Growing Up Brady

At best, "Growing Up Brady" is not a disappointment. But it doesn't hit the bull's-eye, because it feels shallow. Sure, this is based on a true story, but perhaps this might have played better had it been made, say, several years after the show ended, and with more experienced actors. The Robert Reed story is only slightly more satisfying, and I would have preferred to see more of it. I didn't find the Barry Williams/Maureen McCormick story very interesting, because there apparently isn't any chemistry between the actors portraying them. Cameos from more Brady actors would have helped too, especially from Maureen McCormack, who's character of course, is also the star of the movie. It's an interesting film, but not particularly satisfying.

There is a lot that can be said, and a lot that has been said about the made for TV version of Barry Williams' autobiography "Growing Up Brady." I'm going to try to cover a few details myself.

First, and this should be no surprise, Williams fell hard for Maureen McCormick. Granted, neither of them were newcomers to the business, and McCormick's career was longer, so one can assume they could have seen each other before on screen. Nevertheless as he tells it, he was hit by Cupid's arrow the moment he saw her along with the rest of the cast. I'll try not to repeat what every other reviewer posted here, and focus on some dialogue for emphasis instead. During a scene in the Paramount commissary, Williams tells McCormick that all his friends are jealous of him. She minimizes his revelation claiming they're only jealous because they're on television, but he replies that it's because he's on television specifically with her. That means of all the people Williams could've worked with before the Brady Bunch; Raquel Welch, Jayne Mansfield, Sandy Dennis, Sandy Duncan, Audrey Hepburn, Goldie Hawn, Teri Garr, and Marlo Thomas (who he actually did work with), it was Maureen McCormick who was the source of their envy for Willams.

Speaking of Marcia Brady, yes Kaley Cuoco was certainly attractive playing McCormick, but Christine Taylor from "The Brady Bunch Movie" and "A Very Brady Sequel" looked much more like Marcia. Somewhere I read that another person claimed Cuoco looked more like Eve Plumb, but I don't think she looked like her either. On the flip side, Shelley Long did make an impressive and attractive Carol Brady in the 1990's Brady movies, but Rebecca Bush was the most realistic Florence Henderson.

Then there's the scenes of Robert Reed (Daniel Hugh-Kelly) struggling with his closeted homosexuality, and how it affects incidents where he has to kiss Florence Henderson. We see him getting arrogant over the content of the show, and in some cases getting drunk, and more so with each progressing season. I could swear that during the original broadcast there was a scene where he gets plastered and tries to suggest that Mike Brady should come out of the closet and claim he's having a relationship with one of the other male characters. If we didn't know what we knew about him now, it might be hard to have any sympathy for the man. He also was right about the fact that the reason for the show's success was the presence of six adorable kids, and despite how much he hated the show, he not only tried to protect them, but even gave Barry some legitimate advice at times.

Another segment involves the photoshoots between seasons 1 and 2, and the revealation about the death of the dog who played Tiger. All the girls were undestandably in tears over this, and knowing how much of an animal lover Kaley Cuoco is, that scene is much more believable. The drastic failure to get a substitute for the beloved pooch is also easy to believe.

During the scene when the cast and crew prepare to shoot the episode with Davy Jones as a guest star, Kaley Cuoco was obviously standing on a soapbox in order to emphasize the diminutive stature of Jones, played by Paul Greenberg. Cuoco stands at 5'6", while Greenberg stands at 5'11". Both McCormick and Jones is/was 5'3".

Again, I have to bring up the attempted kissing scenes between Robert Reed and Florence Henderson. Reed could've used some advice from Rock Hudson in "Pretty Maids All in a Row," if that hadn't come out three years later. Henderson actually wanted to suggest to Sherwood Schwartz that they French kiss, and his reply was that they could do so, just not on television. Boy, if they only knew what could be shown on TV in less than a decade, let alone what almost happened between Williams and McCormick in this movie, they'd either revel in their artistic freedom or defecate in their collective drawers!

As we all know, the chances of love blossoming among the boys and girls wasn't just limited to Barry and Maureen. You had Eve Plumb (Kaitlin Cullum) and Chris Knight (Raviv Ullman) falling for each other a little more gradually, and you even had Mike Lookinland trying to put the moves on a nearly terrified Susan Olsen. I love Maureen and Eve's reactions to the two of them together. It even makes me wonder what Scott Lookinland was thinking, knowing what he knows about his aunt. As for Knight and Plumb, despite Chris' claim that Eve was in tears when they got caught making out in that old car on the set, in this movie she just looks annoyed over getting caught.

Aside from the tawdry love affairs, and the hostility between Robert Reed and Sherwood Schwatz (Michael Tucker), there are other interesting scenes, like the time the cast was waiting for Reed to arrive on the set, and made their own insulting parody of the theme song. And did I see Eve Plumb and Susan Olsen themselves, playing their mothers at one point?

Admittedly, I wanted more. Specifically, I wanted to find out about his time on "That Girl" when he played a young autograph seeker along with some girl who was his age, and also seeking autographs. Having said that, I don't want to make it seem like I'm trashing the movie, because I'm not. There's just too much fun seeing the behind-the-scenes activities in this movie, and not just for Brady Bunch fans either. It's also for "Big Bang Theory" and "8 Simple Rules" fans because of Kaley Cuoco, "Phil of the Future" fans for Raviv Ullman, and "Lizzie McGuire" fans because of Carly Schroeder, among other. I was going to add a list of highlights from the movie, but I've already covered enough as it is. Overall, it's just too much fun not to watch.

Hats off to Barry Williams, for displaying humor and inside details on TV's most (in)famous family, in the book and now the TV flick. Mind you, quite a few details have been changed in the movie (in the book, Robert Reed took the kids on a cruise, not New York; likewise Barry and Maureen's first kiss was in Hawaii, not in a car at a drive-in), but for budget considerations, I can see why those details would be changed. None of the people portrayed here are fleshed out very well, personality wise. I liked some of the casting, though: The real-life Bobby's son plays his father here, and Carly Schroeder of Port Charles plays Susan Olsen. And the girl who plays Maureen looks uncannily like the real Maureen.

Speaking of Maureen, like a previous user commented here, I wonder what HER opinion on this film was. Most recently she was seen on NBC's Passions. And her 1995 country CD was great!

My favorite scene was the one where the kids are in the multi-colored fringed jumpsuits singing "Time To Change". I liked this movie but of course it's nowhere near as enjoyable as the actual Brady series and movies.

It's funny how the biggest ratings successes aren't always the most enduring shows; in England, for instance, "The Army Game" was a big, big hit whereas "Fawlty Towers" was a bit of a flop when it first aired, but only one of them is still remembered widely today. (Guess which.) Similarly, during its five-year run in America "The Brady Bunch" wasn't really a Nielsen champion the way something like "Family Affair" was, but one of them spawned one animated spinoff, a variety show, two dramatic TV shows, record albums, two big-screen movies (both of them among the better examples of TV-to-cinema transfers), tours, and now three TV movies. It may leave UK audiences bemused, but I suppose US audiences would wonder why snooker is so popular on British TV.

Which brings us to "Growing Up Brady," based on Barry "Greg" Williams and Chris Kreski's book about the former's experiences on the show. I suspect the book would be more interesting to read than this movie is to watch - a bit too much emphasis is put on whether or not he and Maureen "Marcia" McCormack did the deed of darkness for my liking, although the upside (other than a hilarious round of fluffed takes for a bedroom scene - not that kind) is that we do get to see a pre-"8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter" Kaley Cuoco in fetching skimpy swimwear. (Well, that's an upside for lesbians and straight men, anyway.)

The movie's more interesting when it focuses on nearly every other aspect of the show not involving Barry's love life - Daniel Hugh Kelly and Michael Tucker come off well as the late Robert Reed and the still-with-us-at-the-time-of-writing Sherwood Schwartz, and the sight of Reed expressing his distaste at the stuff he has to do in the name of comedy (Reed's previous series had been "The Defenders," so going from that to this must be like going from performing Faulkner to doing Jackie Collins) gives the movie some real edge, a reminder of how harder it is to do this stuff than it looks. But as well as providing a bit of behind-the-scenes-after-the-fact information, it also furnishes some actual entertainment, not least with the kids being encouraged to sing and dance on the show and on tour (shoot me, but I liked "Time To Change").

Some of the casting is a problem - the woman who's supposed to be Ann B. Davis doesn't come close - and as I said I suspect the book will be better, but can you imagine any comedies today having the potential to lead to a TV movie like this? And the feeling of axe-grinding is mercifully absent, making "Growing Up Brady" worth a look for fans of the series, and of US TV shows in general... plus, this is arguably better written than the show that spawned it in the first place.

(P.S.: Why IS snooker so popular on British TV?)

Growing Up Brady was a fun Bio-movie about the Brady Bunch. It lifts the mystique from the lives of the cast. Especially about Robert Reed. I especially loved the scenes where Barry and Maureen were trying to shoot a brother and sister scene, and their hormones just took over. No doubt those out-takes will never appear on a TV Blunders program. My only disappointment was the choice for Davy Jones of the Monkees. This actor was poor choice. They didn't work very hard in finding a suitable person for the part. And That wig on him was horrible. Chances are when a TV movie is done about the Monkees, Maureen Mcormick will be played by an equally sad actor. My other disappointment is that this movie is not available for sale.