The old Brqdys versus

By Fronk

Youngest daughter Ctndy (Susan Olsen)

lnland) is an unluclcy race-car drlver.

the new
loveceond
AndrswJ. Edelsleln

now wears headphones ltrstead of pigtails as the DJ of a radlo show. Inferdle Jan (Eve Plumb) ts an archttect llke her dad. And Marcla? She's obvtously had plastrc surgery because now she looks llke actress Leah Ayres and not Maureen McCormick. As for the elders. housekeeper Allce (fuin B. Davts) has marrted S"m, the butcher. Mom Carol (Florence Henderson) has ftnally gotten out of the house and now makes a ltvtng selltng them. +

"igftt You're Just not sure if lt's lyou know. l99O or I97O. There on the screen ls
that splttJevel suburban house you saw every Frtday nlgbt at thts tlme for flve years. And wafffng from your TV set's stereo speakers-lt's the Bradg Bunch theme song. tsn't tr? Just a ltttle slower, thafs all. Now someone calrng herself Jan Brady ls thrashtng under the bed covers, frustrated that she can't concelve. Someone darmrng to be Bobby BradY 16 rolllng around ln a wheelchalr, paralyzed ftom the walst down. And ClndY Brady-baby Ctndyl -is cavortlng wlth an older man. What's gorng on here? Have we been fansported to some dternate unlverse, where Elly May is a hooker and Mlster Ed has been sold for $ue? Worse. Ifs The Bra.dg Bunch uPdated for the '9Os. The farntly that won't go away ts back ln an hour-long CBS serles called The Bradgs, a mul0gener-

lf.

nria"y

at 8 o'clock, that much

Ihen qnd
Then Then
Then
Meatloaf

lrlo\rv
Now lnability to conceive

Jan's biggest problem

Being allergic to Tiger

ttlbdding disruptlon
Now Bride's pregnant sister goes into labor

Dog chases cat over wedding cake

Main course
Now Seaweed soup

aUonal famtly saga heavlly weiglted

Carol's cleaning aid

Then
Alice
The Bradus (L-t.),20 aearc ago (top) dnd today: Clida lSusnn Orsen), Bobb9 (Ml} l,,okthland), Jan (E:oe Plunrb). Peter (Chrlstopher lhlght), Marcla (Ma ureen Mcoormtck- top: Izah Nres, bottom), Oreg lturra wllllanls), ;'J,lce (Ann B. Dau'l.), Carcl iFlordnce Henderson) and Mlice 1Robert
Reed). TV GUIDE FEBRUARY 24, T99O

wtth dramaflc elements. Thafs why Jan ls thrashhg around, Bobby ts wheellng around, and Ctndy ts phyfng around. Thlnk of tt as when-bad-tbtngs-happento-good-Bradys. The changes. we suppose, were lnevltable. Btg brother Greg (Barry Wtlltams)

Now Dustbuster

,Garol's cooklng aid

Then
Alice Now
Microwave

ls now an obstetrlclan. Peter (Chrtstopher Knrght) ts a playboy ln the age of AIDS. The aforesald Bobby (Mrke look-

Then

Marcla's love interest

Boy who collects

bugs

Now
Boy who collects unemployment

contlnucd

Then
Karry-All?

Cindy's biggest worry

Now
Should she date her

we can assume

Who stole Kitty

boss?

has gone to that great kennel ln the slcy. Obvl-

Greg's career problem

Then Should he skip college to become teen idol Johnny Bravo? Now Should he switch to orthopedics?

ously, thls ls not your father's Bradg Bunch.

The half-hour sltcom has become an hour-

long family drama laced

Then

Household dilemma

wlth humor, ln the veln of a Llfe Goes On or. heaven help us, Bradg-

Flrst, ofcourse. was the origlnal sltcom, wb,lch ran on ABC from 1969 to 1974 and has been in slmdtcated reruns ever slnce. Begtoning l^ 1972, there was a Saturday BorDlng cartoon series-The Bra.dg Ktds. Next came a L977 varlety show-The Brodg Buttch flour. Then a 1981 revtval serles on

Two bathrooms for peoplHnd they couldn't show the

nine

toilet

Now Two bathrooms for six peoplHnd they can show lhe toilet Now

Jotned by four spouses, one boyfrlend.rboss. Bradg Bunch creator

slx ldds, two parents and Allce are now

somethtng. The orlglnal

NBC-?he Bradg Gtrls Get Marrted., a.k.a. The Brodg Brtdes. And then a 1988 CBS Tv-movte-'A Very Brady buster-the year's thtrd h!hest-rated TV-movle. So the bi(fly rma$nauve
CBS ordered a brahd-new sertes.

llberadon and other '7Os toplcs, but qrtth an alm6sf total lack of connecdon to reallty. That, of course, was a blg reason for tts charm. Watcbtng the new show, we miss heartng the old Bradys' Foow hngo. We Elss Marcla's mlnlsklrts. And the boys' bunk beds. The tangertne-and-avocado deslgn scheme. The permed halr-on the guysl What we mtss tle -o"1, 1trqugF, ts

Chrlsbnas." The last was

the lntense sfHing rlvalry-espectally

block-

Then
ABC

last-place netuvork the series aired on

cBs

four small chlldren and

Sherwood Schwartz
scrtpt but trrtth an organlzadonal chart.
he

slalns [6 sold the new

show not wlth a ptlot

And what better fime than now for t}e Bradys to come back? It certalnly feels Itke 1973: there's a Republtcan tn the
Whlte House, lnllaflon is creeping up, and Donny Osmond has a trtt stngle,

Patrlarch Mtke (Robert Reed)

has opened hls own ffrm, ts mulltng a run for clty councll and has lsrrghf hlmself a splry new carncorder. Tlgler, the dog,

That was for the famlly tree, but

mlght as well have drasrn one for all the Brady permutaflons through the years.

summed up inr one of the old serles' flrst eptsodes, when Mlke sald, "We have a wonderfrrl bunch of lrrids. Really marvelous. They don't play hoolry. They phone!" On the new series, no one worrles about salltng Westdale Hlgh to ffnd out lf Marcta was named head cheerleader. Now the Bradys worry about whether Bobby wlll urafk agatn. And that Marcla's husband can't hold aJob. And that one of the ldds ts httrng the bottle. Thts ts depresslng. We've always looked to the Bradys for good, dean fun. Schwartz promlses the new show wlll have "more contemporary and

The origtnal Brady ethos

all get along. Obvlously, those many years of earnest lessons punped tnto them by Mlke and Cirol paid off. In ttre new shoqr's defens, lt ls refreshing to see a lack of serdst stereogpes. The old serles stuck rig[dly to se< roles, resulftngln dumb rltalsgus ltks ln the epi,sode where the Bradys had to

between the two oldest ldds, Greg and Marcta. In the new serles, tle stbltngs

wErs

ponder what to do wtth 94 books of tradfng stanps. Greg: "Gtve me one reason why you should have all those
stamps?" Marcla: "Because they come

boy. . . they Just won't stay

don't lle. They're not fresh. But ofi that

from grocerles and talrtng care of groceries is a woman's Job." Greg: "Well, eadn' them is a man's Jobl"
They couldn't get away wtth that today;
no one remembers what fadhgstamps

are, for one thing. But some other Brody Bunch hallnarks have remalnsd. Bobby, we noflced in the twohour prevlew, sflll has daydreams. He was tbe Brady ldd wtth a fantasy Me: he robbed tratns wlth Jesse James, got abducted by altens and was a worldchamplon btlltards pl,ayer. So who knows-maybe the race-car accldent and all these other traumas wlll uIUmately be revealed as Just another dream. F)lday ntght soap-the one that follows The Bradgs on CBS. And no matter lf tt's ?he Bradg Bunch or The Bradgs, belng earnest and forthrtgbt ls a very Brady tbtng to do. (eno-t
New York Nesrsday

adult themes"-no kidding-"but always wlth the same vlew that a famtly that pulls together can solve even monumental problems." lf,ks fhls example, wtth Mlke and Carol at Bobby's hospttal bedstde after the raclng accldent. Mlke:
"Are you tn paln?" Bobby: "Well, yes
and no. My legs don't hurt. Guess thafs the good part about betng paralped."

Nah. Thafs too much llke another

WIII audiences be sympathedc to

these grown-up, troubled Bradys? We're

not sure. The Bradg Bunch always reveled tn lts irrelevance. Tb be fafr, the old show dtd run eptsodes about women's
TV GI.'IDE FEBRUARY 24, I99O

Sgndtcated, columntst Ftank Louece and. entertalnment wrlter-edItor AtrdrejJ, J. Edelsteln dre co4uthors of tltc trpcomtng The Brady Bunch Book.

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