A measure of Jones’ standing also comes from considering the massive amount of international news outlets, from Australia to Japan that covered his death in 2012. The evening news on all three American broadcast channels covered the story, with Diane Sawyer announcing that a “startling bulletin came across in the newsroom”. She then proclaimed “He is still that forever young and sunny singer from The Monkees who made more than one generation want to sing along.”
Jean Powergirl takes the host reigns and welcomes her guest Rosanne Welch, PhD to the show! They’ll be discussing Roseanne’s book, “Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture.”
Transcript:
Rosanne: And then Coslough Johnson is the nicest man. He is the brother of Artie Johnson from Laugh-In and he, in fact, went on to work on Laugh-In and won 2 Emmys for being part of that.
Jean: It’s a great show. My parents love that show.
Rosanne: Everybody got started on that show. And so Coslough was great. He was a freelancer and he wasn’t on staff but he did several episodes. He wrote the episode some people will remember where Liberace guest starred and he bashed a piano to pieces with a sledgehammer. Very silly. Unexpectedly adorable and I asked him did someone recommend that and he said “No. I was just thinking one day about funny things to have happen and what musicians could do and he came to mind.” And they took that Idea to Liberace and he agreed to do it.
Jean: I’m glad he was game to do that.
Rosanne: Partially he knew it was smart to appear on a show that appealed to teenagers because he wanted that audience. So Coslough is quite marvelous and wonderful.
A hit television show about a fictitious rock band, The Monkees (1966-1968) earned two Emmys–Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy. Capitalizing on the show’s success, the actual band formed by the actors, at their peak, sold more albums than The Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined and set the stage for other musical TV characters from The Partridge Family to Hannah Montana. In the late 1980s, the Monkees began a series of reunion tours that continued into their 50th anniversary.
This book tells the story of The Monkees and how the show changed television, introducing a new generation to the fourth-wall-breaking slapstick created by Laurel and Hardy and the Marx Brothers. Its creators contributed to the innovative film and television of 1970s with projects like Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Laugh-In and Welcome Back, Kotter. Immense profits from the show, its music and its merchandising funded the producers’ move into films such as Head, Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces.
Rosanne Welch, PhD has written for television (Touched by an Angel, Picket Fences) and print (Three Ring Circus: How Real Couples Balance Marriage, Work and Kids and The Encyclopedia of Women in Aviation and Space). In the documentary world she has written and produced Bill Clinton and the Boys Nation Class of 1963 for ABC NEWS/Nightline and consulted on PBS’s A Prince Among Slaves, the story of a prince from West Africa who was enslaved in the 1780s, freed by order of President John Quincy Adams in the 1820s and returned to his homeland.
Forced into the teen idol role by Hollywood Jones was the one teen idol that resonated across the years. Jones pondered what it meant to have posters of his face plastered across so many teenagers walls when he co-wrote the song “Ceiling in my Room” (with Dominick DeMieri and Robert Dick) for the group’s fifth album The Birds, The Bees and The Monkees.
Jean Powergirl takes the host reigns and welcomes her guest Rosanne Welch, PhD to the show! They’ll be discussing Roseanne’s book, “Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture.”
Transcript:
Rosanne: Another gentleman I got to meet — and sadly who passed away 6 months after I met him — was Peter Meyerson, He ended up later in life he co-created Welcome Back, Kotter which interestingly enough it’s a show about 4 boys.
Jean: I love the show.
Rosanne: Four boys who were in school — in high school. So, Peter Meyerson, he was marvelous. he came in also because of a very hippie attitude. In fact, he went to the Monterey Pop Festival. He was the kind of guy who hung out at all those events. He wore the paisley clothing and the necklaces. He just really bought into that whole Ideology and so you see that represented then in some of his episodes. And he was great and he told me some very funny stories about hanging out with the actors at parties and whatnot.
A hit television show about a fictitious rock band, The Monkees (1966-1968) earned two Emmys–Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy. Capitalizing on the show’s success, the actual band formed by the actors, at their peak, sold more albums than The Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined and set the stage for other musical TV characters from The Partridge Family to Hannah Montana. In the late 1980s, the Monkees began a series of reunion tours that continued into their 50th anniversary.
This book tells the story of The Monkees and how the show changed television, introducing a new generation to the fourth-wall-breaking slapstick created by Laurel and Hardy and the Marx Brothers. Its creators contributed to the innovative film and television of 1970s with projects like Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Laugh-In and Welcome Back, Kotter. Immense profits from the show, its music and its merchandising funded the producers’ move into films such as Head, Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces.
Rosanne Welch, PhD has written for television (Touched by an Angel, Picket Fences) and print (Three Ring Circus: How Real Couples Balance Marriage, Work and Kids and The Encyclopedia of Women in Aviation and Space). In the documentary world she has written and produced Bill Clinton and the Boys Nation Class of 1963 for ABC NEWS/Nightline and consulted on PBS’s A Prince Among Slaves, the story of a prince from West Africa who was enslaved in the 1780s, freed by order of President John Quincy Adams in the 1820s and returned to his homeland.
In terms of creating the fictional identity of “Micky the Monkee”, Dolenz felt the writers created the character more so than he did: “They were looking for that guy who just jumped off the screen at them. And to say how much of it was me — I don’t know if I can quantify it. They developed that character of the wacky drummer. They gave me the funny voice. I don’t do funny voices all the time and I don’t run backward at a high rate of speed. But it was partly my personality.”
Jean Powergirl takes the host reigns and welcomes her guest Rosanne Welch, PhD to the show! They’ll be discussing Roseanne’s book, “Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture.”
Transcript:
Jean: I love talking about this.
Rosanne: Well, and that’s how it applies to The Monkees because they looked for young writers. Treva Silverman was beginning her career.
Jean: Let’s talk about the writers on The Monkees? So, Treva Silverman’s a woman, right? Woman Writer. All right, let’s talk about Treva.
Rosanne: I love Treva. She’s wonderful. You can look at the Academy of Television Arts. They have a good oral interview with her that goes through The Monkees and Mary Tyler Moore. She’s wonderful.
Jean: Ok, so she’s the only female writer on there.
Rosanne: She was. Many of them came from New York because a lot of TV had still being done in New York and they were also kind of younger — quote/unquote — hipper. She came out here and she really loved it. She admitted to me that it was the first time she had ever smoked pot and she found it fabulous. And her friends back home were still a little too
Jean: Go LA!
Rosanne: — exactly. The things you’re going to learn in LA, but the fact is she could come in with a more feminist attitude and make sure that the female characters were not these crazy, silly nonsense women.
Jean: And she was sought after to go after this demographic — this new demographic.
A hit television show about a fictitious rock band, The Monkees (1966-1968) earned two Emmys–Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy. Capitalizing on the show’s success, the actual band formed by the actors, at their peak, sold more albums than The Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined and set the stage for other musical TV characters from The Partridge Family to Hannah Montana. In the late 1980s, the Monkees began a series of reunion tours that continued into their 50th anniversary.
This book tells the story of The Monkees and how the show changed television, introducing a new generation to the fourth-wall-breaking slapstick created by Laurel and Hardy and the Marx Brothers. Its creators contributed to the innovative film and television of 1970s with projects like Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Laugh-In and Welcome Back, Kotter. Immense profits from the show, its music and its merchandising funded the producers’ move into films such as Head, Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces.
Rosanne Welch, PhD has written for television (Touched by an Angel, Picket Fences) and print (Three Ring Circus: How Real Couples Balance Marriage, Work and Kids and The Encyclopedia of Women in Aviation and Space). In the documentary world she has written and produced Bill Clinton and the Boys Nation Class of 1963 for ABC NEWS/Nightline and consulted on PBS’s A Prince Among Slaves, the story of a prince from West Africa who was enslaved in the 1780s, freed by order of President John Quincy Adams in the 1820s and returned to his homeland.
Eventually, the band members’ individual personalities were made apparent enough that they could even joke about the earlier confusion. In “Monkees Paw” (episode 51, season two) the show ends with Mike saying, “Well that wraps up another hilarious 30 minute episode. This is Mike Nesmith.” Davy says he’s Peter Tork, Micky says he’s Davy Jones, and Peter says he’s Micky Dolenz.
![28: Coslough Johnson and The Monkees : “Why The Monkees Matter” Interview with Jean Power [Video] (0:52)](https://rosannewelch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/rmw-power-28-coslough-johnson.jpeg)
![27: Peter Meyerson and The Monkees : “Why The Monkees Matter” Interview with Jean Power [Video] (0:40)](https://rosannewelch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/rmw-power-27-peter-meyerson.jpeg)
![26: Treva Silverman and The Monkees : “Why The Monkees Matter” Interview with Jean Power [Video] (0:58)](https://rosannewelch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/rmw-power-26-treva-silverman.jpeg)
