From My Shelves – Love Monkey

Love Monkey was a very (VERY) short lived TV series on CBS in 2006.  It featured Tom Farrell (Tom Cavanaugh) as an executive at a small record label trying to find his way in the NYC dating scene.  “Love Monkey” was a mid-season replacement that only lasted 3 episodes before it was pulled.  Eventually the remaining 5 episodes that had been filmed were shown on VH-1.  The show was based on a novel of the same name by Kyle Smith

I have a terrible ability to fall in love with quirky little shows that don’t last long (“Pushing Daisies” is another one).  I loved the different approach the show took, I like Cavanaugh and I loved the parade of musical acts that went through the offices of True Vinyl, the indie record company that is the center of the series (Aimee Mann, Ben Folds, James Blunt, LeAnn Rimes, Paul Shaffer, Dr. John, John Mellencamp, Lisa Loeb).  The interplay of Farrell’s old job with a major label versus his new indie company was a classic David and Goliath storyline.

At the time I was working in radio and had contact with a variety of record labels in search of music.  As a small market station it could be tough to get the “big boys” to give us music to play on the air or to use in promotions.  So I had a certain sympathy for a story of someone who was going to “fight the man”.

This is the essence of what it means to be a “cult classic”.  Short run, quirky show.  It was a lot of fun at the time and I enjoy pulling it off the shelf every couple of years to review as well.  Just fun and there’s nothing wrong with that.