Submitted by acrowsmurder t3_10qzda0 in movies
From 1969 to 1974, the American Broadcast Corporation (ABC) basked the world in the glory that was The Brady Bunch: The story of a lovely lady, bringing up three ladies all alone, and a man named Brady, raising three boys of his own. They knew that it was much more than a hunch - they had to get together and form The Brady Bunch!
And Alice.
The Sitcom
This blended family was the personification of Anti-War 60s and 70s. After the success of Gilligan's Island (where's that movie?), Sherwood Schwartz started work on a show set to be called 'Mine and Yours' after reading about how 30% of marriages include children from a previous marriage. Schwartz went to the extreme with this, with Carol Ann Tyler having 3 daughters and Michael Paul 'Mike' Brady having 3 sons, each one having child in the preadolescence/adolescent/teenager age ranges; Cindy & Bobby, Jan & Peter, and Greg & Marcia. Carol and the girls moved into architect Mike's house with his live in maid, Alice Nelson. While being a sought after architect, Mike somehow failed to include bathrooms into any of his designs.
Throughout its run, The Brady Bunch focused on teen/preteen drama, sibling rivalry, and morality while never addressing political commentary, notably the Vietnam War that was being waged during it's later seasons. And all in pastel.
THE MOVIE...FROM THE 90s...BUT NOT THE TV MOVIE, THE MOVIE MOVIE
After it's cancelation in 1974, there were 8 spin of series, 'sequels' and reunions in the 19 years before the movie: Kelly's Kids, The Brady Kids, The Brady Bunch Variety Hour, The Brady Girls Get Married / The Brady Brides, A Very Brady Christmas, The Bradys, Day by Day: "A Very Brady Episode", and Bradymania: A Very Brady Special.
Then, in 1995, The Brady Bunch Movie came out. The movie plucks the Brady's just as they were in the 70s and drops them in the mid 90s. And it's perfect.
The movie goes over all the tropes that the series had, while acknowledging/parodying many behind the scenes questions and rumors: Jan getting hit by a football, the dog Tiger just missing, how the house has no bathrooms to 'did Jan and Greg do it?'. All the original living cast members made cameos, with Florence Henderson playing the mother of her character, Barry Williams as a record producer that thinks Greg's music is crap, and even the dreamy Davy Jones makes an appearance.
The movie did a wonderful job of paying homage to the source material while still lampooning the hell out of it. Even the sequel, A Very Brady Sequel, is a gem. The only other tv series to movie series that I can think of that did a better job is Mission:Impossible.