The Brady Kids

I saw my first glimpse of this atrocity about 4 years ago when Nickelodeon aired it on that old summer program they used to air called "Nick in the afternoon". This show really sucked. It was bad enough to have the Brady Bunch, but having the kids on the Brady Bunch have their own Saturday morning cartoon is insane. C'mon who thought that a talking bird who could perform magic could be entertaining?! Apparently the people who made this show thought it was, especially due to the fact that they were probably smoking something too. Not only that, this show was also made by Filmation which is quite know as "The worst cartoon studio in the world".

If you see the kids from the Brady Bunch animated avoid at all costs!

Like executive producer Sherwood Schwartz's "Gilligan Island",the series "The Brady Bunch" was a moderately popular sitcom that ran for five seasons in prime-time for ABC-TV from September 20,1969 until March 8,1974,producing 117 episodes. This was a very popular sitcom that premiered in the late 1960's and gained familiarity with young viewers in countless reruns during the 1970's,and well into the 1980's and to this day continues in repeated episodes that are shown in syndication becoming a camp affection among it's legion of fans who are devoted to the show. The show produced several spinoffs and several revivals by the way during the 1970's and 1980's and well into the 1990's. It is also to point out that Sherwood Schwartz,who was the executive producer of both "Gilligan's Island",and "The Brady Bunch" was also one of the head writers for "The Red Skelton Show". It wasn't until the early 1970's when "The Brady Bunch" would make the jump from prime-time into the venture of Saturday Morning cartoons.

In September of 1972,the animated series "The Brady Kids",produced for Filmation Associates/Paramount Television and produced by Norm Prescott and Lou Scheimer under executive producer Sherwood Schwartz,ran for two seasons on ABC as part of ABC's Sunshine Saturday morning line-up of cartoons from September 16,1972 until August 31,1974. This cartoon only featured the kids,and was adjunct to the prime-time series(which was still on the air when this animated version premiered)only this time around minus the parents Mike and Carol Brady(played respectively by Robert Reed and Florence Henderson), and the housekeeper Alice(played by Ann B. Davis)and having the kids in their own adventures. This time the kids,Greg(Barry Williams),Jan (Eve Plumb),Marcia(Maureen McCormick),Cindy(Susan Olsen),Bobby(Mike Lookinland),and Peter(Christopher Knight)get into some various misadventures alongside certain special guests to whom the kids would meet along the way. You get to see the kids get into some adventures with DC Comic characters Wonder Woman and Superman;The Lone Ranger and Tonto;detective Charlie Chan;not to mention the cast of Mission:Magic! with the talents of Rick Springfield(in animated form). This was on the same ground as "The Scooby Doo Movies" which premiered the same year as this show but on another network.

Other characters that the kids encountered were that of Marlon,a wisecracking black myna bird complete with a twirling tail and a wizard's cap and then there is Ping and Pong,two comical twin pandas from China(voiced by Larry Storch of F-Troop fame),and a dog named Mop Top(who resembled a tan version of The Archies' Hot Dog since on the prime-time sitcom,the family pooch named Tiger was gone after the first season). The latter part of the show featured the kids singing bubblegum tunes in the form of The Archies. The show's pilot aired a week before the series debuted on The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie. However,after the first season,both Barry Williams and Maureen McCormick left and they were replaced by Lane Scheimer(the son of Lou Scheimer did the voice-over for Greg)and his sister Erica Scheimer(Lou's daughter who did the voice-over for Marcia). After the series left ABC in 1974,repeated episodes of the series continue on its Sunday Morning roster until January of 1975. This was several of the Filmation produced animated shows based on prime-time TV series including "Gilligan's Island","My Favorite Martian","Lassie",and the animated version based on Gene Roddenberry's "Star Trek".

This show had pretty good merit if you accept it as a kid's show. It was the guest appearance of characters that you couldn't even imagine seeing on the live "Brady Bunch" show. What chance would you think that The Brady Kids would meet up with Superman, Lone Ranger & Tonto, Wonder Woman, Clint Flint, Charlie Chan, and so many others! I guess the appearance of these characters were used in the same fashion as "The New Scooby-Doo Movies".

The magical bird called "Merlin" was cute! He was always during spells and winds up causing disasters. I always wish that they could have used the Kids from the Partridge Family to make a guest appearance on this show, because they are so comparable!

I've wanted this series for a long time, based mostly on memories and nostalgia, especially from the Tim Matheson on Mushrooms scene in the otherwise horrible Brady movie sequel. The animation is cheap and there's a magic bird and two pandas that aren't needed.

I understand the whole premise was to have the kids go on adventures that couldn't be filmed in real life, but if you get too weird, there's nothing to relate to, or a story to relate with or be entertained by.

And while not being a bad trip, it's mostly just a lousy one. Big let-down. Nice to hear the real voices though. Makes you wish they had more input instead of Larry Storch's lame voice-overs for all those silly imposing fantastical creatures that never feel like characters, but more like, intrusions.

When I think of this show, I wonder how this ever got on the air. You have the Brady kids sans their parents Mike and Carol and their housekeeper Alice. Replacing them are a big dog named Moptop, a magical talking mynah bird named Marlin and a pair of annoying pandas named Ping and Pong. Also, this show allowed the kids to display their musical talents, which were marginal at best. Maureen McCormick and Barry Williams had semi-successful singing careers, but with the awful bubblegum pop tunes they were handed on this show you wonder how they were able to get their singing careers off the ground.