 As "The Raybert Producers", they sold the show to Screen Gems Television on April 16, 1965.Rafelson and Schneider's original idea was to cast an existing New York folk rock group, the Lovin' Spoonful, who were not widely known at the time.However, John Sebastian had already signed the band to a record contract, which would have denied Screen Gems the right to market music from the show.