The Brady Bunch Variety Hour (1976–1977) User Reviews

awful

[dsnow-1 · 1/10 · 17 February 2008]

One of the worst TV shows ever.

Funny thing though, Robert Reed, who hated the Brady Bunch show, agreed to do this show.

The Brady Bunch was my favorite show while I was growing up. I looked forward to it every Friday night.

Personally I never cared for any of the reunion shows, though the theater movies without the original cast were pretty funny.

It would have been better if they had just left the Brady Bunch in 1974 the way I remember it.

Some things are better left the way they are.

Maybe the worst TV show EVER!!!

[planktonrules · 1/10 · 24 July 2006]

It's a really tough call--is THIS the absolute worst TV show ever created or was another Sid and Marty Kroft show, PINK LADY AND JEFF? It's really hard to tell--they are BOTH that bad! And, they actually share some things in common other than the same producers. Both are variety shows that feature people acting way outside their ranges! While Florence Henderson could sing, the rest of the cast couldn't and there was a strong effort to peddle the Brady kids as a pop group (you've got to hear their albums--they are unintentionally hilarious). So what you have, apart from Ms. Henderson, are some well-meaning but not very talented kids (and this is not just my opinion, but that of the cast when they were interviewed years later) and Robert Reed who just seems totally lost.

Okay, so the songs are a problem (sort of like WWII was a "bit of a tiff")--and that's bad because about half the show is singing and bizarrely choreographed dancing in lots of orange, pink and purple sequined jumpsuits. The rest of the show is "comedy"--something that the Brady family was really not known for--yes, they did a bland little family show, but this was far from the demands they placed on them in The Brady Bunch Hour. Here they were expected to be true comedians at times and do skits that invariably bombed.

And, if all this isn't bad enough, Eve Plumb ("Jan") refused to do the show, so they just picked another person who only had a vague resemblance to her and did it anyways! Despite the fact that almost everyone was totally outside of their element and the show featured a "faux Jan", it only got worse. The Krofts, while described by some as "geniuses", simply couldn't cut it and the show was pure 70s tackiness. It was so loud, so "in your face" and so gaudy, the show literally attacked instead of entertained. It actually reminded me of a high school talent show combined with a Vegas review! Now, you might just assume that I don't want you to ever see this show. Not exactly,...I say see it and see how unintentionally funny and awful it was. I guess I can't blame the cast, as I am sure they got very well paid and they didn't have a lot of other options for acting.

UPDATE--Well, perhaps I spoke too soon. Tonight I saw something from TV from the same time period that was worse, though it was a TV special. The "STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL" is amazingly bad--so bad that it's a train-wreck bad.

Eve Plumb Made a Wise Decision

[Sargebri · 11 May 2003]

This has to have been the worst television series ever (at least until "The Brady's" came along). When this show was announced, I thought it was just going to be a simple reunion show with the actors playing themselves then going into various sketches involving their characters. Instead they stay in character throughout the show. Rip Taylor was about the only funny thing on the show. Also, the other thing that was strange about this show was the fact that Eve Plumb (Jan) was the only one that didn't reprise her role (she was off doing more serious roles including starring in the acclaimed Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway). Instead, it was poor Geri Reischl to play the role of television's most famous middle daughter. It looks as if Plumb made the right choice and Reischl is nowhere to be found.

Yup! Bottom of the barrel stuff here.

[preppy-3 · 1/10 · 22 November 2010]

The Bradys (for some reason) get a TV variety show to do. The episodes consist of them and guest stars "singing" and "dancing" and doing "comedy". Also every single fashion mistake of the 1970s (and there were LOTS of them) are worn at one time or another in this show. I'm not proud to admit that I saw every single episode of this when it aired but, even at the age of 15, I realized it was terrible but I couldn't stop watching. It was just SO wretched with abysmal comedy (even worse than the original "Brady Bunch" show) and variety acts that had my jaw dropping! Eve Plumb (Jan) had the brains NOT to do this show but the rest of the original cast was there. There were a few (very few) good moments here and there. They could all (more or less) sing and Barry Williams and Florence Henderson were very good on their own but this show was just a train wreck from beginning to end. It boggles the mind to think that ANYONE thought this could work. Even Williams in his book "Growing Up Brady" said it was the worst TV show ever. Well he's wrong. "The Brady Brides" was even WORSE! A 1 all the way.

The Brady Bunch Variety Hour the Worst Ever?

[cybermartian · 1/10 · 17 June 2016]

I'd agree it's the worst along with nearly all the critic's posts on this thread but I'd be forgetting about "The Sunny Comedy Revue" by comparison.

How in the world did producers think people were going to like this? Was it only because the original television series was a great success? What they hell where the creators sniffing when they decided to release this? I want what they were sniffing for sure. Sure, and the Brady Bunch series was a phenomenal success and I loved it. Furthermore, the critics that had first hand review of this garbage before its release should have recommended not air it, or did they? And why? Oh my God! At any rate, when I watch the first 3-4 minutes of the opening of this disaster when it was first released, I couldn't bear to watch anymore of it. Enough said. Lol.

The Corny Life After The Brady Bunch

[Camelot_2000 · 1/10 · 30 July 2009]

I caught The Brady Bunch Hour on YouTube and, oh man, they can't sing, they can't dance and those gaudy 1970s fashions just glitter at you like flashes from a nuclear explosion. The bubble gum music just adds to the laughs. I wonder if any of them are embarrassed about it now? I sure would be - especially during the highly glossy number of "Baby Face". Eve Plumb (Jan) was extremely wise in backing out of this one.

I don't mean to bash the wholesome goodness of the Bradys (I loved the Brady Bunch as a kid), but the fallout after wards when the show got canceled in '74 has been pretty funny. Like The Bradys (1990) where Marcia suffers from alcoholism (gasp!), gets treatment for it at the nearest rehab center and then becomes a strong supporter of fighting addiction - all in one episode! Oh yeah, and then there's another scene from The Bradys about Bobby's paralyzed state after getting into a race car crash, but in a climactic finale in one episode, he rises from his wheelchair and walks up the stage where his dad is giving some kind of public presentation and everyone cheers in ecstatic awe! It's like The Partridge Family meets The Young & The Restless!!! Oh man, I love the Bradys - before and after wards! They sure have big egos considering The Brady Girls Get Married (1981) was the only post-Brady Bunch reunion they've all appeared together in (someone always backed out and was replaced by a replica star from then on in). After the humiliating polyester/ bell bottomed glow of the Brady Bunch Hour, I would've thought the egotism would've been humbled by now.

So hilarious were those production numbers I'm dying to think of what Simon Cowell would've thought had they performed on American Idol or Britain's Got Talent - 3 strikes without a doubt!

This is hideous and pathetic.

[rickr442 · 2/10 · 28 July 2023]

I'll watch just about anything that Robert Reed appears in. I've always heard that he loathed the Mike Brady role and tried to balance that dreck with meatier roles like his supporting role in MANNIX and a tasting sinister turn as a hit man in HARRY O.

Something must've distracted him along the way because he signed on to this mess, the Brady mob singing and dancing and pretending to be entertainers of some sort. It's just painful. Badly written and endlessly strained, it lasted nine episodes before being put to sleep forever.

Please spare yourself of this mess. Guest stars like Vincent Price (???) in torturous sitcom skits t(avoiding the use of well-known Brady sets) didn't help, nor did the contrived musical numbers. And what's with the canned laughter and extended applause?

Seventies TV was rarely 'great' and there has to be a bottom rung somewhere. Trust me... this is it.

Disastrous attempt at a variety show

[mrb1980 · 1/10 · 6 February 2021]

Along with loud and stupid sitcoms, a mainstay of 1970s TV was the variety show. These shows followed a formula of opulent song-and-dance numbers, comedy sketches, a regular secondary cast of comedians, and visits by famous guest stars. "The Brady Bunch Hour" reunited almost all of the show's original cast for an attempt at the variety show format, and what a horrible mess it was.

It appears that no one except Florence Henderson had any relevant experience, but the game cast forged ahead anyway, with embarrassing results. Robert Reed, who hated anything related to the Brady Bunch, was particularly inept, but just about everyone looked way out of place and incompetent with song-and-dance routines. The comedy sketches-usually featuring famous guest stars-were poorly written and just not funny. Guest stars such as Paul Williams, Vincent Price, Milton Berle, and Tony Randall, did their best to liven up the proceedings, but without any luck.

I never watched this show (or the original "Brady Bunch" for that matter) but I recently tried watching several episodes just for a trip down memory lane. Yes, the show was bad, but it's so bad that it has an oddly endearing quality to it. The performers appear to be trying hard (without success) and it's difficult not to have sympathy for them. Just remember the show is horrible, but depending on your fondness for the 1970s, you might like it in sort of a perverse way.

A high-camp trashterpiece!

[VinnieRattolle · 10/10 · 10 July 2009]

What happens when you take nine of the most popular characters in TV history and drop 'em into a blatant knockoff of "Donny & Marie?" You get a show that's so bizarre and tacky that its hard to tear your eyes away! The brothers Krofft certainly did something right when developing this show (let me finish) - while other installments of the Brady franchise have been virtually forgotten ("The Brady Kids," "The Brady Brides," "The Bradys"), this one still endures with endless references, spoofs and citations in "Worst Shows in History" lists. Realistically, it's no worse than any other variety show of its time... matter of fact, it's more watchable today than many other old variety shows.

Each episode had a very Brady sitcom plot line. Whether it was Greg moving into his own pad (which Vincent Price informed him was haunted), Cindy giving Rich Little amnesia (he thought he was a Brady kid), Carol becoming jealous of Charo (whom she though Mike had eyes for) or Milton Berle attempting to take over the show (and putting Mike in drag!), the sitcom portions weren't that far off from the wacky antics on the original series. Where it deviated was the characterizations. The writers and actors seemed to be parodying the established characters... not dissimilar to the later parodies in the big-screen Brady Bunch movies. Perhaps audiences just weren't ready for that in '77.

Of course, what made the show so memorable was the musical segments. The Bradys shook their booties to an endless barrage of disco and disco-ized tunes, ranging from "Yankee Doodle Dandy" to "Love to Love You, Baby," dressed in flamboyant costumes and dancing (sometimes badly) on overblown sets. Who wouldn't be traumatized by seeing Marcia, Peter, Greg, Alice and Rip Taylor dressed as characters from "The Wizard of Oz," belting out "Car Wash?" And who wouldn't be creeped out by seeing Greg and his step-mom serenading each other with a love song? There's something deliriously surreal but oddly captivating about the songs. Then there's "Fake Jan." Say what you will about Geri Reischl, but she's a helluva singer, and she openly embraced the camp element of the show in a way Eve Plumb never could've.

Yes, you can say it's a bad show, but it's left an indelible impression on viewers that's lasted more than three decades. And that's more than one can say about most short-lived TV shows.

One of THE worst spin-off's ever created

[frschoonover · 1/10 · 28 March 2020]

In 1976, two years after the Brady Bunch TV series was canceled, Sid and Marty Krofft decided to produce a variety show starring the cast of the series. It all started off as a TV special called "The Brady Bunch Variety Hour", which was a huge ratings success, leading to a regular series simply titled "The Brady Bunch Hour". With the exception of Eve Plumb (who was smart to sit this one out), the entire cast reprised their respective roles from the TV series itself. Ann B. Davis, who played Alice, their housekeeper, occassionally appeared while Geri Reschl substituted for Eve Plumb as Jan.

Unike most shows on TV, this show was sporadicaplly shown on the ABC network, with a promo shown on when the show wasn't going to be on with Reed and Henderson saying "The Brady Bunch Variety Hour won't be seen this week, but we will be back again soon."

Even if this poor excuse for a TV series, or variety show, was shown weekly, it still would've been a disaster. This variety show should have had "Avoid at all costs" written all over it. It really was and still is that bad. It doesn't even survive on a "So Bad! It's Good!" kind of level. This series was not only idiotic and dumb, it was insultingly idiotic and dumb. Granted, the Krofftettes were pretty and were awesome dancers, which was the only really good thing about this show. but the rest of the show was simply terrible and basically jaw dropping in the worst sense. It would make anyone wonder why did the Krofft's, who produced many other wonderfully memorable shows, such as H.R. Pufnstuff, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Land of the Lost, The Krofft Super Show, The Banana Splits (co-produced with Hanna-Barbera), The Lost Saucer, Lidsville, The Bugaloos, Donny & Marie (their 1976 variety show) and later shows, such as Pryor's Place and D.C. Follies, would even think of creating and producing such a stinker TV show such as this one. What were they thinking? They definitely made a wrong number on this particular show. This is definitely bottom of the barrel stuff in the worst way.

Even the comedy skits were unfunny, in spite of the studio audience audience laughing (makes you wonder if they used a laugh track machine when the audience wasn't really laughing at all). Though it was improvisational, the Brady cast was terrible at this sort of thing. Rip Taylor, though, was the only funny thing when it came to this sort of thing, as he was a genius at improvisational comedy compared to the Brady cast. The only really funny skit that this show had was when Greg and Marsha were talking about how their parents were once young and hung out at the local roller rink, with Donny & Marie making a guest appearance in the skit. IMHO, even Donny & Marie's variety show at the time was actually funnier and smarter than this pathetic excuse for a TV series, or variety show. As a TV special, which was a ratings winner and led to this being a regular series, it was funny, warm and entertaining, but eight more episodes made after that success was just too much. It only lasted three months, from January to March 1977. Thank goodness for small favors. IMHO, even The Brady Kids cartoon show was even better than this show.

Sherwood Schwartz, who created the original Brady Bunch series, wasn't involved in the production of this series. He only gave it the green light to be produced. Not only that, the original Brady Bunch series was actually canceled in part because of the musical act. Schwartz heard through the grapevine that the kid cast wanted half of the episodes in the sixth season, which ABC did request, to be musically oriented and themed. Schwartz pulled the plug on the series after that, though it was still a ratings success, and it was a smart thing that he did, IMHO. The Brady kid cast weren't really the best singers, IMHO. Granted. Barry Williams, Maureen McCormick, Eve Plumb, her replacement Geri Reschl, and even Florence Henderson, had really good singing voices, IMHO, but the rest weren't so good. Chris Knight was okay, but not great. Knight actually resigned from the original TV series after this and since then, the original Brady Bunch series has been rerun consistently since then. Even the original Brady Bunch series was better than this and also, the two spoof movies made in the 1990's are even better than this. Though I did watch the variety hour when I was a kid, I didn't know better at the time, but later on, when revisiting this thanks to video sites, such as YouTube, I came to see how really bad, idiotic and dumb this show really was. Live and learn.

The only episodes released on home media, VHS and DVD, were the TV special and the fourth episode by Rhino.

Overall, a really crummy, stinky and really terrible series and again, one of THE worst spin-off''s ever created. Again, it doesn't even survive on a "So Bad! It's Good" level.

Should be shown to the Guantanomo prisoners...

[topsail33 · 9 July 2005]

Playing this video in an endless loop at Guantanomo would have 'em all talking! So Awful, it's fantastic! Where do I begin? What does an indoor swimming pool, dancing girls, disco songs, HR Pufnstuff, horrible and I mean horrible outfits, and the Brady Bunch have in common? Nothing! And yet they managed to cram all of this into one variety hour - no small feat! The singing - and there's lots of it - is atrocious. Greg Brady ala Elvis, the fat years, Ma Brady, and even Marcia, all have solo numbers that are spell-binding...I mean nauseating.

The one gem here is if you're a Marsha fan (all of mankind), then you get to see those pretty blue eyes, and I mean pretty. Wow! Dreamy ! The tip-off that this was a disaster in the making is that it was produced by Sid and Marty Kroft - of Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, HR Puf N Stuff fame. It looks like they used some of the leftover props and ugly costumes.

The interview with Bobby and Cindy was interesting, but too long. Unscripted, they tended to ramble on. And the shocker was when Bobby actually said what every male with a pulse has ever thought: that everyone wanted to DO Marsha. I thought that was bizarre and also rude, since Cindy was sitting right there. I got the impression he was lamenting about not getting that opportunity.

It really is indescribable how bad/good this is. It represents the absolute worst in 70's television, yet at the same time, is strangely good to see a time when corny, over done productions were on TV, and not the graphic, sexual filth that is the norm today. Truly, a classic train wreck to watch!

Now For The Truth About This Show

[iuneedscoachknight · 10/10 · 14 January 2007]

The Brady Bunch Variety Hour is very entertaining and packed with talent. Florence Henderson, Barry Williams, Maureen McCormick, and Geri Reischl are excellent singers. The dance routines combined with swimming in sync are really stunning. I loved the episodes of the original show when the kids started to sing and this gave me more of my favorite Brady moments.

Tony Randall was hilarious in the opening show as always. Ann B. Davis (aka Alice) comes along in every show to provide some comic relief. There are some very entertaining Brady sketches that show moments with the Bradys at home. Sometimes, they're talking about the show. It's like you're watching a behind-the-scenes production meeting. This was a brilliant addition to the show. This type of crafting allows the viewer to escape into a world where the Bradys are actually real. The show is suitable for all age brackets without any innuendo or crude jokes. Great job as always, Brady cast!!!

UHGGGGGG!!!!

[lovestonerocks · 18 February 2004]

All I can say is Damn awful, but funny to look at , at least once. I'd like to know what the production meetings were like for this one.

Personally I think Greg Should have actually broke from the group as "Johnny Bravo". It would have been bigger than Ziggy Stardust.

Rip Taylor was a Boon to Toupes, Glitter, Gayness & 70s TV

[bohogojo · 10/10 · 5 February 2023]

You get 1970s prime time TV on one of the 3 networks. When I was 5 in 1970 me & my brothers were so into the brady bunch. I think it aired on Fridays. Whatever day it was it was the only day of the week my dad would put the black & white TV on the dresser in the room I shared with my 3 brothers on 2 sets of bunk beds. By the time this show was on the Brady Bunch was so yesterday. They began premiered their show as the variety show format was suffering a quick & painful death. So why did I give them 10 STARS? My God, ao many reasons where do I begin?

Barry Greg "Johnny 'the Suit' Bravo" Brady Williams, who I'll address for the rest of this review by his TV given name, Greg, took it hard in the paint straight at Michael Jackson, Donny Osmond & David Cassidy with a testicles to the face 360°slam dunk as the 70s most talented teen pop idol by performing the funkiest song of the 70s, Carwash set in Oz, Greg as the Scarecrow, Rip Taylor as the Tone Deaf Cowardly Lion who couldn't sing but could strut like a Drag Q okueen with brand new Size 12 wide Platform Shoes with aquariums in the bottoms. He helped the nation heal after watching Roots.

I also gave 10 STARS because I'm hoping I was the only one besides Rip Taylor that did so.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!

[raysond · 6 August 2002]

E!(Entertainment Television) had the balls to show just one episode of this series and to me enough was enough! The TV family that won't go away starred in three sitcoms,a quasi-stomach turning drama,a cartoon, a TV-movie and spawn two feature length films based on this series(which starred Shelley Long and Gary Cole),and just when you thought it was all they wrote,they come with at the time one of the most stupidical dumbfounded variety series to ever grace TV during the late 70's(second banana to ONLY Donny and Marie's variety show of the late 70's as well as the Brady's counterparts The Partridge's which had a even bigger sinker of a variety show themselves---all within the last decade of the 1970's).

This was the most dumbfounding of them all:a hour long variety show featuring the original cast(with the exception of Eve Plumb-always the smart one and the ONLY Brady with brains not to do this--was replaced by newcomer Geri Reischi)in character---courtesy of executive producer Sherwood Schwartz who was the creator of the original show as well as this variety series along with other producers Sid and Marty Krofft.

It seems the kids would go into some routine dance numbers and from there it was a laugh riot since NONE of them had any musical talent(with the exception of actress Florence Henderson of course who was a Broadway star),but it seems that architect dad Mike had reluctantly given up blueprints to join his family in a musical endeavor-which explained actor Robert Reed's profound lack of song and dance talent. So what was the kids' excuse? Who knows. Nobody was buying it since America had enough of the clan and it was off the air that same year. Good writtens.

Horrors

[Goon-2 · 27 May 1999]

The Brady family that appears in this mangled mess of a variety series is not real. I think that is the creepiest part about it. They are, of course, the actors who appeared on the infamous comedy series "The Brady Bunch", which played from the late 1960's through the early 1970's. Well, it was the late 1970's when this one occurred and I guess "we" are supposed to believe that they are still related and have...gotten famous since then. For here they all are:Mike, Greg, Jan and everybody...referring to each other as "Mike" and "Greg" and "Jan", as opposed to their real names and having occasional cheap looking scenarios(such as Greg wanting to move out)mixed with their singing, dancing and "teasing" one another. Let's just say if the Brady's WERE real, they would make me nauseous, for who wants to watch some family's variety hour, but that fact that they are not is plain bizarre! Why they didn't just appear as themselves and mention their memories of the Brady Bunch is beyond me. Why ever did this last only a year?