By Sharon Hori
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Everyone knows the Brady jingle, about the TV story of a lovely
lady who was bringing up three very lovely girls. But only the
diehard “Brady Bunch” fans know about the woman’s
stepson, who became involved with the woman and one of her lovely
girls when the cameras were done rolling.
Barry Williams, better known as the oldest son Greg Brady, knows
best ““ and NBC will tell all this Sunday night. As the
original series approaches its 30th anniversary, the peacock
network will air “Growing Up Brady,” a TV film, based
on Williams’ acting experiences as a Brady kid.
On screen, the two widowed parents, their six close-knit
children and housekeeper Alice portrayed the wholesome goodness of
a ’70s family who was fit to film America’s favorite
family comedy. The unforgettable cutesiness of the three Brady
girls (all with hair of gold, like their mother!) and the strapping
young Brady boys left their footprints in memories of their
fans.
Off screen, the group began to lose its luster, and the reality
of unappreciated actors and rambunctious kids stepped into the
spotlight of Paramount Studios.
Based on Williams and Chris Kreski’s bestselling book,
“Growing Up Brady … I Was a Teenage Greg,” the movie
reveals the behind-the-scenes melodramas that made the wholesome
family a little less sqeaky-clean.
“Growing Up Brady” addresses the tabloid-fever
issues that would keep any Brady-boycotter quite content, since the
true comedy behind the Brady’s predictable dilemmas actually
occurs behind the camera. Moreover, it’s funny to think of
the Brady kids as having counterpart “actor” lives. And
when they encounter issues of Hollywood fame and outgrowing
adolescence, it’s even more awkward to see them act in a more
agressive, non-Brady way. The acting, of course, parallels the
Bradys’ ’70s grooviness, but the TV movie becomes more
of an informative gig ““ more of a biography than a
comedy.
In the film, Williams appears as his present-day self whose fans
approach him and want to know what it was like to once be a Brady.
The story then reverts back to 1969, when creator Sherwood Schwartz
(Michael Tucker) selected the nine cast members out of 1,100, and
when Williams first set eyes on Maureen McCormick, who would play
his oldest sister, Marcia.
Although Greg and his sister Marcia may have seemed quite
comfortable on screen, the movie shows they were even more cozy out
of the spotlight. Unfortunately for Williams, McCormick was only 12
years old ““ but worth waiting (and trying) for.
Williams and McCormick were not the only two crazy kids with
raging hormones. The film exposes the boyfriend-girlfriend
relationship that sprouted between Eve “Jan” Plumb
(Kaitlin Cullum) and Christopher “Peter” Knight (Ricky
Ullman). Even little Susan Olsen (Carly Schroeder) and Michael
Lookinland (played by Lookinland’s real son, Scott Michael
Lookinland), who played the youngest members, Cindy and Bobby, went
out into the family’s doghouse to make out.
On a more serious tone, “Growing Up Brady” addresses
one Brady’s struggle to be viewed as a serious actor. When
Robert Reed was chosen to play the family’s father, Mike
Brady, he did not want to lose his credibility as an actor who
trained at Northwestern and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in
London.
According to Williams, Reed maintained a closeness with the cast
““ he bought them gifts, took them on trips, and invited them
to his home in Pasadena for the Rose Bowl ““ but kept a line
divided between himself and the show’s producer, writers and
studio. They limited his character’s dimensions, leaving him
like an angry thorn jutting out of Brady claustrophobia.
“Growing Up Brady” answers the questions that the
public always wanted answered ““ the predominant one being,
how much did Williams’ crush over his beautiful co-star
McCormick, whose near-perfect nose (to say the least) kept her the
dazzle in the show’s set? Williams even grew comfortable with
his TV mom Florence Henderson, which the movie makes apparent, and
in an abandonment from his adolescence and her marriage, the two
went out for a night on the town.
The “Growing Up Brady” cast that portrays the
lovable Brady Bunch tries hard to capture that Brady essence, but
it’s hard to compete with the cutesy, goody-two-shoes family
that audiences grew up with. With Tucker holding the reins as TV
producer Sherwood Schwartz, viewers see how each puzzle-piece Brady
character fit into their Hallmark tic-tac-toe board. The nine
different personalities who would unite to create 117 original
half-hour episodes in five years provide a light-hearted chuckle, a
shrug of the shoulders and a sigh of relief that the series has
closure.
Adam Brody as the young Barry Williams and Kaley Cuoco as
Maureen McCormick capture the sweetness of their television
characters and the innocence of their off screen actors. The
greatest comparison, however, is not between Brody and
Cuoco’s portrayals of the series’ original actors, but
instead the original actors vs. the innocent Brady characters, who
fans can remember as nothing less than perfect kids.
The movie shows that there’s more to playing Greg Brady
than being a teen heart-throb. This magical essence combines a lot
of overdramatic silences and ever-so-goofy Brady stunts, in some
cases buried beneath an extra layer of mozzarella, but it’s
all in good, clean Brady fun.
TELEVISION: “Growing Up Brady” airs Sunday, May 21
from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. on NBC.