More Fave TV: The Brady Bunch!
When I was in fifth grade (in …oh, around 1975 or so), my favorite TV show on the air was the Sherwood Schwartz (creator of Gilligan’s Island, as well) family sitcom, the Brady Bunch!
It all started one afternoon when I was complaining to my mother about “Not havin’ nothin’ to do”…to get me off her back, she changed the channels on the TV and said, “Why don’t you watch this show? It’s about kids.” Well, I didn’t have too much interest in it at first, but since there wasn’t ANYTHING ELSE going on that day, I checked it out, and immediately fell in love with the show!
As I recall, that very first episode I saw was this one where Bobby saves Peter’s life by pushing him out of the way of a falling potted plant. Oh my gosh, the show was so funny, I knew I was gonna have to tune it to it every day! And tune in I did, til (like most things I love) it became an all-consuming obsession- I remember countless days when the family’s shopping outing or dinner plans had to wait 'til I finished watching my show!
One of my weekday chores that year was picking up my little brother from preschool. What I would do is plan my chore around the TV shows I wanted to watch. Gilligan’s Island ended at 4:30, and Brady Bunch started at 5:00, so that gave me a half hour to truck on down to the Preschool and pick him up while the CBS News ran at 4:30 to 5:00.
Now, the church where the preschool was not that far away, but even still, if I got caught at enough red lights, I would inevitably miss the first 5 minutes of the Brady Bunch, upsetting me to no end! Ah, the priorities of a 5th grader!
What was it about that show that I loved so much? Well, enough theories have been bouncing around for years now, reasons such as: “The Brady Bunch represented a family you wanted to be in” or “The show provided an escape from the harsh real world”, and I do agree with those sentiments, but for me, the two things that really drew me in to the show were:
1. The Music: I used to use a hand-held tape recorder, and tape the beginning and ending songs- they were so darn catchy, and I LOVED it whenever the kids sang! “Time To Change” , “Sunshine Day”, and “Good Time Music”, anyone?*
And the beginning songs- each season featured a different recording (except Season Two and Three…I guess the kids didn’t change enough to warrant a remake) and every one of them had a little something different to them that made each one special- back then, my fave was Season Four, with drums that seemed a bit more kicking (right at the moment they sing the line "that this group"...)! Why, I loved the opening song so much, I even got into the Peppermint Trolley Company, the group that sang the intro to Season One! (Very good album, BTW)
2. What else? Marcia, Marcia, Marcia! Yep, I was in love with Marcia, played by Maureen McCormick,. though at the time, I thought her name was spelled “Marsha” Silly me, they even SHOWED the correct spelling during the ending credits, but I never noticed! Didn’t really care for her in those Technicolor slacks, but oh my how she could rock a mini-dress!
I watched the episode –(it wasn’t the first episode where Mike and Carol get married, I think it was the one where the kids challenge each other on what to get with Trading Stamps) and eventually, I got it. These WERE the same actors…just a hella lot younger! Then when my mother came home, she explained to me the fact that the show was OLD, and the kids were actually all grown up now. She even added, “Just like Family Affair”.
I was confused. “SO…that show is old, too?”
“Oh yeah, the kids are all grown up, now!” Then she added, “in fact, Buffy died of a drug overdose.”
WHAT! I couldn’t HANDLE THAT! “But…But, all the Brady kids are alive, right?” “As far as I know,” she said to my relief.
I didn’t have to wait long for PROOF that the cast of the Brady Bunch was alive and well, when the sappy BRADY BUNCH VARIETY SHOW came out a few months later. Gads, I just couldn’t WATCH IT! But then they followed with more reunion specials, the awesome BRADY GIRLS GET MARRIED, (where I got to see a grown Jan and Marcia in a show all their own), and even that slightly corny A VERY BRADY CHRISTMAS !
I loved those Bradys so much that I even made sure I tuned in to every episode of the animated series "The Brady Kids", a show that really utilized the kids singing- each episode had at least one song by them (I remember really liking the song "Merry Go Round", for some reason!)...and who can forget those wacky co-stars Marlon the Bird and Ping and Pong the Pandas?
I even tried to watch that dreadful new Bradys Today show (was that the title? I can't even remember anymore), but gave up after just one episode! No matter, I could always go back to my beloved original series, and Lo and Behold, one by one all five seasons eventually got released on DVD, and I got to experience the show ALL OVER AGAIN!
*Funny thing about “Good Time Music”…When I got older, I tried to get all the songs the Brady kids sang, and though “Time To Change” and “Sunshine Day” regularly appeared on albums, I NEVER saw Goodtime Music on any of them! I researched the various LP tie ins they released, thinking for SURE It would be on at least ONE of them, but to no avail. It was only years and years later when they finally released a CD proper of Brady Kids songs (It's a Sunshine Day, released by MCA) that they revealed in the liner notes that Goodtime Music was the ONE SONG they never recorded for any album! BAWWW! So the episode performance is pretty much the ONLY thing that exists, recording-wise!
Even searching online, I've only been able to find the version from the "Very Brady Sequel" soundtrack- some files even mislabeled as the song from the TV show!
Too Bad, this was really a terrific song- from the episode “Adios, Johnny Bravo”, it features only Greg and Marcia singing, and I have to say, Maureen sounds just fabulous here! And my, did she look nice, too! So PRETTY! Check It Out:
