The Monkees: Season 1

Here they come. Hey, hey it's the Monkees on DVD: dreamboat Davy Jones, master of disguises Micky Dolenz (partial to Groucho Marx), dorky Peter Tork, and pensive Michael Nesmith (who went on to a second career in home video heading up the ill-fated Pacific Arts during the mid-'80s). Hoping to strike multi-merchandizing gold, series creators Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson (later, the director of The Postman Always Rings Twice, among other films), were able to sell their band-on-the-sitcom-run idea to Columbia Pictures' television arm in the wake of the Beatlemania craze and the success of A Hard Day's Night. After auditioning more than 400 actors, the ersatz band was formed and the show hit the television airwaves on September 12, 1966, running for two seasons to an appreciative audience (which included, at 11-years-old, myself). Collecting all 32 episodes of the premiere season, Rhino's six-disc boxed set reminds us all that this hip show was innovative (those cool dialogue bubbles!), funny (the Monkees' deadpan humor--including the wonderful minute-or-so improv interviews at the end of shows running a bit short--still generates laughs today), and musically cool (first season Boyce and Hart-penned hits include "Last Train to Clarksville," "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone," "I Wanna Be Free," and "Valleri"). Boasting handsome digital transfers and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, disc extras include selected episode commentaries by Jones (who used to keep pinup pictures of his female costars on his apartment walls), Nesmith, Tork, Bobby Hart, and directors Bob Rafelson and James Frawley; a 16mm pilot episode, the Monkees commercials for Kellogg's, a fine 25-minute interview with Hart, and a Monkees memorabilia photo gallery. Recommended. (R. Pitman)