(February 26, 2019) Chicago, IL – Starting Sunday, March 3rd, television viewers and Monkees fans can relive the iconic music and psychedelic hijinks of the Emmy Award-winning series from its very first episode, now on MeTV, America’s #1 classic television network. Following an overwhelming response to MeTV’s Peter Tork tribute this past Sunday (The Monkees were up +74% Persons 2+ at 5:00pm and up +78% Persons 2+ at 5:30pm vs. last February’s time period*), The Monkeesquartet will join MeTV’s groovy counterparts, The Brady Bunch and Gilligan’s Island, on the network’s Sunday afternoon lineup, airing at 5pm and 5:30pm ET/PT.
The Monkees originally aired from 1966-1968, employing avant-garde film techniques such as improvisation, jump cuts and breaking the “fourth wall,” and earned two Emmy Awards in 1967 for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy. Inspired by The Beatles’ classic films A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, the made-for-TV pop/rock band soon rose to international stardom. The beloved cast included the late Peter Tork, who passed last Thursday, as the band’s “loveable goof”, keyboardist, bass guitarist and eventually songwriter. To round out the foursome, Micky Dolenz was cast as the “funny” drummer, Michael Nesmith as the “deadpan” guitarist and former child actor Davy Jones was the resident “teen heartthrob” and lead vocalist.
“The Monkees is a truly memorable series, the first TV comedy of the 1960s to showcase musician characters with original popular music that charted, combined with zany comedy and the teen heartthrob phenomenon,” said Neal Sabin, vice chairman of Weigel Broadcasting Co. “Our recent tribute to Peter Tork sparked a significant amount of positive viewer feedback and delivered a very large national audience. Adding The Monkees as part of our Sunday afternoon line up alongsideThe Brady Bunch and Gilligan’s Island gives our MeTV audience even more to cheer about.”
In spite of being dismissed by critics for their “Hollywood” beginnings, The Monkees’ music struck a chord with the emerging youth culture, catapulting the group into one of the most influential bands of the decade and birthed “Monkeemania,” – a flurry of merchandising, record sales, and even world tours opened by a young Jimi Hendrix. In 1967, the band sold 35 million albums, reportedly twice as many as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined, and songs Daydream Believer,I’m a Believer and Last Train to Clarksville, all reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts.
In the late 1980’s, The Monkees experienced a resurgence in popular culture and embarked on several reunion tours. After the 2012 death of Davy Jones, the surviving members released Good Times! in 2016 and earned their first Top 20 album in 25 years. Overall, The Monkees have sold over 75 million records worldwide, making them one of the bestselling groups of all time.
Viewers can see our complete schedule and find out where to watch by visiting MeTV.com.
*Source: Nielsen NTI, Sunday 5-6p 2/24/19 vs. Feb ‘18
Weigel Broadcasting Co. is a family-owned media company based in Chicago, Illinois. The company owns and operates national television networks, as well as local broadcast stations throughout the country. Weigel is the leader in the multicast television network space with "MeTV," Memorable Entertainment Television, the number-one rated and distributed multicast network, as well as the "Movies!" Network in cooperation with the Fox Television Stations, the "DECADES" Network, the "H&I" Network and the “Start TV” Network in association with the CBS Television Stations. Weigel's local stations include CBS, ABC, The CW, MyNet and Telemundo network affiliates. Weigel and its affiliate companies broadcast network and independent television stations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, St. Louis, Cedar City-St. George, Milwaukee, South Bend and Rockford. Weigel is also the creator of the nationally syndicated music format “MeTV FM”.
For more information on Weigel, visit: https://www.weigelbroadcasting.com/
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