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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:
I have Andrea Zuckerman from 90210 because when I worked on that show, I wrote the episode where — as a pregnant college student — she went to Planned Parenthood to think about it, but at the time, we knew she wasn’t going to be able to make that choice. We argued about it with the network, but then they said “No. That’s not going to happen.” And the real life actress (audience comment) No, she had the baby and lived with it — the baby. And it was because Gabrielle Carteris, the actress was actually pregnant and rather than write around the pregnancy they wanted to have it happen to her character So, this is the kind of stuff that changes with what’s allowed. Thirtysomething, which of course now I am moving into the 80’s, just to give us an overview and folks from last year recognize, the writer from thirtysometing? Winnie Holzman! She didn’t write this particular episode, but what’s interesting about it is this is the first time on television you saw two men in bed together, Post having sex. We didn’t see them have sex, but here they are. This episode was banned in several states in the South. They didn’t run it at all.
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Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture
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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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