Do fans of the Brady Bunch TV show like the Brady Bunch movies?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by MRamble, Nov 27, 2021.

  1. MRamble

    MRamble Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Are fans of the original TV show fans of 90's movies? I'm not sure how..? Don't these movies make them look like idiots? It's more of a spoof then a proper tribute to the original characters. The show was earnest and genuine in its own way but here in the films it takes on a different vibe.

    Any thoughts from serious fans of the original?
     
  2. Ignatius

    Ignatius Forum Resident

    I like the first movie a lot more than the series.
    "Kids, put on your Sunday best. We're going to Sears."
     
  3. Neil Anderson

    Neil Anderson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    Gary Cole should have gotten an Oscar for his performance as Mike Brady.
     
  4. MRamble

    MRamble Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I'm sure a lot of people did...but were you a fan of the original series? I'd have to guess that everyone who enjoyed the movies weren't fans of the TV show.
     
  5. O Don Piano

    O Don Piano Senior Member

    I was a fan of the original series. I was five when it started running in 1969. I’m pretty sure I watched the show just about every week.

    Fast way forward to the 90s, I saw the first Brady Bunch movie and I thought it was an affectionate tribute. It was a lot of fun. I just never got around to seeing the second one. Not that I was against them or anything.

    Now, “The Brady Bunch Hour” from 1977 was terrible!
     
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  6. musicfan37

    musicfan37 Senior Member

    I enjoyed them. The first being my favorite.
     
  7. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I liked the first movie and thought it was hilarious and actually very accurate to how the original TV show was. I went into shock when they went into the Brady's back yard and it was obviously a badly-lit studio (complete with Astroturf grass), and one of the kids crawled throw a fence into an adjoining alley and wound up in reality, actually shot on location with real outdoor lighting. I thought director Betty Thomas perfectly handled the family's bizarre internal reality, as if they were stuck in 1972 forever. "Hey, groovy chick!" Hysterically funny.

    I thought the original TV series was awful, just absolute sitcom dreck at its worst, but I totally get that it's very nostalgic for a lot of people. And they stuck at that general "Sherwood Schwartz" level of quality. No question, it was a huge success in syndication -- even more than it was on network -- and it's a classic show in its way.
     
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  8. GeetarFreek

    GeetarFreek Forum Resident

    Location:
    Montana
    The first one was really, really good and funny, the casting was excellent.

    the second one was just ok
     
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  9. Pizza

    Pizza With extra pepperoni

    Location:
    USA
    The first movie was terrific and did a great job finding humor in the Brady Bunch as well as the innocence of 60’s TV sitcoms.

    I can appreciate satire on things I love. It’s just like those Mad Magazine movie satires drawn by Mort Drucker. I found those funny and still loved the original movies they lampooned.
     
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  10. MikeInFla

    MikeInFla Glad to be out of Florida

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
    My wife and I saw the first two in the theater and enjoyed them. I think there were one or two more later than were made for TV but I had no interest in the "White House" movie when I saw the trailer.
     
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  11. Kyle B

    Kyle B Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    I thought the spoof format for the movie was the only way to go, and they did it well. Some of the casting was truly spot-on: Mike and Marcia in particular. I wish they had used more of the sound effects and background music from the original series. The somewhat repetitive Frank DeVol incidental music was such a part of the charm of the series, and they ignored it.

    I’m a big fan of the original series, though I recognize that it’s not high art. The worst episodes are the ones that Sherwood Schwartz wrote himself (only two of them, thankfully) - they are particularly corny. And it was a lot better after the first season, when they got away from the boys vs girls plots and they got away from the smart-aleck characterizations of the kids. But it’s the cast that makes it for me. I think its one of the most well-cast family sitcoms of all time. They avoided the stereotypes (the smart one, the dumb one, the jock, the nerd, etc) and instead the kids came across as realistic, and they had good chemistry.

    Also, Robert Reed gave the show what little gravitas it had and Mike is my favorite TV dad - strict when he needed to be, but warm and supportive. I grew up with parents who were more in the Leave it to Beaver mold - a bit overly strict and emotionally remote. So when I see Mike Brady comforting one of the kids or helping them with a problem, it resonates with me. Reed was close to the kids in real life (he actually took them on vacation to the UK one year to expose them to another culture) and that comes through on screen

    Am I giving too much emotional weight to a silly sitcom? :D
     
  12. Ignatius

    Ignatius Forum Resident

    I've seen some episodes (he said guardedly). But Sherwood Schwartz was Satan incarnate, forthat and Gilligan's Islland.
     
  13. LouChang

    LouChang her brother (but nobody's bro)

    Location:
    US
    I was too young to see the show when it originally aired on ABC. I started watching it afternoons on TBS and loved it. I've seen every episode multiple times. I was in college when the movies came out and enjoyed them too, but not as much as the original show. I really liked the Gilligan tie-in in the second movie and of course the jokes in both films. "Something suddenly came up." :laugh:

    I still can't believe they got all six original Brady kids to participate in the renovation of the actual house used for the exterior shots.
     
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  14. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    Did the movies make sense to those who hadn't seen the TV show?

    I thought the original was gut-bustingly hilarious, because I had grown up doing my evening's homework in front of another episode rerun. I must have seen every episode multiple times.

    There was another spoof before the movies, I believe. Someone made a faux Ken Burns documentary that was a good mashup, right down the arrival of Cousin Oliver marking the end.
     
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  15. LouChang

    LouChang her brother (but nobody's bro)

    Location:
    US
    Brady: An American Chronicle
     
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  16. tmtomh

    tmtomh Forum Resident

    Agree that the first movie was fantastic.

    As to the OP's question, I would say the simplest answer is that most people likely saw the show as children and the movies as adults. When we are kids we see things differently and as adults I think many of us can appreciate an ironic satire of a beloved show from our childhood if the sendup is done in good humor, which I think the movies did.
     
  17. lv70smusic

    lv70smusic Senior Member

    Location:
    San Francisco, CA
    I was 8 when the show debuted and watched it regularly until new episodes were no longer being made. Like many others, I watched the show in syndication after that (at least off and on). I probably watch it more often now than I did in my thirties and forties.

    I didn't see the film parodies when they first came out. I'm not sure how I eventually found them on cable TV, but I thought both of them were hysterical. So, yes, a true fan of the original series can also appreciate the movies.
     
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  18. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I think he was just a producer intent on getting big ratings and big profits, unfortunately at the expense of the people who worked for him. But that was how 1960s and early-1970s TV worked. I don't see Schwartz as evil: I think the whole system was evil. And SAG-AFTRA and the WGA were too stupid to fight for residuals for all the actors and writers until years later.
     
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  19. I liked the show as a kid (no interest in it since I was about 12). I enjoyed both movies -flaws and all.
     
  20. Jack Lord

    Jack Lord Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    This ^

    Cole hit it out of the park with that peformance.

    I only saw the first movie, but I thought it great. Yes, it spoofs the show but also pays tribute to it.
     
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  21. plugmeintosomething

    plugmeintosomething Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Liked the show as a kid (I was 9 when it debuted) and enjoyed both movies. They got the casting perfect imo.
     
  22. geetar_await

    geetar_await I heart Linux.

    Location:
    USA
    I liked the first movie. Poked a little fun at the original series and added a little nostalgia to make it an enjoyable film. I thought all the actors did wonderful over-the-top representations of the characters they were portraying. I don't remember if I saw any of the other films, but I enjoyed the original series. Was Cousin Oliver represented in any of those later films?
     
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  23. boyjohn

    boyjohn Senior Member

    No, they sure don't. I saw the first movie with a friend who was visiting from Switzerland who had never even heard of the show, let alone seen it. She had no idea of why it was so hilarious.
     
  24. I trust you’ve seen the letters Reed wrote the producers excoriating the scripts? Those are funnier than anything that was ever on the show. :)
     
  25. mBen989

    mBen989 Senior Member

    Location:
    Scranton, PA
    I liked both movies even though I think if Robert Reed was still alive he would've fired off some memos regarding the sequel.
     
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