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“1960s TV Censorship and The Monkees” gives a brief overview of where censorship standards were in the era – and how The Monkees pushed the envelope with its mentions of the Vietnam War – and Sunset Strip riots – and even with the outrageous storytelling behind “Frodis Caper”, the episode that celebrated the saving of an alien plant that very closely resembled a marijuana plant…
Writer Treva Silverman said the staff got away with such jokes because the network executives were just old enough not to understand any of the references.
Presented at Stephens College MFA in Screenwriting classes on Friday, August 5, 2016
Transcript:
How many people have never heard of The Monkees? Few bodies, Ok. 1960s from ’66 when they did the pilot till 1968 they were on the air. Some people call them the original boy band. They are 4 men — actors and musicians — who were hired for a sitcom about rock and rollers in the 60’s and they also all could actually play their own instruments although there were rumors they could not and the first album other people played the instruments and they sang, but later they did everything on all their other albums. They became this huge sensation. In 1967 their albums outsold The Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined. They were that huge. They played in Japan and Australia — all over the world. It was huge. And in like 2 years, it disappeared. Which happens a lot. But in 1986, which was the 20th Anniversary of the show, MTV ran a marathon of all the episodes ever and it hooked a whole new generation of people. They started a reunion concert tour that was the highest grossing tour of 1986. Above any other rock and roll band and they were 20 years older than they had been when the shows was on the air. and from that point on, every 5-6 years, they run another reunion tour, which they’re running right now since it’s the 50th Anniversary of their show.
Buy “Why The Monkees Matter” Today!
Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture
McFarland (Direct from Publisher) | Amazon | Kindle Edition | Nook Edition
About Dr. Rosanne Welch
Dr. Rosanne Welch is a professor in the Low Residency MFA in Screenwriting Program from Stephens College, California State University, Fullerton, Mount San Antonio Community College and Cal Poly Pomona. In 2007, she graduated with her Ph.D. in 20th Century U.S./Film History from Claremont Graduate University. She graduated with her M.A. in 20th Century United States History from California State University, Northridge in 2004.
Welch is also a television writer/producer with credits for Beverly Hills 90210 , CBS’s Emmy winning Picket Fences and Touched By An Angel . She also writes and hosts her own podcasts on 3rdPass.media, her first one titled “Mindful(I) Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch.”
Three Ring Circus: How Real Couples Balance Marriage, Work and Kids and The Encyclopedia of Women in Aviation and Space are two books she has written. Los Angeles Times and the Journal of Screenwriting hold some of her published articles.
Dr. Rosanne Welch Web Site and Blog
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