New Monkees (1987) User Reviews

ew. No.

[jtklove · 1/10 · 17 February 2016]

Wretched. Painful. Makes your gums bleed. The hair alone defies rationality, even for a child of the 80's, like me. I had to reset my IMDb password just to pass on how much I hated. Hated. HATED. this reboot. H-A-T-E-D. I-T.

May god have mercy on their souls.

I camped out for original Monkees concert tickets in 1986. Saw them again 1987. Pure pop cheese delight.

I was excited, as a 16 year old with no taste, to see the new guys.

May god have mercy on their souls.

There are no words adequate to express my hate. I can only say, "gag me with a spoon."

Who allowed this to happen?

[trey-yancy-572-763547 · 1/10 · 3 May 2022]

The only thing about this project that worked was the buzz machine about the cattle call auditions, etc. There was not one aspect of this show or the cast that functioned. The non-actors were fish out of water with no rapport and like total strangers to each other, the writing was bad, the direction was bad, etc. I can only imagine what it was like on the set - knowing that nothing worked. And check out the audition reel. Not one of these guys had any wit or talent - truly boring people.

The problem is that, despite his negatives, there was no Don Kirshner behind this show - no one to make the right decisions about anything. Kirshner knew how to prefab a fake band, how to find and cast funny people, how to groom them, and how to find truly excellent songs.

The New Monkees was horrible. Hair band made up of nothing but hair.

"Someone please get them out of that house!"

[alan4artg · 3/10 · 19 January 2007]

Boy, I was really looking forward to this shows debut. Especially after the hype of the auditions. I knew something was wrong when there was huge lips narrating all the time, on the premier episode. Uh oh. Oh no. Please not a "Rocky Horror Picture Show" tribute! What I loved about the original "Monkees" was the fact that they went out into the streets and ran into (sort of) the real world. Why in the world would someone want to put the "New Monkees" in a house that never lets them go outside? The concept was doomed from the beginning. If only they gave them an apartment near the beach and let them try to deal in the real world as a band, trying their best to succeed. Oh.....wait a minute, that would resemble the original "Monkees" concept. We can't have that! Imitating the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" with HUGE lips narrating between 'skits', is a much better idea.....Yaaawwwwn. If only "the New Monkees" had a chance. That same year, "Star Trek: the next generation" premiered. At least they got it right- by mirroring the original concept. Imagine "Captain Picard" and crew stuck in an office building, on some distant planet, plagued by huge lips on all the t.v. monitors! Hmmmm... come to think about it, not a bad idea at that...NOT!.. P.S. I thought the music was fine. And their hairstyles "were" different. Especially the guy with the "pompadour". A hairstyle, strangely enough, in vogue today...go figure?

Died a mercifully (for us) quick death!

[Tresix · 30 May 2003]

I saw an ad for this and, being a fan of the original Monkees, decided to watch it. BIG mistake! All of the new band members had the exact same hairstyle (and before someone says it: YES, I could tell Paul McCartney's hair from Ringo's). The story of the episode was forgettable . . . and I did. All I remembered was that these guys had no charisma whatsoever, nor were they particularly distinguished musicians. That was the only episode of "New Monkees" that I recalled. If there were more, it would have been a miracle.

Rather interesting, but NOT all that bad!

[Moax429 · 8/10 · 25 April 2005]

Despite the other three authors' negative comments regarding this show, I thought "New Monkees" was somewhat interesting. When the original series first aired in 1966, I was only 4 years old, so how could I possibly enjoy it until I was a teen in the 70's? (Of course, the humor was by then dated.)

The revival was more or less a case of the new meeting the old (e.g. there were some music videos along with the comedy and the scripts were in touch with the times); true, it was only mildly amusing, but the group did have some good music (I have the audio cassette of their only album, and I eventually hope to locate a CD of it - via an oldies dealer - or otherwise have the tape dubbed onto a CD).

I had also hoped to videotape the entire series, but by the time my family purchased their first VCR in March 1987 (I had graduated from college the previous year and was temporarily living at home), Sony Pictures Television pulled the plug on the show (it was syndicated to local stations to show at whatever time of the day they chose, rather than on a network). So, Sony (or perhaps Rhino, who released the original 60's "Monkees" series on DVD, if you haven't yet folded your DVD division as you said you might consider doing), if you're reading this, would you please see about putting "New Monkees" on DVD soon? It'd be nice to see the shows behind the music again; I voted for this show at TV Shows on DVD.com, which (as of this posting) has garnered 101 votes. If anyone else enjoyed "New Monkees," I urge you to go to that website and vote for it. Remember: the more votes "New Monkees" gets, the sooner Sony (or Rhino Vision) will unearth it from their vaults and put it on DVD! (The only episode I didn't like, though, was the final one where the group was searching for a lost soundtrack.)

I also discovered recently that series star Dino Kovas was once a resident of the Detroit suburb where I now live.

I may be the only one?

[neneldae · 7 May 2005]

Yes, I may be the only one willing to admit it but, I liked the short-lived show. I am an (original) Monkees fan and had also thought the same way everyone else did--only negative. However, I decided to give them a chance. I liked it. It was silly, the guys were fun and I loved the music.

In segments where the guys were performing musically, they seemed to show more of themselves then the character they were playing. I enjoyed that.

I really do feel sorry for these guys, the odds were stacked against them before they even began.

I can only say, I hope they had fun while it lasted and I am still in support of them!

New Monkees

[m7starr · 10/10 · 29 November 2007]

Being a teenager at the time, I thought the New Monkees series was cool. I loved every song on the CD. I had a group of friends who watched the show. As soon as it went off, we'd play the LP and mimic the NM we wanted to be (James was Dino, AJ was Larry, Mike was Marty and I was Jared.) I never compared the NM to the originals. I always thought that their album stood alone for it's own merits. 11 truly good pure pop songs. Probably, the perfect pop album. I always thought the boys got a bad rap because of their names. They were true rockers. Larry Saltis plays with a band called Tower City and Marty Ross was in The Wigs (you'd remember them from "My Chauffeur" with Deborah Foreman and Sam Jones). There was another guy around that time named David Hallyday ( He was the rocker from "He's My Girl"). I always thought he might have been good in The New Monkees. But, alas.. those were the 80's and we can never go back. I do recall that time period had a lot of great soundtracks. The New Monkees, Transformers ( the original), and Thrashin' to name a few. We probably could start a whole new thread on kickin' soundtracks.

YouTube.com

[marntech · 28 April 2006]

If you haven't found this, go to YouTube.com and look for new monkees or monkees. Sometime earlier this year, March 2006, someone has uploaded lots of New Monkees material, such as videos and unaired pilot episodes. Rare stuff. I had a few episodes myself on aging VHS tapes, but they are not in good as shape as these. Too bad this show really never had a chance. While I much prefer the Monkees, I did enjoy this show in its brief run. I probably saw about half the episodes as during its original run, it would broadcast at late ours like 2:00 AM. I doubt Warner Brothers will ever release it on DVD, so webcasts are the only way to go. The New Monkees CD goes for a mint on Ebay, too. (over $30)

New Monkees were cool

[tod3 · 10/10 · 22 April 2008]

I bought the New Monkees cassette in 1987 and liked it. I recall playing it quite often. The problem they had was a ridiculous press and a few loud fans of the old Monkees who somehow got their shorts in a bunch over the New Monkees. For God's sake it's only pop music but you wouldn't know that for all that nonsense that was dished out at the time over the New Monkees. Even Davy Jones complained about the New Monkees. The reality is that the old Monkees and their fans didn't want anyone crowding in on the renewed popularity the old Monkees were having in 86-87.

Anyway, the New Monkees CD is really good pop music. Larry and Marty did a good job on the vocals as well as the song Dino did. Hey it was a fun CD. It's silly that the New Monkees got hassled so much but they left good work behind. That matters.

I liked this show too.

[smdias65 · 22 June 2005]

No, they weren't the originals. Unfortunately, the producers tried to make them like the original group. They could have had the same plot, but a different name. These guys could play and sing. I have their only album and I still like their music. Larry Saltis, I heard, is in a group named Tower City and has produced records for other performers. Dino Kovas was the joker of the group, as I recall. I don't know what has happened to the rest of these guys. It would be cool if they decided to release the show on DVD. The show was on early Saturday morning out here and the channel moved it around to a different time, so I missed a lot of it. I would like to see the show again, even it if was a little goofy.

a well forgotten show

[rustnever · 17 April 2003]

Dusting off some old albums, I came across the one and only LP from "The New Monkees." The New Monkees was intended to cash in on the original Monkees popularity that was going on in the mid-80's. Unfortunately, the original Monkees was one of those extremely original and unique shows in TV history. New Monkees was a pretty lame attempt and I was disappointed in the output. C'mon, are they ever going to come up with a "New M*A*S*H" or a "New Cheers?" I don't think so. I will admit, the album actually had some good music on it. Not any better or worse than what had come out circa 1987. The concept for putting a whacky band in a show might have worked...had they had a different name and marketing scheme.

WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING!?

[Sargebri · 26 March 2003]

Without question, this is probably the worst show in the history of television. Whoever had the bright idea to do a remake of one of the most influential shows on television without the innovation and the good music. The four guys they picked to play the New Monkees have no talent and they don't have the chemistry that Mike, Davey, Mickey and Peter had. Thank God that this show is not being rerun and that the lame songs weren't hits.

Everything With the Word "New" In the Title Is Begging For No Chance

[bakasan-1 · 10 April 2006]

I am a huge Monkees fan, and I loved this series as well, but yes, it was doomed from the conceptual stages.

It was obvious that someone was trying to capitalize on the renewed popularity of the Monkees due to the re-airing of episodes on MTV and Nickelodeon.

I liked this show, the music was awesome. OK, well, the acting was sub-par, but then again, so were the originals.

I still have the cassette of the album released in conjunction with the show (no small feat, considering how many times I've moved and how many tapes I've lost over the years) and the songs on it are pretty good. I still hum "Affection" every now and then.

It was too bad this show didn't get a decent shot, but they never gave the Monkees a decent shot either, so it was bound to flub.