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?

What a shame it is that great shows like Love Monkey don't hit home with more people. I understand that some people may think only New Yorkers or hardcore music fans (I am one of each) would truly enjoy this show, but a certain "show about nothing" consisting of 4 friends in NYC and was somewhat yuppie-ish did pretty well for 9 years. Tom is completely believable as a somewhat high-strung, neurotic protagonist, albeit one who has great morals and is the kind of friend any guy or girl would treasure. The development of the supporting characters, particularly Shooter and Brinn, is also something rarely seen in a series. The cameos (and supporting roles) by both famous as well as up-and-coming musicians really adds value to the musical premise of the show. Because of Love Monkey, I am going to see both Tedy Geiger and Aimee Mann play this summer, one added bonus of watching this masterpiece. I am clinging to the hope that VH1 will give this show another run next year, maybe 6 or 8 episodes? Even if only 1 or 2 million watch an episode, any cable network (especially one as committed to musical knowledge and development as VH1) can justify airing a show like this. I will buy this DVD the minute it comes out and try to get as many friends as possible to realize what they missed; hopefully they and I will get another opportunity to appreciate Love Monkey again.

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.

I am very sorry to hear that Love Monkey was cancelled! Having a 19 yr. old daughter who is trying to break into the music business...I am very familiar with the light music biz plot that occurred on this show. It was funny. It was light hearted. It was not blood, guts, gore. It included MUSIC. It was NOT another REALITY show. I really enjoyed this show. What I Don't understand is why CBS didn't try MOVING the show to a different time slot instead of trashing it. It was ONLY an EIGHT episode mid-season replacement! Why not try another day and time for the final 5 episodes! At least let us that DID enjoy the show...see how it ends up. Lets face it, starting Love Monkey the same weeks after 2 hour American Idol specials...made it difficult. Too many American Idol fans don't want to change the channel at 10pm from Fox To CBS. Then, we roll into a Presidential Speech, pre-empting the show for its actual third episode. Then, we roll into the Olympics. Yikes, that is tough "competition" and bad timing for any new show, not just Love Monkey. CBS did say the show was on "hiatus", so whether that is their way of letting fans down easy...left to HOPE it might return, or really if there may be distant thoughts of placing it on another day and time slot..who knows. I really hope CBS finds a spot to finish off the last 5 episodes. Also, Teddy Geiger's Album release was to correspond to an early March episode. Why not let that happen?? Did Sony have NO say in whether this show stayed on the air or was pulled? It really was great to see a show filmed right in New York City too, and not on a Hollywood backlot. Well..I for one am really upset about the demise of Love Monkey. Tom was great, Jason was great, Teddy was great..heck..the whole cast was a well put together cast! I actually know of a couple of the extra's from the show, where it would have been their "network" Television premier..and it would have been cool to see them on the show. Oh well..guess it wasn't meant to be. I hope tho' that there may be SOME glimmer of hope that we'll see the remaining 5 episodes of Love Monkey.