I've got seriously behind, and am catching up now. Possibly by the time I'm caught up there will be a new episode. It's A Nice Place to Visit Seeing that this is set in Mexico my first thought is that we might get some Mexican influenced Monkees music. The closest we get is Micky dancing on the table. I'm catching up so won't go back and check the beginning to see if there was an explanation of them being in Mexico. If there was - I missed it. It's good to hear them playing songs like 'What Am I Doing Hanging Round' which are really them. Perhaps there are stereotypes here, but we have to remember this is a show from over 50 years ago. As mentioned for other episodes, willing suspension of belief is necessary. Otherwise we'd have four dead Monkees and no more episodes. This isn't the best episode. It seems to rely too much on the setting/situation, and not enough on actual jokes. It also seems to stop rather suddenly. 3/5
Today's episode is Everywhere a Sheik, Sheik: Songs used Love is Only Sleeping and Cuddly Toy The most enjoyable part of this episode for me is Davy's dance routine to Cuddly Toy at the end. It gives an indication of what a good all round performer he was. The rest of the episode is another set of ethnic stereotypes wrapped around a wafer thin plot. Again I don't get offended, but there's not much to entertain. Love is Only Sleeping also doesn't really fit the mood of the romp. 2/5.
Everywhere A Sheik Sheik - 3/5 Aside from what is deemed outdated, the performance of guest star Monti Landis (the father), Cuddly Toy romp and band interview are what save this episode to a low 3 for me. It looks like some of these same costumes were used in Head. Maybe some of these same costumes were used on I Dream of Jeannie? The "Middle Eastern" princess with the miniskirt at the beginning is somewhat amusing. The rest is just below average at best, despite a few funnies here and there.
Everywhere A Sheik, Sheik - I distinctly remember this one from its original network run and Saturday morning reruns. I even saw it in dubbed Spanish when my family vacationed in Puerto Rico! The first episode to feature Monty Landis and he’s wonderful. The fact that, next to Valerie Kairys Venet, Monty has appeared in more Monkee episodes is a credit to his talent as a versatile actor able to play any role. The stereotypes don’t bother me as it’s all just comedy and the Monkees are working with a great supporting cast, Donna Loren in particular as the Princess. Love the homage to Danny Kaye’s “vessel with the pestle” routine from The Court Jester. And actor William Bagdad who plays the henchman Curad is also the actor who rides up to Micky in the dessert scene in Head who says “Pssst!” A fun episode overall. 4/5.
Picture Frame I think it's a good episode, and has some good jokes. I've noted that Nez had been working on his comic facial expressions in the first season and he's using them here. Perhaps the judge being easily manipulated is rather dated, but as I said up above this is a show from over 50 years ago. I'm not sure I find this the classic that others do, but it's a good episode. 3.5/5
Everywhere A Sheik, Sheik I can't remember much of the episodes or which of them I will have seen before because my Monkees watching was re-runs in the 1970s. I'd noted how often Monty Landis turns up in episodes this season, and have been looking forward to his appearance. As mentioned above, the episode is dated with some stereotypes. The only way to avoid that happening would pretty much to never watch 60s/70s comedy again. Some good comic acting here, including Davy's facial expressions when he has 'the deal' explained to him. The plot is very familiar - we've had a near identical plot before. (I can't remember the episode title). I'm not finding the episodes to vary as much as others - I find them rather consistent. Extra points for the interesting romp, even if the song doesn't really match the situation. PCA&J is my favourite Monkees album so it's great to see the songs turning up in the show. I'm not sure that Headquarters has been given a fair crack of the whip for the show. 'Cuddly Toy' seems a bit tacked on however, though the dance is good. Both Davy and his dance partner. The interview bit at the end is interesting, but again the basic episode minus songs and interviews is quite short. 3.8/5
As a kid, there really was not an inkling of what stereotypes were much less negative ones. I remember this episode and have always thought it was top notch. To me this has everything I liked and like about the Monkees show. The jokes especially - "I can remember when Davy was only 7 bars", I love your hair/eyes/nose bit, Micky as secretary of defense, "golden Grecian goblets guarantee graves", the surprise twist that the sinister plot was formed by someone from Enid, Oklahoma to steal their oil, the romp with Love is Only Sleeping, Cuddly Toy performance, the interview with the "changed" Monkees and mailing a chick to Davy.
A decent episode but the highlight for me is the interview. The "Cuddly Toy" routine is pretty good, too. Ultimately, my main takeaway from the episode itself is that a big chunk of the Season 2 opening sequence is taken from here (along with "A Nice Place To Visit", of course, too). The guys are definitely a lot looser in season 2, and that's even before the post-tour episodes. 3/5
2.5/5 for shiek The music and the interview are outstanding.. the rest I don’t find very entertaining
I can just imagine the meeting: somebody must have said, “Arabs! We haven’t done Arabs yet. Scowling bad guys in flowing robes, exotic girls in skimpy outfits…it’ll be a riot.” Unfortunately, it’s an idea half a mile wide and only half an inch deep. The cultural references for Arabs in the 1960’s were Lawrence of Arabia and I Dream of Jeannie, so we get a mish-mash of cutthroat brutality and candy-colored romantic twaddle. Not that The Monkees displayed much sensitivity in any episode depicting a foreign culture; at least the exotic and anachronistic characters in this episode hail from a fully fictional place. Nonetheless, this episode leads off my list of “stereotype episodes,” outings that depict exotic cultures dressed up in the crudest and least accurate of wild Hollywood notions. Under a thick padding of cross-cultural nonsense, the plot is a mere sketch; there’s no there there. The premise is bizarre, the dialogue is insipid and the characters are two-dimensional. There are only a handful of scenes where the Monkees can utilize their remarkable comic chemistry. At one point, the four Monkees meet in Davy’s room and agree that the situation is dire and they need a plan. They huddle together as the scene comes to a close. And yet, the next time we see them they are happily digesting a meal, choosing music for the wedding and raising their goblets to toast the happy couple. The blatant absence of any semblance of a plan draws attention to the weak script. The episode ends with a gratuitous extra music segment—coming only seconds after the episode-ending romp—and a fairly long, scattershot interview segment. In a surprising moment of self-referential irony, the interview ends with Dolenz’s exhausted plea: “I really hate these interviews.” I sigh back, “I really hate these stereotype episodes.” Runner-Up Nitpick In the scene where Peter reads the wedding invitation, Micky is wearing dark glasses in the group shots but not in the close-up. Nitpick Why does Davy climb into the sack? There hasn’t been such a cooperative kidnap victim since… well, since Your Friendly Neighborhood Kidnappers. Absolutely Not a Nitpick In the teaser, Colette points to a picture of Davy in a magazine. At first, I was going to nitpick this on the grounds that the TV-show Monkees have never become famous. But then I took a closer look. Although the magazine is never clearly identified, in one of the photos Peter is wearing the same loud, blue shirt he wore briefly during the photo shoot in Monkees a la Mode. So this could conceivably be the issue of Chic from that episode—the only canonical appearance of the band in a magazine. Grading: Scowling bad guys in flowing robes. C+ Mindless pretty girls in skimpy outfits. C- Half-wit royalty… again? C The Monkees have no plan, but they are trying to be funny. B Overall grade 2 out of 5
Today's episode is Monkee Mayor: Songs used: No Time and Pleasant Valley Sunday This episode drifts by painlessly enough, but I don't find it particularly memorable. I'm aware that I'm probably coming across as very negative, but I think the music has aged much better than the acting and the scripts. 2.5/5.
Monkee Mayor - This episode has the Monkees doing their best to help their neighbors against corrupt politicians with Mike running for mayor. Monty Landis is appropriately sleazy as the political boss who wields the power over the weak Mayor. There are good gags throughout this episode, and it’s surprisingly revealing regarding inside dirty political tactics that goes against the little guy. It’s a message Rafelson and Schneider would explore more fully in their features films. A fine episode with a message. 4/5.
Another great episode for me. These last two back to back episodes were two that I always recalled, so maybe I saw them more during the run and reruns or they were just more to my liking; or both. Mike's speech is a good one and he will do something similar to even greater effect in the Devil and Peter. Good tunes and the Monkees again are trying to do something good - stop corruption in government. Many have ripped the show for dated stereotypes and dated thinking but stopping corruption in government is a topic alive today - probably more so. So that should be a plus. I will also add that I do understand what people are saying regarding the use of stereotypes. An issue, however, is some people are using 2021 thinking for a show that was created in 1966. Right or wrong, the morals and values of 1966 were different. Can you imagine if in 1966 we were critiquing something made in 1911? Plus, the Monkees was a 1/2 hour comedy TV show (not normally a bastion for social change) that was actually breaking some new ground with its format of 4 lads without too much of the "older" generation in their business, breaking fourth wall, music videos, music romps, etc. etc. OK, now off my soapbox.
Monkee Mayor - 4/5 Mike shines here. Overall I enjoy this episode and Monty Landis' role as the corrupt mayor. It made light of a serious subject (gov't corruption) in a funny enough way.
Monty Landis played the corrupt political boss who was the real power behind the meek mayor played by Irwin Charone.
I want to like "Monkee Mayor" more than I actually do but I just find it (well, more like the directing and Mike's acting, really) a little over-earnest. I just think this episode would be more interesting if done in the first season with all the naive enthusiam that came with it or the acid-fried post-tour episodes, where it would have a bit of an edge and probably be far more surreal. Great use of "No Time", regardless. 3/5
Monkee mayor- 3/5 if there ever was one. Not great, not terrible as usual, the music steals the show!
Pirates. Spies. Aliens. Gangsters. Vampires. Campaign Finance Reform? No, seriously—The Monkees somehow managed to come up with a half-hour of comedy about Campaign Finance Reform. What’s very strange is that the whole sordid mess seems quite relevant even today, in the world of Citizens United and Super PACs. Okay, it’s not only about Campaign Finance Reform. It’s also about eminent domain, influence peddling and corruption in the media. Comedy gold. But mostly it’s about corporate interests holding sway over the political process, making it necessary for even the most raw, honest, independent-minded candidate to kowtow to the people with the bucks. Monkee Mayor has an intricate but subtle plot, long on complexity and just a little bit short on clarity. One has to pay very close attention, and maybe squint just a little, to comprehend the dirty trick that sinks Mike’s campaign. In my review of The Devil and Peter Tork, I couldn’t speak highly enough of Nesmith’s hesitant, fumbling delivery of his magnificent courtroom speech. He may have actually outdone that performance in this episode, but it’s a little hard to tell because his address to the voters is so unfocused and rambling. I’m already puzzled as I watch it, still trying to figure out exactly what it is that Mike has supposedly done wrong, and by the end of the episode I’m equally baffled by the corrupt mayor’s sudden turn of heart. The resolution comes too easily and too quickly to be entirely satisfying. Cultural Clarification Micky: Let me speak to the head of the newspaper. Publisher: The president of the typesetters’ union is not here today; I am just the publisher. In the middle of the 20th century, the union representing typesetters was a major power in the world of print news. In 1962 a typesetters’ strike halted publication of all seven of New York City’s daily newspapers for three months. Runner-Up Nitpick Malibu was not incorporated as a city until 1991. As an unincorporated township, it was under the supervision of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in the ’60’s. Nitpick Jamestown was founded in 1607. The pilgrims landed in at Plymouth Rock in 1620. I’m sure somebody settled somewhere in 1612, but it wasn’t a particularly auspicious date in US history. Absolutely Not a Nitpick The complete quotation Mike is reaching for is, “Hunker down like a jackass in a hailstorm and wait till the wind stops blowing.” And despite Davy’s protestations to the contrary, President Lyndon Johnson really did say that. Grading Mr. Nesmith goes to City Hall. A- They Paved Malibu and Put up a Parking Lot. B- Violation of title VI, section 43, paragraph 7 of the Campaign Finance Law. C+ Overall Grade 3 out of 5
Monkee Mayor I like this one. It has a more developed plot. There are plenty of opportunities for jokes and horseplay, but there is a more serious side to the story too. I think what makes this episode is Mikes monologue at the end where he realises that he's too innocent for the dirty world of politics. The resolution that follows is a bit quick and easy, but this is The Monkees so that is par for the course. Yes, this is a show on campaign finance reform. I wonder if there had been subsequent series of The Monkees if they could have expanded that. They always had the theme of standing up for the little guy against the bad guys, but this goes a bit further. I don't think Mike's speech is inappropriately rambling. It works for me in context. It's slightly jarring to see Monty Landis in multiple roles in shows one after another, but he demonstrates his acting range. Supporting actors great as usual. Mike makes a good Abraham Lincoln. Visually at least. Great songs of course. I've been hoping for more Headquarters, so great to hear No Time in this episode. And PVS is an all-time Monkees classic, IMHO. 4.2/5
