Monkees TV Show Review By TV Guide..11/19/66

by Cleveland Amory

It had to happen soooner or later. Some big boy upstairs saw a Beatles film and he called a network meeting. "Get The Beatles," he snarled. Whereupon everybody agreed it was a terrific idea and the big boy was the greatest. "Boss," they said, "you're boss." All except one little guy. "I don't think we're going to be able to get The Beatles, Boss." he said. "They're richer than we are."
This made the big boy furious, and the little guy was kicked upstairs. A year later, however, there was a new meeting. "Let's look at this Beatle thing practically, boys," the big boy said. "Beatles are Beatles. Do you get my thinking?" Again, everybody thought it was a terrific idea and the boss was the greatest. All but a new little guy. He wanted to know if it would be OK not to make the new Beatles too rich. "You've got it," the big boy snarled. "The Beatles Next Door!"

And that, kiddies, was how The Monkees--net assets $16.87 according to a network release--were born. And, if you haven't seen or heard them yet, fear not--they're not at all evil. The episodes are so fast-paced that even when they're over-milking the kind of comedy you outgrew in kindgergarten, by the time you get mad with them, they're on to something else. As for their singing, once you've heard them sing "Last Train to Clarksville," with those beautiful lyrics--both of them--if you're a girl you'll just have to mother them, and if you're a boy...well, lots of luck.

The foursome are Davy (Jones), Micky (Dolenz), Peter (Tork), and "Wool Hat" (Mike Nesmith), Peter plays just about every instrument there is except drums, which Micky plays. Micky has very long legs and Davy very short ones, but both of them have very distinctive ways of pronouncing everything indistinctly. Meanwhile Wool Hat not only singing songs but writes them too, and sometimes seems to do both at once. At the end of each of episode there is an interview deal in which all of them are given a chance to say everything that's on their minds. It lasts one minute.

As in Beatle films, there are all manner of stills, slow motion, speed-ups, etc., most of which are good fun. The dialog is shaggy. The boys, for example, are imprisoned in a mansion which a spiritualist tells them is "full of e-vil" So they decide to put crumbs on the window to attract carrier pigeons. Finally, a pigeon comes, but there's a message already strapped on its leg. "Please don't strap a message to my leg," it says. "I'm not a carrier pigeon." Fortunately, just at this moment a genuine shaggy--a St. Bernard--walks in. So the boys decide to strap their message around its neck. "Wait a minute," shouts Wool Hat. "There already is a message strapped around its neck." "What does it say," asks Davy. "It says," says Wool Hat, "'There is a message for you on the pigeon'" See what we mean? Fear no e-vil.