Customer Reviews

The Brady Bunch Variety Hour

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The weirdness of this 1977 television show defies description. It
lasted less than ten episodes, and no wonder it has been forgotten by
fans and viewers, and conveniently left off of the resumes of all
those involved in making the program.

The well-loved Brady Bunch
gathers together for another Brady show, the first after the original
was cancelled. Unfortunately, this one was created by Sid & Marty
Krofft of Saturday morning Super Seven fame. '70s disco-spangled
weirdness is at full power!

The Brady kids (especially Greg),
wanted to get into music, like the Partridges. They put out several
albums (some have been re-issued on CD), so naturally the producers
felt this would be a hit show with a built-in audience.

All of the
original cast but Jan signed on, leading to the Brady conundrum of
what has become known as the "Fake Jan" character, a
replacement Brady!

Of all the Brady cast, only Greg & Carol can
actually sing. Marsha and the Fake Jan can manage.

The show
appeared at the peak of television musical variety shows in the
'70s. Donny & Marie, Sonny & Cher, Captain & Tennille,
Tony Orlando & Dawn, The Osmond Family, and others were part of a
genre of television that has largely been forgotten. Every week would
bring a new guest star and/or singing act. Only "Saturday Night
Live" survives the variety show era and is still in production
today.

The Brady show boasted two innovations, the Rockette wannabes
known as the "Krofftette Dancers & Water Follies", and a
set that featured a large swimming pool for the underwater ballet
swimmers. Both are just weird when juxtaposed with the Bradys!

On
the DVD, two shows are featured, with guest stars Ann B. Davis
(Alice), Tony Randall, Rip Taylor, Vincent Price, Donny & Marie
Osmond, and H.R. Puffnstuff. Randall & Price steal their scenes,
and Davis is the most comfortable with the bad scripts. There is also
a short interview with Bobby & Cindy talking about what it was
like growing up as a Brady, working on the Variety Hour, and other
things about their careers.

Although the show has terrible writing,
is horribly dated, and emits 1970's toxically radioactive happiness in
its purest form, the Bradys are still the Bradys, and this is one
television enigma that is not to be missed. The DVD is reasonably
priced, too.

When I ordered this, I did it for a number of reasons. First, my wife and I are big fans of 70s kitsch and the Brady shows are the epitome of it. We already own the 5 seasons of the original series, and were looking forward to a fresh dose of camp. We've both read Maureen McCormick's autobiography and it provided a lot of information regarding what was happening behind the scenes in the lives of the cast members.

Well, on the one hand we were deeply satisfied because the show exceeds all expectations in terms of trashy glitz, over-the-top acting, and "what where they THINKING?" moments. The show made Ed Wood's body of work look positively brilliant by comparison. As others have said, it's deliciously bad. The bonus interview really doesn't provide a lot of new information, but it was interesting to learn exactly what mistakes were made post-Brady that derailed most of the careers of the participants. Susan Olsen in particular knowingly discusses the irony in the fact that the last pooch that played "Tiger" on the Brady Bunch went on to have a more successful career than any of the humans on the show.

On the other hand...

The show lasted less than a season and, depending on the source, ran either 9 or 10 episodes. This collection only consists of two episodes. There is no reason given as to what happened with the remaining episodes and apparently there is no plan to release them to the public. Even the most addicted fans of campy trash would likely be unable to handle more than a couple of episodes in a single sitting, but it was quite a letdown to know that this set would only be a teaser and we'd be unable to acquire the remainder of the series.

Caveat Emptor - buyer beware. The two episodes provided are enough to sate your curiosity and interest in just how bad television can get, but we still wound up feeling we got less than half of what we wanted.

The old cliche says that half a loaf is better than none at all, but nonetheless, we thought we were paying for all the episodes, and not just enough to leave us wanting.

After reading the reviews from other Amazon purchasers, I simply HAD to add this to my collection. I was 6 years old when the Brady Bunch TV show premiered and I remember watching these Variety Hours as a pre teen wondering what on earth?? I can truly say watching them as an ADULT was a million times better! This DVD is so ridiculous that it's HILARIOUS!! Robert Reed should have become a hot dog cart vendor before agreeing to be in this ridiculous Variety show! The way he is acting is nothing short of ludicrous. The skits are ridiculous, the colors are so mind-bending that you should turn the color down on your tv, and the acting is a zero on a scale from 1-10. Yet, because of all this, it is entertaining in a strange way. The whole time I was watching it, I was thinking WHAT ON EARTH??? There wasn't a single time that this show was normal or entertaining. Just plain LUDICROUS!! If you are a kid of the 60's/70's era of the Brady Bunch, you gotta get this!!!

I bought this DVD on a whim and was I delighted. Where else can you see Carol Brady singing from a "Chorus Line" or disco standards by the whole clan. Even Alice makes an appearance! The guest stars include Donny and Marie Osmond (with awful New Yawk accents to boot), Rip Taylor and H.R. Pufnstuff. But the end all reason to buy this DVD is the extremely disturbing and odd number that Tony Randall does with dancing animals. Truly a must have for Brady fans and fans of the wonderful world of 70's cheese. Enjoy

When this DVD came, I ran over to my DVD player, put it in and sat, transfixed for an hour and a half. This HAS to be the best example of "OMIGAWD WHAT WERE THEY THINKING??" anywhere! Some highlights: (but not all of them!)

1) The CLOTHES they were wearing. 70's 70's 70's. Bellbottoms! Leisure suits! wide ties! Check out Greg's hilarious padded suit during the "Attitude Dancing" number.. and Greg's sexy chest hair since he insists on keeping the first 3 buttons of his shirt open. 2) The SONGS: I just LOVE how they managed to mix in Donna Summer's "Love to Love you Baby" in with their rendition of "Baby Face". Other highlight - 2 versions of "The Hustle!" 3) The 70's references: To show how HIP they really are references are constantly made about other 70's icons. Baretta, The Odd Couple, Led Zepplin, Happy Days (Always wanted to see Donny Osmond as the Fonz? Well now's your chance) and, most especially, Welcome Back Kotter (watch Tony Randall's sharp delivery on "Up your nose with a rubber hose") are all mentioned. 4) The INEPTNESS of it all! Consistently filled with goofs, you wonder where the editors were that day. (Watch Greg wipe out during the rollerskating number, yet everything continues as if nothing happens) The water ballet stuff is rather strange too. Who asked for THAT?

An essential DVD to have for anyone remotedly interested in the 70's. :)

Happy Viewing!

OH MY, this show was just completely off the wall. Like others have said, this show is so unbelievably weird and bad its actually hilarious to watch. This is a great get together with friends dvd to watch, why tv guide included this in the top 50 worst is beyond me, its definitely not as bad as some people say. Greg wrecking on roller skates is incredibly funny to me for some reason, I'm glad they left that in, the look on the girls faces when he did that is priceless. Also, was there really an audience there? I don't remember them ever cutting to the audience and it sounds like a glorified laugh track to me, which just adds to the insaneness of it all. This is far more entertaining than all the mindnumbing reality based tv shows and glorified cop shows that are being crammed down our throats at the moment. Yes its awful, its cheesy, its wacked beyond belief and its arguably not for uptight people or people with "taste" but I had a smile on my face the entire time, well when I wasn't wincing. It's a shame more episodes weren't released. It's damn near impossible to truly describe this show unless you see it for yourselves. I highly recommend this as its pretty cheap and I guarantee you have not seen nor will you ever see something this bizarre again.
The interview with Susan Olsen and Mike Lookinland is great as well, funny how Mike has blocked out most of his memories of this show, it was that traumatic for him, hehe. Susan, on the other hand, seems to have an incredible memory of not only this but her BB days as well. So I recommend leaving your sense of decency at the door and checking this timeless classic out, laughing is a good thing!

The Brady Bunch Variety Hour was produced at the height of the outrageous '70s high-camp musical era. So perhaps it's no coincidence that this DVD is so bad and so over-the-top that it's both funny and very colorful. If you love the BB (and really who doesn't?) you will just love this DVD.

Florence Henderson and Robert Reed (may he rest in peace) each reprise their roles as Mrs. and Mrs. Mike Brady. Rounding out the cast are those super-cool Brady kids: Christopher Knight (Chris has always been my very favorite Brady because he is so sweet and sensitive), Barry Williams, Mike Lookinland, Maureen "oh my nose" McCormick, and Susan Olsen (who has a really groovy new feathered hairstyle). What I enjoy most about watching everyone together again is that it's like watching a group of familiar old friends.

Each ep is 50 minutes in total and as far as I can tell these are the full and unedited versions (I have no recollection of seeing this series on TV as it predates my birth by many years.) Included on this set are 2 eps from the variety series:

Volume 1 / episode #1 (original airdate: 11-28-76) - This is the first ep (after their special that aired a month earlier) and includes lots of groovy singing and dancing. Guest stars include Tony Randall and Donny and Marie.

Volume 2 / episode #4 (original airdate: 3-4-77) - Greg decides to move out of the Brady home and an entire ep, complete with corny singing and melodramatic acting compliments this ludicrous show. Vincent Price guest stars in this ep; don't worry though he isn't tying the boys to a giant tiki. Rip Taylor (you know it's going to be hoot with him) and the cast of H.R. Pufnstuf are also in this ep.

Alice (Ann B. Davis) is on both eps. She even sings a little too. I love the sequined pants suits she wears; it's so much cuter than the pale blue maid's uniform (which, incidentally she also wears, because after all, she's still Alice). For reasons that are unclear to me, Ms. Davis does not receive star billing; instead she is billed as a "guest star."

Noticeably absent from this BB reincarnation is Eve. I am not sure why Eve didn't participate in this; either she had something else going on or she didn't have a momentary lapse in good judgement like the rest. Geri Reischl aka "fake Jan" was, like all the others, excellent and offered up a beautiful singing voice, although she doesn't seem like she's as much of an overdone drama queen as Eve (who has always been one of my favorite Bradys, btw!!).

The Halston body suits, the loud print colors, the hip-huggers, the bell-bottoms, those super-super tight vests the men wore and all that glitter and rhinestones perhaps is one of the reasons why this series is so grounded in '70s culture. It's just so ridiculous and almost surreal to watch the Bradys singing and dancing all made up like the La Cage aux Folles dancers. It is just the end and I love it.

The DVD includes a brand-new (well 10 years old) interview with Susan and Mike. The interview is a full 20 minutes long. They discuss the original series, the Variety Hour and some of the other BB projects. As a fan that has followed the BB for my entire life this is truly one of the best interviews I have ever seen.

The DVD includes a colorful menu (taken from the series opening credits) which also plays music and even has chapter selections. There is also a colorful insert included. BTW I scanned everything just in case you'd like to see what it looks like.

Maybe you're down in the dumps and just need a little lift. The Bradys to the rescue! Because it's impossible to view The Brady Bunch Variety Hour without smiling and laughing. Who cares if it's dated and hokey and completely and totally out of touch with reality. Remember, every day can be a sunshine day if you work hard at it!!

Oh lord do I remember watcing this when it first came on. I was so excited that the Bradys were back together. But they weren't. We got Fake Jan instead of Real Jan! My oh my is this show bad. I still love it, though. What confuses me is why did Rhino release a box oset of all six episodes of Pink Lady & Jeff (which is even worse than this show) and only two episodes of the Brady Bunch Hour? I mean, come on. There were only eight episodes of this show so why not just release the entire series and be done with it?

Yes, this show is a bad as everyone has said it is. For this cheap of a price, treat yourself to a bit of TV weirdness and pick this up. The costumes alone are worth the price of admission.

This is a trip....I was smiling almost all the way through it! The DVD is divided into three parts: The interview with "Bobby" and "Cindy", which is fairly interesting (they talk about their remembrances of the variety show, even though Mike Lookinland seems to have blocked much of it out). The other two parts are the first and second BBVH installments. Guest stars include Tony Randall (what was HE thinking????), Vincent Price, Rip Taylor, H.R. Puffnstuff, and Donnie & Marie.

The first episode has a truly surreal "number" featuring a bunch of clowns jumping around in a swimming pool (some of the clowns being Bradys). Very strange and incoherent! This whole Variety Hour concept seems like something Ed Wood had a hand in! The first episode is also notable because Jan is portrayed as a whining, complaining malcontent...which is surprising because the whole Jan-Brady-angst phenomena didn't really take shape until the last 10 years or so.

When you are having a party, pop this into your DVD and just watch as the entire congregation of guests begins to transfix its gaze on the television. If you want to know what the episodes are like, read the other reviews. I just wanted to mention that not only are these 2 episodes hilariously campily silly, the audio and video quality are SUPERB. Considering this was a crappy '70s show that has probably been laying around in a vault for twenty years, Rhino gave it very nice treatment when transferring it to DVD. Very clean images, which make the 70s decor even more disturbing that one could imagine. Also included on the DVD is an interview with Mike Lookinland (Bobby) and Susan Olsen (Cindy), who talk about their days doing the BB and the BBVH. Not to be missed!!!!!!!!