 Newspapers and magazines reported that the Monkees outsold the Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined in 1967, but Nesmith admitted in his autobiography "Infinite Tuesday" that it was a lie that he told a reporter.Aspiring filmmaker Bob Rafelson developed the initial idea for "The Monkees" in 1962, but was unsuccessful in selling the series.He had tried selling it to Revue, the television division of Universal Pictures.