The Brady Bunch: Season 1

I grew up watching the Brady Bunch in repeats (every day @ 4:35 on TBS), now I watch it on TV Land. This is the best example of classic TV. Below is a description of every episode from season one that are on this DVD:

The Honeymoon (original air date: Sept. 26, 1969)
Description: In the series pilot, Mike Brady, a widower with three boys, marries Carol Martin, a single mother (it was never fully stated if Carol was a widow or a divorcee) with three girls. Mike and Carol decide to bring their 6 kids, Alice their maid with the can-do attitude, tiger the dog, fluffy the cat (who is never seen after the pilot), and Cindy's rag doll along on their honeymoon.

Dear Libby (original air date: Oct. 3, 1969)
Description: Advice columnist Dear Libby, draws Marcia's attention with a letter from someone of similar circumstances as her parents. This leads Marcia to draw the conclusion that Mike or Carol wrote the letter. Hurt feelings and misunderstanding encompass the entire family -- including Alice - that is until Dear Libby drops everything and makes a personal appearance to the entire bunch; just to clear everything up!

Eenie, Meenie, Mommy, Daddy (original air date: Oct. 10, 1969)
Description: Cindy has been cast as the fairy princess in the school play. She's excited that her mom and new dad will be able to see her in the production until she learns she can only invite one parent. If it were my kid, I would have pulled them from the play Mike decides to put Cindy's mind at ease. A private play is done just for the Brady family and Alice.

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (original air date: Oct. 17, 1969)
Description: No longer feeling needed around the Brady household, Alice makes up a cockamamie story about an ailing aunt in Seattle in order to leave. Later the family finds out the truth and put "Operation Alice" in effect in an attempt to make her stay; which works!

Katchoo (original air date: Oct. 24, 1969)
Description: Jan comes down with a mysterious allergy and Carol and Alice try to determine just what is causing it. They deduce that the cause is Tiger, the family dog. This leads to the boys having to deal with getting a rid of their pet. Come to find out that Jan is really allergic to Tiger's new flea powder!

A Clubhouse Is Not a Home (original air date: Oct. 31, 1969)
Description: This episode should have been the first after the pilot because it shows everyone moving in together and often in syndication it is either dropped or it is put after the pilot. The family moves in together and the boys don't want to share their club house with their new sisters.

Kitty Karry-All is Missing (original air date: Nov. 7, 1969)
Description: When Cindy's doll, Kitty Karry-All turns up missing, she accuses Bobby. This leads to a mock trial with Alice as the judge to determine Bobby's guilt or innocence. Then later Bobby's kazoo turns up missing and he blames Cindy. At long last the real culprit is revealed to be Tiger.

A-Camping We Will Go (original air date: Nov. 14, 1969)
Description: This is one of my favorite episodes from the entire series. The entire family goes on a camping trip together. The boys don't want the girls there and the girls don't want to go but in the end they all wind up enjoying themselves.

Sorry, Right Number (original air date: Nov. 21, 1969)
Description: Fed up with the high telephone bill, Mike installs a pay phone in the family room. Has anyone ever heard of someone having a pay phone in their home? I didn't think so. This is a classic Brady Bunch episode.

Every Boy Does It Once (original air date: Dec. 5, 1969)
Description: After watching "Cinderella" on TV, Bobby becomes concerned about stepmother's especially since Carol asks him to sweep out the fireplace. Soon after, feeling worthless, Bobby decides to runaway. Mike a Carol foolishly decide to "buy" Bobby's love but then feel that they make a mistake and Carol comes up with a great way to show her true affection for her new son.

Vote for Brady (original air date: Dec. 12, 1969)
Description: Marcia & Greg are both running for student body president. It's a cutthroat campaign until Marcia decides to drop out after hearing Greg scold Rusty for making up malicious rumor's about her.

The Voice of Christmas (original air date: Dec. 19, 1969)
Description: Yes, Florence Henderson can sing and this episode proves it. Carol loses her voice and rather than pray (that's not done on TV), Cindy asks Santa to lend a helping hand. Sure enough on Christmas morning Carol has her voice back in time to sing "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" for the entire congregation. By the way, this is anther episode that is rarely seen unless it's during Nick at Nite's or TV Land's Christmas specials.

Is There a Doctor in the House? (original air date: Dec. 26, 1969)
Description: All six kids come down with the measles and a fight ensues when Carol calls her doctor (a woman, played by Marion from Happy Days), and Mike calls his doctor (a man, played by Mr. Mitchell from Dennis The Menace).

Father of the Year (original air date: Jan. 2, 1970)
Description: Marcia enters Mike in a "Father of the Year" contest through the newspaper. However, in order to do this she's had to sneak around and break some rules. When Mike catches her and she's unable to explain, he grounds her from the family ski trip. All is forgiven when Mike is surprised with his award during a televised awards presentation at the family home.

54-40 and Fight (original air date: Jan. 9, 1970)
Description: The Brady family learns that a trading stamp company is going out of business. A fight breaks out over who should get all of the saved stamps, the boys or the girls. If the girls get them, they'll buy a sewing machine and if the boys get them, they'll by a rowboat. How do they solve the problem? By having a card house contest. The girls win but buy a TV instead. Side Note: Look VERY closely and you will see a card standing up after the house falls down, and Mike even uses his fingers to try to press them down.

Mike's Horror-Scope (original air date: Jan. 16, 1970)
Description: The day after Carol reads Mike's horoscope, which states "a strange woman will enter your life tomorrow," Beebe Gillini enters Mike's office and proves to be a most difficult client. Why any man would choose Beebe over Carol is beyond me. Beebe is a pretentious, stuck-up, overindulgent, shrew of a women.

The Undergraduate (original air date: Jan. 23, 1970)
Description: When Greg's grades start to drop the Bradys quickly deduce he has puppy love for a certain girl named Linda. After a run-around, the Bradys quickly learn just who this Linda is; it's Greg's teacher who is also dating a baseball player. Greg agrees to hit the books in exchange for tickets to a game.

Tiger, Tiger! (original air date: Jan. 30, 1970)
Description: A city wide search is on, when Tiger, the family dog turns up missing. Come to find out, Tiger was just spending time with his new puppies and their mom.

The Big Sprain (original air date: Feb. 6, 1970)
Description: When Carol is out of town, Alice sprains her ankle (tripping over a Chinese checkers board), putting Mike and the kids in charge of the household duties and her boyfriend Sam dateless for an upcoming ball. They all pull together though and work together as a team.

Brace Yourself (original air date: Feb. 13, 1970)
Description: Marcia is distraught after getting braces and becomes convinced she's ugly. This compounds when her boyfriend Alan Anthony breaks their upcoming date, thinking it's due to her braces.

The Hero (original air date: Feb. 20, 1970)
Description: Peter gets his 15 minutes of fame and lets all the attention he gets go to his head after saving a little girl from a falling shelf at Driscoll's Toy Store.

The Possible Dream (original air date: Feb. 27, 1970)
Description: Marcia's sense of security is shattered when Cindy inadvertently gives away her diary to a book collection. Marcia is especially concerned since in it, she confessed a secret desire for Desi Arnaz, Jr. Of course, DesiJr., nothing better to do so he shows up (Alice knows his mother's cook) and tries to console poor Marcie.

To Move or Not to Move (original air date: March 6, 1970)
Description: With constant complaints about the size of the house bombarding Mike and Carol, Mike puts the house up for sale and looks into buying a new one. Immediately after this, the Brady house seems to be haunted.

The Grass is Always Greener (original air date: March 13, 1970)
Description: Mike and Carol switch roles for a day in order to prove a day with the opposite sex involves much less work. Their duties: Carol must help the boys with baseball practice and Mike must help Marcia with a cooking badge. Both find out that the grass is NOT greener on the other side.

Lost Locket, Found Locket (original air date: March 20, 1970)
Description: Jan receives a mysterious locket in the mail with no indication of who sent it. While the Bradys are trying to figure out who sent it, the locket mysteriously vanishes.

Who has never heard of the BRADY BUNCH?! The Brady Bunch ran from 1969 to 1974. From the beginning the show was a hit to audiences and became a classic altogether. When I got my copy of the first season I was amazed of the effort they put into it. Usually, Paramount has plain, ordinary DVD sets. Not this time though, they added a lendicular cover and a few extras. This set is also a space saver too. Instead of making 4 cases for the 4 discs, they put two discs in each case cutting the size of the set in half. The picture to me was very clear and crisp, with the occasional flicker of dust and debris. The sound was pretty good too, considering that all shows back then were in mono. All in all, this set is a great selection for all you Brady fans out there!

The Pilot episode of The Brady Bunch aptly sets up the way of the show with an ending that's almost totally out of reality.

The unrealness continues with, for instance, shows where the whole family comes to a halt to search for Cindy's missing doll.

Unrealness, is not a bad word, by the way. On the contrary, I think today's TV's obsession with "reality" only makes for a more pessimistic unreality as now they strive to make every TV family more dysfunctional than most will ever be.

For example, In retribution for the wise, selfless and caring dads of the sitcoms of old we now have a pack of moronic, weak and selfish dads who are constantly inferior to the kids and/or the wife.

While this sort of thing is funny when the show is done right (like The Simpsons and occasionally Malcolm In The Middle) it grows tired real quick and one starts preferring the other side of unreality.

That's where The Brady Bunch comes in.

The Brady Bunch was never a great show, but it was a sweet and enjoyable one. Where the writing of the show was weak, at least you had good chemistry between the kids and kids and the adults.

For a show that seems firmly a part of the 1970's, this first season certainly looks more like the sitcoms of the late 60's to be sure. The look of color shows back then were made to take advantage of color TV that while it was not exactly new, was finally starting to go mainstream.

That means most color shows were really IN COLOR, bright primary colors. Almost any color show of that time was a feast for those who loved color.

The plots for the first season are pretty much standard issue sitcom plots. I mean, every show back then had the "One member of the family might be allergic to a pet or another family member" episode.

Being the first season both Greg and Marcia are freakishly young. It would take at least a couple years for Marcia to start to blossom into the leggy proto babish high school dream date people remember her for.

In this season the one most fun to watch is Cindy, I crack up when she makes an angry face at someone. The lisp is always a great touch too.

Season one standouts:

The Honeymoon: or the pilot. Like I said, this pilot aptly set the tone for the rest of the series, especially at the end where a guilty Mike and Carol decide to invite the children to the Honeymoon (They felt guilty for yelling at the kids after their pets got loose and ruined the wedding reception! Can you imagine that?). It's punctuated by a couple of sweet moments like when Mike tells Bobby that it's okay to remember his original mother. It's too bad that Fluffy the cat didn't get carried over to the series proper. It would've made for some Tiger/Fluffy rival episodes and cute animal antics are always the icing on the cake for shows like this.

Katchoo: It's the Brady's version of this eternal sitcom plot. Jan seems to develop a mysterious allergy to Tiger. In the hopes of not having to get rid of Tiger, the girls, the boys, Carol and Alice and then Mike all secretly put poor Tiger through one bath after the other truly making the dog water phobic. Those bath scenes really make this episode a funny watch.

Kitty Karry-All is Missing: Cindy's Kitty Karry-All disappears right after Bobby was in the room. This episode's a bit sneaky, slipping in a little education on civics for the kiddies (innocent until proven guilty, circumstantial evidence). A great scene for memorabilia collectors is to look at the toy store scene. You can see a Remco Star Trek "flying rocket plane" toy (try finding one of those on Ebay!). You can also see a Lost In Space robot toy and several other vintage toys.

Father of the Year: While trying to keep her essay entry for a contest on "Father Of The Year" secret, Marcia does a few things that cause harsher and harsher punishments from her hopeful "Father Of The Year". Of course, a simple explanation would clear things up and prevent punishment but also disqualify her from the contest. Marcia doesn't flinch and continues to see through the hurt of the punishments to the greatness of her new father. As corny as it is, I dare you not to feel for Marcia and not to get misty when the end you know is coming finally comes.

Lost Locket, Found Locket: Jan receives a locket from a secret Admirer. Soon after she gets it, it disappears prompting a whole family reenactment of the time it disappeared. The episode ends with a really nice scene between Alice and Jan.

Most of the shows on season one are a good watch.

The quality of the shows on this DVD is much better than you will ever see on cable. Print quality is clean but sharpness is variable. Even in the same episode some scenes are sharper than others. It's not too much of a big deal but kind of curious anyway. You can expect scenes with effects (in the case of the Brady Bunch, superimposed titles, dissolves or the popping up of the boxed heads at the end of act 2) to be less sharp but scenes beyond those have a sharpness shift.

Color is saturated throughout, which is great. To get the full effect of these shows (and to mimic the broadcasting done back then to accentuate the color) you want them the color to pop like a technicolor musical.

Audio is perfectly fine and clean, so much so that in the episode "A-Camping We Will Go" you can hear that the "hoot hoot" of an owl was cut in from a scratchy soundtrack of perhaps an old movie.

Kudos to Paramount for not ignoring the opening "Brady Bunch In color" slide and not supplanting the vintage Paramount logo for the new one (I'm always bugged by studios cutting in their most recent logos to films and TV shows of the past. Paramount is as bad an offender of that as any. I'm glad they decided not to do it for these shows).

Most importantly, the shows are uncut. You know, even on channels that purport to be a place where old shows are revered, the shows themselves are put through all manor of indignities. They are time compressed (which makes for that somewhat noticeable Jerky movement and "hiccups" in the sound), the channel logo is ever-present on the bottom of the screen. They superimpose text and even images and sound for shows coming up next (or soon) and they can't wait to squeeze out the closing credits in order to do more promotion. Finally, 2-4 minutes get cut from half hour shows. Cutting stuff out of syndicated reruns is nothing new but more is cut now than most stations ever did. Back then, some stations cut, some didn't and the amount of time cut varied from station to station. Now channels get pre edited video masters from the studios and sometimes the channel even cuts more.

TV on DVD is the only way to escape these atrocities so I'm glad it's catching on.

The extras are kind of sparse but fun. Sherwood Shwartz is always fun to listen to talking about his shows. You get to hear him do commentary for the pilot and on the roundabout 1/2 hour featurette.

What's more fun is to hear the grown up Brady Kids (3 of them) do commentary on a couple shows. They have fun, make fun of each other and themselves and give a little bit of info about the making of the show. All great fun.

Most children of the 60's and 70's will find themselves watching the shows here with a tranced out goofy grin. The Brady Bunch will weave it's peculiar magic over you once again.

Recommended.