The Bradys (1990) User Reviews

Brady Something

[coreycitn63 · 4/10 · 14 March 2022]

When The Bradys aired in 1990 a lot of people called the short lived series Brady Something a Thirty Something parody which was a drama on ABC at the time. It was an attempt for The Brady Bunch to be taken seriously but failed. The first episode which was a two hour pilot made Bobby Brady a paraplegic and Marcia an alcoholic in another episode. CBS aired The Bradys on Fridays with the hope that Dallas would help draw viewers which didn't cause ABC had the successful TGIF shows at the time and Dallas was waning in popularity.

The Bradys:Kind of cute but still not all a Bunch of Laughs.

[Stebaer4 · 4/10 · 3 November 2006]

Maureen McCormick was right to opt out of this for the main reason that it would've defaced her character as an alcoholic & so for further future reunions within the realm of possibility let's just push this to a parallel universe & disregard it upon Maureen's return too.Seeing Jonathan Taylor Thomas in an early pre-Home Improvement role & credited as Jonathan Weiss is very interesting among other things. Cindy teasing her boss Gary Greenberg "mistaking" the quote of "Mozel Tov" which means congratulations & good luck for Mistle Toe of which is hung in the door way at Christmastime for good luck whether or not as an immediate follow-up after A Very Brady Christmas was very cute.Cindy at Sunrise really makes her new character to give her new character. Next there's Peter who splits up with Valerie From A Very Brady Christmas of whom turns out his 3rd fiancé but the 2 prior ones split up with him and from here he continues to still have girl trouble in this series' short run.Next to explain why Peter did the splitting up this time? She just wouldn't being the boss leave her job behind even for Bobby any more to see him race than to care for him being injured.This is as much like Wally having job trouble & Jan Having conceiving trouble so she & Philip adopt a child.Next there's Bobby dreaming of being a sports star while being one as he did as a kid before becoming one makes a nice blend of the old times & the new times too.Bobby can stand up but not for very long upon being hurt in a race car crash.It's always good more to have reunions even more than "reunions" as this one was for the Brady Bunch's main theme that life rehashes itself a.k.a. the more things change the more they stay the same.The Best example of this is of course how in The Brady Girls Get Married & The Bradys how for some reason as on the Brady Bunch The Wedding get's interrupted.Since Bobby wasn't really paralyzed but injured so for the next reunion or "reunion" he could just be cured without discarding this problem to a Parallel Universe.Some flashback footage is cute & helpful too but it's still just as well that this short lived show was exactly that,Yes that's exactly right short lived.Originally there was no theme song to open this show but then on The Fox Family Network (now known as abc family)on which it was probably rerun for the 1st time anywhere and for the 1st time in rerun syndication that the show then opened up with the voice of Florence Henderson a.k.a. "Carol Brady" singing one to the tune of The Brady Bunch theme song.As I found out later on and contrary to what Barry Williams a.k.a."Greg Brady" had said on my local Bostonian radio show of The Lost 45s in an interview with Host D.J. Barry Scott that "Hardly anybody watched this & so maybe if they just checked in every 3 years then maybe it would be okay." But according to 2 of The A&E:Biography Follow-ups on both Robert Reed & The Brady Bunch it was really that Robert Reed was sick(health wise)and sick of the role of "Mike Brady" & so if it went any further,just as if there was a 6th season of The Brady Bunch he'd have been written out but all of his costars just couldn't have that & so that's why they had stopped when they had.As I've periodically said yes there can still be Brady Bunch reunions but just no more pregnant jokes & the last of which was in A Very Brady Christmas,the previous "reunion" of which scored this one.I still look forward to reunions even more than to "reunions."

Truthfully,Stephen "Steve" G. Baer a.k.a."Ste" of Framingham,Ma.USA

It wouldn't have lasted long...

[Drewboy-2 · 6/10 · 10 October 2020]

...because Robert Reed died in 1992. Well, maybe then there would be stories with Carol being a widow.

One of the most misguided efforts on TV

[tex-42 · 2/10 · 20 November 2001]

This is probably a first for television: reuniting the cast of a late 60s/early 70s sitcom for an hour-long DRAMA series. Well, CBS did just that, based on the success of the 1988 TV movie, A Very Brady Christmas. This was after the concept was already revived in the 1970s as a variety show, in the 1980s as a sitcom focusing on Marcia and Jan, and now in the 1990s for what was affectionately dubbed "Brady-something."

As you can imagine the effort simply did not work, because people did not want to see Bobby Brady paralyzed or Marcia as an alcoholic. The whole idea of a full time series based around the now adult Brady children and their parents about twenty years after the original series began without a hint of camp or irony was absurd and the show quickly tanked.

What were they thinking??

[4-Kane · 23 January 2001]

Just what were the writers and producers thinking when they decided to feature a family from a half-hour situation comedy in a new one-hour drama?? While it was nice to see a post-series Brady Bunch reunion TV-movie ("A Very Brady Christmas"), bringing them back in a new series was completely uncalled-for! A one-hour drama for a hilarious family just doesn't cut it. I didn't like the idea of Bobby being paralyzed. Too depressing! This 1990 revival made the "Brady Brides" look better.

The horrific ending of the original Brady characters

[pjmartinau-40548 · 1/10 · 28 July 2020]

The original Brady Bunch (1969-74) was a corny, cheesy, innocent sitcom of the 1970s, and that's precisely why it was so well-loved and still is, so many decades later. That was it's charm, and the escape it provided to viewers dealing with mundane problems of the world. The producers of the Brady Bunch Movie (1995), and A Very Brady Sequel (1996) understood this and made two unforgettable films.

The Brady kids in 1974 wanted to introduce lots of ridiculous plots into the next season, such as Peter becoming homeless, Jan gets wooed by a European Prince, Cindy gets a pet horse. And they were going to sack Robert Reed, make him divorce Carol Brady, have Mr Brady's brother move in with the family. Fortunately the series got canned before this happened.

The original series was followed by a cringeworthy variety show (1977) good for a laugh, but a very Brady thing to do. Then there was the Brady Brides and A Very Brady Christmas in the 1980s that still maintained the original charm and corniness we loved so much. That's where it should have ended on a high note.

Instead, tv decided to change a comedy sitcom into a serious drama. They changed 9 main characters into over 20. They turned the lovable innocent Brady's into a dysfunctional family: Marcia is an alcoholic with her loser husband and they struggle with homelessness; Bobby gets crippled; Alice suffers dementia, Mike turns into a politician and Peter is a womaniser. How depressing.

It's as if the producers were embarrassed by the original series and wanted to show how hip they were with the 1990s. All they did was ruin everything we loved about the original series so it looked and felt wrong. Even the cast made fun of this series on set and couldn't take it seriously. Changing a comedy into a melodrama was the worst mistake ever - especially for a show like the Brady Bunch.

How much did they pay TV executives before 2000? If it was more than $1.95 a year...

[slackline70 · 3/10 · 13 August 2021]

I know it's easy to arm-chair quarterback decisions after the fact - but seriously, what was wrong with TV executives in the 70s, 80s, and 90s?

Hey guys, now that we've got this runaway hit - Mork and Mindy... I've got a great idea - let's keep switching the day and time until no one knows when it's on anymore!

Congratulations - Miami Vice has been a smash for two seasons now. I think the episodes of two vice cops fighting drug cartels and crime bosses isn't very realistic though. Let's have them go up against UFOs that look like James Brown and cryogenically frozen Reggae singers. Oh - and why don't we have Crockett marry Sheena Easton?

And I've got a can't miss - you know how well every single spin-off of The Brady Bunch has done? Remember how well the variety show and did??? Remember how the Brady Brides went a whole 7 episodes? Well let's bring 'em back as a serious drama - people will go nuts!

I love this

[kevern-44-576666 · 10/10 · 31 May 2020]

I love thisThis Series should not of been taken off the air it should've continued

Drama and the Typical Brady Humor Don't Mix

[abbazabakyleman-98834 · 3/10 · 29 January 2019]

In 1990, CBS had aired yet another installment with the Brady clan, simply called The Bradys. It was a poor attempt to mix heavy-handed drama and the corny Brady humor and extend the series to an hour-long show. What's so funny about alcoholism, dirty-dealing politics, and being handicapped to a wheelchair, anyway? Apparently, Robert Reed, yet again, fought constantly with the producing team of Lloyd and Sherwood Schwartz and disapproved the scripts that were written. Only 6 episodes were produced and were later edited into three TV movies for syndication: The Brady 500, Bradys on the Move, and Big Kids, Big Problems. These were shown prominently on Fox Family Channel in the late '90s.

Great Show

[michellemaxwell-10010 · 10/10 · 3 June 2022]

I enjoyed seeing the Bradys reunited. Sad that it only lasted 5 episodes. Strange that Sam was never seen. I felt bad for Marcia and Wally losing their home. The one thing I didn't like was Peter going from one woman to another.

Too much realism for the Brady's.

[atomicjeff-41850 · 4/10 · 25 April 2024]

This series was originally going to be a series of television movies. The network CBS decided a weekly television drama involving the Brady Family would be more profitable. The first problem with the show was the fact it aired on Friday night up against ABC's TGIF family block of entertainment shows such as family matters and Step by Step. Second, the Brady's series was done in a more dramatic style which was a strong deviation from the campy light hearted show we all fell in love with back in the 70's. The adult subject matter, just was not a proper fit for this family sitcom. I believe the show was out of its element and viewers just did not like seeing America's favorite family being portrayed in such a seriel light. The show was green lighted after the successful ratings of a Very Brady Christmas television movie. Like I stated this show was meant to be a series of TV movies which would have done better in my opinion. Regardless this failed attempt to reintroduce the Brady family was really doomed to fail, because the magic of the original show was gone with the Brady children being all grown up. The original series came from a different moment in time and a more modern version audiences were not keen to watch with so many other dramas on at that time. Remember the original series started in 1969 and ended in 1974. The show really never had block buster ratings until it went into syndication after it had long been cancelled. Thus this version of the Brady Bunch was doomed to fail from the start. I still love the original show and I think many of you do as well.

the point being...

[Goon-2 · 17 May 2002]

Completely unexpectantly, the two-hour pilot of this uh, series, casually began to play on my television set. For reasons beyond me, it was called "The Brady 500," which was quite cutesy, but I could still tell it was the 'movie' that led to "The Brady's," a very dramatic one hour drama that reunites the they're together so often I'm surprised they're NOT a real family family of the Brady's... you know, Mike, Carol, Greg, Marica (a faux Marcia, not Maureen McCormack)... yes, THOSE Brady's from the corny sitcom "The Brady Bunch," only their lives are not so funny anymore.

In "The Brady 500" Mike and Carol are basically the same, as is Alice, the "goofy" housekeeper, whom I think is either still working for them, or just hangs out at their house too often. Greg is married with child (a young Johnathan Taylor Thomas...which was not thrilling news to discover) and is an Obstitrician; Marcia is still married to Wally (from "The Brady Brides"), who's main talent seems to be losing jobs. His last one cost them their house, so they and their two precious children must move in with Mike and Carol; Peter is some womanizer (of all characters) who's been engaged four times, but can never find the right girl; Jan does not seem to enjoy communicating with her family much (stubborn middle child) unless it involves telling them all of her problems, which involve she and hubby Phillip (also of "The Brady Brides") and their inablity to have children; Cindy is a deejay, who is attracted to her older, widowed boss, and Bobby...well, he WAS a budding race car driver who gets PARALYZED during some big, important race. Oh, the horror. How will the rest of the Brady's cope with this dramatic struggle.

Actually, Bobby's paralysis really seemed to take a back burner as the last forty minutes or so seemed to involve his love life with a jilted fiance, Tracy...whom he ends up marrying; as well as Wally's casually getting a new job (truly, nobody seemed to care when he announced it), and Jan and Phillip deciding to adopt and ending up with not a baby, but a young Korean girl, who seemed to only communicate by whispering in her new mommy's or daddy's ear. I guess other episodes probably dealt with Bobby CONTINUING to deal with his handicap--as well as a new wife; Jan and Phil's adjustments; Wally's new job, etc. I believe other plots also involved Mike running for--and winning--a seat on Congress; Marcia *howl with laughter* being an alcoholic, and many other dramatic, tensing situations. I think the Brady's even had to (oh dear) MOVE!!!!!

Quality-wise, I found "The Brady 500" about on par with "A Very Brady Christmas," which means it passed the time, but wasn't all that great. The thing I had to wonder was, what was the point of reuniting the Brady family for a dramatic series, when everyone knows them as the corny, "comedic" Brady's. It presents a concept too hard to swallow (the three flashbacks to the original series did not help...and Dabs "Reverand Alden" Greer as the minister in Bobby's wedding cornily referring to Mike and Carol's wedding did not do much to help me take it seriously, either), which is probably why it didn't exactly go on to last for YEARS or even one year, I believe.

Another one of THE worst spin-off's ever made

[frschoonover · 1/10 · 7 September 2023]

In 1990, after the success of the CBS aired TV reunion movie "A Very Brady Christmas", CBS asked the original TV series creator and his son to develop a new series featuring the Brady family. Although they originally rejected that suggestion, they gave in and this is what was received.

In this series, the vast majority of the original cast reprised their respective roles from the original 1969-1974 TV series. The only exception was Maureen McCormick, who originally portrayed Marcia, because she was pregnant at the time with her daughter and couldn't reprise the role. In her place, actress Leah Ayers took over the role of Marcia.

IMHO, Maureen McCormick was smart in sitting this one out due to her pregnancy. Why? Because we are treated to yet another worse spin-off a wonderful TV series.

This whole series was much more a dramatic series rather than comedic. Likewise, as its predecessor, it was also boring and uninspiring. Although the cast tries to make the series work, they fail as this particular spin-off series suffers from bad writing and clumsy episode directing. The producers even added insult to injury by utilizing a laugh track machine for some of the episodes. Likewise, with it predecessor spin-offs, it also doesn't survive on a "So bad, it's good" kind of level, which means that this series was really bad. Another one of the worst parts was this; each of the episodes were an hour long rather than a half-hour, which really added to the painful and pathetic thing that this show really was.

Thankfully, the series was short lived as it only lasted six episodes. Thank goodness for small favors.

This was also compared with another one hour comedic-dramatic show called "Thirtysomething", which was absurd. Why? IMHO, "Thirtysomething" was funny, warm, well-written, well acted and enteraining, which this series wasn't.

Overall, another one of THE worst spin-offs ever made.

Utterly Painful To Watch

[goleafs84 · 4 September 2005]

Being a fan of "The Brady Bunch", I was interested when I first heard that CBS was going to release this show as a Spring replacement.

Since I couldn't watch the episodes at the time it aired due to other commitments, I set the VCR for the first episode. When I watched it, I didn't like what I saw. It looked horrible. I thought that maybe it was a fluke, so I taped another episode and it was more of the same.

What bothered me the most is it seemed like the Brady Family was going out of their way to say, "we are no longer that goody-goody little family you used to know and remember, way back when".

Also, it seemed like every week, a new crisis struck the Brady family; From Marcia becomes an alcoholic, or Bobby becoming a paraplegic in a racing accident. You had to ask yourself what tragedy could happen next; Peter gets shot in a bank holdup? Or maybe Cindy ends up missing.

With every week being what seems like "The Brady crisis of the week", it makes the show unbelievable and you end up thinking; No family could have as many problems as they do.

Just watching it makes it painful to watch; Not painful in the sense that you're feeling the Brady's tragedy, but getting that "I can't take anymore of this crap" feeling.

Only 4 episodes were aired and Maureen McCormick had the good sense to stay away from this "turkey". In a way, I felt it was 4 episodes too many.

They tried

[briguy_52732 · 3 August 2003]

Bless their hearts, they tried. They tried to put a situation comedy family, who is at the cornerstone of American pop culture, in a family drama. But it simply didn't work. It's just like trying to make a Cadillac out of a Volkswagen ... it ain't gonna happen! Assigning major problems to each of the family (e.g., Marcia's alcoholism, Bobby getting paralyzed), along with using a laugh track just didn't work. In hindsight, if the producers had gotten a decent writing staff and flexible directors, "The Bradys" might have worked. Unfortunately, it simply destroyed the Brady franchise. Fortunately, we still have the reruns of the original 1969-1974 ABC series, which will be around for a long time. So will, unfortunately, this show, which is bound to turn up in reruns at some point.

Unbelievable

[tryberg · 26 April 2002]

That one word describes this series. The pilot episode involving Bobby being paralyzed and Jan and Phillip's marital problems (among other side archs) was actually well written. The rest of it went down from there. The family has to move because their house at 4226 Clinton Way is in the path of a freeway development. ok, fair enough so far. They are unsucessfull at getting that changed; uh huh. Next, so they decide to move the house; literally cut it into pieces and move it, so that the producers can stop using the fooage of the actual house filmed back in the 60's (the real house, while still there, looks nothing like it did and is now protected by a big wall), but not design new sets. This is where it started to be a stretch. Mike is mad that their councilman wouldn't support them in their opposition so he decides to run against him, and (surprise! surprise!) he won. This is where they lost me. The rest of the series went downhill from there, culmunating with Marcia's alchoholism. Don't get me wrong, I think that Marcia becoming an alchoholic was a good idea (it was built on from the way things were when the series started -- can we say good plot development?) but the writing could have been better, and then she admits her problem (after hitting bottom) gets and into treatment (becoming an advocate for people with her problem to seek help); all in one episode. Then in the next episode it was completely forgotten. Oh, please! The next, and final (thankfully)m episode dealt with the girls putting together a catering business (The Party Girls). Oh, and least I forget, throughout the show Cindy is dating her widowed (or was it divorced, I forget) boss at the radio station where she works as a D.J. Ack Ack Ack. Go away!

A Stake in the Heart of Bradydom

[Sargebri · 3 April 2003]

This show probably ended the notion of people trying to milk the Brady franchise for all its worth. The idea of trying to turn one of the corniest, but memorable, sitcoms in television history into an hour long drama is probably one of the worst ideas in the history of television. To me, the idea of the Brady's finally having real life problems is so absurd after the surrealism of the original series. Just thank God they didn't bring back cousin Oliver.

Of late, and I know not wherefore, the Bradys have lost all their mirth...

[Jason-173 · 7 December 1999]

Mike Brady running for office? Bobby handicapped? True enough, the original Brady Bunch wasn't funny. But why rub it in with this schlock??

I have to admit, when Bobby gazed up like Bambi at Mike and asked if he'll walk again I did get a little choked up. But then I immediately started laughing! God strike me down. I've loved the Bradys since the beginning, so I felt a little torn, but let's be serious, there's nothing dramatic about the Bradys. So why try? This attempt at drama, turning the Brady Bunch into the Colbys was ridiculous!

There was something really wrong-headed about this show. I kept waiting for footballs in the nose and lies about George Glass and arguments about using the toilet and Pork Chops and Applesauce! And if everyone was supposed to be there, then where the hell was Cousin Oliver?

Well Acted Adult Drama Series With The Bradys

[luke-31 · 23 December 1999]

This show was actually very good.It works much better than you would think it should,and we come to care about the charachters just as much as we had in the original series.The acting is very good,and the writing was excellent.Watch for a young Jonathan Taylor Thomas as Greg and Nora's son ,Kevin.

Easy For Me To Love

[luke-31 · 22 December 2003]

Sure it was cheesy and took itself too seriously, but I find it very easy to love, nonetheless, and it holds a special place among my favorite shows.It isn't high quality in the way my other favorites are, but there is still something very special about it, and it's the natural followup to "A Very Brady Christmas". Leah Ayres did a fine job as the replacement Marcia, and the rest of the cast got a chance to show that they truly were talented dramatic actors all along. I can't help but love this show.

Very Good Show!

[dfortier5 · 2 September 2005]

I don't care what anyone says, this was a very good show!!! 10 out of 10 for me! It was fun seeing them reunite the Bradys again, but unfortunately no one gave this new show a good chance to survive. The main reason it failed isn't because it was a bad show, it was because the network played it too early. They should have targeted the adult audience who were raised with the Bradys.

This new drama was VERY GOOD! I loved it! I taped every show. The only thing I didn't like is they made Mike a politician. I hated that idea. But working for an architect myself, I unfortunately know how much architecture is closely related to politics. But for an honest politician, I found Mike had a LOT of conflicts of interest!!! Sure didn't make him look too clean when several members of his family are involved with his proposal. Another thing I didn't like is when Nora joined her two sisters-in-law in the catering business when she's a nurse.

I loved that Marcia stood by Wally through thick and thin! I loved that they brought realistic problems i.e. Wally constantly looking for a job, Marcia and Wally being homeless, Marcia drinking too much, Bobby being paralyzed, Jan & Phillip who can't conceive, Greg & Peter getting into a huge fight only to have Dr. Greg ultimately save his brother's life. How can anyone say that these are not good story lines? I still get mad every time I think that this show was cut short when it could easily have had a long life!