The Brady Kids

When I think of this show, I wonder how this ever got on the air. You have the Brady kids sans their parents Mike and Carol and their housekeeper Alice. Replacing them are a big dog named Moptop, a magical talking mynah bird named Marlin and a pair of annoying pandas named Ping and Pong. Also, this show allowed the kids to display their musical talents, which were marginal at best. Maureen McCormick and Barry Williams had semi-successful singing careers, but with the awful bubblegum pop tunes they were handed on this show you wonder how they were able to get their singing careers off the ground.

I remember one episode of that show, in which Superman/Clark Kent made a special appearence in that episode. If you don't believe in superheroes, this will make you believe!

This show had pretty good merit if you accept it as a kid's show. It was the guest appearance of characters that you couldn't even imagine seeing on the live "Brady Bunch" show. What chance would you think that The Brady Kids would meet up with Superman, Lone Ranger & Tonto, Wonder Woman, Clint Flint, Charlie Chan, and so many others! I guess the appearance of these characters were used in the same fashion as "The New Scooby-Doo Movies".

The magical bird called "Merlin" was cute! He was always during spells and winds up causing disasters. I always wish that they could have used the Kids from the Partridge Family to make a guest appearance on this show, because they are so comparable!

This wasn't a bad show, It was one of many Filmation animated adaptations of popular T.V. shows, ex (My Favorite Martians, Gilligan's Planet,etc). This show was also the first to feature the DC comic book character Wonder Woman in animated form. It also featured a crossover episode with Mission:Magic! which featured an animated Rick Springfield. Each week the kids would perform a musical number a la The Archies. The original cast provided the voices for the first season. For the second season Maureen McCormick (Marcia) and Barry Williams (Greg) didn't return. Their voices were done by Lou Scheimer's two children Ericka and Lane.

I've wanted this series for a long time, based mostly on memories and nostalgia, especially from the Tim Matheson on Mushrooms scene in the otherwise horrible Brady movie sequel. The animation is cheap and there's a magic bird and two pandas that aren't needed.

I understand the whole premise was to have the kids go on adventures that couldn't be filmed in real life, but if you get too weird, there's nothing to relate to, or a story to relate with or be entertained by.

And while not being a bad trip, it's mostly just a lousy one. Big let-down. Nice to hear the real voices though. Makes you wish they had more input instead of Larry Storch's lame voice-overs for all those silly imposing fantastical creatures that never feel like characters, but more like, intrusions.