The Greg Brady Project
Welcome to the official Barry Williams' blog
My friends call me Barry. From time to time I also hear the name Greg. Yeah, as in Greg Brady. The Brady Bunch represents a fun time in my life. But it’s only part of the story. There’s more to say and that’s what The Greg Brady Project is all about – a place to say it. So, I’ve invited some friends to join me and share their perspectives on the Brady’s, the 70’s and just about everything else. Now, I’m inviting you…
18 Sep
Brady House Historian Scott Golla
written by Guest Author in Blog, The Brady Bunch | 5 comments
The House That Brady Built
As a self-professed “Bradyholic,” my obsession has been with the space that surrounded the Brady cast during production. In addition, the mystique that surrounds the North Hollywood house used only for exterior shots is incredible by anyone’s standards. Really, can you think of any other TV house on this planet that has received such fame and pop culture status?
My curiosity about the Brady Bunch house led me to do some research about ranch-style homes, design trends, and the post-WW2 culture that bred them. These homes came out of a culture of optimism (among other things), a virtue which The Brady’s wholeheartedly stood for.
For me, the iconic Brady Bunch house, both in true form as well as fictional form, represents the American ideal, and I’ve always wondered what they looked like from an insider’s perspective. Curious about both forms (real and fictional) of the house, I began making sketches of all the Brady spaces a number of years ago. Eventually, I acquired a CAD program for my computer which would allow me to bring my sketches to life. Having spent dozens of hours watching reruns of the show, I’ve gradually developed a “virtual tour” of sorts, which are on both Flickr and You Tube. In the virtual tour, Brady fans are given a perspective of what the set of The Brady Bunch may have looked like from an actor’s perspective. Additionally, this virtual tour also takes viewers through the famous Brady Bunch house in North Hollywood.
The whole project was just a chance for me to have fun, explore, and interact with other Brady fans. Now check out the Brady house like you’ve never seen it before…
Adrian Monk’s encyclopedic knowledge of “The Cooper Clan” helps him crack the case.
If you missed the season premiere of Monk last night, then run (don’t walk) over to USA Network while the episode is still available for streaming. You’ll find a show that affectionately satirizes the Brady Bunch phenomenon, from the dedication of trivia-spouting fans to dropped jaws at the most lurid revelations of a tell-all memoir.
In “Mr. Monk’s Favorite Show,” the obsessive-compulsive crime solver is excited at the prospect of meeting Christine Rapp, former child star of “The Cooper Clan.” Rapp has just written a shocking autobiography called “Re-Cooper-ating,” and when her publicity tour is interrupted by an attempt on her life, Monk’s devotion leads to an assignment as her bodyguard. Starstruck and preoccupied with memories of a show that provided an escape from his dysfunctional youth, Monk remains blissfully ignorant of the discrepancies between Rapp and her TV alter-ego, Cathy Cooper…until he finds time to read the book.
Though a number of artistic liberties are taken in the approximation of a certain iconic TV series from the 70’s, Brady fans will find many amusingly familiar references in the details, right down to the episode titles and groovy graphics of a “Cooper Clan” DVD menu. Check it out, and enjoy the pained expression on the face of a “Clan” costar as he endures Monk repeating the former actor’s well-worn catchphrase.
Now Search & Win for Great Brady Prizes!
08 Jul
Crossing Paths: Farewell Michael & Farrah
written by Barry Williams in Blog, The Brady Bunch, barry | 9 comments
In my business you have the opportunity to meet some incredible people. While I’ve been lucky enough to work on a lot of different television and theater projects, I owe a lot of those meetings to The Brady Bunch. Some, like Don Drysdale and Joe Namath, were captured on the show for everyone to see. There were others though, that took place after the cameras stopped rolling. Two that come to mind are the day Henry Kissinger stopped by the Brady set, and now more than ever, the day The Brady 6 met The Jackson 5.
As someone who’s done some singing and dancing with his own “brothers and sisters,” I can appreciate just how talented Michael Jackson was and am glad we got the chance to cross paths.
Who will win the first-ever GBP Brady Awards?
Did you catch the Academy Awards recently? Greg Brady Project friend David H. did, and the sight of all those Oscars being handed out inspired him to propose “the first annual ‘Brady’ awards, honoring outstanding achievements in an episode of The Brady Bunch.” David suggested six award categories, with all us of collaborating to produce five worthy nominees for each category. After the nominations are finalized, winners will be decided by popular vote. We love the idea, David, and so it is that we now officially open the call for nominations for the award categories listed below. I’m really tempted to serve up a full slate of contenders, but I’m going to limit myself to the honor of choosing the first nominee for each award. The rest is up to all of you, loyal Brady fans.
BEST ACTOR (any male cast member can be nominated for a specific episode): I nominate Mike Lookinland for “Bobby’s Hero.” Not only does he create a credible change of heart for the Jesse James-obsessed Bobby, he conveys real terror (as coached by Lloyd Schwartz) during the fantasy train robbery.
BEST ACTRESS (same for female cast member): I nominate Eve Plumb for “The Not-So-Rose-Colored Glasses.” Eve has a lot of great moments in this one, from her glib dismissal of Marcia’s concern for her eyesight to the tearjerker scene in which Mike learns that Jan has sold her bike to pay for a second family portrait.
‘A Captive Audience’
Mark your calendars and rearrange your holiday travel plans for this Monday. Courtesy of the great website SitcomsOnline, TV Land will hold a President’s Day “Brady Bunch” marathon from 10am – 2pm. Here are the episodes you can expect to catch. And for our readers in Milwaukee, the site also reports that Me-TV has added the show to its weekday schedule at 6:30pm. Enjoy!
No fair choosing all six Oliver episodes.
A while back we asked you to name your Brady Six, the sextet of classic episodes that you consider to be the best of the Bunch. Now it’s time to visit the other end of the spectrum with the Brady Basement. These are the half-dozen lesser shows that you recognize with a slight sigh of disappointment whenever they air, not because they are inherently bad but simply because they are not great. Though I truly enjoy all 117 episodes (call me the Father Flanagan of Bradyphiles, but I believe there are no bad Brady Bunch episodes), I am less likely to spend precious Brady Bunch-watching time with the following six installments, presented in the order in which they aired.
The angst of being the youngest one in curls.
EENIE-MEENIE-MOMMY-DADDY
First season episodes of The Brady Bunch stand conspicuously apart from the rest of the series for many reasons: the kids are so young, the Peppermint Trolley Company warble the opening theme, and storylines focus on whether or not this whole blended-family experiment will succeed. A more playful tone would eventually emerge, but some of the initial shows get stuck in syrupy drama or lethally sweet cuteness. This episode has both, with director John Rich pushing Cindy to her most adorable limits and then casting her into the pit of melodramatic despair. Should she give Mommy the single ticket to her school play? Should she give it to her new Daddy? Modern Brady watchers with the benefit of multiple rerun hindsight can only watch helplessly, unable to reach through the TV screen and shake little Cindy out of the dumps.
2008: All 117 in the palm of my hand.
1969-1974: The Brady Bunch appears in its initial prime-time run. As I was born in 1968, I am only dimly aware of its existence, but like Mozart played for infants, the show fills the space around my developing neurons and synapses.
1974-1979: The First Golden Era of Syndication, in which I am exposed to the Brady canon repeatedly until the episodes are more familiar to me than the oral histories of my own family.
1980: A friend shows me how he uses audio cassettes to record the sound from television shows by dangling a microphone in front of the TV speaker. His recordings are low-fi and filled with atmospheric noise like kitchen clangings and his sisters chatting. I immediately employ his technique to preserve a few Bunch episodes.
1981: My parents stun the family by being among the first on the block to buy a VCR. It’s a $500 top-loading behemoth with a wired remote that has one function: pause. Video cassettes sell for $15 each, and we try to use every inch of tape at the 6-hr. slow speed.
1982: The Second Golden Era of Syndication, in which I catch Ann B. Davis mentioning in an interview that there were 117 Brady Bunch episodes, the first time I have ever heard this magic number. Superstation WTBS runs the Bunch right after Leave It To Beaver five afternoons a week; 15 heavily-edited, commercial-paused episodes can fit onto a single videotape, and I’m on my way to capturing all 117. “The Voice of Christmas” is the most elusive, as it’s always skipped in the syndication package unless it’s December.
If only Language Arts were as captivating to them as this moment…
Brady fans, I bring you good news from the world of education. Those worries that have kept you from sleeping at night, the creeping anxiety that a true appreciation of The Brady Bunch might die with the passing of your generation – I’m here to reassure you that your fears are unfounded. Oh, I know that too many children today do not know Buddy Hinton from Harvey Klinger. Yes, I am well aware that the phrases “Oh, my nose!” and “Something suddenly came up” have no special meaning for a depressingly large portion of modern youth. But I shall not despair. For I have seen with my own eyes the very evidence that makes me believe The Brady Bunch will be treasured long after its initial audience is gone.
It was the threat of rain that started me on the road to this revelation. Before dashing off to my job teaching fourth graders, I tossed a Brady Bunch DVD into my bag of graded papers. If the forecasted precipitation arrived before noon, I would need an acceptable option to keep my class entertained during indoor recess. Sure enough, we spotted dark skies and a playground full of puddles when the recess bell rang. I had my makeshift theater ready to go, with a boombox wired to pump out the sound and our trusty LCD projector standing by to splash the vibrant blue opening titles across the length and breadth of our overhead screen. We arranged our chairs in rows, and soon a familiar theme resounded through the classroom. Well, familiar to you and me, that is.
The Fonz tries to express that his political convictions were wr…wr…they were wr…
The following hypothetical scenario is so explosively controversial that I precede it with an emphatic disclaimer: I am making this up, and therefore in no way does it confirm or deny the political opinions or lack thereof of the persons involved. Having said that, I ask you to consider your reaction to an imaginary YouTube clip featuring a 1970’s-era recording studio. Gathered around a pair of microphones are present-day Brady kids Barry Williams, Mike Lookinland, Chris Knight, Eve Plumb, Susan Olsen and Maureen McCormick, all of them looking considerably older than their last appearance in these surroundings nearly 40 years ago. They sway and bop their heads, belt out a few sha-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na’s, and recreate that classic moment when The Brady Six recorded Time To Change. Their clothes are much like the groovy threads they wore back then, with one notable exception: they’re all wearing Barack Obama t-shirts. If such a clip were made, what would your reaction be? Is it sitcom sacrilege for actors to mix political opinion with their iconic characters?
For this I missed The Brady Brides?
I was twelve years old when The Brady Brides debuted on NBC in the winter of 1981, and nobody could have been happier about it. The reunion of the entire original cast and the promise of an ongoing series was a wonderful antidote to the bad taste left behind by the notorious Variety Hour. As far as I was concerned, that failed experiment was just a bad dream, its flying fringe and cheesy Krofft production a forgotten hallucination. Now the Bradys were back where they belonged in the familiar house that Mike designed, and what’s more, there was the return of Real Jan (surely as God intended). Naturally, I was a fixture before the color console for a season’s worth of Friday nights. All except for one, that is.
Flickr Stream
Recent Comments
- Heidi on March 17, 2010 said:
Thanks for sharing those nice memories of him. He is a great actor. I’ve seen him... - annie o'malley on March 16, 2010 said:
Dear Barry – Hi Happy Saint Patricks day tomorrow March 17 th Luck o the... - Trevor Kimball on March 16, 2010 said:
Thanks for sharing your memories. Very enjoyable reading.
Featured Sponsors
My Polls
Loading ...
