Monkees

You know, at the time I thought the Monkees were so cool, and that this show depicting them as a bunch of fun-lovin' funsters, was the best.  Yet, when I watch it now, it seems oh-so stupid.

Silly and fun show. All went well until the word got out that they weren't really a band. Their music was a studio creation and written by some fine writers of the time including Neal Diamond. When the boys decided to get real their own songs and performances sank the ship. Only Jones and Nesmith continued with their music. The show was hugely popular with the pre-teen girls though. Most of them treated The Monkees like the American Beatles. Excellent pop tunes in the first two seasons.

I wish the reruns were still on. It was nice to watch while unwinding after a long day of school. This is how i got hooked on the song "Goin Down".  About a year ago i bought the Rhino best of CD.

good for what it was. a cheap american imitation serialization of a beatles movie.

Neither the Monkees (the fabricated group) nor "The Monkees" (the television show) were intended to be serious; nevertheless, the franchise actually put out a fun product and some happy go lucky music. In some ways the series was ahead of its time, with its musical interludes the forerunner of modern music videos and the characters speaking directly to the audience and people off-camera. Moreover, the songwriting talent was impeccable, with contributions from Neil Diamond, Carol King, and Gerry Goffin (among others). Though subjective, I always loved this series and remember fondly when MTV reran the series a good while back.

Not as good as the music.

As manufactured purveyors of bubblegum go, not bad at all.

Some nice tunes and a cute lead singer does not a great band make (but try telling that to Louis Walsh!!!).

Yes, it is true that they were prefabricated and a media creation, and often didn't play on their own records. On the other hand, they look pretty damned good compared to the more or less equivalent bubblegum frauds and poseurs of today..Some of their tunes get on my nerves, and Davy Jones' songs did tend to be cutesy sugary confections with little real substance, such as the abysmal "I'll Be True To You" from the first album, which would rank high on any worst tunes of the era list I could conjure. They did have some hits that were pretty solid on their own terms, the "Head" album may have been a flop, though nowhere near as big of a flop as the weirdly inscrutable film it served as the soundtrack for, but it had some of their better tunes. Actually, this act's best material was often b-sides like the great "Goin' Down"and rather obscure album tracks such as "For Pete's Sake," which accompanied the ending credits on some of the later episodes off the show, rather than the familiar, ov... Read more

OK, just a bit of fun really but I do love "Daydream Believer"

not really a band, Duhhhhhh

I IDOLIZED this group as a kid. Loved their music; loved the show. I remember writing a letter full of youthful homage to them at the address listed on the back of one of the record albums my Dad had bought for me on his way home from work in NY. I never received a reply and my world was ruined; I had suffered my first big disappointment. I was beyond solace, at least until I bought my first Rolling Stones record at the Two-Guys store in Wayne and life, as they say, continued on...

Somewhat silly, feel good music from an over commercialized group.

A very pleasant sounding band

I loved the show when I was a kid. I know it was dippy, but I liked it. They made me laugh. I also loved their music. I loved that they acted silly and goofy.

Not funny, girls.

I was in 7th grade when I watched the original show at 7pm on Monday night. I didn't care what the show was about because I was nuts about Davy Jones. I had all their records and still to this day know all the lyrics by heart. The show was a hit because there were thousands of other girls just like me that had huge crushes on either Davy, Peter, Mickey or Mike.

I missed this the first time around and caught it on the re-runs that started in 1969. The Monkees was a Beatles type gang who got into scrapes and sang songs just like the Beatles did in Hard Days Night and Help. It was all good fun. I loved the Neil Diamond song, I'm a Believer performed by the Monkees. Another Monkees hit was Last Train from Clarksville.

Show sucked but come on..they really had good songs.

Oh please. Dreadful jokes interspersed with even worse music. Makes the Partridge Family look almost average.

The television show wasn't anything to brag about. But they had a couple of good songs - both written by the underappreciated Neil Diamond.

was actually a pretty big fan of this show during it's 2nd coming in the mid-1980's. watched a lot of it. Always thought the Monkees were akin to other great comedy teams, plus they played music, which was great for me when I was 12. sure, the stuff might not hold up now as an adult, but i owe the Monkees a lot. without hearing Micky sing I'm a Believer, or Mike and the others sing more obscure stuff, i might never have developed a taste for rock. that means no Dylan, Beatles, Springsteen etc. i could be sitting here now listening to Britney SPears or Maroon 5, instead of Hank Williams. and it all started with that show.

I liked the one who wore the wool cap with the Texas accent.

I SAW THIS SHOW IN THE EIGHTIES, AND I DID^N`T KNOW IT WAS FROM THE SIXTIES, AFTER IVE DISCOVERED IT, AND I BECAME A SIXTIESGREAT FAN. THEY WERE A DREAM FOR A GIRL LIKE ME. I STILL LOVE THEM A LOT.

I remember when I used to see this show as a child. I love them all ! I act as Micky Dolenz in The Vintage Monkees Cover Band www.vintagemonkees.net

This show was so great, when i WAS A CHILD. And thirty years after it is still so great.

Theyre the best

History has been kinder to the Monkees than their critics were and these days so am I. The Monkees were a corporate attempt to recreate and direct the magic that the Beatles had brought to film with A Hard Day's Night. But just as none of the Woodstocks has ever equalled the original, magical times cannot be recreated or controlled by people who have financial interests as their main objective. What made the Monkees so likable were the boys themselves, essentially 4 guys who were looking for a job and hoping to perhaps make a musical contribution in the process. Instead of being allowed to evolve as most bands do, the Monkees were viewed as a money making machine, cranking out poorly produced records almost as fast as Boyce and Hart could write them. Controversy over their musical ability made them the subject of ridicule and by the time they took creative control their records were bombing and the writing was on the wall that the end was near. In the end, it has been their TV show w... Read more

Some of the worst dreck ever crapped out by the mutant U.S. record industry. A pre-fab, manufactured fab four whose sole reason for being was to populate a second-rate sitcom and sell records to pre-pubescent teenyboppers. The only one of these dorks who could write songs and actually play his instrument with any facility was Nesmith, and he has vociferously denounced his participation in this cultural afterbirth for the past quarter of a century. The music is ersatz, plastic, overproduced, obnoxious and irritating. These guys had absolutely no soul whatsoever, and as such, The Monkees are kinda like Pat Boone x4. This was the first notable instance of suits at the record labels coming up with a concept band, not actually discovering a band in development, making up the name, style, etc., then assigning hacks to puke out some inane ditties for the no-talents to karaoke with, have studio drones lay down tracks and some hack producer to mix it all down into something bland, nonthrea... Read more

Awesomely silly 60s sitcom. Extremely over-the-top and plain crazy! Also, the songs were great too. Can't wait to buy on DVD!

Loved the episode where Mr. Universe Dave Draper showed up to flex his muscles on the beach. He also caused a monsoon when he exhaled. Quality programming.

CONSIDERED GROUNDBREAKING AT THE TIME BUT DOESN'T HOLD UP NOW.

TAKE THE LAST TRAIN ... OUTTAHERE!

Oh my god I love love love love looooove this show!!! It's so cute and cheesy... great music and one-liners!!!

Zany, hilarious fun. Mike, Mickey, Peter and Davy were ahead of their time. No wonder this show won two Emmys.

A great show we all know it just a rehashing of "A Hard Days Night" ,but it was fun and the music for a while was good.It did what it set out to do entertain.And it still does.

This was one show I had to see every week. The music was representative of the era we lived. I was a high school junior when the show aired, and the Monkees were fodder for lunchroom discussions. I had a crush on Peter Tork and Davy Jones. The four of them had a great sound and their antics were first-rate comedic.

Gotta love the Monkees. So silly and great singers.

The show was a riot in '66 when I was 12. It's still funny and appeals to a wide variety of audiences. The music is still fresh and topical. And if you go to one of the concerts, Micky Dolenz sounds better than ever!

Silly and Childish, should have only played saturday mornings, good music though.

I'm 20 years old and think the Monkees are the best group. In my generation there is a lot of bad vibe songs and the monkees are a refreshing and good sound of music. My fave is Micky I think when they were out in the 60s he was gorgeous and funny. The show was orginal and clean with great music. I only wish there was something like that today! The music still lives on today, at football grounds across the UK crowds are singing to the tune of Daydream Believer

brilliant! john lennon called them funnier than the marx brothers..you know what? they are. plus the music is top notch!

It's bad but it's the kind of bad that makes it mildy amusing to watch once in a while - just because it's so bad!

Im rating it a 5, because me & my friend use to LOVE this show when it was on Nick at Night, we never missed it. Now we try & catch it on screen gems. We thought it was great. Now that I am a little older I think, well maybe it wasnt great, but it was good. We also use to think Micky was soo cute. :)

My favorite show of all time, along with the Partridge Family!!!! I was a big fan back in the 60's and I still am. Just a fun show!!

I always got a bad taste in my mouth with the PRE-FAB four. Even in grade school I could realize the phonyness of this colaboration and being a BIG BEATLES fan made it worse. The show reminded me of the BANANA SPLITS ADVENTURE show. These guys were a CASH IN RIP OFF!

This show is so off the wall you have to laugh. The Monkees are now my all-time favorite band because of this show.

O.K. ya got me, I was a fan, and David Jones was so dreamy. The teenager in me went wild. Actually I see him now and damn we both still look good.

It's simple: you have to be a die-hard fan of The Monkees who collects their records and lunchboxes to enjoy their show. I personally didn't collect squat with the monkees on them, and I'm not starting now.

The Monkees, Micky, Mike, Peter, and Davy; and the creators of, were and in some cases still are way ahead of their time. The concept of "creating" a band, having a sitcom, producing the albums, doing the tours, and the insanely huge marketing, had never or for that matter still hasn't been done before. When I watch the Movie, "Head" my mind boggles at the concept that people didn't understand it. It is completely clear to me. And in that I know that The Monkees (with a little help from "Johnny" himself Jack Nicholson) were set decades beyond their time. Although the mere thought of them being compared to the Backstreet Boys, NKOTB, and 'NSync sickens me, I realized they were a manufactured sound. But in thier later years the managed to break free of "the Box" and continue on with their own self-expression. I am Still waiting for the Backstreet Boys to show that kind of guts. The Monkees knew the had it made if they stuck to the basic format and they chose to break free and risk t... Read more