Season 2 (Monkeytown)

The subject of this article is not in the Miaverse, meaning it is in the real world.

## *Monkeytown* Season 2

### Prev. season

*Monkeytown* Season 1

The **second and final season** of the web series *Monkeytown* began on March 24, 2016 with the release of "The Funeral," and ended on September 25, 2016 with "The Snortlesons," the series finale.

The season contains just three episodes, an amount with had to be reduced several times to account for strict time constraints. However, each episode in this season is considerably longer than those of Season 1, with an average of 34 minutes per episode compared to the first season's average of 14 minutes.

## Production

During the final stages of Season 1 (before a second season of *Monkeytown* was even commissioned), it was realized that "there would be simply not enough free time to produce the series" after the summer of 2016. This meant that if a second season was ordered, it would be produced under a tight deadline, and it would definitively be the final season. This decision was not made public until September 2016.

The anonymous Instagram account @miaverse\_fans leaked an image on September 16, 2015, revealing the first three episodes of Season 2. The account claimed that the season would have eight episodes, with the first three being titled: "The Funeral," "The Strike," and "Jasmine on Wheels."

On November 15, 2015, *Monkeytown* was renewed for a second season of nine episodes. However, the release of an "impromptu" Christmas special on December 20 delayed the production of Season 2. Around this time, the order was reduced from nine episodes to five episodes.

On December 27, 2015, the Monkeytown Facebook page announced that the season premiere, "The Funeral," would be released in January 2016. Production had officially begun by January 15, 2016.
Bennett Joel (who had previously co-written "Custody Wars: Part 2") confirmed that he would be writing some parts of the season and participate "much more on the production crew."

In a January blog post about the upcoming season, Joel claimed that Season 2 would contain thirteen episodes, a stark difference from the actual order of five. He mentioned that the season's plot would concern the Jasmine, Taylor, and Bruce love triangle, Buck and Karen's deteriorating marriage, as well as several other details:

"*Earlier today we had a production meeting to outline the episode list of Season 2, and there are some very promising and groundbreaking plots. There is a scandal involving Mr. Dickens, Buck involved in national and royal affairs, the HOA will return, Buck's ex-wife will be dealt with, and Chad Gross will make another appearance near the end of the season.*"
—Passage from writer Bennett Joel's *All Things Elwood* blog post.

Joel updated the post on January 17, where he announced that the third episode of Season 2 would be titled "And Bobby Makes Five."

The January deadline for "The Funeral" was not met, and it was announced on February 9, 2016 that the premiere was "postponed," with an unspecified new release date. Filming for the premiere was scheduled to begin on February 16.

On March 4, 2016, the title of the second episode of Season 2 was revealed as "Fake-A-Wish." In the same announcement, it was stated that the first two episodes of the season would be released in a back-to-back premiere on March 25.

Also in March, it was announced that Bobby Snortleman (who guest starred in the Christmas special) was promoted to a supporting role in Season 2, joining a new supporting character named Gina Blubberton. Taylor Coolman and Felix Baboon, former supporting characters, were both demoted to recurring roles. Alistair Dickens was stripped of his recurring status.

The Monkeytown Facebook page released a preview of the new opening sequence for Season 2 on March 16, 2016. The sequence had all new video clips from previous episodes, and featured the song "Feel It All Around" by the band Washed Out. This is the same song used for the opening theme of the sketch comedy series *Portlandia*, which stirred controversy. The premiere was rescheduled for March 26.

The first episode of Season 2, "The Funeral," was released online on March 24, 2016, two days ahead of schedule. The back-to-back premiere that had originally been planned did not come to fruition.

The second episode of the season, "Fake-A-Wish," began filming around April 5, when it was reported that the episode was already "over 20 minutes long." This episode was meant to open the "glorious floodgates of the Season 2 masterpiece," introducing a lengthy plot line focusing on Karen's cancer. "Fake-A-Wish" was released on April 18, 2016.

On May 16, 2016, the planned third episode, "And Bobby Makes Five" (which had been announced back in January) was said to be released that month. This episode was eventually scrapped.

Due to "procrastination, laziness, and a small case of writer's block," the second episode of Season 2 was followed by a long delay in production. As the deadline neared, the final three episodes for Season 2 were consolidated into one hour-long finale. Writing and filming was done concurrently, with the first scene being filmed before the last scene was written. Writing and filming both ended in August, and the episode was edited until late September.

The title of the third episode of Season 2 was hotly contested. Some proposed titles were: "Monkeytown Forever," "The Finale," "A Very Monkey Marriage," "The Parting of Ways," and simply "Monkeytown." "The Snortlesons" was eventually decided on.

Despite several reports that the season finale would be released on October 1, the episode was actually released on September 25, 2016.

## References

1. ↑  Bennett Joel (@bjoelmnkytwn) on Twitter (July 10, 2016). "Monkeytown Season 2 will have only 3 episodes due to production constraints."
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7  Article on Mia Plus (September 24, 2016). *EDITORIAL: The Monkeytown Series Finale*.
3. ↑ See this image for Season 1 calculations, and this image for Season 2 calculations.
4. ↑  Post on Instagram (September 16, 2015).
5. ↑  Monkeytown on Facebook (November 15, 2015). "Here's to an even better Season Two!"
6. ↑  Monkeytown on Facebook (December 27, 2015). "Monkeytown Season 2 Episode 1, 'The Funeral,' will air next month."
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Blog post on *All Things Elwood* (January 15, 2016). *Monkeytown: Season 2*.
8. ↑ Blog post on *All Things Elwood* (February 9, 2016). *Season 2 Delayed*.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Blog post on *All Things Elwood* (March 4, 2016). *Season 2: Cast Switches It Up a Bit*.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1  Monkeytown on Facebook (March 16,
 2016). "From deep within the JMN vault emerges the Season 2 Opening Sequence - stay tuned for the season premiere on March 26."
11. ↑  Mapmaker10 on YouTube (March 16, 2016). *Monkeytown :: Season 2 Opening Sequence*.
12. ↑  Francisco Rivera on YouTube (August 2, 2009). *Washed Out - Feel it all around*.
13. ↑ Blog post on *All Things Elwood* (July 4, 2018). *Monkeytown: A Controversy*.
14. ↑  Mapmaker10 on YouTube (March 24, 2016). *Monkeytown :: S2E1 "The Funeral"*.
15. ↑  Monkeytown on Facebook (April 5, 2016). "It's Day 2 of filming for Season 2 Episode 2: Fake-A-Wish! The episode's looking to be over 20 minutes long."
16. ↑  Mapmaker10 on YouTube (April 18, 2016). *Monkeytown :: S2E2 "Fake-A-Wish"*.
17. ↑  Bennett Joel (@bjoelmnkytwn) on Twitter (May 16, 2016). "Bobby comes to live with the Snortlesons in the all new episode of Monkeytown, "And Bobby Makes Five", coming soon this month!"
18. ↑  Bennett Joel (@bjoelmnkytwn) on Twitter (July 10, 2016).
19. ↑  Bennett Joel (bjoelmnkytwn) on Twitter (May 14, 2018).
20. ↑  Mapmaker10 on YouTube (September 25, 2016). *Monkeytown :: S2E3 "The Snortlesons"*.