3922 replies to this topic

[M. Darcy]

There were quite a few - at least four or five. I held out on Saturday but eventually on Sunday got sucked into the marathon. I had forgotten just how much I loved this show.

And, the reunion special - sucked beyond belief. Jenny McCarthy was a horrid host.

[Halfpint Ingals]

I liked the pop up ads. I knew a lot of stuff, but I learned a few more. I wish I had been watching pop up pilot from beginning, when they had a different Brady house and when they showed Mike's first wife's picture. I like the last one ever, and the Cincinati episode when they almost got killed on roller coaster. I love Growing up Brady book too.
I liked reunion, sans Jenny. She is too annoying. But it was cool to see the gang back together again.
I always wished there HAD been a 6th season. I would have liked to have seen the show sans Mike, and how they handled it, and if they would have brioght Mr. Martin back. Same with the Bradys, but they ruined that show. They should have stuck with just 2 movies like they planned. It was racing episode for Indy 500, and the election episode for, well,election week.

[M. Darcy]

I think the entire cast did. And, grr to the fact that he got the very last line in the entire series.

[iMissEthan]

And he was the only one in the whole history of the series to use the word 'sex'.

[BondGirl74]

Yay Brady Bunch!
Okay--I am a dork. I was pretty much hunkered down in my apartment all weekend, thanks to Hurricane Jeanne...well, that and the fact that my darn car battery was dead! Soooo, that left me plenty of time to watch the Brady Marathon on TVLand. I loved the Pop-Up Video episodes! There was one that I had seen a while ago, re: Mike Brady, that said something so funny and I think it was alluding to Robert Reed's sexual orientation, does anyone remember that particular one? I think they were in the den.

I loved the fact that they were finally all together for a reunion, even though I enjoyed the movies that they made in the late 80's/early 90's, I didn't like that there was a different Cindy. I think my two favorite actors from the show were Maureen McCormack and Christopher Knight. They look like the only two that have actually gotten their sh** together and kind of live normal lives now. The others (especially Eve Plumb) looked pretty washed up. And Susan Olsen--hello, could you get your 80's hair out of your eyes for a second please?
Okay, rant over. Good times!! :)

[Halfpint Ingals]

Did anyone notice they did the Brady Brides 2x at the beginning ?? Jenny said it 2 x and it was written twice.

[jird]

I read Growing Up Brady, and I was amazed at how many errors were in the episode guide. I mean, presumably they knew that this book would be read by scary-ass Brady freaks who know all the episodes, so it was a little disconcerting.

[sgloriajv]

Anyone ever catch Barry Williams' "Growing Up Brady" college tour? He came to my school about 5 years ago and gave a pretty good talk. I never read his book, but I imagine his show gave pretty much the same information. He talked about his "date" with Florence Henderson, and the brief romances between the kids, especially him and Maureen. At the end he invited a big group of students on stage (I refrained) and taught the Brady dance--I don't remember if it was Sunshine Day or Keep on Movin'--one of those dances with cheesy sweeping gestures. It was quite an experience. At the end, he sat at a table in the lobby and sold 8x10 production photos. He was very friendly. I think you had to buy something for him to sign, but if you brought soemthing of your own he'd sign that too. I had him sign a Brady wedding picture in a Television Weddings book I brought. He wrote "Keep on Groovin', Barry Williams". Pretty cool, and a good way to keep making money on his Brady name.

[Lone Pine]

Did anyone notice they did the Brady Brides 2x at the beginning ?? Jenny said it 2 x and it was written twice.

Yes. I think she probably goofed it up and said it twice while they were taping, and then the post-production people went ahead and had the words pop up twice so viewers not as scrutinizing as I am wouldn't notice the lack of words popping up on that one and bring her mistake to attention.

Oh, and Susan Olsen needs a hair dresser, stat!

My favorite part of the reunion is when Jenny asked if they thought the characters in the movies looked like them and Maureen joked that everyone but hers did! Then they talked about how amazing Maureen's "movie Marcia" was. Maureen said there were a few points in the movie that she forgot she wasn't looking at herself.

I generally think all of the actors turned out awesome, but Eve Plumb ruined Jan a little bit for me with her bitchy, snotty appearance on Oprah 6 or 7 years ago.

[RedheadNYC]

What did Eve Plumb say on Oprah? She always seems to be the one who wanted to disconnect most from her Brady character (with Susan a close second) and I hated seeing her on this recent reunion. Either be there and be willing to talk or don't come at all. She just bugs me.

I really wish they had done pop ups of a few more shows, but the Cincinnati episode was pretty good with the pop ups regarding the extras.

[Josette]

There's a thread for the reunion show here, for those who don't know.

[Lone Pine]

What did Eve Plumb say on Oprah? She always seems to be the one who wanted to disconnect most from her Brady character (with Susan a close second) and I hated seeing her on this recent reunion. Either be there and be willing to talk or don't come at all. She just bugs me.

Pretty much what you'd expect, then. She came on with some of the other actors, but refused to talk about the show or Jan because that "is not who she is." Then she started trying to push her paintings, which were genuinely pretty, but nothing at all amazing or groundbreaking. It was a collection of still-life-type stuff.

Then an audience member asked her to say, "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!" and she went into full bitch mode. She refused to do it, and reiterated that she's not Jan. There was LOTS of eye rolling and pursing of lips, as if these lowly people in the audience were bothering her.

My thought the whole time was, "Eve, if you hadn't been Jan, you sure as hell would not be on Oprah right now. And you most definitely would never have sold a single painting to anyone besides a family member, because they look like something hanging in a doctor's office." That is, if she's ever actually sold one.

It just pissed me off. Especially since there were other actors around who were genuinely happy to answer questions about "Greg" or "Marcia." And even Florence Henderson is amazingly good-natured about it, though she certainly has had many other roles and experiences than Carol.

If you don't want to be Jan, then don't agree to play her in spinoffs, and don't go on talk shows and be rude about it! People are going to ask you questions about the SHOW that is the very topic of discussion that day!

[txmom2boys]

I really missed this, and for that I'm really sad.

About Eve Plumb? Mabye she's bitchy she has that funky sounding name? Seriously, I saw her on Jenny Jones about 10 years ago and she was the same way. I can't imagine all the depression and anxiety meds she's on nowadays if she's still that bitter 10 years later. She came on JJ for the same reason, I think it was Child Star Day or something. She wouldn't answer questions, had bitch face-I'm pissed off at the world attitude and never cracked a smile. What's the big deal? It's not like she's an A-List star nowadays trying to really break out of the "Jan" mold. And, it's not like she's got a porn past that she's famous for or something. Lighten up Eve Plumb! Life is not that torturous, and if you feel that much hate for the role of Jan Brady, please stop making public appearances in Brady fashion. Sheesh.

[McKay]

I just found this thread...oh gosh, the memories...my grandfather's neighbor got me turned on to the show when I was young, and I'm still addicted. It's on TVLand as I type, the one where Bobby and Cindy decide that they're going to set a record for seesawing - or "teeter-tottering" (i still think it was cheating that Alice would sit in for one of them when they had to pee). One of my first crushes was on Jan Brady. I never got why everyone liked Marcia. Jan had that gorgeous hair. I never liked Cindy; I always thought she was a brat. And Greg was a little too smarmy for my tastes.

The cute guy - Doug?- in the 'OH!mynose!" ep played Friedrich in The Sound of Music (the movie, I mean). For some reason, this makes me laugh.

Edited by McKay, Oct 14, 2004 @ 3:18 AM.

[Yellowpager]

Anyone ever catch Barry Williams' "Growing Up Brady" college tour?

I did, right around the time that Brady Bunch parody movie came out in 1995. He did pretty much the same thing that you described, Sjgloria. First they showed a bunch of clips from the Brady Bunch with voice-over commentary, then Barry came out. The first thing he said was "You know guys, I really don't feel like talking about the Brady Bunch. Let's talk about something else." People groaned with dissapointment, but of course he was joking. He talked about his relationship with Maureen too, and right in the middle some big jock in the back screamed out "Did you f*** Marcia!?" Barry cringed for a moment, then said "Did I forget her? No I never did." Nice recovery there.


We did the dance at the end too- I think they played that song that was at the end of the Johnny Bravo episode. He was selling copies of his book and signing them, he wrote "Stay Groovy" in mine, and everyone else's I'm sure. That was a great time.

[iMissEthan]

Doug?- in the 'OH!mynose!" ep played Friedrich in The Sound of Music

Wow, I've seen that episode and Music so many times, but never made the connection. Nice catch. Now I can picture it in my mind. However, he was much older than Marcia, no? Friedrich was about 14 and that was in '65, so he must have been about 22 or so when he was on The Brady Bunch. No wonder he was Big Man on Campus.

[McKay]

I never realized it was Nicky Hammond until I happened to see his name in the credits. He did look awfully different. He was born in 1950 and would have been about 22-23 when they filmed that episode. Maureen would have been about 17, I think.

Barry cringed for a moment, then said "Did I forget her? No I never did." Nice recovery there.

Nice job there! Poor guy, I bet he got that at every stop on that tour! At least he sounds like he had a sense of humor about it...I guess you have to if your claim to fame was being Greg Brady.

[faninohio]

I LOVE the Brady Bunch! I can't believe others play the "name the episode within 15 seconds" game, I RULE at that! (I do the same thing with M*A*S*H too).

But now that I've read through it and know this thread exists I'll be here more often--I--I FLIPPLE swear!!!

It's Fourple swear, and I love early Jan!

I am so pathetic that no matter how many times I see the "Father of the Year" episode I choke up every. single. freaking. time. at the end. Gah! Does anyone remember a scene they showed, what seems like only once and it was cut out of every other airing, during this where Marcia watches from her bedroom window as the kids try to teach Alice to ski? They had a make shift ramp made and of course Alice ends up on her ass. I know I have seen it before and in recent years when I catch this episode it's not in there.

::hangs head:: How sad am I that mrfan has never (as in EVER) seen an episode of this? I think that might be grounds for divorce.

[iMissEthan]

My cousins used to try and guess where the first scene would take place during the opening credits, yelling out "I've got kitchen!" "I'm taking backyard!" when all I wanted to do was sing along with the theme song.

[ellymay]

I absolutely remember this scene! It helped drive home the point how much Marcia was really suffering in her mission to make Mike Father of the Year. I can't believe they would take this out in syndication.

I remember this scene, too. I imagine removing it is probably a time consideration. With increasing costs, it's necessary to add more and more commercial minutes, then, scenes have to be cut to make room for the ads. It's just that I don't always agree with whoever is doing the editing about which scenes are important and which ones are not. The older the show, the worse it is -- really old shows were only meant to have about five minutes of commercials per half hour.

I would imagine the Brady DVDs should be complete -- no need to make room for ads.

[faninohio]

Was cracking up during the TVLand marathon at the length of Cindy's dresses. Ha. Her underwear was always hanging out. I wanted a Kitty Carryall doll too! Although, now that I think about it I do think I had the poor man's version of that. I had something that I could stuff things in. Same idea, right? Was that what Kitty was about?

"I'm burning up. I must get out." Pussies.

[txmom2boys]

If anyone has kids that watch The Wiggles (or if anyone watches them anyways), Barry Williams has a nice cameo in the newest video, "Santa's Rockin'" He sings a bit, dances VERY groovy along with the other Greg (yellow Wiggle) and makes me laugh. I guess he asked to be in the video since his young son is such a Wiggles fan. John Fogerty is also in there for the same reason.

I've always liked Barry in his older age. He seems to be take the most light hearted approach to the whole Brady Bunch deal and has a good laugh about it. Compared to some of them, who act like the Brady Bunch was the worst thing that's ever happened to them in their whole time on earth.

[cmkrcwi]

Oh, I remember the teaching-Alice-to-ski-scene too.

I've read where Susan Olson said she didn't like her character very much and that Cindy Brady was nothing like her. That might account for some of her attitude.

[Lone Pine]

Also, I think she resented that they played up her lisp.

In one of the Brady books I own, there was a passage where Susan talks about those curly piggy tails. She said her hair was breaking from being pulled tight into the bands and it was also painful.

When she complained to Schwartz, apparently he said, "Well then we'll just have to cut off all your hair and slap a wig on your head, won't we?!"

I guess that would make me upset, too.

On the reunion show (in case anyone missed it) she talked about how babyish her character was, and that someone saw her IRL writing a note or something and said, "Oh my, you can write?!" And she was seven.

[RainIsBeautiful]

she talked about how babyish her character was

She was written waaaaay too babyish, IMO. Cindy and Bobby were supposed to be about the same age, and he was never written as immature as she was. Does anyone know the age differences of the six kids?

[Yellowpager]

I'm pretty sure that there was a year between each of the kids except Jan and Bobby who had two years in between. At the end of the series Greg was graduating high school so he would be 18, Marcia 17, Peter 16, Jan 15, Bobby 13 and Cindy 12.


From interviews and Barry's book Cindy complained about her character and how she was made to act so stupid. Like the sign she made when Marcia was running for class president, which misspelled every word and had backwards R's. And in the measles episode when she said she "kept forgetting" that PB&J was her favorite sandwich. "She acted like she was mentally retarded" Susan commented. At least she got her lisp fixed.