Brady Bunch Home Movies

Brady Bunch Home Movies

CBS
May 24, 1995
Documentary
DVD
B-

Pardon the pun, but this is a little unfocused.  Is it, like Bradymania two years earlier, a look at the "phenomenon" of BBunch?  Is it a look at what the cast did before and after the series?  Is it a behind-the-scenes presentation, including of the "home" movies the kids shot after Robert Reed bought them hand-held cameras?  A little of all of that I guess, sometimes paired with odd background music, e.g. "Tequila."  I do like the tribute to Reed and that they got six of the surviving eight onstage together.  (Maureen and Eve's segments were shot separately, but it is interesting to see that they were actually much better friends than you would now think.)  Note that a couple clips from Day by Day appear, as do clips from the various spin-offs.  I'm not tagging all the other folks who appear, including co-producer of this special Lloyd Schwartz and Bob Cummings in a clip from his '50s show, but yeah, again Jerry Houser has to be omitted.

Bradymania: A Very Brady Special

Bradymania: A Very Brady Special
ABC
May 19, 1993
Sitcom
VHS
B-

Frothy look at The Bunch, hosted by the ageless Florence Henderson, with Alice and four of the six "kids" commenting at the end.  (No prizes for guessing which Brady girls didn't show up.)  Not only are there tons of clips from BBunch, but we see tributes/parodies, including a bit of the Day by Day episode.

Director Malcolm Leo also did The Best of "Hollywood Palace" in 1992, which we haven't yet gotten up to in my videocassettes.  As always, the tags are too crowded to mention anyone beyond the regulars, but note that Allan Melvin and Marcia Wallace appear in clips from the show, as do Michael J. Fox on Family Ties and Sara Gilbert and Roseanne on Roseanne.  And Barr and President Bush I both appear as themselves in a comedy routine and an economic speech respectively.

The Bradys: The Brady 500

The Bradys: The Brady 500

CBS
February 9, 1990
Dramedy
DVD

D+

Talk about only for the completist!  The main problem here is the writing, by Sherwood and son Lloyd.  It's bad on several levels, including individual lines that no one could believably deliver, and I guess it's to the credit of the cast and director Bilson, who helmed four of the episodes of the final season of The Brady Bunch, that this isn't worse than it is.  Let's take it "kid" by "kid" because all six get an undercooked plot thread here:

1. Greg is still with Nora, still an obstetrician, but he starts thinking of changing specialties until a very convenient childbirth (his soon-to-be sister-in-law's nephew's) maybe (?) changes his mind;
2. Marcia, incredibly mis-recast as Leah Ayres (seriously, I kept forgetting who she was in the midst of all the Brady boys' wives and girlfriends), is still inexplicably with Wally, who lost another job, so they move in with her folks, but offer to move out but then stay and mostly react to other people's drama, and somewhere in here Wally gets a job we didn't even know he interviewed for;
3. Peter has been Flanderized into a lying slut, I think based on the fifth-season episode where his lookalike causes him to juggle two dates in one house, and the Variety pilot where he has dates with two girls who are friends, but he gets caught there, while here there are no consequences to him dating co-workers; and this is after he breaks off his fourth (!) engagement, this time to Christmas's Valerie, who's been mis-recast as poor Mary Cadorette and made into a heartless Yuppie;
4. Jan is still with Philip and they're having fun trying to conceive, after almost nine years of marriage, but she is pushing 30, so they're heartbroken about not having a baby, so they adopt a Korean girl who's afraid to hug her new grandmother (and Florence Henderson is so over the top, yes, even for her, that you can't really blame the little girl);
5. Bobby's thread gets more attention than most, as you might guess from the title, as we spend 20 minutes or 20 years following his racing career and everyone's attempts to see his big race, "The Riverdale 500" (an Archies reference?), and then he has a crippling accident, so the family reacts to that, and he recovers some but may have to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, but his previously never heard of girlfriend, Veejay Martha Quinn as Tracy Wagner, shows up and a scene or two later they get married;
6. And Cindy is a d.j.* who starts dating her boss, Gary Greenburg (Ken Michelman, who was Harker on M*A*S*H and doesn't seem to be old enough at 34 to be the father of a 15-year-old, let alone to play Cindy's "older man"), even though it's unclear at first (to her as well as the audience) what his marital status is (widowed) and even though it's supposed to be a big deal that he's Jewish, and yet their first date is to a hot dog stand.

(The two Brady grandsons are recast, too, but that matters less.)

The adults react to all these threads and don't at this point have their own subplots.  (Trooper that she is, 63-year-old Ann B. Davis makes with the slapstick now and again.)  Everything is so skimpily and off-handedly dealt with that VB Christmas starts to look like War and Peace in comparison.  And while the original series wasn't exactly realistic, it worked on its own level.  I watched this series at the time but felt no inclination to tape it.  And so I can't tell you if, to take the most infamous example, Marcia's one-episode alcoholism, is as bad as they say.  This is bad enough.

Moments I sort of liked:

• The Cindy/Gary chemistry isn't bad;
• Jan/Philip brings the sexy times;
• The Peter & Bobby bond is nice;
• and Dabbs Greer as the Minister reminisces, with helpful footage, about himself officiating over the chaos at Mike and Carol's wedding.

As always, many apologies, especially to stalwarts Jerry Houser (Wally) and Ron Kuhlman (Philip), that I'm limited in the number of my tags for these ginormous Brady casts.  John Wheeler, who played three different characters in the original series, shows up briefly as Wally's new boss, Joe Fletcher.  Hope Juber (AKA Hope Sherwood AKA Hope Schwartz) also had three BBunch roles and here is Erica Hopkins.  Stu Nahan, who's the Track Announcer, had been similarly typecast as Sportscaster #1 in The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island.  Leonard R. Garner, Jr. returns as Bobby's pit-crew friend Howie and disappears from the episode soon after the accident.  Nick Toth and Barbara Mallory reprise their VB Christmas roles as Mr. and Mrs. Powell, the couple in the delivery room, giving arguably the worst performances in either production, especially her, no small accomplishment.

*This is ironic in light of last year's controversy over her hate talk, but then it's also ironic to hear Carol talk to Peter about his love life, considering Florence's vocal disapproval of one of Chris's four marriages.

A Very Brady Christmas

A Very Brady Christmas
CBS
December 18, 1988
TV-Movie
DVD
C+

Sherwood Schwartz and his son Lloyd wrote this reunion, while director Peter Baldwin helmed seven episodes of Bunch, as well as The Brady Girls Get Married  (and incidentally The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island and twelve episodes of The Bob Newhart Show).  And to some extent there's continuity with the original series, and with Get Married.  But there are also inconsistencies, including but not limited to:

• I can accept Fake Cindy (Jennifer Runyon, of Charles in Charge and a guest shot on Who's the Boss?), but why is she still in college seven and a half years after she started?  There's no implication that she's taken time off to work or travel or what have you.  At least they let Bobby progress to grad school.
• Conversely, it doesn't seem like enough time has passed for Marcia to have two kids that old.  (In Get Married, she denied to Jan that she was pregnant, but maybe she was.)  And Greg has managed to meet Nora (played by "new Gidget" Caryn Richman), get married, and have a son who looks about seven.  (Zachary Bostrom, who plays Kevin, was almost eight.  He would be an unrelated Kevin on Who's the Boss?)
• Alice could never drive on the old show, and yet she goes to meet the visitors at the airport, then they come home separately, while Alice gets there last, with all the luggage!

Other than that, the writing is hokey and implausible, even by Brady standards, partly because serious, complex issues like adultery, divorce, and unemployment are brought up and then solved easily.  (Consider that such dilemmas as braces, dating scheduling mix-ups, and disagreements with teachers used to get twenty minutes each.)  On the other hand, when Mike has a conflict with client Ted Roberts (Phillip R. Allen, not chewing gum like he did as his psychatrist characters on The Bob Newhart Show and Bosom Buddies), it ends with Mike trapped in a building as Runyon flashes back to Susan Olsen's Christmas memories.

Ann B. in glasses and some random people in the back row

On the plus side, you do get to see everyone (except Olsen) reuniting.  More dubiously, you get Peter saying "hell," some of the "kids" smooching their respective romantic partners, and the Brady house in blander, '80s colors.  This is preferable to the Gilligan reunion movies, in that the regular cast interact to some degree, but I'd rather watch the Day by Day parody/homage of Bunch, which is truer to the spirit of the series.

Due to the overstuffed cast problem, worse than on the original series, I obviously can't tag everyone, but Jerry Houser and Ron Kuhlman are back as the husbands of the Brady brides.  Keep an eye out for Selma Archerd (2nd PTA Lady on Bunch and the Queen of Diamonds in the 1985 Alice in Wonderland TV-movie) as Mrs. Crane, Gerry Black (Ron on What's Happening!!) as the Police Chief, Bart Braverman as Bobby's Mechanic friend, Barbara Mallory (Helen on What's Happening!! and Cindy Smith in Rescue from GI) as Mrs. Powell, and Nick Toth (later Capt. Johnson on Roseanne) as Mr. Powell.  When Sam shows up at the end, dressed as Santa, he's played by Lewis Arquette, who was a Judge in Rescue from Gilligan's Island.

The Brady Girls Get Married

The Brady Girls Get Married
NBC
February 6, 1981
TV-Movie
VHS
B-

After two years, Jan becomes engaged to her boyfriend, Philip Covington III (Ron Kuhlman)*.  Her parents are nonetheless surprised, mostly because Marcia is still single.  Then Marcia confides in a sympathetic stranger, Wally Logan (Jerry Houser), who suggests they get married.  She thinks he's crazy but she is attracted to him.  So after a week of a whirlwind romance, they get engaged.  Now Mike and Carol are really surprised.  The "girls" (now about 24 and 21, since Cindy is 18 and has just started college) decide on a double wedding, although their fiances are complete opposites and it's hard for even the sisters to agree.  The wedding goes through after some bumps, and the four of them even end up buying a house together.

Sherwood Schwartz and his son Lloyd co-wrote this special and Peter Baldwin, who had directed seven episodes of the original series, directed it, so it's probably not surprising that this is as cheesy as can be, complete with laugh track.  Still, for a fan it's pretty much what you would want, especially at this point in the Brady saga.  It has every single member of the main cast, for the one and only time.  It includes clips from early episodes, for extra nostalgia.  It updates us on everyone's career or college situation.  And it's about as canonical as it can get, after the acid trip of The Variety Hour.

It's easy to tell that, Reed's arguments with the Schwartzes aside (check out the acid in the way he jokes about watching Gilligan's Island), the genuine regard and love of the nine cast members for each other comes through.  Even McCormick and Plumb, who would have a falling out many years later, look happy to work together.  Reed, I should also note, looks proudly at Henderson when she does her solo at the wedding.  As for Kuhlman and Houser, I think they fit in just fine.  At the time, I would've preferred Wally's laidbackness, but Philip has grown on me over time, and even in his first appearance, there is a dry wit to him, so that he's not just a blend of college professor and uptight WASP.  I can see why this was a ratings hit, although the follow-up series, The Brady Brides, was not.  The humor is a little racier here than on the original series (especially Wally's "nude scene") and in fact my strongest memory of Brides was the Newlywed Game episode, where Philip ends up blurting out, "Thighs and breasts!"  (It's on the Internet if you're curious.)

Of the two movers, Bert Rosario, who plays Maxie, was Reuben Ortiz on The Bob Newhart Show, while Stuart Pankin, who's Frank, would be Doug Shaffer on Who's the Boss?  Philip's mother is played by Jean Byron, who was Patty's mother on The Patty Duke Show.  Wally's mother is played by Carol Arthur (Dom DeLuise's wife) and she was Mrs. Lawrence on What's Happening!!, while Wally's father, James Gallery, had recently appeared on M*A*S*H as Murray Thompson, and would be Kip's uncle the next season on Bosom Buddies.

*As usual with the Bradys, I can't tag everyone involved.  Sorry, Ron!

After School Specials: Sara's Summer of the Swans

After School Specials: Sara's Summer of the Swans
ABC
October 2, 1974
Children's
DVD
B-

Bob Rodgers's second adaptation of a Betsy Byars novel is better than The Eighteenth Emergency.  In this case, I have read the book (including in the last few months), and it's a pretty good adaptation, although inevitably some things get left out or simplified.  Admittedly the acting and the writing are a little stiff (what fourteen-year-old uses words like "dwindle"?), but nonetheless there are moments that feel genuine, including what it's like to be an awkward adolescent.  Both Chris Knight and Eve Plumb, as Joe and Gretchen, appear (looking not much different than they had a few months before on The Brady Bunch), although his role is much more significant.  The best performance is by 47-year-old Priscilla Morrill as Aunt Willie.  Among other things, she would be Chrissy's mother on Three's Company.  And 2nd Bully Kevin McCarley was the bully Peaches in The Eighteenth Emergency.

The Brady Bunch: The Hair-Brained Scheme

The Brady Bunch: The Hair-Brained Scheme
ABC
March 8, 1974
Sitcom
DVD
B

The script by Charles Stewart, who'd also write one for Three's Company, was seen as so implausible by Robert Reed that he refused to participate.  He'd raised objections before but this was the breaking point.  Nonetheless, I can enjoy it as much as I did as a kid.  Greg's dilemma is silly (and in a post-punk world, orange hair hardly seems like a crisis) but it is funny.  And I like that the three youngest have a lot to do, with the two money-making schemes interlocking by accident at the end.  This time, Oliver is assistant to Bobby and Cindy and he gets a lot of lines, including, yes, the one where he uses the word "sex."  So I'm glad that Reed bowing out means I can finally tag Rist.

This time, Barbara Bernstein and Hope Sherwood play Greg's classmates Suzanne and Gretchen.  Brandy Carson had played another nameless Woman on an earlier episode, and would be a Nurse on Soap.  John Wheeler was the Postman and Mr. Dimsdale before and is Second Man here.

This final season averages out to a B-.  It stays in that C+ to B range, so it doesn't hit some of the highs or lows of earlier seasons.  I don't know how it would've done in a sixth year, especially if Reed left for good, but as it stands, the series remains pretty good.  And of course we haven't seen the last of the Bradys by any means.

The Brady Bunch: The Hustler

The Brady Bunch: The Hustler
ABC
March 1, 1974
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This last Freedman & Gershman Brady story has Bobby beating Mike's boss Harry Mathews (Jim Backus in a role closer to Mr. Howell than his previous Brady character) at pool.  It's also the last Bunch episode to feature Robert Reed, but more about that next time.

Susan Quick, who's Gloria Thompson here, made two appearances on That Girl as Heather Dolan.  Lennie Bremen plays a Truck Driver again on this series.  Michael Kane directed only two other things, one of which was the pigeon episode of Gilligan's Island.

The Brady Bunch: The Snooperstar

The Brady Bunch: The Snooperstar
ABC
February 22, 1974
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Harry Winkler's last Brady script seems to have been sitting around for a few seasons, since not only does Cindy read Marcia's diary, but she falls for Marcia's trick that Cindy has a chance to be "the new Shirley Temple."  When Mike's client Penelope Fletcher (Natalie Schafer, playing a different version of a rich woman than Mrs. Howell*) shows up, Cindy thinks this must be the talent scout.  At this point, Marcia shares some of her diary entries with Jan, who's more of an equal now that they're in their teens.  And Oliver is Cindy's sidekick here, although he's more often Bobby's.

*I can't do any extra tags, but this is Schafer's 100th program I've reviewed.

The Brady Bunch: Top Secret

The Brady Bunch: Top Secret
ABC
February 15, 1974
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Allan Melvin makes his last appearance as Sam, whom Bobby and Oliver suspect of being a double agent.  I suppose this episode could've had Bobby and Cindy suspecting him, but Cindy and the other Brady ladies think that Sam is going to propose to Alice.  Here in the fifth season, Cindy is still noted for tattling and snooping, although she says, "I'm older now," and thinks she can be trusted with a secret.  As for Sam, we find out he was in the Army.  (Melvin was a regular on The Phil Silvers Show, so it feels plausible.)

Don Fenwick, who plays Fred Sanders, recently was a young doctor on The Bob Newhart Show.

The Brady Bunch: Two Petes in a Pod

The Brady Bunch: Two Petes in a Pod
ABC
February 8, 1974
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This last of five Sam Locke & Milton Pascal Brady stories has the common Schwartzian motif of the inexplicable lookalike.  (That Alice's Cousin Emma is the most plausible should tell you something.)  Fifteen-year-old Peter meets a classmate who looks like him but with glasses.  He and Arthur play a prank on the Bradys, which leads to the scene where Knight acts infatuated with Plumb.  Then when Peter has two dates for one night, he needs Arthur to keep one of them.  Oliver (Robbie Rist)'s role in this episode is minor, mostly just tacked on to the scenes with the younger kids.

The Brady Bunch: Welcome Aboard

The Brady Bunch: Welcome Aboard
ABC
January 25, 1974
Sitcom
DVD
B-

The last Brady script from Al Schwartz and Larry Rhine introduces Cousin Oliver (Robbie Rist) son of Jack and Pauline, one of whom is Carol's sibling.  I may as well say that I actually liked Oliver and I don't think he jinxed the show (which was slowly declining anyway).  I know that many people of my generation feel differently, but I liked that Oliver was close to my age (especially in the beginning of syndication), and I always enjoyed spotting Rist in other projects.  And he has more personality than the Kelly Kids.  That said, I do find it amusing that Oliver got a category named after him on the Jump the Shark website, even if there are more egregious examples of the "add a little kid to the show" syndrome.  (Scrappy Doo springs to mind.)  Note, the family seems thrilled about the idea of Carol being pregnant, which would've been an interesting sixth-season development.

Truck Driver #1 Dick Winslow previously was Mark Winters.  The Keystone Cop is Snag Werris's fourth Brady role.  Judd Laurance, who plays the Director, would be a Technician in Rescue from Gilligan's Island.

The Brady Bunch: Out of This World

The Brady Bunch: Out of This World
ABC
January 18, 1974
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Al Schwartz and Larry Rhine contributed this story about Greg's prank on his brothers getting out of hand.  It's notable for several reasons, besides the well-known one about the Kaplutians being played by the kids' stand-ins.  It features one of Bobby's dreams, with a UFO that looks about as convincing as the stage sets that the Bradys build in their backyard.  It has Williams's scraped up face (from a car accident) incorporated into the script, with Peter insulting him.  And it has some subtler Greg/Marcia flirting than in the previous episode, with him giving her back a caress when they're at his attic window.

Mario Machado, who's appearing as himself, would be a Reporter in Rescue from Gilligan's Island.

The Brady Bunch: The Driver's Seat

The Brady Bunch: The Driver's Seat
ABC
January 11, 1974
Sitcom
DVD
B

This is the only Brady story by George Tibbles, who'd also do one for Who's the Boss?, but he has a pretty good sense of the Greg & Marcia dynamic, both their rivalry, including his male chauvinism, and their flirtation, as when Greg says she'll make a pretty trashman.  (Although as always, much of that has to do with what Williams and McCormick brought to the table.)  There's also a nice Jan & Marcia dynamic, supportive but teasing.

Examiner Herb Vigran previously played Harry on the show.

The Brady Bunch: Kelly's Kids

The Brady Bunch: Kelly's Kids
ABC
January 4, 1974
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Another back-door pilot, which Sherwood S. resurrected in the '80s for Elliott Gould.  Since I watched that, I probably would've watched this had it been successful, especially at the age of almost 6, when I'd want to find another sitcom about kids.  Now, well, it's pretty corny, and I wish that they had given the little boys more personality.

Jackie Joseph, who plays Miss Phillips, did two shots on That Girl.  Molly Dodd, who plays the unsubtly named neighbor Mrs. Payne, the one that "makes Archie Bunker look like a liberal," had previously been a Saleslady.

The Brady Bunch: Miss Popularity

The Brady Bunch: Miss Popularity
ABC
December 21, 1973
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This episode, the last written by Martin Ragaway and the last directed by Jack Donohue, is a bit uncharacteristic for Jan, who not only becomes the title character, but does so by making a lot of empty promises.  If you can get past that, it's an entertaining episode, especially all the innuendo and flirtation between Mike and Carol, e.g. "You can ride my range anytime."  Note that Friday falls on the 8th, which would place this in February or March of '74.  As for its being Jan's Senior Night, that seems premature, unless she skipped a grade somewhere.  (Maybe that's why she was in junior high at the same time as Marcia although apparently not now with Bobby.)

Darryl Seman, who's Herman, was recently Billy Naylor.

The Brady Bunch: The Elopement

The Brady Bunch: The Elopement
ABC
December 7, 1973
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Harry Winkler's penultimate Brady episode, and the last one directed by Jerry London (who was also directing The Bob Newhart Show that season), has the family thinking that Alice is going to elope with Sam (Allan Melvin).  Note that on the Johnny Bravo episode, Bobby had mentioned he plays the organ, although he's still not very good of it as of this episode.  (Better than he was at the drums though.)

The Brady Bunch: The Cincinnati Kids

The Brady Bunch: The Cincinnati Kids
ABC
November 23, 1973
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Al Schwartz and Larry Rhine co-wrote this episode, which is another that I enjoyed more as a kid.  It's basically just a commercial for King's Island, with a bit of plot thrown in.  As an adult, I notice that a half hour is just not enough time for all these events to have taken place, and there's a lot of running for what's supposed to be only ten minutes.  (There are five relay teams and they're all winded!)  Still, it's cute and mildly entertaining.

Sherwood's son Lloyd J. is credited as L. Jeffrey Schwartz for his role as the guy in the Bear costume.

The Brady Bunch: Try, Try Again

The Brady Bunch: Try, Try Again
ABC
November 16, 1973
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This story by Al Schwartz and Larry Rhine is reminiscent of the "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia" episode, in that Jan is again trying to figure out where her talents lie.  This time she decides to pursuit art rather than honesty.

Ruth Anson, who's Mrs. Ferguson, was Miss Perry before.  Darryl Seman, who plays Billy Naylor, would later be another of Jan's classmates, Herman.

The Brady Bunch: Quarterback Sneak

The Brady Bunch: Quarterback Sneak
ABC
November 9, 1973
Sitcom
DVD
B

Chris Beaumont plays his last Brady character and arguably the sleaziest, while Denny Miller, who had played two jocks on Gilligan's Island (Duke Williams and Tongo the Ape Man) is Carol's jock high school boyfriend, Tank Gates.  Ben Gershman and Bill Freedman put a new spin on the boys vs. girls theme, focused on Greg vs. Marcia but with their younger siblings taking sides, as Marcia dates Jerry Rogers from the ironically named Fairview High football team.  No matter how many times I've seen this, I'm still not clear if Marcia knows that the stolen playbook is a phony one, but what matters to her is that Jerry has faked an interest in her.  All ends happily of course, with Alice having "winning" and "losing" cakes just in case.  There's a big Mike & Carol smooch at the very end.  And note that Carol has clearly gotten over her fear of Greg playing football, maybe because he's older and bigger now.