Monday, December 13, 2021
Disney Orders Traditional Sitcom Meet the Mayhems; Remembering Michael Nesmith of The Monkees

Disney Branded Television has begun production in Los Angeles on Meet the Mayhems, an original live-action comedy series about a family of raucous supervillains who recently ran afoul of the League of Villains and now must somehow beat a path to normalcy in a small Texas town. The series is scheduled to premiere in summer 2022 on Disney Channel and Disney+ platforms around the world. Meet the Mayhems was created by Chris Peterson and Bryan Moore, who are also its executive producers and showrunners. At the center of the story is teenage Havoc, who stands up against the leader of all villains, forcing her entire family to change their identities and relocate to a Texas suburb where she now goes by the name Amy. With the help of her effervescent new neighbor Hartley, she must somehow hide her superpowers and quell her villainous nature in favor of something she's fought against all her life — being normal.
Meet the Mayhems stars Isabella Pappas (Finding Alice) as Amy/Havoc, Lucy Davis (Wonder Woman) as Eva/Surge, James Patrick Stuart (General Hospital) as Vic/Kraniac, Malachi Barton (Disney Channel's Stuck in the Middle) as Colby/Flashform, Reed Horstmann (The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia) as Jake/Chaos and newcomer Kayden Muller-Janssen as Hartley. Patricia Belcher (The Week of) recurs as Celia.
Musician, songwriter, actor, and producer Michael Nesmith, who was best known as a member of the pop rock band The Monkees and co-star of the TV series The Monkees, has died. He died from heart failure at his home in Carmel Valley, California, on December 10. Mr. Nesmith was 78.
The Monkees were formed in Los Angeles in 1965 by Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider specifically for the sitcom The Monkees. Davy Jones had a long-term contract with Screen Gems to appear in television programs. He was shortlisted for the auditions and identified in advance as a potential star for the series. Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter ran an ad to cast the remainder of the band/cast members for the TV series on September 8-10, 1965. Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork were chosen out of 437 applicants. Nesmith had been working as a musician since early 1963 and had been recording and releasing music under various names, including Michael Blessing and "Mike & John & Bill" and had studied drama in college. In October 1965, Nesmith landed the role as the wool hat-wearing guitar player "Mike" in the show.
The Monkees premiered on NBC on September 12, 1966. The series follows the adventures of four young men (The Monkees) trying to make a name for themselves as a rock 'n roll band. Mike ("Wool Hat") was the smart and serious one who played the guitar. Although the series ran for only two seasons (1966 to 1968) and 58 episodes, it remains hugely popular to this day. They received two Emmy Awards in 1967: Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy (James Frawley). Nesmith wrote and directed the 1997 ABC comedy special Hey, Hey, It's the Monkees. It was the last time all four of the original Monkees appeared together in a new television program.
The band was originally active from 1966 to 1971. They released six albums, four of which went to No. 1 on the Billboard chart. Some of their big hits included: (Theme From) The Monkees; Last Train to Clarksville; I'm a Believer; (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone; A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You; Pleasant Valley Sunday; Daydream Believer; and Valleri. In 1968, they appeared in the feature film Head. They appeared in the 1969 NBC TV special 33 1⁄3 Revolutions per Monkee. The band reunited in 1986 and toured intermittently with different lineups for a number of years.
Nesmith continued his successful songwriting and performing career, first with the seminal country rock group the First National Band, with whom he had a top-40 hit, "Joanne." His songwriting credits include "Different Drum", which became a hit for Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys.
He founded Pacific Arts, a multimedia production and distribution company, in 1974, through which he helped pioneer the music video format. He created one of the first television programs dedicated to music videos, PopClips, which aired on Nickelodeon from 1980 to 1981. In 1981, he wrote and produced Elephant Parts, an one hour long with parody commercials and comedy sketches, and features five full-length music videos. Elephant Parts won the first Grammy in the Music Video category in 1981.
Nesmith created the short-lived 1985 NBC comedy-variety series Michael Nesmith in Television Parts. The show was a mix of music videos (by both himself and others) mixed in with comedy sketches, commercial parodies, and general silliness. Guest appearances included Martin Mull, Whoopi Goldberg, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Garry Shandling and Arsenio Hall.
He guest starred as the father of the mayor (Kyle MacLachlan) of Portland, Oregon, in a 2014 episode of Portlandia. Some of his film appearances included Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann (1982), Repo Man (1984), Burglar (1987) and Tapeheads (1988). He was the executive producer for the films Repo Man, Tapeheads, and Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann. He also did the music score for Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann.
Mr. Nesmith was a man of many talents. He was still touring last month with Micky Dolenz, who is sadly now the last surviving member of The Monkees. They deserve to be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We thank him for the music and entertainment he brought us during his career. He will be greatly missed.
Share your memories on our The Monkees message board. View photos in our galleries.
MeTV aired four episodes of The Monkees as a tribute on December 12. Decades will be doing a two day binge (84 episodes) of The Monkees starting at noon on Saturday, December 18 until Monday, December 20 at 6am.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Sunday, May 11
The Simpsons - "Full Heart, Empty Pool" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Homer and Grampa team up to create a new sport that rivals pickleball, until Homer kicks Grampa off.
Family Guy - "One Foot in Front of the Mother" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Due to a police complaint about his excessive barking, Brian has to wear a shock collar; looking to join an after-school team, Chris discovers a talent for speed walking.
Krapopolis - "Don Tyxote" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Ty gets a fancy new suit and with it, the confidence to invade Persia; Hippo is left home to defend the throne; Deliria and Shlub role-play.
The Great North - "Sunset Beeflevard Adventure" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Judy joins the cast of a dinner theater production; Wolf and Honeybee help Moon sell jerky door-to-door.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of May 5)
Friday, May 9
- Paul Rudd (The Shrink Next Door/Living with Yourself/Wild Oats) - Watch Paul on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Matt Bomer (Mid-Century Modern) - Matt appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Asif Ali (Deli Boys) and Saagar Shaikh (Deli Boys) - Asif and Saagar are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Busy Philipps (Girls5eva/Vice Principals/Cougar Town/Love, Inc.) - Busy chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Christine Baranski (The Big Bang Theory/Happy Family/Welcome to New York/Cybill) - Christine talks about Nine Perfect Strangers on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
- Holly Robinson Peete (Hangin' with Mr. Cooper/For Your Love/Like Family/Love, Inc.) - Holly swings by for a chat about her new film Hats Off to Love on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Crazy Ones) and Alyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother/Free Spirit) - NBC's Today catches up with Sarah and Alyson in the 9am hour.
- Brooke Shields (Suddenly Susan) - In this a little bit extra episode Drew shares more of her conversation with Brooke at the news desk on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Rebel Wilson (Super Fun Night) - Rebel joins Sherri to talk about starring in the new film Juliet & Romeo, so check your local listings.
- Terri J. Vaughn (She the People/Mann & Wife/Meet the Browns/All of Us/The Steve Harvey Show) - Terri talks about starring in the new Netflix series She the People on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Julia Sweeney (Shrill/Work in Progress/Maybe It's Me/George and Leo) and Marsha Mason (Grace and Frankie/The Middle/Sibs) - Julia and Marsha talk about My First Ex-Husband on PIX11 Morinng News on WPIX in New York at 9:40am.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season
05/13 - The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered)
06/06 - Shoresy - Season 2
06/17 - Looney Tunes - Collector's Vault - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
07/08 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
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