Why The Monkees Matter

Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture

By Rosanne Welch

2016

First Published

3.73

Average Rating

180

Number of Pages

5H30M

Audio Length

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 .

Avg Rating

3.73

Number of Ratings

5 STARS

23%

4 STARS

41%

3 STARS

27%

2 STARS

1 STARS

goodreads

Author

Rosanne Welch

Author · 2 books

Rosanne Welch, Ph.D. 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. Dr. Welch also teaches the History of Screenwriting and One-Hour Drama for the Stephens College MFA in Screenwriting. Writing/producing credits include Beverly Hills 90210, Picket Fences, ABCNEWS: Nightline and Touched by an Angel. In 2016 she published the book Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop; co-edited Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia; and placed “Transmitting Culture Transnationally Via the Characterization of Parents in Police Procedurals” in the New Review of Film and Television Studies. Essays appear in Torchwood Declassified: Investigating Mainstream Cult Television and Doctor Who and Race: An Anthology. Welch serves as Book Reviews editor for Journal of Screenwriting and on the Editorial Advisory Board for Written By magazine, the magazine of the Writers Guild. Her talk “The Importance of Having a Female Voice in the Room” was presented at the 2016 TEDxCPP.