Search Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »

Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture

Rosanne WelchJuly 19, 2016

McFarland

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.

About the author

Rosanne Welch teaches the history of screenwriting and one-hour drama for the Stephens College MFA in screenwriting. As a television writer/producer, her credits include Beverly Hills 90210, Picket Fences and Touched by an Angel. She serves as Book Reviews editor for Journal of Screenwriting and on the editorial board for Written By magazine. She lives in Van Nuys, California.

Reviews

Review Policy

3.2

5 total

Additional Information

Publisher

McFarland

Published on

Jul 19, 2016

Pages

180

ISBN

9781476626024

Features

Flowing text, Original pages

Best For

Web, Tablet, Phone, eReader

Language

English

Genres

Music / General

Performing Arts / Television / General

Social Science / Popular Culture

Content Protection

This content is DRM protected.

Read Aloud

Available on Android devices

Eligible for Family Library

Learn More

Report

Flag as inappropriate

Reading information

Smartphones and Tablets

Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.

Laptops and Computers

You can read books purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.

eReaders and other devices

To read on e-ink devices like the Sony eReader or Barnes & Noble Nook, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Please follow the detailed Help center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.

Similar Ebooks

When Women Wrote Hollywood: Essays on Female Screenwriters in the Early Film Industry

Rosanne Welch

This collection of 23 new essays focuses on the lives of female screenwriters of Golden Age Hollywood, whose work helped create those unforgettable stories and characters beloved by audiences—but whose names have been left out of most film histories. The contributors trace the careers of such writers as Anita Loos, Adela Rogers St. Johns, Lillian Hellman, Gene Gauntier, Eve Unsell and Ida May Park, and explore themes of their writing in classics like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Ben Hur, and It’s a Wonderful Life.

Professional Idiot: A Memoir

Stephen Steve-O Glover

"It's mind-blowing to me how utterly far gone Steve-O was, and how he looks back on it in this book with such intelligence, humor, and searing honesty. What a truly unbelievable life."
--Johnny Knoxville

From his early days videotaping crazy skateboard stunts to starring in the Jackass movies, there was little that Stephen "Steve-O" Glover wouldn't do. Whether it was stapling his nutsack to his leg or diving into a pool full of elephant crap, almost nothing was out of bounds. As the stunts got crazier, his life kept pace. He developed a crippling addiction to drugs and alcohol, and an obsession with his own celebrity that proved nearly as dangerous. Only an intervention and a visit to a psychiatric ward saved his life. Today he has been clean and sober for more than three years.

Professional Idiot recounts the lunacy, the debauchery, the stunts, the drug addiction, and the path to recovery with bravado, humor, and heart.

"A great book to read before you get on the roller coaster to hell, if you plan on surviving to tell about it like Steve-O did."
--Nikki Sixx, author of The Heroin Diaries

"This is the perfect book for people who hate reading."
--Tommy Lee, author of Tommyland

The feedback I've gotten on Facebook and Twitter from those of you who've read this book has been fascinating, heartwarming, and hilarious. I'm happy to keep answering your questions on there, and I encourage more of you to join in the discussion. Hope to hear from you soon, and thank you all so much.

Love,
Steve-O

Pretty Mess

Erika Jayne

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Without her alter-ego Erika Jayne, Erika Girardi says she’d just be “another rich bitch with a plane”—so get ready for the dishy, tell-all memoir from show-stopping performer, model, singer, and beloved star of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Erika Jayne.

Erika Jayne didn’t make it this far by holding back. Now, in her first-ever memoir, the fan favorite star of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills bares her heart, mind, and soul.

In Pretty Mess, Erika spills on every aspect of her life: from her rise to fame as a daring and fiery pop/dance performer and singer; to her decision to accept a role on reality television; to the ups and downs of family life (including her marriage to famed lawyer Tom Girardi, thirty-three years her senior). There’s much more to Erika Jayne than fans see on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Pretty Mess is her opportunity to dig deep and tell her many-layered, unique, and inspiring life story.

As fun and fearless as its author, this fascinating memoir proves once and for all why Erika Jayne is so beloved: she’s strong, confident, genuine, and here to tell all!

Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection [4 volumes]

Peg A. Lamphier

Based on the content of most textbooks, it would be easy to reach the erroneous conclusion that women have not contributed much to America's history and development. Nothing could be further from the truth. Offering comprehensive coverage of women of a diverse range of cultures, classes, ethnicities, religions, and sexual identifications, this four-volume set identifies the many ways in which women have helped to shape and strengthen the United States.

This encyclopedia is organized into four chronological volumes, with each volume further divided into three sections. Each section features an overview essay and thematic essay as well as detailed entries on topics ranging from Lady Gaga to Ladybird Johnson, Lucy Stone, and Lucille Ball, and from the International Ladies of Rhythm to the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. The set also includes a vast variety of primary documents, such as personal letters, public papers, newspaper articles, recipes, and more. These primary documents enhance users' learning opportunities and enable readers to better connect with the subject matter.

A Life in Parts

Bryan Cranston

“Nothing short of riveting...an engrossing first-person account by one of our finest actors” (Huffington Post)—both a coming-of-age story and a meditation on creativity, devotion, and craft—Bryan Cranston, beloved and acclaimed star of one of history’s most successful TV shows, Breaking Bad.

Bryan Cranston began his acting career at the age of seven, when his father, a struggling actor and sometime director, cast him in a commercial for United Way. By fifth grade he was starring in the school play, spending hours at the local movie theater, and re-enacting favorite scenes with his brother in their living room. Cranston seemed destined to be an actor. But then his father left. And his family fell apart. Troubled by his father’s missteps, Cranston abandoned his acting aspirations and resolved to pursue a steadier career in law enforcement. Then, on a two-year cross-country motorcycle journey, Cranston re-discovered his talent for acting and found his mission and his calling.

In this “must-read memoir” (The Philadelphia Inquirer), Cranston traces the many roles he inhabited throughout his remarkable life, both on and off screen. For the first time he shares the story of his early years as an actor on the soap opera Loving, his recurring spots on Seinfeld, and his time as bumbling father Hal on Malcolm in the Middle, to his tour-de-force, Tony-winning performance as Lyndon Baines Johnson in Broadway’s All the Way, to his most iconic role of all: Breaking Bad’s Walter White.

“An illuminating window into the actor’s psyche” (People), Cranston has much to say about creativity, devotion, and craft, as well as innate talent and its challenges and benefits and proper maintenance. “By turns gritty, funny, and sad” (Entertainment Weekly), ultimately A Life in Parts is a story about the joy, the necessity, and the transformative power of simple hard work.

By purchasing this item, you are transacting with Google Payments and agreeing to the Google Payments Terms of Service and Privacy Notice.