Thoughts on The Monkees

These past few weeks I’ve been watching my Monkees DVDs. I’ve been a fan of the show and the group since I was a kid (I probably caught the repeats in ’76 and I know I caught the repeats 10 years later). I’m about halfway through season 2 now and I’ve noticed something interesting: most of my favorite episodes happened during season 2. “Fairytale” (where Mike plays a beautiful princess), “The Christmas Episode” (where they sing “Riu Chiu” at the end), “The Devil and Peter Tork” (my second favorite ep and it features “Salesman,” one of my favorite songs), and “The Frodus Caper” (the last ep and my favorite – damned strange story and it features “Zor & Zam,” another favorite song of mine). Another thing I’ve noticed is that there are some season 2 episodes which I barely remember, but often have expressions that I remember well because my sister and I used them often as kids. (Amy, just saw the “Save the Texas Prairie Chicken” bit…) And a third thing – Monty Landis sure was in a lot of episodes in season 2! And a fourth thing – where on earth did Mike Nesmith go on those eps that he wasn’t in?

BTW, does anyone but me remember when Father Dowling Mysteries did their own version of “The Devil and Daniel Webster“? Always liked that story, too. 🙂

16 thoughts on “Thoughts on The Monkees

  1. No, I don’t remember. But I always watched the show just to see the killer nun drive like a maniac.

    1. Sister Steve was very entertaining. And she wasn’t in the original books. I think I read one Father Dowling mystery and it was so different from the show that I never read another. Lovejoy suffered similarly. The books (which I’ve read a few of) are different from the series, but I prefer the TV series. I think my dad has read all of the Lovejoy books that I own. (There are some that I’ve own which I’ve not read.)

      1. But… but, the whole point of the crazy nun was to a) see how she would be tied up / duct taped b) watch father Dowling rescue her. It’s like the old Shadow radio show, except without the maniacal laughter.

  2. I remember the episode where he hallucinated Sherlock Holmes, and the one with the evil doppelganger and even the one with the might be, might not be angel, but not that one.

    1. Out of all of the “fantasy” Father Dowling’s, my favorite was the “Devil & Daniel Webster” pastiche. (Sister Steve has traded her soul to save her brother and Dowling manages to talk the jury out of the deal.) I liked the Holmes one and the Angel one, too. 🙂 Weren’t there a couple of eps with Dowling’s evil twin brother?

  3. I loved the Monkees…saw them in concert in high school…the reunion tour. It was the year that MTV had their show on…1985?

    1. ’86 if the liner notes on the DVD set were correct. Amy and I were both fervent watchers of the show then. But I’d known about the show before then, which is why I figure I must have seen the ’76 repeats (I was 5). So I’m a second gen Monkees fan and my sister a third gen Monkees fan.

          1. Hmmm. You know, at the time, I hadn’t thought so…but then again…probably…looking back on it, you know. That and Mike Nesmith. 😀

    1. I wasn’t even a glimmer in my parents’ eyes yet when the Monkees first aired, so yeah, you ARE old! 😉

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