| THE MONKEES ON THE SCREEN GEMS NETWORK |
On September 20, 1999, Columbia Pictures Television launched The
Screen Gems Network (SGN), a weekday afternoon television programming block airing classic shows from the Columbia Pictures Television vault, airing shows with a resource base of 58,000 episodes of 350 television series from the 1950s to 1980s, included were shows created by Columbia Pictures Television, Tandem Productions, and ELP Communications.
Developed by Barry Thurston,
SGN ran programs creatively grouped for theme weeks such as "Love is in the Air", "Pilots", "Best Music Videos" and "Before They Were Stars". Holiday based theme weeks include promotions for Halloween, Christmas, Mother's Day and Father's Day, among others.
The block was intended to be carried by stations in daytime slots, primarily
morning, afternoon and early evenings. The block covered 62% of the country by March 1999; this number had risen to 80% of the stations carrying it by January 2000. The
SGN lasted
thru September 9, 2002.
The Monkees television sitcom became part of the
SGN lineup for the first time with the December 23, 1999
repeat of Episode No. 47, "The Monkees Christmas Show" (a.k.a. "The Christmas Story") (bearing the CBS Saturday Afternoon end credits). This ultimately
led to regular 5-day strips of the show as of the following May, in the second half-hour that fittingly began with the other Screen Gems made-for-TV group,
The Partridge Family. Both comedies were part of a formatted hour, compleet with bits, quizzes, cool clips and graphics. Originally the plan was
to have the line-up run until September 2000; unfortunately, this sojourn was short-lived due to soured ratings and only lasted thru July. 2 reasons may have contributed as to why this run was cut short: one,
SGN didn't
air all 58 Monkees episodes; second, of course, it is the common unpardonable sin of all syndicated programs - the TV episodes were heavily edited for
extra commercial time. In any case, these was the first syndicated repeets of The Monkees of the 21st century.
Below is a chart of weekday
Screen Gems Network retelecasts of The Monkees and
The Partridge Family between
May 1 and July 14, 2000. Enjoy!
SCREEN GEMS NETWORK BROADCASTS
DATE |
THE MONKEES |
THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY |
| MAY 1 - 5, 2000
|
5-1
Monday |
"The Success Story" |
"Whatever Happened to the Old Songs?" |
5-2
Tuesday |
"The Monkees In Paris"
(a.k.a. "The Paris Show") |
"Go Directly To Jail" |
5-3
Wednesday |
"The Monkees Blow Their Minds" |
"Who Is Max Ledbetter And Why
Is He Saying All Those Horrible Things?" |
5-4
Thursday |
"The Monkees In A Ghost Town" |
"Go Directly To Jail" |
5-5
Friday |
"The Picture Frame"
(a.k.a. "The Bank Robbery") |
"Fellini, Bergman & Partridge" |
| MAY 8 - 12, 2000
|
5-8
Monday |
"The Monkees At The Movies" |
"A Knight in Shining Armor" |
5-9
Tuesday |
"Art, For Monkee's Sake" |
"Art for Mom's Sake" |
5-10
Wednesday |
"The Card-Carrying Red Shoes" |
"Road Song" |
5-11
Thursday |
"Monkee Mayor" |
"The Selling Of The Partridges" |
5-12
Friday |
"Too Many Girls"
(a.k.a. "Davy And Fern") |
"Hate Thy Neighbor" |
| MAY 15 - 19, 2000
|
5-15
Monday |
"The Prince And The Paupers" |
"The Princess And The Partridge" |
5-16
Tuesday |
"The Monkee's Paw" |
"Anatomy Of A Tonsil" |
5-17
Wednesday |
"The Wild Monkees" |
"A Man Called Snake" |
5-18
Thursday |
"Your Friendly Neighborhood Kidnappers" |
"For Whom The Bell Tolls..And Tolls..And Tolls" |
5-19
Friday |
"The Monkees In Texas" |
"The Mod Father" |
| MAY 22 - 26, 2000
|
5-22
Monday |
"The Royal Flush" |
"Soul Club" |
5-23
Tuesday |
"The Devil And Peter Tork" |
"Star Quality" |
5-24
Wednesday |
"The Spy Who Came In From The Cool" |
"My Son, The Feminist" |
5-25
Thursday |
"The Monkees Watch Their Feet"
(a.k.a. "Micky And The Outer Space Creatures") |
"Double Trouble" |
5-26
Friday |
"Mijacogeo" (a.k.a. "The Frodis Caper") |
"... _ _ _ ... (S.O.S.)" |
| MAY 29 - 31, JUNE 1 -
2, 2000
|
5-29
Monday |
"Alias Micky Dolenz" |
"Danny And The Mob" |
5-30
Tuesday |
"I've Got A Little Song Here" |
"This Is My Song" |
5-31
Wednesday |
"The Chaperone" |
"Not With My Sister, You Don't" |
6-1
Thursday |
"Don't Look A Gift Horse In The Mouth" |
"Nag, Nag, Nag" |
6-2
Friday |
"The Monkees Marooned" |
"Swiss Family Partridge" |
|
Screen Gems Network repeated previously aired episodes of
The Partridge Family and The Monkees over the next month between June 5 and July 7, 2000.
One final week of new episodes aired on SGN the week of July 10, repeating the week of July 24, bringing the total of aired
Monkees installments to only 30 in a period of 12 weeks.
|
|
JULY 10 -
14, 2000
|
7-10
Monday |
"Monkee Versus Machine" |
"Danny Drops Out" |
7-11
Tuesday |
"The Monkees A La Mode" |
"In 25 Words or Less" |
7-12
Wednesday |
"A Coffin Too Frequent" |
"My Heart Belongs To A Two-Car Garage" |
7-13
Thursday |
"Hillbilly Honeymoon"
(a.k.a. "Double Barrel Shotgun Wedding") |
"Made In San Pueblo" |
7-14
Friday |
"The Monkees Get Out More Dirt" |
"Promise Her Anything, But Give Her A Punch" |
|
After this, as of the week of July 17,
Screen Gems Network preempted repeats of
The Partridge Family and The Monkees with a week of SGN's 1970s programming
until, finally, on July 31, it reverted to its staples of
Bewitched and
I Dream Of Jeannie for the remainder of the summer until
retreads of Benson and
The Jeffersons inherited the hour as of September 15, 2000.
|
Links to episodes of The Partridge Family courtesy of
The Partridge Family link to
The Official David Cassidy Site.
Info courtesy of Monkee Business Fanzine ("News & Bits", March 2000 and June 2000; "Screen Gems Network," September 2000).
|