Classic Television - Prime Time/Saturday Mornings

The Monkees

Original channel

NBC

Original run

September 12, 1966 – March 25, 1968

Starring

Davy Jones (as David Jones)

Micky Dolenz

Michael Nesmith

Peter Tork

The Monkees is an American situation comedy that aired on NBC from September 1966 to March 1968. The series follows the adventures of four young men (The Monkees) trying to make a name for themselves as rock 'n roll singers. The show introduced a number of innovative new-wave film techniques to series television and won two Emmy Awards in 1967. The program ended on Labor Day, 1968 at the finish of its second season and has received a long afterlife in Saturday morning repeats (CBS and ABC) and syndication, as well as overseas broadcasts.

The Monkees enjoyed a resurgence on Saturday morning/afternoon television on CBS from September 1969 to September 1972, and on ABC from September 1972 to August 1973. To coincide with the releases of The Monkees Present and Changes albums during this time period, many episodes replaced the older songs with tracks from these recent releases. The 58 episodes were then sold to local markets for syndication in September 1975, where they typically appeared on independent television stations on weekday afternoons. A second, massive resurgence occurred when a Monkees marathon aired on February 23, 1986 on MTV. Within months, the 58 episodes were airing regularly throughout the United States on local stations (in edited form), Nickelodeon/MTV (uncut), as well as Canada on MuchMusic. Dolenz, Tork and Jones, already reunited for a "20th Anniversary Tour", went from playing small clubs to stadiums as the series caught on, and the tour drew critical praise.

The series currently airs edited versions on Antenna TV, a digital subchannel network that broadcasts classic programming from the 1950s-1990s era.

Although Rhino Records now serves as the underlying rights holder for this series, Sony Pictures Television remains the television distributor for syndication.