It’s hard to believe, but it’s been 60 years since “The Monkees” debuted on our TV sets, bringing together four musicians for what would be a quirky, funny, sing-a-long sitcom series. And while the series lasted only two seasons, it made a lasting impression on multiple generations thanks to reruns. Recently, however, fans of the band and the show had a hard time reliving those gloriously weird episodes, as the show was nowhere to be found on streaming platforms. Thankfully, that has all changed thanks to Tubi and Roku.
The Monkees came together as a music group in an unusual way. Following the success of the Beatles movie “A Hard Day’s Night,” American producers had an idea of creating a television show centered around a rock group in the States. They held auditions and ended up casting Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, Davy Jones, and Micky Dolenz (who later was almost cast as the Fonz on “Happy Days”). Then they went to work teaching the band how to work together not only as actors but as musicians.
Finally, “The Monkees” aired on NBC in September 1966, a few weeks after their first single, “Last Train to Clarksville,” hit the rock charts. Both the show and the song were big hits, and “The Monkees” won two Emmys in 1967, for outstanding comedy series and outstanding directorial achievement in comedy. To this day, it’s still considered one of NBC’s best shows of all time.
The Monkees’ star burned bright but didn’t burn for long
Season 1 of The Monkees proved to be
Season 1 of “The Monkees” proved to be a solid performer for NBC, finishing as a top 50 show in the ratings. Season 2, however, didn’t quite live up to its predecessor. For starters, once fans found out that the band didn’t actually play any instruments on their album tracks, the novelty of their act started to wear off. The plots also became somehow more formulaic and more bizarre at the same time, which left the band and the production team disgruntled. NBC decided to cancel the series after that season. Normally, that would be the end of the story, but not here.
The series moved into syndication and for many years was largely forgotten about, until MTV decided to rerun the entire series in 1986. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and suddenly, a whole new generation fell in love with “The Monkees.” That led to MTV putting the reruns on consistent rotation and the band re-forming, reissuing their albums, and going back out on tour.
Twenty years after the show initially debuted, the Monkees were suddenly bigger than they had ever been. Now, another 40 years later, you can go back and finally rewatch the musical TV show for yourself. “The Monkees” is free to stream on both Tubi and Roku.
