Watch A Very Brady Christmas For Free

Just perfect...

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Well, what can this guy say? Like many, I grew up watching 'The Brady Bunch' and while, yes, it was/is cheesy - as we all know - I loved it.Many of the reviews posted here say it all. But I'll add my two cents anyhow...Marcia Brady - 'Sigh' - THE Marcia Brady, gorgeous Brady girl #1 who occupied the upper left hand photo box in the series opening credits. Marcia Brady - cheerleader at both Filmore Junior High and Westdale High, the girl who beat Greg at their Brady organized driving tests, the girl who did the sexy hula dance during the Brady's 3 part Hawaiian vacation. Marica Brady - every guy's dream date, a girl who could flip her alluring Breck shampooed long blonde hair and win any guy.......ended up marrying that loser WALLY??? Puh-LEASE! What in the heck were the writers thinking....or smoking?Note: Maureen looked HOT in this TV movie. And then we have...........Jan. Yes, poor neurotic, borderline manic depressive/personality disorder afflicted Jan ("But, Glasses will make me look positively GOOFY!" - Yes, sweety, they did) with the OH SO serious sense of low self esteem (watch any episode of the original series and see this morose gal in action. Remember when, jealous of Marcia, in episodes 1-116, she hid all of Marcia's awards and trophies?) is even MORE so in this movie! Add in frigid, bitchy, and a short cropped hairdo that only amplified her scowling look, and whaddya got? Ya got Jan Brady - 1990's style. And it ain't a pretty sight.Aye yi yi. BAD TV reunion movie. Two thumbs (my own) down.Heheheheheh....but I still watch it.

My family used to look forward to "The Brady Bunch" kicking off every Friday night (along with the rest of the ABC lineup; Must See TV, early 70s-style). Hundreds of thousands wished they could be part of this family. Who wouldn't want to be able to neatly solve their problems in 30 minutes with such understanding parents? Not to mention the memorable Hawaiian vacation episodes (a few Hawaii episodes were de rigueur for sitcoms of the era). While series star Robert Reed always chafed at the simplistic comic situations, it did manage to endear itself to the Me generation. After the original show left primetime, there were several abortive attempts to bring them back.Of the numerous variations on the Brady theme, this reunion was the most true to form. The "Brady Kids" cartoon was too, well, cartoonish, with a magical, talking crow and no parents to be seen. "The Brady Bunch Variety Hour" was a short-lived flop. "The Brady Brides" had its moments, but couldn't capture the spirit of the original, since it didn't include the entire cast. 1990's "The Bradys" became too serious, moving the house, paralyzing Bobby, turning Marcia into an alcoholic and Mike into a politician, not to mention losing Maureen McCormick. Those changes resulted in a 6 episode run, besting the 10 episodes of the Brides and the 8 of the Variety Hour to become the shortest-lived Brady show. The Brady Bunch theatrical films were a travesty, choosing to mock the original clan as inexplicably Munster-ish outcasts blissfully ignorant of their retrofreakishness.In my household, watching this is a holiday season tradition, the way "Miracle on 34th Street," "It's a Wonderful Life," "A Christmas Story" or "Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer" is for others. After all, Christmas is the warm and fuzzy season and the Brady Bunch was nothing if not warm and fuzzy. When this was first broadcast, it was like seeing old friends again after a very long time, not unlike Schwartz' first successful TV show reunion, "Rescue from Gilligan's Island." Everybody had grown older, but nothing had really changed. Greg had married offscreen and both he and Marcia had kids, but that's about it. The house with its cavernous interior was thoroughly familiar and painstakingly recreated and updated. Only the driveway and backyard was missing. And the situations were classic. With roughly 100 minutes to fill, everybody got to have their own secrets and problems. True, the reunion sometimes verged on mawkishness, especially with the caroling, but that's part of the Brady charm. Only in the last 15 minutes did it drag, with Mike trapped in a construction site collapse.All of the original cast members were at just the right age. Robert Reed never seemed more paternal. The kids were still young, but no longer the cloying youngsters of endless reruns. The production also teemed with pretty ladies. Aside from Marcia, Marcia, Marcia, there was Greg's wife Nora, Peter's girlfriend Valerie, and Jennifer Runyon as a prettier, if blander, Cindy. Susan Olsen, the original Cindy, was on her honeymoon (she should have done the reunion, since that marriage ended in divorce). Also missing was Allan Melvin, the original Sam the butcher. Only Florence Henderson was a distraction, with almost Tammy Fay Bakkerish makeup and overplucked eyebrows.Now Schwartz is working on yet another Brady project where Mike is elected President. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Thanks, but I'll stick with this, the last vestige of old school Brady.

OK, I will agree some of the dialogue and situations in this movie are VERY corny. But it's also warm and winning as the Bradys reunite for the holidays. Some of the situations here were continued in the series The Bradys, which followed a year later. Sadly, Susan Olsen wasn't in the film (was on her honeymoon at the time), but the rest of the family is back! A nice little film to enjoy come holiday season. A bit of trivia: Tonya Lee Williams, who plays Cindy's roommate here, went on to play Olivia on the Young and the Restless, a role she's played for the last decade.

Ok, someone tell me that this isn't for real? Poor Dad gets trapped in a construction accident and they still sing christmas carols without him? Some one should beat the writers of this script into a bloody pulp. I like The Brady Bunch, but this is de-grading.