I just like pictures of script to remember
that there is a writer involved.
I know the words are too small, but this is
a script by Coslough Johnson.
All the writers on the show, I have a whole
chapter in my book on authorship -- all the
writers ended up winning Emmys later in life.
He got his for writing on Laugh In, which
was also a very politically themed show.
He wrote an episode called "Monkees Watch
Their Feet" and it's about aliens taking over
the teenagers of America.
So, The Monkees are going to save the day
for them.
So, first of all, we have this patriotic business
going on here -- here is standing Mike Nesmith,
with the flag and Pat Paulsen who, if you
remember, comically ran for President back
in the day.
He's giving a report to America about what's
wrong with teenagers today.
It is that the aliens have taken over, but
he talks about who we blame.
"Many of us blame our leaders.
Many of our leaders blame us."
This is ho the teenagers, the hippy culture,
is feeling.
Then more so, he defines Micky in this episode,
as "Someone tormented by a war he must fight
in a country thousands of miles away."
How can you get away with dissing the Vietnam
War on modern American television in 1967?
And they just blip it right through and you
don't even notice it.
