Hey, Hey, It's the Monkees

American TV series or program

33⅓ Revolutions Per Monkee

Hey, Hey, It's the Monkees is a one-hour comedy special broadcast on the ABC Network on Monday February 17, 1997. The program features all four of the original Monkees and was the last time Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork appeared together in a new television show. The program was written and directed by Mike Nesmith.

This special is not to be confused with the similarly titled documentary from 1997, Hey, Hey, We're the Monkees.^[1]

Overview

Based on the conceit that the group had never stopped filming episodes of their television series (despite having no place to air them since the series was cancelled), the special shows the now-middle-aged Monkees trying to come up with a new plot (apparently they have all been done by now) while still trying to catch their big break.^[2] Much of the music featured in the special came from the quartet's 1996 album Justus, along with a medley of their hits from the 1960s. As of November 2023, it has not been made available on DVD or Blu-ray.

Game show host Chuck Woolery makes a cameo.

Plot

While Davy tries to get the band to rehearse for a very important gig, Micky seeks to find a gimmick to give them an identity, and Mike debates the necessity for anything other than just hanging out together. Various potential story lines present themselves, but each time the Monkees are quick to point out that they have already used that plot line in a previous episode and do not want to do it again.

Several musical sequences and comedy sketches are included.

Development

The project began when ABC approached Monkees manager Ward Sylvester in November, 1996 about producing a Monkees retrospective. Sylvester countered with the idea of doing a special in the format of an episode from the original series. Post production delays caused the final print to be delivered too late for advanced screening, but the marketing push included ads run during some of ABC's most popular shows at the time.

Reception

The show ranked at 73 for its week, with 10 million viewers.^[3]

References

^ "1997 Rhino Monkees documentary". 2017-08-26.
^ Braxton, Greg (2012-02-29). "Davy Jones' last Monkees TV reunion was just like old times". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
^ "1996-97 two-digit viewership.PDF".