NOVEMBER 27, 1967

"Hitting The High Seas" (prod. #47??) first aired @ 7:30 p.m. Eastern on NBC as the 44th episode of The Monkees.

It was originally sponsored by Yardley Of London™, and the songs featured were “Daydream Believer” written by John Stewart and “Star Collector” written by Gerry Goffin & Carole King.

NOVEMBER 27, 1971

“Dance, Monkee, Dance”, Episode No. 14 of The Monkees (prod. #47??, first aired on NBC December 12, 1966), was repeated at noon Eastern on CBS, with a new song added: "If You Have The Time," written by Bill Chadwick.

NOVEMBER 28, 1966

“I've Got A Little Song Here” (prod. #4707) first aired @ 7:30 p.m. Eastern on NBC as the 12th episode of The Monkees.

Slicker and Black Label by Yardley Of London™ was the sponsor, and “Gonna Buy Me A Dog” written & produced by Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart, and “Mary, Mary” written & produced by Michael Nesmith, were the songs used this week.

NOVEMBER 28, 1970

"The Monkees Blow Their Minds", Episode No. 57 of The Monkees (prod. #47??, first aired on NBC March 11, 1968), was repeated at 12:30 p.m. Eastern on CBS.

NOVEMBER 29, 1969

“The Success Story”, Episode No. 6 of The Monkees (prod. #4710, aired on NBC October 17, 1966 and May 29, 1967), was repeated at noon Eastern on CBS, with a new song added: "French Song," written by Bill Chadwick.

DECEMBER 1, 1968

The Monkees' sixth album, the soundtrack to their feature film HEAD (#COSO-5008), was released to stores on LP and 8-track. The album's front cover was packaged in a heavy Mylar sleeve, which was designed to reflect the buyer's own head (undoubtedly patterned after John Brockman's avant-garde HEAD ad campaign). Mylar, of course, is very difficult to produce, especially for album covers, and, as a result, the HEAD soundtrack was released late due to Colgems' problems with the cover.

The album, the first one not to be released in mono, was a bizarre melange of songs and dialogue, coordinated by: Jack Nicholson, co-writer and co-producer of the movie (with director Bob Rafelson). The 6 tracks on the album were produced by Gerry Goffin (“Porpoise Song” [Theme From HEAD]) and The Monkees. One track on the album, Michael Nesmith's “Circle Sky”, was filmed and recorded live in May 1968 in Salt Lake City's Valley Auditorium and included in the movie but not the soundtrack, as an earlier-recorded studio take was employed instead.

While the movie HEAD itself tanked miserably at the box office, its neighbouring soundtrack LP fared slightly better, peaking @ #45 on the Billboard charts. Sadly, this turned out to be The Monkees' last album as a quartet.

Posted by Aaron Handy III at 6:26 AM CST

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The Featured Monkees Episode Of The Week is No. 58, "Mijacogeo" (a.k.a. "The Frodis Caper") (prod. #4722, aired on NBC March 25, 1968), The Monkees television series' series finale.

Posted by Aaron Handy III at 6:03 AM CST

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Mood:  hungry

Happy Monkee Turkey Day to all!   

The first and last episodes in The Monkees' second season, "It's A Nice Place To Visit..." and "Mijacogeo" (a.k.a. "The Frodis Caper"), have upgraded synopses, thanks, as always, to the I Luv The Monkees! Monkees episode guide.

Posted by Aaron Handy III at 6:06 AM CST

Updated: Thursday, 22 November 2007 6:07 AM CST

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NOVEMBER 19, 1968

After its debut in New York City, HEAD (prod. #8888), the motion picture starring that popular TV rockband The Monkees, premiered at The Vogue Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. The event is covered on local Metromedia Radio stations KLAC and KMET by DJ Elliot Mintz, who also interviews the band. Others attending the gala are "Mama" Cass Elliott, Boyce & Hart, Dennis Hopper, Denny Doherty, comedy troupe The Committee, Sonny Tufts, Tina Louise, and HEAD costars Frank Zappa, Sonny Liston, and Annette Funicello.

Posted by Aaron Handy III at 6:56 AM CST

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Episode No. 26, “Monkee Chow Mein” (prod. #47??, aired on NBC March 13 and July 31, 1967), is this week's Featured Monkees Episode.

Posted by Aaron Handy III at 6:53 AM CST

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New Trivia is added to “Your Friendly Neighborhood Kidnappers”, “The Monkees At The Movies” and “The Monkees On Tour” (a big thanks to Pete Downs for the last two), and more Monkees episode pages boast enhanced synopses (adapted from the I Luv The Monkees! Monkees episode guide): “I Was A Teenage Monster”, “The Prince And The Paupers”, “Alias Micky Dolenz”, “The Monkees On The Line” and “The Monkees Get Out More Dirt”.

All synopses in the episode pages of The Monkees first season are now officially bestowed upon with extra details. Watch our for all the eppie pages representing The Monkees' second season to be fully enhanced within the coming days.

Posted by Aaron Handy III at 10:40 AM CST

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We are inundated by another flurry of beefed-up Monkees episode synopses (courtesy of the I Luv The Monkees! Monkees episode guide), which can be read in “One Man Shy” (a.k.a. "Peter And The Debutante"), “Dance, Monkee, Dance”, “Too Many Girls” (a.k.a. "Davy And Fern") and “The Son Of A Gypsy”.

Posted by Aaron Handy III at 2:56 PM CST

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NOVEMBER 11, 1972
 
The Monkees embarked on a 4-week hiatus on ABC in favor of a College Football Pre-Game Show.

NOVEMBER 13, 1967
 
"The Wild Monkees" (prod. #4765) first aired @ 7:30 p.m. Eastern on NBC as the 42nd episode of The Monkees.
 
The week's sponsor was Yardley Of London™, and the songs heard were “Star Collector” written by Gerry Goffin & Carole King, and “Goin’ Down” written by Diane Hilderbrand, Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz & David Jones. These were the first appearances of both songs on the series.
 
NOVEMBER 13, 1971
 
"Everywhere A Sheik Sheik", Episode No. 35 of The Monkees (prod. #4749, aired on NBC September 25, 1967 and April 8, 1968), was repeated at Noon Eastern on CBS.  
 
NOVEMBER 14, 1966
 
“Here Come The Monkees” (prod. #4091) first aired @ 7:30 p.m. Eastern on NBC as the 10th episode of The Monkees.
 
The original sponsor was by Slicker and Black Label by Yardley Of London™, and the songs featured were “I Wanna Be Free” and “Let’s Dance On”, both written by Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart. This was the series' original pilot film, as well as the only episode of the entire run of the The Monkees series to feature a Monkees song (Boyce and Hart's “I Wanna Be Free”) in two different versions.  
 
NOVEMBER 14, 1967
 
This historical date saw the release of of Monkees’ album #4, otherwise known to one and all as Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. (Colgems #COM/COS-104), on LP and 8-track. The record represents what Peter Tork called "a compromise," between The Monkees having control of their music and the original production methods of their first two albums. In a time of great Monkee-bashing, they felt this was the best move to make.  
 

 
The 13 tracks on the album were recorded from April 26 to October 15, 1967, at RCA Victor Studios, Hollywood; RCA Victor "Nashville Sound" Studio, Nashville; American Recorder, Studio City; and in Chicago. Proceedings were slightly hampered by The Monkees' hectic touring schedule that summer, resulting in a great trove of tracks left unfinished. Micky Dolenz even retired from studio drumming at this point as another result; the only track on the entire album featuring Micky on the drums was the first one recorded: “Cuddly Toy”, written by Harry Nilsson. "Fast" Eddie Hoh took over as Monkee studio drummer.
 
Sessions transferred from regular four-track facilities to newer eight-track facilities in August 1967, which allowed further overdubbing and gave Micky and the late Paul Beaver room to use the Moog synthesizer (on Goffin and King's "Star Collector" and Michael Nesmith's “Daily Nightly”), the first time such a device was used on a rock record. Its mono version features a longer version of Jeff Barry's “She Hangs Out” unavailable elsewhere. Mann and Weil's “Love Is Only Sleeping”, a candidate for a future single release, was added to the album at the last minute when plans for the single were aborted; it replaced Diane Hilderbrand and The Monkees' "Goin' Down", which would later be held down as a flipside of a revamped single. Both sides of The Monkees' fourth single (#1007, realeased on July 10, 1967), Goffin-King's “Pleasant Valley Sunday”, b/w Boyce-Hart's ”Words,” was also included. The only 2 tracks on the album not included in TV episodes were "Hard To Believe" and "Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky."
 
This would be the last Monkees album produced by Chip Douglas, to reach the #1 position on the charts, and to be recorded by The Monkees as a combined unit.  
 
NOVEMBER 14, 1970
 
"The Monstrous Monkee Mash", Episode No. 50 of The Monkees (prod. #4767, first aired on NBC January 22 and July 8, 1968), was repeated at 12:30 p.m. Eastern on CBS, with a new song added: "Bye Bye, Baby, Bye Bye," written by Micky Dolenz.

Posted by Aaron Handy III at 10:00 AM CST

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Episode No. 57, "The Monkees Blow Their Minds" (prod. #47??, aired on NBC March 11, 1968), is The Featured Monkees Episode Of The Week.

Posted by Aaron Handy III at 9:58 AM CST

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HEAD (prod. #8888), a motion picture starring that popular TV rockband The Monkees, opened at the Studio Cinema and Greenwich Theaters in New York City.

A Raybert Production of A Columbia Pictures Release, directed by Monkees TV producer Bob Rafelson (his first film), written and produced by Rafelson and Jack Nicholson, and executive-produced by The Monkees TV show co-producer Bert Schneider, it featured many movie, sports and TV icons by the likes of Victor Mature, Sonny Liston, Annette Funicello, Carol Doda, Ray Nitschke, and a youthful Teri Garr (billed in the movie as Terry Garr). The songs featured in the movie were “Porpoise Song” by Gerry Goffin & Carole King, “Circle Sky” by Michael Nesmith, “Can You Dig It” and “Long Title: Do I Have To Do This All Over Again” by Peter Tork, “As We Go Along” by Carole King & Toni Stern, and “Daddy’s Song” by Nilsson.

Trivia Footnote: The principal photography was a 3-month, 10-day shoot between February and May 1968 in Screen Gems Studio 7 and on location in California (Vincent Thomas Bridge, San Pedro; Pasadena Rose Bowl, Pasadena; Bronson Canyon; Palm Springs), Utah (Valley Auditorium, Salt Lake City), and the Bahamas. Unfortunately, a misleading ad campaign (a balding man’s face? No indication of the group appearing in the film?) and a mistimed release date, due to a painfully prolonged postproduction process (November 6, 1968? Two months after The Monkees TV show’s official cancellation [and the day after Richard M. Nixon defeated Hubert Humphrey in a knockdown, dragout vie for The Presidency!]?) helped sabotage this otherwise fun-loving crowd pleaser, which landed with a tumultuous thud at the box-office with a meager $16,111 in ticket sales. But HEAD has over the years developed quite a cult following among moviegoers and Monkees fans.

Posted by Aaron Handy III at 6:26 AM CST

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