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The TV series' opening title sequence, seen in syndication until recently, is from the second season (it was used for the first season's episodes as well). The producers redid the sequence to include clips from The Monkees on Tour (1967) (the first season's finale) and even some second-season episodes, such as The Devil and Peter Tork (1968), before they even aired. In the final three episodes of the second (and last) season, three of The Monkees invited special musical guests to the series. Davy Jones talked to Charlie Smalls about soul, Michael Nesmith interviewed Frank Zappa and vice versa, and Micky Dolenz introduced a song by Tim Buckley. Peter Tork had planned to do a similar episode with Janis Joplin, but it was never made. The opening credits for the first season's episodes have since been restored and placed back within them.
When the TV series was about to be renewed for a third season, The Monkees wanted to change it from a half-hour sitcom to an hour-long variety show where they would introduce new artists; however, NBC gave the group an ultimatum: stick with the format as it was or be canceled. They stuck to their guns and, as a result, the TV series was canceled after two seasons.
The four members of The Monkees were each paid $450.00 per episode of their TV series, which was raised to $750.00 for its second season. They received standard royalty rates for their recordings (and publishing, when they wrote the songs), but virtually nothing for their merchandising. Both Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz sued Columbia Pictures in the late 1970s, but they
had to settle for a payment of only $10,000.00 each.
The original inspiration for the TV series was the film Quatre Garçons dans le vent (1964) starring The Beatles. Strangely enough, when The Beatles made their U.S. debut on Meet The Beatles (1964) on February 9, 1964, Davy Jones was also on that TV episode as a member of a stage acting troupe performing a scene from Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist."
The TV series was filmed on the Columbia Pictures studio lot, and many of the sets and props that were used in it were left over from the studio's series of short films which The Three Stooges had starred in.
The first version of the TV series' pilot episode, Here Come the Monkees (1966), set a new record at the time - for the lowest ratings for a TV pilot. A re-edited second version of the same episode that featured Davy Jones' and Michael Nesmith's original screen tests at the beginning scored one of the highest test ratings ever.
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