Love Monkey

Network: CBS; Genre: Drama, Comedy; Content Rating: TV-PG (some adult and sexual content, language); Perspective: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4);

Seasons Reviewed: 1 season (3 episodes)

The real television fan is an embattled creature. Years of TV watching leaves you with one lesson: the excitement of discovering a great new show is always coupled with a growing sense of dread over the near certainty of its prompt cancellation.

"Love Monkey" ranks with the shortest of them at 3 whole episodes. In the future, real-time ratings will allow promising shows to be ripped off the air and replaced with a "CSI" rerun mid-way through their first airing. At 3 episodes we have little arc and stunted development, so we can only really determine it's potential. I'm put in the position of real television reviewers who watch the 3 episode tape they get and throw out a review that prematurely seals a show's fate.

Fortunately, "Love Monkey" is unusually well developed from the get-go. What it lacks in originality it makes up for with a strong, large, cast of characters and a nearly flawless execution. The series follows Tom Farrell (Tom Cavanaugh, "Ed"), a music snob with a pension for Top 40 and earphones embedded permanently in his ears, who vocalizes his anti-corporate, pro-artist view of music and is summarily fired by a big-time record label after an unfortunate slip-of-the-tongue about Hanson (the show is a little dated). He quickly lands at struggling independent label True Vinyl Records and with only one shot left to prove his golden ear-for-talent reputation he bets it all on a crooning John Mayer-type artist called Wayne (Teddy Geiger, singing his own real songs). Doubling as our narrator, Tom monologues about the music industry and relationships, but appears to know only about the former.

If you are now filling in your own "High Fidelity" and "Jerry Maguire" comparisons, you wouldn't be wrong. But outside of that inevitable familiarity, "Monkey" works first because Cavanaugh has enough charm and gosh-darn likability to fuel several shows and, secondly, because the entire rest of the cast is so colorful and well developed. Tom's basket-ball playing, sports-metaphor talking friends include Larenze Tate, Jason Priestly (post-"Tru Calling"), Christopher Weil ("Playmakers") and guy's-girl Judy Greer. At work, he crushes and feuds with striking Ivana Milicevic. The witty banter between the guys and a relationship story, that doesn't take the usual relationship-series, path all work to create a multi-layered and completely entertaining character dramedy.

In episode 2, Tom tries to steal a pop princess (thinly veiled for her real-world counterparts) from the corporate label that won't let her write her own music. In the 3rd episode, where we see how really great this show could have been, Nicky Katt ("Boston Public") guest stars as a pretentious independent film director who hijacks the reins of Wayne's music video.

Music snobs have already pegged "Love Monkey" for committing the ultimate sin of being un-cool. "Monkey" does have a whiff of mainstream pandering. It should be making exclusive music references for the 1% crowd, not trying to relate to Top 40 teenyboppers. "Monkey" should be too cool for the room, instead it seems to only be pretending to know about the music industry and its attempts to parallel real musicians are too transparent to be as clever. A poser.

But if you can make the leap that the musical bits are just a mechanism to explore the human relationships on the show, then it feels a little more organic. There is too much else going on here to just write this show off like the network did. Even though I largely find the network a total bore, unlike the other networks CBS has had a good reputation for supporting their shows. Now, they're on my radar. Since "Love Monkey" barely got off the runway, all we can do is judging its potential and, honestly, this show had the potential to be the best CBS series since "Everybody Loves Raymond".

Hopefully, the show will get a DVD release so I can see the remaining episodes.

* * * ½ / 4

My wife and I enjoyed watching Love Monkey, why? because it was not just another HOKEY reality show! You want reality!! shove 8 people in a helicopter and drop them off in the mountains with video cameras, the ones that make it back with footage are the winners! Now that would be reality!! Love Monkey was a good show to just watch and let things progress! Why do people have to scrutinize the heck out of something different! Well, CBC thinks and the people with the Neilson boxes who are probably the ones that ONLY watch reality have laid the show to rest! What are those people watching then? I'd Love to know that much! Bye Love Monkey! I'll miss you!! Bring back ED? or American Dreams? or Anything with Heather Locklear in it......Dallas?

Why would CBS cancel Love Monkey so early? If you are as upset as me, LET'S DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!! Send CBS a letter. Send them an e-mail. Call their office and demand an explanation! Here's their address and phone number. To write to them over the net, go to CBS.com, scroll all the way to the bottom and click "Feedback." A window will pop up for you to voice your opinion.

Ask them to give Love Monkey another chance. Whether you loved it for the characters, the plot, or the music, you can do something to change this. Make your voice heard! For more information on what you can do, e-mail me at SaveLoveMonkey@yahoo.com.

Fight for the Monkey!!!

CBS Television Network 51 West 52nd Street New York, NY 10019

Ph. number: (212) 975-432

I was hooked after the pilot show, and I was hoping to not be disappointed with the second show, and I wasn't. This show is amazing, it's really hard to think of words to describe it, and I really don't think amazing cuts it. If you like music you'll like this show, two shows into its first season and I have already proclaimed it as my favorite show.

This show has heart, the music isn't cheesy as I would have expected from a television show and the characters are all different and interesting in their own ways. Wayne(Teddy Geiger)is an awesome singer, he reminds me of John Mayer, but younger.

Unfortunately, not everybody appreciates this show, according to Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times,"'Love Monkey,' in other words, is yet another attempt to create a male version of 'Sex and the City.'", this lady has a stereotypical mind which could not see something good if it poked her in the eye. After reading a couple of her articles it seems like she is obsessed with "Sex and the City", she is always comparing the shows she reviews to it and seems to have set "Sex and the City" as the top of all standards.

"Love Monkey", for lack of better words, rocks my world!!! There's nothing that I enjoy better than good music and good stories, this show is a combination of both. I really hope this show lasts and if it doesn't CBS will loose a great thing."Love Monkey"'s A Must Love, don't miss it.

Why is it that a network will get rid of shows that seem to actually be funny, and can actually grow? DO they rather keep shows on like..idk crap reality that isn't even close to real reality? Flaver Flav? Surreal Life? Real World/Road Rules etc etc etc. People generally watch TV series because 1. They like the characters 2. They like the way its written 3. Like the music in the series 4. Like where and how its filmed. Love Monkey had all these and then some. What a great concept...yeah CONCEPT, a 30 something in the music business, goes indie follows indie bands, has a rough time with women, has good friends....wait..thats not real enough. Because no one in really life has good buddies, or women problems or between jobs. We all compete for money and prizes and have lines of women to pick from.(man i wish..just imagine that..prizes.) Instead lets cancel a very promising show, and air NCIS, because lord knows we don't have enough shows of a team investigating something. (I believe that there is at least 8 shows on cbs, if not more.) Just watch reruns of scooby doo, at least that is more entertaining. This show was being compared to, or at least i heard it was being compared to sex in the city. BUT they didn't cancel sex in the city after 3 or 4 episodes, granted it was on HBO. Getting back to the matter at hand, why must a network get rid of a show before it can actually grow? Networks in the past have given shows multiple chances at different time slots and, or different days. How come they didn't with Love MOnkey? Tuesday at 10pm..now there is a great time slot. Beginning of the week..at 10 at night...for a brand new show. Lets try that again...Brand new show, 10 at night, on a Tuesday. Head still hurt on that one? Did you ever see any advertising for the show? I live by the city and the only advertising I have seen for it is on the front of two buses. WHOA..thats hardcore..oh wait, I guess they are trying to push the CSI franchise..or the seinfeld spin off (note..i loved seinfeld..not spin offs, and lets face it..all shows with those characters in it or some how spin offs) After all this..all I ask is that you SAVE THE MONKEY. GO to cbs.com, scroll all the way down to feedback. And what's funny is that under prime time, Love Monkey isn't even listed so choose other and write away. thanks for reading. should i keep going?

**Don't let Love Monkey have the same fate as Two Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place, or Undeclared, or Freaks and Geeks, or well lets face it, there are a lot of other shows.**