USA TODAY April 16, 1992, Thursday, FINAL EDITION SECTION: LIFE; Pg. 4D HEADLINE: 'The Brady Bunch' draws a new generation of buffs BYLINE: Donna Gable BODY: Go ahead and scoff. But Erin Smith of Bethesda, Md., takes The Brady Bunch seriously. ''I grew up watching it twice a day,'' says the 19-year-old radio/TV/film major at the University of Maryland. ''It's beautifully filmed, the scripts are great, and the show stands after all these years.'' Erin and her brother Don, 23, have turned their devotion into Teenage Gang Debs, a campy fanzine for TV sitcom addicts that highlights (among other things) Brady-mania. The fanzine is available via mail order (for $ 2 and two stamps). Gang Debs has more than 1,000 subscribers, some as far away as Great Britain. A recent Newsday poll found that 40 fifth-graders chose The Brady Bunch over I Love Lucy, Gilligan's Island and Bewitched as their favorite TV show of the '50s-'70s. Brady reruns remain popular. Gerald Celente, director of The Socio-Economic Research Institute in Rhinebeck, N.Y., says kids embrace the Bradys out of desperation. ''They are confronted by bad things: drugs, AIDS, suicide. Nothing good is happening,'' he says. ''The Brady Bunch plays to the soft side. Everything is bright and happy and it gives them hope.'' TV reruns aren't enough to sate that Brady thirst; The Real Live Bradys, an off-Broadway production, plays to sell-out crowds at the Village Gate Theater. Another production will open in Los Angeles' Westwood Playhouse Tuesday. The play is true to the TV sitcom, complete with laugh tracks and commercial breaks. And when the orchestra strikes up Here's the Story of a Lovely Lady, the crowd goes wild, says company manager Joan Jeans . Teen idol Davy Jones stopped by to play himself in one of the 23 episodes they re-create. And others may follow. ''The theater has been getting a lot of calls from people who want to know when Desi Arnaz Jr. will be on,'' says Jeans. ''We'll pursue it.'' The most popular character is the housekeeper Alice. ''When she steps out on stage, pandemonium breaks loose,'' Jeans says. The stage show was a springboard for Melanie Hutsell , who plays Jan Brady and is now a regular on Saturday Night Live since she revised her role for a Brady Bunch vs. The Partridge Family skit when Susan Dey (Laurie Partridge ) hosted SNL in February . Brady vs. Partridge Family comparisons are common among Brady buffs. Both series aired in the early '70s, both had animated spinoffs, and both boasted teen heartthrobs in David Cassidy and Barry Williams, who played Greg Brady. Compare if you will, but don't disparage. ''All that stuff about Barry Williams and Florence Henderson,'' Smith sniffs. ''Basically they just went on a date - but people twist it and get the facts all wrong.'' ''A lot of people ask me why I like the show,'' Smith says. ''I mean, I Love Lucy never used to be respected either but nobody has to explain why.'' Some Brady bits: - Creator Sherwood Schwartz's first choice to play dad Brady was Gene Hackman, nixed by ABC as an unknown. - Although he was kind to his young co-stars, Brady dad Robert Reed was not happy. To blow off steam over crummy storylines, he sometimes went to a nearby bar and came back to work loaded. - While micro-miniskirts were a wardrobe staple, going braless was a no- no. Both Maureen McCormick (Marcia) and Eve Plumb (Jan) tried to get away the au naturel look. The less-endowed McCormick was more successful, ''unless'' - as she puts it - ''it was a particularly cold set.'' - Barry Williams (Greg) turned up stoned on his first marijuana cigarette while filming the episode when Bobby is hall monitor. He ended up fiddling with a bicycle wheel, studying its spokes intently and tripping over an air pump. - Tiger the shaggy dog just disappeared one day - and with good reason. He was killed by a florist's truck while looking for a place to relieve himself. As Williams touchingly puts it, ''TV superstar one day, road pizza the next.'' - And count yourself a true Brady Buncher if you can answer these questions: What was Alice's last name? (Nelson). And Allan Melvin, who played her butcher boyfriend Sam, provided the voice for what cartoon character? (Magilla Gorilla). GRAPHIC: EAR PHOTO; color, George Rose; PHOTO; b/w CUTLINE: HENDERSON: Had date with TV son CUTLINE: THEY ARE FAMILY: Reunited for 'The Bradys' series, from left, Susan Olsen, Mike Lookinland, Eve Plumb, Christopher Knight, Leah Ayres (replacing Maureen McCormick as Marcia), Barry Williams, Ann B. Davis, Florence Henderson and Robert Reed. ====================================== CNN NEWS April 20, 1993 Transcript # 345 - 2 TYPE: Package SECTION: Entertainment HEADLINE: 'Brady Bunch' Still Draws Crowds BYLINE: GLORIA HILLARD HIGHLIGHT: Brady-mania still holds strong attraction for TV viewers, some contending that "The Brady Bunch" offers them an extended family to belong to. A movie is in the making for those who feel part of the family. BODY: JIM MORET, Anchor: Twenty-five years after its debut, The Brady Bunch is still going strong. The program has remained a fixture of American pop culture through ongoing reruns, books, a touring musical and coming soon, a major motion picture. CNN's Gloria Hillard spoke with the cast members on their silver anniversary. GLORIA HILLARD, Correspondent: They were the '70s version of the perfect family on the cutting edge of polyester and kid-driven problems. They were the Brady Bunch. And nearly 25 years after the show's debut- ANN B. DAVIS, 'Alice': It's a funny phenomenon, is what it is. HILLARD: Call it Brady mania- there's been the stage version of the suburban clan, the music video parody and- FLORENCE HENDERSON, 'Carol Brady': There's so many movies and so many TV shows that make reference to The Brady Bunch. HILLARD: -even President Bush couldn't resist. Pres. GEORGE BUSH: And the last time interest rates were this low, The Brady Bunch wasn't even in reruns yet. HILLARD: Now, during its initial run, it was never a big hit. It wasn't until the TV family hit syndication in the after school slot that it really took off. SHERWOOD SCHWARTZ, Creator: The Brady Bunch, the way I look at it, became an extended family to those kids. HILLARD: And today? Mr. SCHWARTZ: The exact perfect age for a Brady Bunch fanatic, not just fan, but fanatic is 24-1/2. 1st CITIZEN: I think the funniest thing about The Brady Bunch is that when people watch it and they know then- it's like a game- within the first five seconds if you can name which episode it is, that's how well people know the show. 2nd CITIZEN: The characters, what happened to them, their experiences- 3rd CITIZEN: -because I vicariously lived through them. 4th CITIZEN: Always, always, every night, The Brady Bunch. HILLARD: Well, then? 2nd CITIZEN: I'm not going to sing The Brady Bunch song. 5th CITIZEN: [singing] There's a story of a lovely lady who was living with three very young something. 6th CITIZEN: The lady met this fellow. Do you know the rest? 4th CITIZEN: No. 7th CITIZEN: Oh, yeah, it's a story. HILLARD: And we'll end our story this way - The Brady Bunch, the Movie is in preproduction. Gloria Hillard, CNN, Los Angeles. The preceding text has been professionally transcribed. However, although the text has been checked against an audio track, in order to meet rigid distribution and transmission deadlines, it has not yet been proofread against videotape. ====================================== USA TODAY September 8, 1992, Tuesday, FINAL EDITION SECTION: LIFE; Pg. 1D HEADLINE: 'Brady Bunch' to tell their story on big screen BYLINE: Susan Spillman DATELINE: LOS ANGELES BODY: The Brady Bunch is the next classic TV show headed for the big screen. Paramount Pictures, which produced the hit series that ran 1969-1974, aims to release The Brady Bunch Movie next July, says David Kirkpatrick, who's producing the film with show creator Sherwood Schwartz and Schwartz's son, Lloyd. The Schwartzes also are currently writing the script. No director has been set. Unknown look-alike actors will be cast in the chief parts, but Sherwood Schwartz says he wants to bring back original cast members to play neighbors in the movie's final scene. ''We're hoping this will be the first of The Brady Bunch movies,'' Kirkpatrick says. ''Some of Paramount's most successful movies have been based on TV shows: Wayne's World, The Addams Family, The Untouchables and The Naked Guns and Star Treks.'' The Brady Bunch Movie was prompted by the tremendous recent success of both The Real Live Brady Bunch, a stage play that's run in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, and the best-selling paperback Growing Up Brady, written by Barry Williams, who starred on the series as Greg. In tone, the movie will be a combination of playing it straight like the original series and over-the-top camp like the current stage show. It'll be set in 1972, because ''that was the height of the show's popularity and the kids were the ages that we're looking for,'' Schwartz says. As for The Brady Bunch's perennial appeal: ''Secretly, every kid in America wants to be in the Brady family,'' he says. ''They could talk to their parents. ... Also, it was a better time in America.'' ====================================== The Washington Post February 11, 1995, Saturday, Final Edition SECTION: Style; Pg. D01 HEADLINE: TV Preview; 'Brady Bunch': A Plug Worth A Nickel BYLINE: Tom Shales, Washington Post Staff Writer BODY: Here's the story Of a great big comp'ny That was known throughout the world as Paramount. Then just last year, Viacom bought it For right around 10 billion bucks. The Brady Bunch, the Brady Bunch They're promoting the hell out of The Brady Bunch! It's all very convenient: Viacom owns Paramount, which next week is releasing "The Brady Bunch Movie," and Viacom also owns MTV Networks, one of which is Nickelodeon, and so next week Nick at Nite is wiping out all its prime-time programming (sorry, Lucy and Mary fans) to air old "Brady Bunch" episodes and thereby plug the film. And yet from this gross exhibition of coarse venality some good can come. Exhumed Bradyana on the Nick at Nite bill of fare includes, Tuesday night at 10, one installment of "The Brady Bunch Hour," a short- lived 1977 spinoff of the sitcom featuring most of the original cast. It carries sheer awfulness, witlessness and tastelessness to exhilarating heights, even for television. Singers who can't sing! Dancers who can't dance! Comedians who can't comede! A panorama of polyester and rank hack shlock! Talk about fun. Tomorrow night at 9, following a couple "Brady" reruns, the week gets off to a gently rollicking start with "Brady: An American Chronicle," a droll documentary about the show done in the solemn style of public TV's Ken Burns and made by filmmakers who, says an announcer, "saw 'The Civil War' and most of 'Baseball.' " That certainly qualifies them to make this wry spoof, which comes replete with pretentious white-on-black title cards separating sequences. "A House Divided." "Jan vs. Marcia." With the invaluable aid of narration spoken by George Page, that sonorous voice from lots of PBS shows, the half-hour looks at such mildly perplexing phenomena as the Swelled Head Syndrome exhibited in turn by nearly all the Brady children, the direction of stares in the show's insipid tick-tack-toe opening credits, and certain unnerving similarities between "The Brady Bunch" and the Civil War itself. E.g., n.b. and FYI: Jefferson Davis led the South; Ann B. Davis starred as housekeeper Alice Nelson. Other provocative topics, such as why there was no toilet in the Brady Bunch bathroom, are only touched upon lightly. Among those contributing thoughts -- to stretch a term -- on the Bradys and their era are former Monkee Davy Jones, a "historian" in the Shelby Foote mode who has a lovely yellow Lab at his side; writer George Plimpton; and Nick at Nite's own resident shrink rapper, Dr. Will Miller, who calls the sitcom "a beacon of unity after the dark divisiveness of the '60s." The original show aired from 1969 to 1974 and, like a stubborn virus, has never completely gone away. Only stills from "The Brady Bunch" are used for illustration, until a brief action clip at the end, giving the special an eerie aura of austerity and adding to the ridiculous seriousness. Thomas Hill, who wrote and conceived the program, manages to end it just as the joke is wearing thin. That's something "The Brady Bunch" itself rarely managed to do. Not as ambitious or lively as the 1993 ABC special "Bradymania," Nickelodeon's still has its own daft pizazz. All movie plugs should be as entertaining as this one, but please, not quite so exhaustive. ====================================== Los Angeles Times September 20, 1992, Sunday, Home Edition SECTION: Calendar; Page 22; Calendar Desk HEADLINE: OFF-CENTERPIECE; MOVIES; BIG-SCREEN BRADYS: HAVE WE GOT SOME DOOZIES FOR YOU BYLINE: By RYAN MURPHY BODY: Back in the early 1970s when "The Brady Bunch" was a prime-time hit, the show's creator, Sherwood Schwartz, would regularly receive fan letters that chilled him to the bone. "Most of them were from young troubled girls," he remembers. "They would write 'I'm running away from home, coming out to Hollywood and moving in with the Brady Bunch.' The characters were so beloved that some people apparently thought they were real." Over the course of the show's five-year run, Schwartz received so many of these twisted notices of address change that he devised a form- letter response. "The letter was addressed to the parents, and basically said something along the lines of 'If I were you, I'd watch your kid'. . . ." Flash forward 20 years: The letters have started again. Only this time, the young fans don't want to just join the Brady Bunch; they want to become them. According to a source at Paramount, the studio has been inundated with hundreds of letters and phone calls from young actors and actresses who desperately want to nab roles in the studio's $14-million "The Brady Bunch Movie," which starts shooting in January and will be released in July. "Ever since we announced last week that we were going to cast unknowns in the parts, we've been flooded," says the source. "I've never seen anything like this." Set in 1971, "The Brady Bunch Movie" will incorporate plot lines and famous snippets of dialogue from the television series (such as the Marsha chestnut "My nose . . . my nose!") into a new plot hatched for the film, which revolves around some harrowing trouble at the Brady house. Schwartz, who wrote the movie with his son, Lloyd, confirms that a nationwide talent hunt for the roles of Mike and Carol Brady, their six children and their overworked/underpaid maid Alice has begun. Aspiring actors interested in nabbing roles in the movie take note: If you want to play oldest son Greg or oldest daughter Marsha, looking good in a pair of groovy bell-bottoms is not enough. Schwartz and Paramount are looking for actors who can successfully mimic the gestures, voice and hairstyles of the original Brady Bunch actors. "It's going to be a sort of spoof thing," says the Paramount source. "It will have the feel of 'The Real Live Brady Bunch,' " the successful camp theatrical show, currently playing in Westwood, which started the nationwide "Brady Bunch" renaissance; that show's creators, Jill and Faith Soloway, are casting consultants on "The Brady Bunch Movie"). When asked if any of the original "Brady Bunch" actors are upset because they were not asked to play the parts they made famous in the movie version, Schwartz replied "not at all, because every one of them," with the exception of the late Robert Reed, "will have cameos in the movie. They are actually going to be part of our promotion. Audience members will receive cards when they go in, asking them to properly identify the original actors and where they pop up. If they guess right, they will be eligible to win some sort of prize. "We've decided to use unknowns," Schwartz added, "because it will give the movie more of a reality feeling. Even though we're not leaning this way now, I'm not completely ruling out the idea of casting some stars in the parts, though. Stars, after all, do help sell tickets." That said, Calendar contacted some of the industry's top casting directors (and a couple of "Brady Bunch" experts) and asked them for their dream cast. Although their answers were extremely varied, there was one repetitive casting idea: Goldie, brush out that Florence Henderson shag wig and dust off that "Laugh-In" pantsuit. BILLY HOPKINS ("J.F.K." "Desperately Seeking Susan"): "I think Tom Hanks and Anjelica Huston would be a brilliant Mike and Carol Brady combo. Anjelica played a blonde, remember, in 'The Grifters,' so I think she'd be up for the challenge. I also like the idea of casting Elizabeth Taylor as Carol; the academy loves it when glamorous actresses shirk off the sequins and slap on an All-American face. And plus I hear she wants to work in movies again. Woody Allen could play Mike Brady opposite her. He'd be good; he likes kids. "Michael J. Fox would be a great Greg, and Traci Lords would be good as Marsha. I'd cast Eve Plumb as Jan (the role the actress played on the TV series) . . . she's still acting, remember. I think the best Alice of all would be Rebecca De Mornay ("The Hand That Rocks the Cradle"). I like the idea of an evil maid coming into that house and stealing the kids and husband away from Carol Brady." BARRY WILLIAMS (the original Greg Brady and author of the 3-million- selling memoir "Growing Up Brady"): "I'd like to run with Charles Grodin for the part of Mike Brady and Teri Garr for Carol. They would just light up the screen. I think 'Saturday Night Live's' Pat (Julia Sweeney) would be a great Alice. I like the ambiguity there. And I think Robin Williams would be a great Sam the Butcher. If they could tag Madonna as Marsha, that would be exceptional. As for my role, I think they should hire Jerry Seinfeld." RISA BRAMON GARCIA ("Fatal Attraction," "Sneakers"): "I think Kevin Kline and Goldie Hawn would be a great Mr. and Mrs. Brady. They'd send the material up a little bit, which is what this movie requires anyway. I think Linda Hunt would be a very good Alice, and I'd go with Christina Applegate ("Married . . . With Children") and Robert Downey Jr. as Marsha and Greg." JEFF GREENBERG ("Cheers," "Look Who's Talking"): "I think you'd have to go with either Betty White or Dianne Wiest as Alice. As for Mike and Carol, I like the idea of using a real-life established couple for the roles. I think Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell would be excellent." MIKE FENTON ("Charlie," "E.T." "Honeymoon in Vegas"): "I like Jack Lemmon and Kim Novak as Mike and Carol Brady, because that casting is just as outlandish as this project. I'd go with Daniel Day-Lewis as Greg, because he'd add credibility, and Shannen Doherty ("Beverly Hills 90210") as Marsha. She'd be great. For Alice, I'd cast Holly Hunter, and for Sam the Butcher, I'd go with Mike Myers. Those two would be terrific together. Of course, the most brilliant way to make this whole concept seem fresh and new would be to cast black actors in the roles. I like Natalie Cole and Sherman Hemsley as Carol and Mike, Halle Berry as Marsha, Mike Warren ("Hill Street Blues") as Greg and Isabel Sanford as Alice. I'd pay to see that . . . wouldn't you?" SHERWOOD SCHWARTZ: "Goldie Hawn would be my dream Carol, and I think Harrison Ford would look great opposite her playing Mike. For Alice, I'd go with Roseanne Arnold. Now, she would be hilarious." LLOYD SCHWARTZ: "I think Roseanne Arnold would be a superb Alice. For Mike and Carol, I'm partial to Christopher Lloyd and Madonna. I admit Madonna is an offbeat choice to play an All-American mother, but I always thought Carol was absolutely sexy, and I think Madonna is, too." GRAPHIC: Photo, The original Brady Brunch included Ann B. Davis, left, as Alice, Florence Henderson (Carol) and Robert Reed (Mike). ABC; Photo, A Carol Brady sampler -- What about Goldie Hawn, Madonna or Anjelica Houston? ; Photo, A Mike Brady sampler -- Could it be Kevin Kline, Christopher Lloyd or Tom Hanks? ====================================== The New York Times October 2, 1991, Wednesday, Late Edition - Final SECTION: Section C; Page 18; Column 3; Cultural Desk HEADLINE: Theater in Review BYLINE: By MEL GUSSOW BODY: The Real Live Brady Bunch and the Real Live Game Show Village Gate 160 Bleecker Street (at Thompson Street) Through Dec. 8 THE REAL LIVE BRADY BUNCH Episodes of "The Brady Bunch" television series created by Sherwood Schwartz; stage direction, Jill and Faith Soloway; music, Faith Soloway; technical director, Jim Jatho; stage manager, Madeline Long; costumes, Ms. Long; set design, Dan Kipp and Mr. Jatho. Ron Delsner presents a Soloway Sisters/Eric W. Waddell Production, in association with Metraform's Annoyance Theater. WITH: Andy Richter, Jane Lynch, Pat Towne, Becky Thyre, Benjamin Zook, Melanie Hutsell, Tom Booker, Susan Messing and Mari Weis. THE REAL LIVE GAME SHOW Musical director, Faith Soloway; floor director, Pat Towne; technical director, Dan Kipp; set design, Mr. Kipp and Terry Ayers. With: Wayne Waddell, Dana Cunningham, John Copeland and Andy Richter. With "The Real Live Brady Bunch," the flirtation between theater and television becomes an embrace. Onstage at the Village Gate, actors from the Annoyance Theater of Chicago re-enact original episodes from "The Brady Bunch," that popular sentimental sitcom of the early 1970's. The episodes, which will change weekly, are performed as written, without comment from the actors or the director. They offer "Brady Bunch" fans a gloss of nostalgia. For the rest of the world, the show should serve as self-parody. While a live "Brady Bunch" may be defensible as cultural trivia preservation, the opening act has no such claim. Before arriving at the Brady home, the audience is expected to sit through "The Real Live Game Show," in which volunteers are brought up on stage to challenge one another in a mind-numbing party game that moves theater further back into television archeology. To ensure that the terrain is recognized, there are television monitors and an applause sign, and the game show is interrupted for unfunny commercials for other Off Broadway shows. "The Real Live Game Show" is several steps below seeing "Wheel of Fortune" in a television studio. "Brady Bunch" enthusiasts might consider arriving after the intermission. From the opening bar of the theme song, the pseudo-sitcom comforts the audience with remembered kitsch. While all the actors try to mimic their television models, it is only Mari Weis as the maid who provokes smiles. As in the original show, she has the most waspish wisecracks. Canned laughter is a natural accompaniment to the tinniness of the undertaking. After the episode, there is a 30-second sendup in which the actors quickly simulate the erotic entanglements and pot smoking that might have gone on behind the scenes if the Bradys had been real instead of make-believe. This coda is not enough to justify the theatricalization, when re-reruns can be seen in perpetuity (weekday afternoons on WTBS). Should "The Real Live Brady Bunch" find a following in New York as it did in Chicago, will the real live Partridges, Nelsons and Cleavers be far behind? ====================================== News Tribune February 12, 1995, Sunday SECTION: SoundLife; Pg. SL7 HEADLINE: TV & RADIO: 'BRADY BUNCH' BONANZA PREPARES WAY FOR FILM RELEASE BYLINE: Keith Raether BODY: Life in the late 20th century has come to this: "Brady Bunch" marathons. All afternoon today (1-5:30 p.m.) KTZZ (Channel 22) will air reruns of the popular TV series "The Brady Bunch." Charlie Brown, Ty Flint and Norm Gregory of KJR-FM will play hosts for the event, which was planned to coincide with the release of "The Brady Bunch Movie." Relive Michael Brady and Carol Martin's marriage (the "Brady Bunch" pilot). See Greg turn dad's den into party headquarters, complete with black lights. Hear Marcia promise The Monkees to her high-school prom planners. Watch Bobby become safety monitor at school and turn the job into Gestapo Central. What a country. What an industry. Q: Did Dave Torchia get dumped for Nick Walker? A: Channel 11 weekend weather guy Dave Torchia resigned from Channel 11 in November. That after 16 years at the station. Former KIRO forecaster Nick Walker is Torchia's temporary replacement, sparing weekday weather anchor Larry Schick from a seven-day work week. Word from the station is that Walker and management are currently discussing options that could cast him into a full-time role. News director Charlie Johnson on Monday also announced that Neal Barton from WFAA-TV in Dallas has been added to the weekday weather staff. Barton was the weekend weather anchor for six years at the Dallas station. He's a graduate of Lamar University in Beaumont, Tex., with a certificate of broadcast meteorology from Mississippi State University. Meanwhile, Torchia, who served for 25 years in the Environmental Support Services department of the U.S. Air Force, has returned to his old employer in a teaching capacity. Barton's arrival is just part of Channel 11's shuffle while preparing for its affiliation with CBS in mid-March. Q: Where's David Kerley, KIRO's weekend anchor man? We haven't seen him for several weeks now. A: David Kerley is alive and well at KIRO-TV as weekday co-anchor with Joyce Taylor for the noon news hour. He was promoted from weekend anchor at the beginning of the year by Channel 7 news director Bill Lord. When the station changes affiliations in mid-March, Kerley will anchor an additional newscast for KIRO. "One of the reasons I wanted to stay (at KIRO) is because of its stated goal to be the station to turn to for news in this market," he said. Kerley first came to Channel 7 in 1983 as a reporter. He moved to KING-TV three years later and anchored the weekend news with Taylor. In August 1992, shortly after Taylor left KING to go to KIRO, Kerley did the same. These days KIRO's newsroom looks like a KING reunion party. Longtime KING primary news anchor Mike James now anchors the weekend news on Channel 7. Former KING sports anchor Tony Ventrella now occupies the same spot at KIRO. The only difference is that he doesn't hold up five fingers to indicate what station he works for anymore. And Julie Blacklow, a reporter at KING, is now a reporter at KIRO. Q: You wrote about Linda Coldiron when she was working at Channel 11. What's she doing now? Obviously she's not at the station anymore. A: At last word, Coldiron had returned to her independent communications business, Coldiron Productions, which she started before signing on with Channel 11 in 1993. Before that she was a reporter at KIRO for eight years. Q: I've called twice now to find out about Susannah Frame's background. When are you going to answer? A: We have. At the risk of putting the rest of our gentle readers to sleep, here's a capsule of what you missed: Susannah Frame: Double major (broadcast journalism and Spanish), University of Washington. Bachelor of arts degree, 1987. Other study at Hunter College in New York and the University of Guadalajara in Mexico. Production assistant, CBS Sports in Seattle, 1986-88. Reporter, KNDO in Yakima, 1987-88. Reporter-anchor, WFRV in Green Bay, Wis., 1988-89. Senior writer for a three-hour international broadcast, "Earth '90: Children and the Environment" in 1990. Foreign projects reporter and producer for Circle B Productions in New York before and during the "Earth '90" project. Reporter and anchor for KREM in Spokane, beginning in 1990. Q: I have a bet with my roommate about the guy who played the police commando on "Hill Street Blues." He says the same guy played on the "Star Trek" TV series. I say no way. A: We're guessing that the police commando you're talking about on "Hill Street Blues" is James B. Sikking. He's the guy who shed his flak jacket only to inspect the spit-shine on his boots. Sikking did participate in a "Star Trek" enterprise, as it were, but not the TV series. He played Capt. Styles, commander of the USS Excelsior and enemy of Captain Kirk, in the film "Star Trek III" made in 1984. Technically, neither of you is right, but you're closer to the truth if a bottle of Barolo is on the line. GRAPHIC: BW PHOTO; Paramount Pictures Corp.: 'The Brady Bunch' will broadcast in marathon form today on Channel 22 to coincide with the release of 'The Brady Bunch Movie.' ====================================== The Washington Post March 20, 1994, Sunday, Final Edition SECTION: TV TAB; PAGE Y5 HEADLINE: 'Brady Bunch' Bounces Back Into Full View SERIES: Occasional BYLINE: Martie Zad, Washington Post Staff Writer BODY: Those suburban icons who appeared each week under the banner of "The Brady Bunch" are ready for private reruns on collector's edition home videos from Columbia House Video Library. The program that spawned a "Brady Bunch" craze in 1969-74, when it was one of television's top shows, is now back in its original footage, uncut and unedited. Four programs make up each video in this "The Brady Bunch: The Collector's Edition," which can be purchased only through Columbia House Video Library (1-800-638-2922). The introductory volume is $ 4.95. Subsequent volumes will be shipped every four to six weeks at $ 19.95 each. Add shipping and handling to both prices. The first cassette contains four episodes beginning with the ABC series premiere, "The Honeymoon," in which widower Mike Brady gets hitched to widow Carol, and his three boys and her three girls get involved in a wedding turned topsy-turvy. In the second episode, called "Dear Libby," the kids read an item in an advice column about an unhappy newlywed whose spouse's kids make life miserable. They are certain the letter was written by one of their parents. In "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," housekeeper Alice Nelson's plan to make Carol feel needed backfires, and the kids have to come up with a scheme of their own to get Alice to stay. In the fourth story, Marcia does the opposite of whatever Mike says as part of her plan to win him the "Father of the Year" honors. After its five years on television, the show was revisited, reinvented and remolded into various forms, including "The Brady Bunch Hour," a variety show; "The Brady Kids," a musical cartoon show; and reunion specials such as "The Brady Brides" and "A Very Brady Christmas." An off-Broadway play, books and memorabilia continued to keep the Bradys "alive" through the years. Robert Reed played Mike, Florence Henderson was Carol, Ann B. Davis was Alice, and the children were played by Maureen McCormick (Marcia), Eve Plumb (Jan), Susan Olsen (Cindy), Barry Williams (Greg), Christopher Knight (Peter) and Mike Lookinland (Bobby). GRAPHIC: PHOTO, TELEVISION'S "BRADY BUNCH" OF 1969-74 SPAWNED A CRAZE THAT CAN BE RECAPTURED ON A SET OF HOME VIDEOS. PARAMOUNT PICTURES ====================================== Newsday September 8, 1992, Tuesday, CITY EDITION SECTION: PART II; THE SAGA CONTINUES; Pg. 54 Other Edition: Nassau and Suffolk Pg. 50 HEADLINE: Here's the Story ... 'Brady Bunch Movie' BYLINE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER BODY: THE CULTURAL ELITE will get a healthy dose of family values next year as the "The Brady Bunch" marches to the big screen. "The Brady Bunch Movie" is being written and produced by Sherwood Schwartz, creator of the TV sitcom, and his son Lloyd. The program, which ran from 1969 to 1974, centered around a family created when a widow with three daughters married a widower with three boys. The stories followed the family, their housekeeper and the drama and comedy of growing up. A nationwide talent search will begin next year. The film will be cast with unknowns who look like the characters did in 1972, said Schwartz. He hopes to capitalize on the current excitement surrounding the property. "The Real Live Brady Bunch" stage play had a long and successful run in Chicago and then ran nine months in New York. It is playing now in Los Angeles and goes next to Toronto and Australia. The play features a theater troupe that performs actual episodes from the sitcom and includes audience participation. The book "Growing Up Brady," written by Barry Williams (Greg in the series), has sold 3 million copies. Another book "BradyMania" written by Elizabeth Moran, has just been published. Paramount Pictures will be distributor. "Some of the most successful movies or series of movies at Paramount have been based on television series," said executive producer David Kirkpatrick. "We're hoping that 'The Brady Bunch Movie' will be part of that tradition." Some of the recent studio hits with roots in television are "Wayne's World" and "The Addams Family." "The Brady Bunch" will mark its 25th anniversary in 1993. ====================================== USA TODAY July 25, 1991, Thursday, FINAL EDITION SECTION: LIFE; Pg. 1D LENGTH: 337 words HEADLINE: 'The Brady Bunch' stages a hit revival in Chicago BYLINE: Elizabeth Snead DATELINE: CHICAGO BODY: The Brady Bunch, the irrelevantly amusing '70s sitcom, has risen from rerun status to cult favorite here. A hopelessly hokey stage version of the perennially perky TV show (1969- 74) has become a must-see for locals and out-of-towners alike, playing to squatting-room-only crowds. ''It's a really big hit,'' says Chicago magazine's Dan Santow. Although The Real Live Brady Bunch has played for 13 months, ''there are still lines around the block'' for every-Tuesday-night performances at Annoyance Theater. Now there's even a fall off-Broadway opening planned. The hot n' hilarious play, complete with laugh tracks, corny scripts, blue eyeshadow and '70s kitsch, was conceived by the Soloway sisters, Jill, 25, and Faith, 27, who admit to having been brainwashed by Brady Bunch reruns. ''At first, it was a goof; something we thought we'd do for a month,'' says Jill. But they soon realized they'd clicked with twentysomethings. ''The Brady Bunch was this perfect, ideal family with a '50s quality,'' says Jill. The merged family of six kids headed by Robert Reed and Florence Henderson ''solved every problem in half an hour.'' ''Even back then (they were) surreal,'' says Faith. Rather than make mock, the play is true to TV scripts. And the actors look and sound eerily like the originals. ''We thought of having Marcia get pregnant,'' says Jill. ''But we didn't want to tarnish the image.'' Sherwood Schwartz, the series' creator, appreciates that, of course. ''I was afraid (it) was going to be derogatory. But they do it with a certain reverence.'' Why the success of the show then and now? ''We dealt with subjects dear to all families - braces, dating, not growing tall, being middle child,'' says Schwartz. ''The show wasn't about cancer or world problems.'' Although the play audience ranges from age 20 to 50, those who first saw the story of a lovely lady in reruns laugh loudest. ''It's our generation's nostaliga,'' Jill Soloway says. ''Even though we do feel a little guilty about it.'' GRAPHIC: PHOTO; color, Photo Reserve Inc. CUTLINE: A NEW BUNCH OF BRADYS: In the Chicago cast, top row (left to right), Becky Thyre, Kate Flannery, Pat Towne; middle row, Melanie Hutsell, Mari Weiss, Ben Zook; front row, Susan Messing, Mark Sutton, Tom Booker ====================================== Newsday August 31, 1991, Saturday, NASSAU AND SUFFOLK EDITION SECTION: PART II; AT THE VILLAGE GATE; Pg. 22 Other Edition: City Pg. 23 HEADLINE: The Brady Bunch on Stage BODY: THEY'RE BACK. "The Real Live Brady Bunch," a stage version of "The Brady Bunch" TV sitcom of the '70s, is being imported to New York's Village Gate from Chicago, where it has built an energetic cult following like that enjoyed by "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Staged and produced by Chicago's Annoyance Theater, "The Real Live Brady Bunch" begins Sept. 26 and will feature a staged rendering of a different TV episode each week concerning the widower with three sons who married a widow with three daughters. Ron Delsener Enterprises, the nation's leading concert promoter, is bringing the stage Bradys to the Village Gate's 375-seat space for a run of six to nine weeks. Seven performances are scheduled weekly, with tickets priced at $ 20 Tuesday to Thursday and $ 25 Friday to Sunday; call (212) 475-5120. ====================================== Los Angeles Times July 12, 1994, Tuesday, Valley Edition SECTION: Metro; Part B; Page 2; Column 2 LENGTH: 419 words HEADLINE: VALLEYWIDE FOCUS: BRADY BUNCH COMES BACK TO ITS ROOTS BYLINE: By KURT PITZER BODY: The San Fernando Valley's squeaky-cleanest family, the Brady Bunch, is back in town. But home never seemed so foreign. Never mind that their North Hollywood house has been replicated on a lot at Paramount Studios because the one used in the early 1970s TV series has been altered. Or that no one else drives a mud-brown station wagon any more. It's the people in the Valley who've really changed. "Hey, groovy chick," actor Christopher Barnes, who plays Greg Brady in the upcoming film, said to a politically correct high school girl of the '90s on the set at Taft High School Monday. "Do I look like a yellow, fuzzy, baby bird to you?" the young actress asked, giving Barnes the brush-off. The filming of a loosely adapted version of "The Brady Bunch" for the big screen -- taking place around the Valley until early September -- includes dozens of such scenes in which the archetypal Bradys, who haven't changed in two decades, collide with contemporary culture. At a butcher shop in Northridge, a friend asks Carol Brady if she is "still eating red meat." Greg and Marcia are approached by a would-be carjacker at a mini-mall in Canoga Park, but can't understand what the man wants. In a North Hollywood alley, a neighbor plotting against the Bradys describes the family to an accomplice: "Polite, trustworthy, still believe in the good of humanity. Real freaks of nature." The TV series first aired on ABC from 1969 to 1974, featuring the late Robert Reed and Florence Henderson as Mr. and Mrs. Brady. There were also the six kids and Alice, the maid. Reruns of the series are still shown, and the show has recently inspired a stage production, several books, a collection of vintage songs by the Brady kids and a cult following of mostly retro-fashion twentysomethings. The film, scheduled for release in early 1995, puts the Valley family in the role of a walking museum piece. "That's who they are: Middle America 20 years ago," said co-producer Jenno Topping. "But they're totally oblivious to the fact that everything has changed, and now they're different from everybody else. The mushy part is when the movie sort of yearns for the Bradys' naivete." Carol and Mike Brady are played by Shelley Long and Gary Cole, and the roles of the children are filled by lesser-known actors cast largely for their likenesses to the originals. "I'm still the same Marcia," said Christine Taylor, who plays the oldest Brady girl. "Wide-eyed, innocent. I'm the Valley Girl of the '70s." KURT PITZER GRAPHIC: Photo, COLOR, Taft High in Woodland Hills is temporarily renamed West Dale High for production of "The Brady Bunch." Director Betty Thomas lines up a shot during the filming and actress Christine Taylor, as Marcia Brady, waits for her cue. BRIAN VANDER BRUG / For The Times; Photo, COLOR, BACK IN TOWN: A loosely adapted film version of "The Brady Bunch" television series is being shot around the Valley over the summer. It includes dozens of scenes in which the archetypal Bradys, who haven't changed in two decades, collide with contemporary culture. ====================================== The Washington Times June 14, 1993, Monday, Final Edition SECTION: Part D; LIFE; MUSIC; Pg. D4 HEADLINE: The Brady Bunch sings! Sort of BYLINE: Laura Outerbridge; THE WASHINGTON TIMES BODY: Since "The Real Live Brady Bunch" has been reaping such success on the theater stage, maybe someone should take the logical next step - "Bradys: The Musical." As inspiration, the producers could get a copy of "It's a Sunshine Day, the Best of the Brady Bunch" (MCA). The CD, released earlier this spring, features tracks culled from the four " Brady Bunch" albums (four!) as well as solo stuff by Barry "Greg Brady" Williams, Maureen "Marcia" McCormick and Florence "Mom" Henderson. There's a "rare" low-voltage version of the "Brady Bunch" theme song, and the environmentally groovy "We Can Make the World a Whole Lot Brighter." Before even listening to the release, you may be ready to label it Frisbee fodder. But it's really OK, in a Saturday-morning-cartoon kind of way. Most cuts are certainly no worse than the sing-alongs they have on "Barney" these days. In fact, one can picture nostalgic baby boomers and their preschool offspring bopping together happily to these gentle tunes. Lisa Sutton, who raided the musty vaults of Paramount Records to find and compile the material, also wrote a witty commentary on the Bradys' musical efforts. The sitcom family's producers decided to send them to the recording studio in 1970, she says, after seeing how well "Partridge Family" albums were selling. (At the time, the "Brady Bunch" and "Partridge Family" shows were airing back to back Fridays on ABC). The first Brady record was a Christmas album, a pretty mediocre release by all accounts. Producer Tim O'Brien had two weeks to put it together, with "six little kids who could not sing," as he recalls. "Merry Christmas from the Brady Bunch" is represented here by Susan "Cindy" Olsen's lispy version of "Frosty the Snowman." Fortunately, things got better. Producer Jackie Mills, who had also ground out hits for Bobby Sherman and Davy Jones (of the Monkees), was able to set just the right level of electric guitars, horns, background harmonies and reverb to drown out the worst of the Bradys' so-so singing. A few moderate hit singles resulted, including "It's a Sunshine Day," which actually rips off the kiddie-blues riff from the "Sesame Street" theme. The kids do a Bo Diddley stomp to "Candy (Sugar Shoppe)" and a bubblegum pop turn with "Merry Go Round." There are only one or two really bad songs in this collection, most notably the Bradys' outta-tune, outta-rhythm version of "American Pie." GRAPHIC: Photo, The cast of "The Brady Bunch" was sent into the recording studio after albums by the "Partridge Family" crew sold well. ====================================== PR Newswire September 14, 1994, Wednesday SECTION: Entertainment, Television, and Culture HEADLINE: 'THE BRADY BUNCH' HAS COMPLETED PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY BODY: "The Brady Bunch" starring Shelley Long and Gary Cole completed principal photography Friday, Sept. 2 in Los Angeles for the Motion Picture Group of Paramount Pictures, it was announced by John Goldwyn, Group president/production. Betty Thomas is the director and Alan Ladd Jr. is the executive producer of the film, which also stars Henriette Mantel, Michael McKean, Jean Smart, Christine Taylor, Jennifer Elise Cox, Olivia Hack, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Paul Sutera, Jesse Lee and David Graf. Television series creator Sherwood Schwartz is also a producer of the film, along with Lloyd Schwartz. The story was written by Sherwood Schwartz & Lloyd J. Schwartz, Laurice Elehwany & Rick Copp and Bonnie Turner & Terry Turner. The screenplay was written by Bonnie Turner & Terry Turner and James Berg & Stan Zimmerman. HOLLYWOOD, Sept. 14 "The Brady Bunch" is a motion picture based on the legendary television series which aired on ABC from 1969 through 1974. The now- famous characters included a lovely lady who married a lonely guy, bringing together a family consisting of her three daughters and his three sons, along with the Bradys' maid Alice. "The Brady Bunch" will be the second film produced by Alan Ladd Jr. in his agreement with Paramount Pictures. Ladd was previously chairman and chief executive officer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (1990-93); co- chairman of Pathe Communications Corp. and chairman and chief executive officer of Pathe Entertainment (1989); and chairman of the board and chief executive officer of MGM/UA Entertainment Film Corp. (1986-88) after being appointed chief operating officer in 1985. He operated his independent production company, The Ladd Company, between 1979 and 1985 after serving as an executive at 20th Century Fox, starting there in 1973 as head of feature creative affairs and eventually being named president of Twentieth Century Fox Pictures in 1976. Among the numerous hit films associated with Ladd during these tenures are "Thelma and Louise," "Moonstruck," "A Fish Called Wanda," "Chariots of Fire," "The Right Stuff," "Body Heat," "Blade Runner," the "Police Academy" series, "Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back," "Julia," "The Turning Point," "Alien," "Breaking Away," "Norma Rae" and "All That Jazz." Betty Thomas won Emmy and CableAce awards for directing the comedy series "Dream On." In addition to directing more than a dozen episodes of the HBO series, Thomas also directed "Only You" and premiere episodes of "Arresting Behavior" and "Doogie Howser, M.D." She first achieved national recognition as an actress in her Emmy-winning role as Sergeant Lucy Bates on the television series "Hill Street Blues." Screenwriters Bonnie Turner & Terry Turner's films include "Wayne s World" and "Wayne's World 2." They have won two CableAce Awards, an Emmy and four additional Emmy nominations for their work on "Saturday Night Live." Laurice Elehwany wrote the screenplay for "My Girl." Rick Copp co-produced the television series "Flying Blind" and served as executive story editor for "Rhythm and Blues" and story editor for "Babes" and "Golden Girls." Paramount Pictures is part of the entertainment operations of Viacom Inc. CONTACT: Carol Sewell, director of National Publicity of Paramount Pictures, 213-956-5588 ====================================== PR Newswire September 14, 1994, Wednesday SECTION: Entertainment, Television, and Culture LENGTH: 561 words HEADLINE: 'THE BRADY BUNCH' HAS COMPLETED PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY BODY: "The Brady Bunch" starring Shelley Long and Gary Cole completed principal photography Friday, Sept. 2 in Los Angeles for the Motion Picture Group of Paramount Pictures, it was announced by John Goldwyn, Group president/production. Betty Thomas is the director and Alan Ladd Jr. is the executive producer of the film, which also stars Henriette Mantel, Michael McKean, Jean Smart, Christine Taylor, Jennifer Elise Cox, Olivia Hack, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Paul Sutera, Jesse Lee and David Graf. Television series creator Sherwood Schwartz is also a producer of the film, along with Lloyd Schwartz. The story was written by Sherwood Schwartz & Lloyd J. Schwartz, Laurice Elehwany & Rick Copp and Bonnie Turner & Terry Turner. The screenplay was written by Bonnie Turner & Terry Turner and James Berg & Stan Zimmerman. HOLLYWOOD, Sept. 14 "The Brady Bunch" is a motion picture based on the legendary television series which aired on ABC from 1969 through 1974. The now- famous characters included a lovely lady who married a lonely guy, bringing together a family consisting of her three daughters and his three sons, along with the Bradys' maid Alice. "The Brady Bunch" will be the second film produced by Alan Ladd Jr. in his agreement with Paramount Pictures. Ladd was previously chairman and chief executive officer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (1990-93); co- chairman of Pathe Communications Corp. and chairman and chief executive officer of Pathe Entertainment (1989); and chairman of the board and chief executive officer of MGM/UA Entertainment Film Corp. (1986-88) after being appointed chief operating officer in 1985. He operated his independent production company, The Ladd Company, between 1979 and 1985 after serving as an executive at 20th Century Fox, starting there in 1973 as head of feature creative affairs and eventually being named president of Twentieth Century Fox Pictures in 1976. Among the numerous hit films associated with Ladd during these tenures are "Thelma and Louise," "Moonstruck," "A Fish Called Wanda," "Chariots of Fire," "The Right Stuff," "Body Heat," "Blade Runner," the "Police Academy" series, "Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back," "Julia," "The Turning Point," "Alien," "Breaking Away," "Norma Rae" and "All That Jazz." Betty Thomas won Emmy and CableAce awards for directing the comedy series "Dream On." In addition to directing more than a dozen episodes of the HBO series, Thomas also directed "Only You" and premiere episodes of "Arresting Behavior" and "Doogie Howser, M.D." She first achieved national recognition as an actress in her Emmy-winning role as Sergeant Lucy Bates on the television series "Hill Street Blues." Screenwriters Bonnie Turner & Terry Turner's films include "Wayne s World" and "Wayne's World 2." They have won two CableAce Awards, an Emmy and four additional Emmy nominations for their work on "Saturday Night Live." Laurice Elehwany wrote the screenplay for "My Girl." Rick Copp co-produced the television series "Flying Blind" and served as executive story editor for "Rhythm and Blues" and story editor for "Babes" and "Golden Girls." Paramount Pictures is part of the entertainment operations of Viacom Inc. CONTACT: Carol Sewell, director of National Publicity of Paramount Pictures, 213-956-5588 ====================================== PR Newswire May 10, 1994, Tuesday SECTION: Entertainment, Television, and Culture HEADLINE: 'THE BRADY BUNCH' FILM WILL BEGIN PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY THIS SUMMER PRODUCED BY ALAN LADD JR. AND DIRECTED BY BETTY THOMAS DATELINE: HOLLYWOOD, May 10 BODY: Alan Ladd Jr. will produce and Betty Thomas will direct "The Brady Bunch," a motion picture based on the legendary television series, for the Motion Picture Group of Paramount Pictures, it was announced by John Goldwyn, Group president/production. Television series creator Sherwood Schwartz is also a producer of the film, along with Lloyd Schwartz. The screenplay was written by Bonnie Turner & Terry Turner, Laurice Elehwany & Rick Copp, and Sherwood Schwartz & Lloyd Schwartz, based on the characters created by Sherwood Schwartz. Principal photography is scheduled to commence in July. The original "The Brady Bunch" television series first aired on ABC from 1969 through 1974. The now-famous characters included a lovely lady who married a lonely guy, bringing together a family consisting of her three daughters and his three sons, along with the Brady's maid Alice. "The Brady Bunch" will be the second film produced by Ladd in his agreement with Paramount Pictures. Ladd was previously chairman and chief executive officer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (1990-93); co- chairman of Pathe Communications Corp. and chairman and chief executive officer of Pathe Entertainment (1989); and chairman of the board and chief executive officer of MGM/UA Entertainment Film Corp. (1986-88) after being appointed chief operating officer in 1985. He operated his independent production company, The Ladd Co., between 1979 and 1985 after serving as an executive at 20th Century Fox, starting there in 1973 as head of feature creative affairs and eventually being named president of Twentieth Century Fox Pictures in 1976. Among the numerous hit films associated with Ladd during these tenures are "Thelma and Louise," "Moonstruck," "A Fish Called Wanda," "Chariots of Fire," "The Right Stuff," "Body Heat," "Blade Runner," the "Police Academy" series, "Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back," "Julia," "The Turning Point," "Alien," "Breaking Away," "Norma Rae" and "All That Jazz." Thomas won comedy series directing Emmy and CableAce awards for "Dream On." In addition to directing more than a dozen episodes of the HBO series, Thomas also directed "Only You" and premiere episodes of "Arresting Behavior" and "Doogie Howser, M.D." She first achieved national recognition as an actress in her Emmy-winning role as Sgt. Lucy Bates on the television series "Hill Street Blues." Screenwriters Bonnie Turner & Terry Turner's films include "Wayne's World" and "Wayne's World 2." They have won two CableAce awards, an Emmy and four additional Emmy nominations for their work on "Saturday Night Live." Elehwany wrote the screenplay for "My Girl." Copp co- produced the television series "Flying Blind" and served as executive story editor for "Rhythm and Blues" and story editor for "Babes" and "Golden Girls." Paramount Pictures is part of the entertainment operations of Paramount Communications Inc., which is a majority-owned subsidiary of Viacom Inc. CONTACT: Carol Sewell of Paramount Pictures, 213-956-5588 ====================================== GANNETT NEWS SERVICE June 11, 1993, Friday HEADLINE: SINGING WASN'T BRADY BUNCH FORTE BYLINE: KIM WILLIS; The Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger BODY: Polyester bell-bottoms. Stringy hair. Richard Nixon. There's a rush of pop culture memories in the opening chords of "It's a Sunshine Day: The Best of The Brady Bunch." "Here's the story, of a lovely lady ..." This is, of course, the music of our youth, hammered into a generation's collective conscious by many formative Friday nights of TV viewing. Unlike the Partridges - the fictional rock star family who starred in a companion show for ABC - Greg, Marcia, Peter, Jan, Cindy and Bobby Brady were just like us. Until they sang, anyway. No one recalls family singalongs sounding this goofy. "The Best of the Brady Bunch" captures the white-bread sextet in all their cheesy glory on 17 pop tunes, plus the sitcom's ubiquitous theme and a promo for the episode where "The Brady Six" made their musical debut. The compilation mines material from early '70s albums like "Meet the Brady Bunch," as well as solo singles by Barry (Greg) Williams and Maureen (Marcia) McCormick, many of them never before released. A handful of the tracks are drawn from the show's musically oriented episodes, written in support of a Brady Kids concert tour with contemporaries like Tony Orlando and Dawn, H.R. Puf 'n' stuf and The Bugaloos. Bad doesn't begin to describe the collection. Replete with off-key vocals, bizarre remakes ("American Pie") and crummy ghost-written originals, "The Best of the Brady Bunch" makes the Partridge Family sound like the Beatles by comparison. The highlights are few. The credits trumpet the "previously unreleased version" of "Theme From the Brady Bunch," but it's thankfully indistinguishable from the beloved original. The historic "Time to Change," which Greg "writes" for Peter when his voice begins its pubescent change, is here, too, although Chris Knight's froggy vocals have been inexplicably omitted. And Susan (Cindy) Olsen's lisped reading of "Frosty the Snowman" - the first Brady single - is charming in a forgiving, Christmas spirit kind of way. But there's no justifying pop horrors like Williams' "Cheyenne," a vanity single targeting the "Tiger Beat" set, or the wide-eyed ensemble performance of "Charlotte's Web," on which the six are uniformly out of tune. The disc's liner notes are better than any of the music, dishing up all sorts of great trivia (the highly rated show was canceled because the kids insisted upon singing in half of the episodes) as well as pictures of the Brady Bunch lunch box many of us carried to elementary school. ====================================== PR Newswire February 14, 1995, Tuesday SECTION: Entertainment, Television, and Culture DISTRIBUTION: (ENTERTAINET) TO ENTERTAINMENT AND FILM EDITORS HEADLINE: 'THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE' OPENS NATIONWIDE ON FRIDAY FEB. 17 DATELINE: HOLLYWOOD, Feb. 14 BODY: "The Brady Bunch Movie" will open on Friday, Feb. 17 with 1,820 prints nationwide. "The Brady Bunch Movie" is a presentation of the Motion Picture Group of Paramount Pictures. The setting of "The Brady Bunch Movie" is the Los Angeles suburbs, 1995: a community beset by economic adversity, a crime rate spiraling out of control and the challenges of the information superhighway. In the midst of it all, the Brady family live a chaotically idyllic existence where '70s values reign and the astro-turf is always green. Shelley Long, Gary Cole and Michael McKean star in a comedy produced by Sherwood Schwartz and Lloyd J. Schwartz and David Kirkpatrick, executive produced by Alan Ladd Jr. and directed by Betty Thomas. The film was written by Laurice Elehwany and Rick Copp and Bonnie Turner and Terry Turner, based on characters created by Sherwood Schwartz. Barry Berg and Jenno Topping are co-producers of the presentation of the Motion Picture Group of Paramount Pictures, part of the entertainment operations of Viacom Inc. The Brady family consists of Carol and Mike (Shelley Long and Gary Cole) and their six children: Marcia (Christine Taylor), Jan (Jennifer Elise Cox), Cindy (Olivia Hack), Greg (Christopher Daniel Barnes), Peter (Paul Sutera), Bobby (Jesse Lee); and their trusted live-in maid Alice (Henriette Mantel). "The Brady Bunch Movie" is MPAA rated "PG-13," and will be presented in Dolby Stereo at selected theaters. Soundtrack album available on Milan CDs and cassettes. CONTACT: Carol Sewell, director of Publicity, Paramount Pictures, 213-956-5588 ====================================== Newsday December 28, 1990, Friday, NASSAU AND SUFFOLK EDITION SECTION: PART II/WEEKEND; Pg. 96 Other Edition: City Pg. 103 HEADLINE: 'Brady Bunch' Does Variety BYLINE: Andy Edelstein BODY: IMAGINE, if you will, the cast of "The Brady Bunch" dancing The Hustle. Now imagine them singing "Shake Your Booty" and "Love to Love You Baby." Imagine on the same program, chorus girls, Tony Randall reciting poetry and Donny and Marie Osmond on roller skates. A "Saturday Night Live" skit? Or the kind of hallucination one might have at midnight on New Year's Eve during a Harvey Wallbanger flashback? It's neither. It's the pilot for "The Brady Bunch Variety Hour," an ill-fated series that aired sporadically in the spring of 1977, and hasn't been seen since. Nick at Nite has unearthed it for airing New Year's Eve at midnight. The hour is '70s camp at its campiest and a perfect antidote to the slick New Year's Eve entertainment packages on the networks. The "Brady Bunch Variety Hour" was created two years after the Bunch left the air for its life in perpetual syndication. The pretext for the show was the Brady clan pursuing a career in show business as a family song-and-dance team. Instead of a sitcom, the geniuses at ABC decided to go with a variety show, which, by the mid-70s, was a wheezing anachronism. There's lots of singing (from disco to Broadway), dancing, big-name guests and comedy skits. All of it deliriously, deliciously dumb. "The Variety Hour" wouldn't be the last time "The Brady Bunch" would return in a different guise. But it would be the only time we'd hear Marcia whine that brother Greg destroyed her Led Zeppelin album. ====================================== GANNETT NEWS SERVICE September 18, 1992, Friday SECTION: WPG (Without Parental Guidance) LENGTH: 248 words BYLINE: The Detroit News BODY: Bunch with punch: ''The Brady Bunch'' has sparked a slew of revivals. Here's the story of a lovely lady, a lonely guy, their six kids - and the sitcom that would not die. Following in the well-worn path of ''The Addams Family'' and ''Star Trek,'' ''The Brady Bunch'' is the latest TV show to be reincarnated as a feature film. Paramount Pictures, which produced the popular series that ran from 1969 to 1974, says to look for the movie next July. It'll feature look- alike actors starring as Greg, Marcia, Peter, Jan, Bobby and Cindy, but series creator and film co-producer Sherwood Schwartz plans to resurrect original cast members to play neighbors in the movie's closing scene. ''The Brady Bunch Movie'' is the latest of several recent Brady revivals. On stage, ''The Real Live Brady Bunch'' has been packing them in in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. The play faithfully re-creates old episodes, right down to the exact dialogue, with adult actors substituting as the Brady kids. And big brother Barry Williams (Greg), who now makes a living starring in road companies of Broadway musicals, cashed in on his fame with a best- selling memoir, ''Growing Up Brady.'' In it, Williams revealed such juicy Brady bits of gossip as his crush on TV mom Florence Henderson (they went out on one awkward date) and make-out sessions between Cindy and Bobby in Tiger's doghouse. No word yet on whether the Brady movie will contain equally steamy scenes, but don't expect an NC- 17. ====================================== The Washington Times June 20, 1993, Sunday, Final Edition SECTION: Part D; ARTS; TELEVISION; Pg. D1 LENGTH: 1108 words HEADLINE: Devotee feels kin to 'Brady Bunch' BYLINE: Rod Dreher; THE WASHINGTON TIMES BODY: This newspaper's theater critic went to see "The Real Live Brady Bunch" at the Kennedy Center last week. To say he didn't enjoy himself is like saying Sherman didn't care much for Atlanta. His review could hardly have been more disapproving if the KenCen had booked a truck-and- tractor pull. As a militant member of Generation X, for whom "The Brady Bunch" is our "Beowulf," I was aggrieved. But the better angels of my nature won out, and I decided to forgive him, for he knows not what he does. He's only a baby boomer. The Bradys are an X thing; boomers wouldn't understand. This may be comforting, but it doesn't relieve committed Bradyphiles of the duty to craft apologias for Bradyness. If the world cannot share our generation's affection for this sitcom, at least it might be made to understand. When some of us are holed up in a heavily armed compound one day, vowing not to come out until they award "The Brady Bunch" posthumous Emmys, perhaps the ATF can be persuaded to hold its fire. "The Brady Bunch" was a sitcom that ran from 1969 to 1974. Few contemporary Brady fans saw the show during its first run. "The Brady Bunch" in syndication became a fixture of after-school TV. Did we watch it religiously? Does the pope go to church on Sunday? Most X-ers can even tell you what toys were sold during "The Brady Bunch." There were grainy commercials for games like Battleship, Husker Du and Gnip-Gnop. They remember the theme songs for toys like the Spirograph ("I just can't believe it/The things I can do with my Spirograph"), Lite Brite ("Lite Brite/You can be a star"), and the ever- popular Slinky, which "walks down stairs/alone or in pairs/and makes a slinkety sound." * * * Here's the Brady back story: Cheerful Mike and Carol Brady, both widowed and raising three kids each, marry and blend their families in a large, clean, modern house in the Los Angeles suburbs. Mike's boys - Greg, Peter and Bobby - are mirror images in many ways of Carol's girls, Marcia, Jan and Cindy. They're all taken care of by Alice, the joshy live-in housekeeper/referee, whose apron never dirtied and whose spirit never dimmed. "The Brady Bunch" was one of the first TV comedies to take notice of the sociological shift caused by the rising divorce rate. Sherwood Schwartz, the "Brady" creator, has said he got the idea for the show from a brief 1965 newspaper article that said in 30 percent of contemporary marriages at least one spouse had a child from a previous marriage. Though Mike and Carol Brady had both been widowed, their circumstances - single parents raising kids - paralleled divorce so closely that it made no difference to the young viewers at home. The Bradys told kids there could be a happy ending to divorce, that broken families could be patched up just like new. Your mom might find someone like thoughtful Mike, your dad might marry somebody like sympathetic Carol (though truth be told, most kids would rather have a mom/best pal like Alice). Better still, you might end up living in a big house with a bunch of happy brothers and sisters, where the problems were typically no more harrowing than a squabble over the family telephone, and any dispute could be worked out by episode's end. Is it any wonder that "The Brady Bunch" only became popular on afternoon TV, when all those latchkey children were coming home from school to an empty house? * * * Even kids from intact families found something irresistible about the Bradys. The Brady kids were a Rorschach test for white middle-class youth. With six kids and countless permutations, you could find your own situation somewhere in there. Which of us hasn't faced the burden of being the oldest child, and therefore the responsible one, like poor Greg and Marcia? Or faced the brunt of older-child tyranny, like the younger Bradys did? Find me the fellow, if you can, who didn't get steamed at a little sister's Cindy- like tattling, or who didn't at some point feel ignored by the family, like hapless middle child Jan. There was great comfort in "The Brady Bunch," in the plastic lies it told us about what growing up was like. And they were lies. Who the heck had a live-in housekeeper? What family was perpetually stable? Whose mom looked so unflappably pristine, and carried herself with such Wessonality ? Whose dad came home to a houseful of rug rats after a hard day at the office and remained so eternally understanding? * * * No Generation X Brady fan will tell you "The Brady Bunch" was a good show. It was lousy. Sanitized. Artificial. Tacky. The Bradys, and everything about them, were the television equivalent of a dopey smiley- face button. Have a nice day, kid. The point of Brady fetishism today, and the point of "The Real Live Brady Bunch," is to make fond fun of Brady banality, and ourselves for believing in it. The signature emotional stance of this generation is irony; "The Real Live Brady Bunch" marries irony with the chronic obsession Americans have for their own childhood. It must be said that there is a certain snob appeal to making fun of the Bradys. "The Real Live Brady Bunch" is an example of what essayist Tad Friend called "the archetypal contemporary expression of highbrow . . . in which highbrow condescendingly co-opts low." According to this attitude, endemic to college-educated X'ers, one can only enjoy middle- to-lowbrow pleasures like "The Brady Bunch" if one puts them in quotation marks. "This trivia-surfing sensibility leads to intellectualized but fundamentally mindless art," Mr. Friend wrote last year in The New Republic. And if you're not careful, it leads to the day when a theater company performs old sitcom scripts on stage at the Kennedy Center. Nevertheless, X'ers get such a buzz from winking at and with the Bradys that we'll happily pay for overpriced tickets to see a cherished icon of our youth mocked, to laugh at our own naive innocence, and yes, to revel in it. Of course, you have to have bought into straightforward Bradyism as a kid to appreciate the joke now, which is why boomers are chronologically doomed to hate everything Brady. Besides, reliving Bradyism at "The Real Live Brady Bunch" is one of the few times an X'er can feel at one with his or her fragmented generation (that is, until someone puts on "The Real Live First Two Years of MTV"). Boomers have Woodstock. We have Bradystock. All we are saying, is give Greg a chance. GRAPHIC: Photos (A, color), A) The historic Brady bunch seen on ABC; B) Nora Laudani as Cindy, Carrie B. Aizley as Jan and Kimmin O'Donnell as Marcia in "The Real Live Brady Bunch" at the Kennedy Center ====================================== GANNETT NEWS SERVICE February 16, 1995, Thursday LENGTH: 823 words HEADLINE: 'BRADYS' DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN EXCEPT WITH NEW IRONY AND HUMOR BYLINE: STEPHANIE FLIAKAS; Gannett News Service BODY: Fans of the "Brady Bunch" television series can breathe a sigh of relief - you are who "The Brady Bunch Movie" was made for. The movie runs like a highlights show of the best Sherwood Schwartz (producer of the film) "Brady Bunch" series scenes - scenes that have been shown in syndication repeatedly for 20 years and that Brady fans instantly will recognize. Remember how "something suddenly came up" after Marcia had a run-in with a football? Can you recall the songs the Brady kids occasionally would perform? And who can forget Jan's jealous mantra of "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!" All that and more comes flooding back in the course of the movie. In "The Brady Bunch Movie," the scene is Los Angeles in the 1990s. The only problem is, the ever-wholesome Bradys are still living exactly as they did in the early '70s. They wear the same clothes (micro-minis, bell-bottoms and lots of polyester), they have the same hair-dos (the flip, the perm) and, of course, they live in the same house (you know the one) that Mike Brady designed. And although the Bradys seem blissfully oblivious to the changes around them, the '90s threaten to disrupt their happy, secure lifestyle. In every "Brady Bunch" show there was a crisis that the family had to pull together to solve and the same rule applies to here. This time, Mike and Carol Brady have somehow "forgotten" to pay their taxes and they owe the I.R.S. $ 20,000 they don't have. In addition, their greedy real-estate-agent neighbor, Mr. Dittmyer (Michael McKean), wants to sell the Brady property to build a shopping mall. Compounding their problem: The Bradys have six kids going through various childhood agonies at once. High school can be a tough place and the Brady teens are not exempt from the heartbreak of adolescence. Greg still wants to be a rock star and find a "groovy chick" but can't; Marcia still pines for Davy Jones and the "Big Man on Campus"; Peter is still going through puberty and Jan is still battling living in Marcia's shadow of perfection. (Back in elementary school, Bobby is still safety monitor and Cindy still lisps.) How they fit in (or in their case, DON'T fit in) among their grungy classmates and how their problems compare to stereotypical teen problems of the '90s would seem to be the Brady kid's biggest problem, but they're oblivious to what's going on around them. They just leave it to their peers to be confused by their Brady-ness. As Jan's exasperated guidance counselor (Ru Paul!) advises after diagnosing her as having "middle child syndrome," "come back to me when you're pregnant." But as Marcia explains to a date, "we Bradys follow our own drummer." With that in mind, it's no surprise how the Bradys go about saving their home. They have family meetings. They have kids meetings. They sing, they dance...they even have potato sack races... and they listen to the infinite wisdom of Mike Brady that concluded so many of the TV chapters. Most importantly, they never, ever give up their positive Brady attitude. It will all be OK. ...after all, it always is. Knowing that everything will work out in the end for the Bradys doesn't take away from the movie's fun. The pleasure of "The Brady Bunch Movie" is knowing exactly what's going to happen because you've seen it happen many times before. Director Betty Thomas takes full advantage of fans' knowledge of campy trivia, however embarrassing it may be, primarily by keeping the Brady family exactly the way we remember it on TV. And the actors playing the family members succeed in bringing these characters back to life. While the fashions and hairstyles help distinguish each character as a member of the "Brady Bunch," the way each actor accurately imitates the voice and mannerisms of his or her character makes watching them a riotous trip down memory lane. Not only do the actors playing the Bradys resemble the actors from the televison show, the pursed lips of Marcia (Christine Taylor), the cracking voice of Peter (Paul Sutera), the bubbly laugh of Alice (Henriette Mantel) and the hair-flip walk of Jan (Jennifer Elise Cox) are so accurate that the point of comparison vanishes. Even the well-recognized face of Shelley Long fades away with just a few classic "Oh, Myy-ke"s a la Florence Henderson's Carol Brady. But the original Brady Bunch actors are not to be forgotten. A few key original TV cast members show up in surprising cameos roles - which only add to the self-reflexive fun of reliving the Brady experience. "The Brady Bunch Movie" brings back memories you may have thought you dismissed forever, but, as Jan says of her family, "You're a part of me...and I'm a part of you...and there's no escaping that." Rated PG-13, with profanity and mild sexual content. THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE (PG-13) Three Stars (Good). The Bradys face the challenges of the '90s in classic Brady style. Shelley Long stars for director Betty Thomas. Paramount. 85 mins. ====================================== Los Angeles Times December 8, 1989, Friday, Home Edition SECTION: Calendar; Part F; Page 25; Column 1; Entertainment Desk LENGTH: 131 words HEADLINE: TELEVISION IN BRIEF; 'THE BRADY BUNCH' IS COMING BACK ON CBS BODY: "The Brady Bunch" is coming back as a series -- again. CBS is expected to announce shortly that the network has ordered six hourlong episodes of the show, which begins production next week. When the series reappears in 1990, it will be one of the few TV shows ever to span four decades. The series debuted on ABC in 1969. This will mark the fourth incarnation for the show and its third network. The original series went off the air in 1974, but returned in 1977 as "The Brady Hour." It reappeared in 1981 on NBC as "The Brady Brides." Among the original cast members returning for the newest version are Florence Henderson and Robert Reed, who play the exceedingly cheerful mom and dad. Coincidentally, the two will appear as a different couple Sunday on ABC's "Free Spirit." ====================================== Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) April 7, 1995, Friday, ALL EDITIONS SECTION: SHOWTIME, Pg. 51, TEENTIME! LENGTH: 412 words HEADLINE: USELESS 'BRADY' DRIVEL IS BETTER LEFT IN THE PAST BYLINE: MELISSA HELLERMAN; Plantation High School BODY: Editor's note: A couple of weeks ago The Brady Bunch Movie earned a 3 1/2-star rating in Teentime! Here's another reviewer's look at the flick. Some things are better left in the past. This applies to bell-bottom jeans, platform shoes and, especially, old sitcoms. There is no doubt that The Brady Bunch Movie belongs on a dusty shelf, where it will undoubtedly get a better review than mine. Four words sum up the new Brady experience: I should have known. This piece of useless drivel, which brings together the big, bad world of the '90s with the closed circle of the '70s (the Brady family) is beyond stupid. It is in a category of its own. The plot includes old episodes of The Brady Bunch and a lame attempt to put it all under one theme. Whatever the intent was, it didn't work. The casting was less than memorable because Shelley Long and Gary Cole were equally tired-looking as Carol and Mike Brady. Of course, Long has the ever popular "Oh, Mike" down pat, but after 15 times, it gets annoying. Jennifer Elise Cox was fair as the depressed Jan, but her whinning about "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia" made me want to reach through the screen and strangle her. The only true highlight (if it could be called that) was Christine Taylor as Marcia. She not only looks like Maureen McCormick but is equally talented. The rest of the Bradys are not worth mentioning, because they just didn't make me think Brady. The story line was weak and did not make much sense. Marcia's date with Doug Simpson is one big "Ugh," and her best friend's sexual preference doesn't jibe with the Brady era. To confuse the audience even further, the whole family is still wearing polyester and having potato- sack races on their imitation lawn. By the way, the dog was missing from beginning to end. The Brady Bunch was a hit series for its entire run, and every TV reunion was a universal hit. Surely, everyone remembers that the Brady family sings, and if you are a Brady fanatic, you might enjoy the family trip to Sears and the musical competition. It wasn't enough to make me appreciate this generally sad remake. Even though I've given fair warning, you still might see The Brady Bunch Movie regardless of what I think. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the movie. Buy the supersize popcorn - if you agree with me, you can put the bucket over your head when you are finished. PG-13 - Coarse language, gay subplot. THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE One star GRAPHIC: PHOTO, Paramount Pictures photo; CRUNCH THE BUNCH: Even though it's the '90s, the Bradys are still straight out of the '70s. ====================================== BPI Entertainment News Wire September 8, 1992, Tuesday LENGTH: 678 words HEADLINE: Paramount plans 'Brady Bunch' film BYLINE: By ANITA M. BUSCH, The Hollywood Reporter BODY: The cultural elite will get a healthy dose of family values next year as the "The Brady Bunch" marches to the big screen. Sherwood Schwartz, who created the television sitcom, is readying a feature film based on the popular series for Paramount Pictures. "The Brady Bunch Movie" is being written and produced by Schwartz and his son Lloyd. The executive producer is David Kirkpatrick. The popular sitcom, which ran from 1969 to 1974, centered around a non-traditional family created when a divorced mother with three girls married a divorced father with three boys. The stories followed the family, their housekeeper and the drama and comedy of growing up. A nationwide talent search will begin early next year for "The Brady Bunch Movie," which will be cast entirely with unknowns who look like the characters did in 1972, said Schwartz. The sitcom's creator hopes to capitalize on the current excitement surrounding the property. "The Real Live Brady Bunch" stage play had a long and successful run in Chicago and then ran nine months in New York. It is currently playing through Nov. 1 in Los Angeles at the Westwood Playhouse. It will next bow in Toronto and Australia. The play features a theater troop that performs actual episodes from the sitcom and includes audience participation. The book "Growing Up Brady," written by Barry Williams (who portrayed Greg in the series), has sold 3 million copies to date. Another book "BradyMania" written by Elizabeth Moran, has just been published. "Some of the most successful movies or series of movies at Paramount have been based on television series," Kirkpatrick said. "We're hoping that 'The Brady Bunch Movie' will be part of that tradition." Some of the recent studio hits with roots in television are "Wayne's World" and "The Addams Family." "The Brady Bunch" will mark its 25th anniversary in 1993. ====================================== CNN SHOW: Showbiz Today 11:17 am ET May 23, 1995 Transcript # 803-5 TYPE: Show SECTION: Entertainment LENGTH: 341 words HEADLINE: Brady Bunch Reunites for Television Special GUESTS: SUSAN OLSEN, Co-Executive Producer BYLINE: JIM MORET HIGHLIGHT: For the first time in 14 years, the surviving members of the original "Brady Bunch" have come together to make "Brady Bunch Home Movies," a TV special with Susan Olsen, who played "Cindy," as producer. BODY: JIM MORET, Anchor: The family that won't go away is coming back for more. The Brady Bunch are reuniting on CBS, and they've got good old home movies from the early days of the show. And will wonders never cease? Little Cindy [sp] Brady is executive producer of the special. BRADY BUNCH FATHER: [In clip from television series] If you are going to make a movie, before you shoot the scene, you have to take the cover off the lens. JIM MORET, Entertainment Correspondent: America's favorite TV family has taken the lens off their home video cameras and put together 25 years of offbeat Brady memories for a one-hour prime-time special. Brady Bunch Home Movies brings the whole clan together for the first time in 14 years. Behind the project is the pig-tailed girl fans fell in love with, Susan Olsen. SUSAN OLSEN, Co-Executive Producer: What you will see instead of seeing Bobby [sp] and Peter [sp] and Greg [sp] and Marcia [sp] and Jan [sp], you'll see Susan and Michael [sp]. And we're not all that different, but you'll also see us how we are today. JIM MORET: The special was inspired by her Brady dad, played by the late Robert Reed. SUSAN OLSEN: A very important part of the show is a tribute to Bob Reed, who gave all of us kids these cameras in the first place. JIM MORET: The movie weaves together behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, clips and those far-out Brady vacations. SUSAN OLSEN: I think that we're all people that have grown and become better people because of our experience, so I just kind of wanted to do this to give everybody some honor and show us in a way that nobody else really could. JIM MORET: You can look for your favorite Brady moment when Brady Bunch Home Movies airs Wednesday on CBS. The preceding text has been professionally transcribed. However, although the text has been checked against an audio track, in order to meet rigid distribution and transmission deadlines, it may not have been proofread against tape.