'Brady Bunch: 50th Anniversary TV & Movie Collection' DVD: All Things Brady

CBS Home Entertainment continues to prove itself to be a leading citizen of TV Land by releasing the epic 31-disc "Brady Bunch: 50th Anniversary TV & Movie Collection" on June 4, 2019. This coincides with CBS separately releasing V1 and V2 of S3 of the classic '60scom "My Three Sons." The CBS section of this site includes posts on other beloved sitcoms, such as "The Love Boat" and "The Beverly Hillbillies," in the catalog of that company. 

The almost universal familiarity with "Brady" OS, which presumably is universal among folks with enough interest in the titular blended clan to read this article, is behind a decision to skip much of the typical exposition as to these posts and addresses many of the elephants in the room regarding this release,

As a starting point, this set includes every "unreal" "Brady" series with the exception of the 1976-77 ABC Friday night series "The Brady Bunch Variety Hour" that shows the titutlar family both hosting that titular program (complete with synchronized swimmers) and living their daily lives. Of course, the Nelson video library includes the now-discontinued 2000 DVD with a few episodes of that series. 

The OS discs in "Collection" seems to be the same as the ones in prior DVD releases of that series. Personal history here is both buying the groovy shag-carpet CS set of "Bunch" and purchasing a replacement set when a basement flood ruins the first one. A word to the wise as to folks looking for the discontinued shag set is that third-party sellers tend to be not be very trustworthy as to delivering undamaged goods.

This brings us to the wonderfully odd 1972-73 Saturday morning cartoon "The Brady Kids" from an era in which virtually every kidcom has an animated series. This one has the titular youths (sans the 'rents and Alice) having adventures that often relate to the magic of myna bird Merlin (voiced by Larry Storch of "F Troop") going awry. These episodes also feature trippy animated music videos by The Brady Six,

Yes, your not-so-humble reviewer has the (seemingly discontinued) CS DVD set of "Kids." The same is true as to the two big-screen '90s "Brady" movies and the made-for-TV movie "The Brady Bunch in the White House." "Collection" includes all these productions.

"Collection" also has the gleefully "behind-the-scenes" 2000 made-for-TV movie "Growing Up Brady" based on the memoir of the same name by Barry "Greg" Williams. A special surprise guest at the very end is one of many highlights this time. The DVD of this one slipped through the cracks as to buying it before it was discontinued, 

"Collection" breaks new ground by including the made-for-TV movie "The Brady Girls Get Married," which is the pilot for the 1981 sitcom spin-off "The Brady Brides." That series centers around newlyweds laid-back Marsha and her goofy husband Wally sharing a house that often is too close for comfort with equally newly wed uptight Jan and her blue-blood spouse Phillip. 

The first note regarding this movie and series is that there are false online reports regarding them. "Married" is presented in its original format as a film, rather than as a series of "Brides" episodes have some have asserted.

These same haters have claimed that the picture quality of "Brides" is abysmal; it looks perfectly fine and is at least as good as standard-def DVD releases of shows from the same era. 

The shag-carpet set includes the 1988 made-for-TV dramedy "A Very Brady Christmas," which finds all six kids, the grandkids, and assorted in-laws and common-law-in-laws returning to the iconic abode for the holidays. A common theme is that each kid (and Dad) has a secret shame that (of course) is resolved by the end of the film.

Only "Collection" includes the 1990 CBS Friday night dramedy "The Bradys" for which "Christmas" is a pilot. The brief discussion of this one channels the corny insights of family patriarch Mike Brady. Highly relevant real-life wisdom from a member of the greatest generation is "little people, little problems; big people, big problems."

An aspect of all this is understandable ill-will regarding facing either repurchasing previously released "Brady" fare or forgoing adding the new-to-DVD stuff to your home-video collection until and unless CBS releases or re-releases missing links. The rest of this story is that the $85  IPO price is very fair for all the content but arguably a little steep for Bradyphiles who already own many of the series and films..

Fortunately, having a little patience pays off. I jam very glad that I umped on a deal to buy "Collection" for $45 roughly a month after the release. The current standard price seems to be roughly $50, which is a reasonable price to pay for completing a"Brady" video library, 

The epilogue to all this is that every "Brady" incarnation is amusingly dated; however, the guilty pleasure goofy antics and consistent message of peace, love, and understanding is timeless.