When the TV series was about to be renewed for a third season, The Monkees wanted to change it from a half-hour sitcom to an hour-long variety show where they would introduce new artists. However, NBC gave the group an ultimatum: stick with the format as it was or be cancelled. They stuck to their guns and, as a result, the series was cancelled after two seasons on the air.
The original inspiration for the TV series was the film A Hard Day's Night (1964) starring The Beatles. Oddly enough, when The Beatles made their American debut on Meet The Beatles (1964) on February 9, 1964, Davy Jones was also on that TV series as a member of the stage acting troupe performing a scene from Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist."
The four Monkees were each paid $450 per episode, raised to $750 for the second season. They received standard royalty rates for their recordings (and publishing, when they wrote the songs), but received virtually nothing for their merchandising. Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones sued Columbia Pictures in the late 1970s, but had to settle for a payment of only $10,000.
The TV series was filmed on the Columbia Pictures studio lot, and many of the sets and props used were left over from the studio's series of short films with The Three Stooges.
The first version of the TV series' pilot episode, Here Come the Monkees (1966), set a new record at the time - for the lowest ratings for a TV pilot. A re-edited second version of the same episode that featured Davy Jones' and Michael Nesmith's original screen tests at the beginning scored one of the highest test ratings ever.