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But only if it's the original mixes.

This album did spend 18 weeks at #1 on the Billboard charts and some of the songs-notably (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone, Mary Mary, and I'm A Believer-are really good pop tunes.
I've never been a fan of the "made for TV" methodology behind the Monkees, where a producer takes some photogenic singer/actors and builds their music using studio musicians and a lot of outside-written songs, but a ton of successful "bands" and "singers" have been created the same way since then. Perhaps their fans deserve a good representation on vinyl as much as any other music.
At least Mike Nesmith turned out to be a talented guy who went on to pioneer the Country Rock genre long before it became commercially viable.

When they start gluing them to the back of boxes of Captain Crunch.

Great songwriting, great backing tracks by the Wrecking Crew and eventually the group itself, the epitome of sixties pop. I didn't care for them back in the day, but boy, these days, they sound like a revelation.

was nothing short of brilliant. One of my three all time favorite sitcoms along with Get Smart and The Adams Family. It was very inovative and ever so slightly subversive.

Did the Motown artists pretend to play instruments at shows, or did the band play them? Maybe it's a presentation thing...where does an act fall on the Milli Vanilli Scale. ;-D (Hmmm. Has that had a 180 gram remaster edition yet? Maybe that could be one for jumping the shark week, too.)

I did read that Bingo of The Banana Splits was a real drummer, though.

Up until the British Invasion, circa '64, most American recording acts were vocalists or vocal groups. There were very few self-contained groups that wrote and played their own songs, at least in pop music. The producers typically used studio musicians. The backup musicians were quite often a close bunch of regulars, who could quickly get the right feel, and the perfect take. Time was always money, after all. In the case of Motown, it was generally Earl Van Dyke & his Soul Brothers.

Many of the popular groups of the day, like the Monkees, Gary Lewis & the Playboys, and others too numerous to mention, were typically not allowed to play their instruments on most of their recordings. For these, the producers typically called upon a group of studio musicians collectively known as The Wrecking Crew, who were also a close-knit bunch.

You should check out this interesting documentary about these cats.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt24w-L-1c8

Several segments feature commentary by Mickey Dolenz, and Peter Tork.

...nearly every other artist who recorded in Los Angeles between 1965 and 1973 or so.

The Monkees caught a lot of flak for not playing on their own records.

It's to their credit that the didn't point out that hardly anyone else did, either. That's a secret that they were under no obligation to keep.

The band itself, Mike Nesmith in particular, didn't like the way it was released, ironically, because it turned out to be an excellent album. They didn't like the cover with the JC Penney promotional "groovy" wear and they didn't like not being told it was out there on the market. It eventually led to their conflict with Don Kirshner and broke off their relations with him.

I bet Keith Partridge alone will beat The Monkees + Frank Zappa for post count.

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I actually don't mind any of these reissues. I mean, Elvis wrote (actually, co-wrote) exactly one song in his life. So, who wrote it is no big deal.

..."Nigel & Patrick" on the Patty Duke Show (1965).

I do believe, where they lost their voices.

All four were very talented. Nesmith particularly: he wrote a song Mary, Mary that was covered by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band on their important East/West album and Different Drum for the Stone Poneys. Nesmith also produced a couple songs on the first two albums. As for being a real band, hell, from the start they toured as a real band, albeit with backing musician helping ... but since when is that any different from any other band? Their bad rep comes from their being formed during a time of the singer/songwriter as both solo artists and in bands, a very very fruitful time in American pop music. The Monkees sound damn good now, in retrospect, because people, man, are we in the doldrums.