Barry Williams already gave us the definitive story behind TV’s classic THE BRADY BUNCH with his memoir, GROWING UP BRADY. Now, its Cindy, Susan Olsen — with Ted Nichelson and Lisa Sutton — documents the chapter of Brady history you didn’t want to know everything about, in LOVE TO LOVE YOU BRADYS: THE BIZARRE STORY OF THE BRADY BUNCH VARIETY HOUR.
At least, you thought you didn’t want to know everything about it. Instead, you’ll be glad you did … not the least of which because it will keep you from ever having to watch the actual, horrible, train wreck of a series whose every misguided, misbegotten step it covers.
It only lasted nine episodes, about eight too many. Debuting two years after THE BRADY BUNCH had ended, the series was a bad idea born by network honcho Fred Silverman and kiddie-show purveyors Sid and Marty Krofft, who somehow thought America wanted — nay, needed — to see their favorite sitcom family singing and dancing in sparkly outfits, in lame comedy sketches (some in drag), with guest stars like Rich Little, and sequences with synchronized swimmers. As Olsen writes, its “memory should be kept alive to assure that this will never happen again.”
LOVE TO LOVE YOU BRADYS is both an episode guide and a detailed behind-the-scenes account. And it’s as the latter that dishes the goods, such as lamenting the musical guest H.R. Pufnstuf (who looks like, quips Olsen, “a penis with cowboy boots”); the tension between Ann B. Davis and Rip Taylor; Florence Henderson snapping at the kids for their dancing skills (or lack thereof); Geri Reischl (who replaced Eve Plumb as Jan) blowing some guy 20 years her senior in his car; Maureen McCormick’s coke habit; writer Bruce Vilanch asking guest star Milton Berle to see his legendary manhood; and Chris Knight’s coming-of-age moment when he realizes guest star Charo wasn’t wearing underwear.
Full of photos, the book is a colorful document of a television show so bad, it’s legendary. Most good shows don’t get treatments this detailed. If you like this sort of thing, I recommend diving into Craig Nelson’s woefully out-of-print 1994 guide, BAD TV, in which THE BRADY BUNCH VARIETY HOUR is merely one of dozens of turkeys rightfully roasted. —Rod Lott
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I actually have two episodes of this on DVD somewhere, but have never gotten around to watching them. Still, having documented not one but TWO episodes of PINK LADY (the other Krofft variety show abomination) on my blog I can easily imagine how terrible it is and how much I need to read this book.
http://houseofglib.blog-city.com/the_house_of_glib_challangegiggling_japanese_80s_hottie_ed.htm
http://houseofglib.blog-city.com/the_house_of_glib_challangegiggling_japanese_80s_hotties_e.htm
Isn’t there a passage about a nude Charo in there somewhere?