Other than being centered around a four-person boy band, "New Monkees" had very little in common plot-wise with "The Monkees". Instead of Baby Boomers trying to find acceptance and success in society, the Generation X New Monkees seldom left their house, a large mansion resembling a giant boombox that had numerous unexplored rooms. The New Monkees also lived a far wealthier life than their predecessors: instead of a normal kitchen and dining room, the house featured a diner with a waitress named Rita, played by Bess Motta. A butler named Manford (Gordon Oas-Heim) was also present, as was a talking computer called Helen (voiced by Lynnie Godfrey); Helen was a decommissioned Defense Department supercomputer that spoke in a pronounced black accent and developed a taste for rock music instead of world destruction. Helen was almost always portrayed solely by a pair of talking lips set on a black, static background.