Reamousing Holiday Traditions: Honoring the Festivities in a 'Brady Bunch' Fashion
Reamousing Holiday Traditions: Honoring the Festivities in a 'Brady Bunch' Fashion
Confess now, you've got a soft spot for those fictional Bradys! Mike, Carol, their offspring Greg, Marcia, Peter, Jan, Bobby, and Cindy, together with their housekeeper Alice. When the Brady clan, from everyone's beloved show The Brady Bunch, made a comeback in 1988 through the TV movie A Very Brady Christmas, you were right there to join in the family fun. Or perhaps, you're part of the younger crowd who discovered this entertaining fictional family years after the original episodes aired.
Year after year, no holiday season is complete without A Very Brady Christmas. And this year, we commemorate 36 years since our reunion with the Bradys with these entertaining insights. Ho! Ho! Ho! And Brady style holiday greetings!
1) Let's talk about "Imposter Jan", played by Geri Reischl, replacing Eve Plumb in The Brady Bunch Hour, the first spin-off from The Brady Bunch. We also have "Imposter Cindy" in the form of Jennifer Runyon in A Very Brady Christmas, with Susan Olsen reportedly choosing to go on her honeymoon instead of appearing in the movie. However, the real reason was apparently a pay issue, with Olsen feeling taken advantage of due to her young age in the cast.
Fun moment: When Alice meets the Brady kids at the airport, she mistakes a woman for Cindy before the real Cindy arrives. Was this a nod at the fact that Cindy wasn't played by Olsen?
2) We've got an "Imposter Sam" in A Very Brady Christmas, as Louis Arquette replaces Allan Melvin as Alice’s beloved Sam, who arrives in the Santa Claus suit at the end of the film. Although Alice and Sam were married and living together by then, it seems this fake version of Sam had an affair and the couple had separated.
3) And who could forget about "Imposter Marcia" in The Bradys, with Leah Ayres stepping in for Maureen McCormick? Ayres' Marcia battled alcoholism in one episode of The Bradys.
4) Ron Kuhlman and Jerry Houser reprised their roles from the short-lived 1981 sitcom spin-off The Brady Brides. In A Very Brady Christmas, Jan and Philip were secretly separated and shared a bedroom in the Brady house. When Carol found out, she gave the couple permission to have make-up sex while the family was downstairs enjoying Alice's famous pancakes.
Marcia and Wally were also facing challenges. The family was unaware that Wally had lost his job at a toy company, but Mike, in typical Brady fashion, found Wally a new job nearby.
5) A tantalizing moment: After Wally confessed his unemployment, Marcia and Wally got a little amorous at the dinner table. In a classic A Very Brady Christmas scene, Marcia told Wally, "Don't be sorry, just be Wally."
6) To maintain the sweetness that Brady spouses embodied, Caryn Richman, who'd just played Gidget in the syndicated sitcom reboot The New Gidget, was cast as Greg's wife.
7) There was a switch as well for younger Brady Bobby, portrayed by Mike Lookinland, who returned to his blonde hair color in A Very Brady Christmas, marking the first time he appeared blonde on the small screen.
8) A Very Brady Christmas references some plot points from the season one Christmas episode of The Brady Bunch ("The Voice of Christmas", aired on December 19, 1969), such as Carol's laryngitis and not being able to sing at church on Christmas Day. Carol managed to sing, and Mike miraculously emerged unscathed after being trapped in a building collapse in the film's end.
9) If the quoteable Santa Claus in the movie looks familiar, it might just be Hal Smith, who played Otis Campbell, the town drunk, in the popular comedy series The Andy Griffith Show.
Bonus factoid: Hal Smith also played a drunk in an episode of the family sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet.
10) Following the success of A Very Brady Christmas, there were plans to produce at least three television movies featuring the fictional Brady family. But CBS convinced creator Sherwood Schwartz that a new, regular scheduled series would be a better idea, leading to The Bradys. Unfortunately, that series' ratings declined and the show was canceled after six episodes.
Now, let's cap off our Brady celebration with a picture from the beloved original The Brady Bunch series (1969 - 1974). Happy Holidays (and Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa too) from everyone's favorite bunch!
- Robert Reed, who played Mike Brady, faced some challenges during the filming of "A Very Brady Christmas". He had to deal with his character's alcoholism, which was a stark contrast to his role as a responsible father in the original series.
- The character of Florence Henderson, who played Carol Brady, had a notable moment in "A Very Brady Christmas" when her laryngitis from the original series' Christmas episode was alluded to. Despite this, she managed to sing beautifully, just like in the original episode titled "The Voice of Christmas".
- Barry Williams, playing the role of Greg Brady, experienced a change in his on-screen love interest, with Caryn Richman replacing his original wife, played by Maureen McCormick in the original series.
- Ann B. Davis, famous for her portrayal of Alice, added a humorous touch to the movie as she mistakenly greeted a woman as Cindy, not realizing it was Susan Olsen's replacement.
- The film "A Very Brady Christmas" paid homage to the original series by revisiting some of its iconic moments and plot twists, such as Mike's miraculous escape from a building collapse after facing a similar situation in the season one Christmas episode.