1966, well over a month before the series' debut; on September 12, 1966, "The Monkees" made their debut on the NBC Television Network and became a smash.

In January 1967, Don Kirshner was fired by Screen Gems for releasing a single that was subsequently pulled without the studios' permission, a move that led "The Monkees" to record an album, "HeadQuarters," which they played and sang every note on the album and hired a new producer, Chip Douglas (real name: Douglas Farthing Hatlied), to produce the album.

Despite the success (reaching #1 its first week on the album charts before being replaced the following week by the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" album), Mike & his fellow "Monkees" decided that starting on the next album they'd go back to having studio musicians play on records while continuing to provide singing vocals on their records.

The next album, "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd." was released to coincide with the 2nd season debut of "The Monkees." For this album, Mike Nesmith wrote 4 songs that were included on the album release, including "Love Is Only Sleeping" (which Mike wrote while recovering from having his Tonsils removed in real life and eventually hired songwriter Barry Mann to arrange the song, giving Barry Mann & his wife Cynthia Weil writing credit).

"The Monkees" proved to be very popular and successful, both on TV AND on the record charts; however, that popularity was short-lived, as NBC canceled "The Monkees" in 1968.

According to the VH1 biopic "Daydream Believers: The Monkees Story," the reason behind NBC canceling "The Monkees" was Mike Nesmith's refusal to do a 3rd season in the sitcom format; coincidentally, the movie "Head" was being filmed at the time of NBC's cancellation.

The final original episode, "Mijacogeo" (written and directed by Micky Dolenz and named after Micky's immediate family consisting of Micky, his younger sister Janelle, mother Coco and deceased father George), aired on NBC on March 25, 1968.

8 months later, on November 20, 1968, the film "Head" was released in theaters by Columbia Pictures; however, upon the film's release, "Head" was a critical and box office bomb.

After 2 years, 58 Television Episodes, 6 Albums, 11 Top 40 Hits (3 of which made it to #1 on the record charts) and a move, "The Monkees" faded into oblivion.

Until the 1980s that is, when reruns of "The Monkees" began airing on MTV.

MTV aired "The Monkees" on February 23, 1986 for 40 non-stop hours, after which reruns began airing regularly on Nickelodeon on September 1, 1986 and continuing through September 9, 1988 on both its weekday daytime schedule and as part of Nick at Nite.

During its regular Nickelodeon rerun days, MTV also occasionally aired "Monkee" marathons.

Nickelodeon's airing of the series led the group (minus Mike Nesmith) to reunite for reunion tours along with 2 reunion albums--"Pool It" in 1987 & "JustUs" in 1996.

The "JustUs" album had "The Monkees" not only play their own instruments, but also write all of their own songs--and also served as the final time all 4 "Monkees" were together on album and tours; on the early morning hours of February 29, 2012, 66-year-old Davy Jones, a vegetarian who exercised regularly every day and continued to ride horses, was taking a horse ride on his Indiantown, Florida ranch when he began complaining of breathing problems.

911 was immediately called and had Davy rushed to the nearest hospital an hour away, in Stuart, Florida; unfortunately, it was too late: Davy Jones, 66, was dead.

Davy Jones died of a Massive Heart Attack on February 29, 2012.

A private funeral was held in Florida attended by immediate family members only, after which Davy was cremated and his ashes were scattered to England alongside his late parents.

The surviving trio of "Monkees," despite the tragedy, resumed touring in September 2012, including Mike Nesmith, who recommitted to "The Monkees."

As of this writing, Micky Dolenz & Peter Tork (as "The Monkees") will be holding a one-off tour in England this September, as well as touring in California this Summer.

[Zoneboy]

Originally Posted by mickeymouseclubfan

For those of you unfamiliar with the show, I'm gonna give you readers the Inside Scoop, info of which unless otherwise noted is courtesy of "The Monkees: The E! True Hollywood Story."

Telling us about the Monkees is like telling us who the President is.

[icecream]

They haven't been off the air for a decade. The Monkees has aired for several years on Antenna TV and Antenna even did a marathon of the whole series when Davy Jones died.

[DJM77]

The writer of this article hasn't been paying attention. Not only are The Monkees on Antenna TV, they're also on FamilyNet.