Why The Monkees Matter: We Were Made for Each Other: The Monkees Menagerie of Metatextuality
from Why The Monkees Mattered by Dr. Rosanne Welch — Coming Fall 2016 – Click for more info!
With Garry Shandling, it always came down to good writing [Video]
I’m not a specialist in comedy but I always enjoyed the “It’s the Garry Shandling Show” for his unique take on the world.
Like all good writers (and Garry started as a sitcom writer – with Sanford and Son and Welcome Back, Kotter among his early credits before he turned to performing stand up.
As a writer Garry knew the truth is always where to go for story – and this never rang so true and raw as when he invited Gilda Radner on his show during her battle with ovarian cancer. Together they wrote the deeply honest joke that involved Gilda saying she hadn’t been on TV in a while, Garry asking her why, Gilda saying she had cancer and then smiling up at him and asking, “What did you have?”
In this Emmy Legend oral history clip, Shandling spoke about working with her on that episode and how they both knew the subject had to be faced — and somehow made funny. It turned out to be the SNL star’s last appearance on television.
Link: Garry Shandling on IMDB
Out of the Research Vault: Micky Dolenz & Peter Tork on Nightwatch – 1986
Since Micky and Peter are conducting this current tour alone, this 1986 episode of Nightwatch, hosted by Charlie Rose, is quite fun to watch as it only involves the two of them.
Micky discusses “Why now?” for their 20th anniversary tour in 1986 – and pins it all on the success of the premiere of the television show and the new generation introduced to it by MTV’s “Pleasant Valley” Marathon. Peter discusses why the show worked – citing things I cover in the book about how The Monkees were originally considered dangerous (due to their long hair and connection to the counter-culture). He also mentions how the fan base went from mostly female to nearly 60/40 female/male. Then Micky discusses his directing career in England and how hard it was to leave it behind for this one summer – that he had no idea how long this one anniversary tour would last!
The video is shaky but fun to watch because they are so deeply complimentary to each other’s talents, they talk about the ‘patrimony’ of the series in how the money made by the producers funded Five Easy Pieces and the new musical-variety version of the show they hoped to do in the third season that lead to the cancellation.
Previously in Out of Research Vault:
Quotes from “Why The Monkees Matter” by Dr. Rosanne Welch – 2 in a series
Monkees Question of the Moment: How did you decide what to watch in your childhood?
Leave your thoughts in the comments!
“I was a fan from the beginning at the age of 6 when the show debuted on NBC and caused what I often tease was the first great choice of a childhood lived without benefit of DVR. Should I watch The Monkees or Gilligan’s Island?”
Danny Pink and Fatherhood from How Doctor Who Redefined Masculinity [Video Clip] (0:49)
Dr. Rosanne Welch presents “How Doctor Who Redefined Masculinity: A Study of the Doctors and their Male Companions“ at the Cal Poly Pomona University Library. Dr. Welch teaches in the IGE (Interdisciplinary General Education) program.
Watch the entire presentation here
Transcript:
Now we go back to Danny Pink. Danny we don’t get a chance to see do the whole Dad thing, but we see a few things. First of all, what’s his job when he’s not being a soldier? He’s a teacher. So, we define again teacher as a gendered kid of job. We generally see women int he education field. Especially when it’s in middle school, elementary school, a few more guys in high school, but largely we see that as a female job, because it’s about nurturing a younger generation of people. So, as a teacher we see him protective of the children in his care. He is their pseudo-father when they are at school with him and I think that’s really important. That’s how Danny is defined for us. We see him first as this and then we hear about the warrior — oh yeah, he was a soldier. So his first definition is this.
A clip from this 5th talk on various aspects of Doctor Who presented by Dr. Welch. You can find Dr. Welch’s other Doctor Who talks using the links below.
- Feminism in the Whoniverse
- Doctor Who and Culture
- Doctor Who Regenerated
- “How the Growing Popularity of the English Who-niverse Effected American TV” with Dr. Rosanne Welch
Follow Dr. Rosanne Welch on the Web and via social media at:
- Dr. Rosanne Welch Web Site and Blog
- Subcribe to Dr. Rosanne Welch on YouTube
- Follow Dr. Rosanne Welch on Twitter
- Dr. Rosanne Welch on Pinterest
- Dr. Rosanne Welch on Tumblr
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Why The Monkees Matter: Shades of Grey: An Ethnic Studies look at Minority Representation on The Monkees
Why The Monkees Matter: Shades of Grey: An Ethnic Studies look at Minority Representation on The Monkees
from Why The Monkees Mattered by Dr. Rosanne Welch — Coming Fall 2016 – Click for more info!
Monkees Question of the Moment: What did The Monkees Teach You About Race and Ethnicity?
Leave your thoughts in the comments!
Out of the Research Vault: The Monkees In Melbourne, Australia 1968 [Video]
A taste of Monkeemania at it’s height in Melbourne in 1968.
Once you pass the first minute of fans screaming as the foursome descends their DC-9, the footage moves to a press conference where Mickey predicts they will perform in different variations in the years to come – trios, duos, etc. – much as it has all played out…. How did he know?
Who Wrote The Monkees? – “I’ve Got a Little Song Here” written by Treva Silverman
Who Wrote The Monkees? – “I’ve Got a Little Song Here” written by Treva Silverman Part 4 of an on-going series
This weekend Antenna TV airs “I’ve Got a Little Song Here” written by Treva Silverman. One of several staff writers for The Monkees who went on to win Emmy Awards for her later work in television (Her Emmy came from The Mary Tyler Moore Show). Treva was the only woman writer on the The Monkees.
If you’re interested in learning more about Treva’s post Monkees work, the blog “…by Ken Levine” did a nice coverage of her work on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, complete with some script pages and a whole page of biography noting that Valerie Harper (Rhoda) called Treva the “Feminist conscience of the show”. In my book, I write that Treva brought that same feminist conscience to The Monkees where viewers can note that none of the young women the Monkees dated were ever ditzy – they were always women of substance – serious about their schoolwork or with careers already in place or otherwise involved in the world. Not bad for a show about four band members. I believe that attitude came to The Monkees from Treva – the only female writer on staff.
More information on The Monkees:
- Read more about the writers of “The Monkees” own this article for Written By Magazine – Hey, Hey They Wrote the Monkees!
- “I’ve Got a Little Song Here” cast and crew information on IMDB
- Treva Silverman Credits on IMDB
Previously in Who Wrote The Monkees?:
Rehearsing for my upcoming TEDxCPP talk, “The Ripple Effect of Having a Female Voice in the Room” on April 7. #ted #tedx #tedxcpp #speaking #calpolypomona #rmwblog #education
Quotes from “Why The Monkees Matter” by Dr. Rosanne Welch – 1 in a series
“The Monkees as a television show introduced young audiences to new ideas of political ideology, a new anti-military discourse and new concepts of class and feminist theory.”
from Why The Monkees Mattered by Dr. Rosanne Welch — Coming Fall 2016 – Click for more info!
Monkees Question of the Moment: What did you learn from The Monkees?
Leave your thoughts in the comments!