The Monkees premiered on this day (September 12th) in 1966 on NBC. The series featured relative unknowns Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork as a struggling rock band, living together in a beach house, who each week would stumble from one comedic adventure to the next.
The show, which was inspired by the comic lampooning in the Beatles‘ second movie Help!, released the previous year, proved to be the ’60s answer to the Marx Brothers. The Monkees, who never met each other before being cast in the pilot, have been affectionately dubbed throughout the years as “The Pre-Fab Four.” Together, with their on screen chemistry along with the guidance of music impresario Don Kirshner, who supervised the music for the show and the group’s first two albums, the Monkees were a hit out of the box.
The Monkees ran for two seasons and won two Emmys in 1967 — Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Directorial Achievement In Comedy. But it was the show’s music, much of it written by such top songwriters as Neil Diamond, and Gerry Goffin and Carole King, that made it a success. The Monkees scored six Top 10 hits during the show’s run, including the 1966 Number Ones “Last Train To Clarksville” and “I’m A Believer.”
