Episode 1: Adios, Johnny Bravo

Greetings readers, family and friends.  Today we kickoff season five with a review of “Adios, Johnny Bravo”.  The episode first aired on September 14th, 1973.  It certainly falls in to the fun category when it comes to The Brady Bunch.  Before beginning this review, I was certain season five would have started off with “The Cincinnati Kids” as this was another time the Bradys left their Southern California home for other places.  That episode will come later.  For now, let us begin reviewing “Adios, Johnny Bravo”!

The episode opens not with a shot of the Brady home, but the building pictured.  It seems like we have seen this structure used before, but I can not remember in which episode.  This time around it is home to a television studio.  Inside, the Brady kids are auditioning for “Hal Barton’s TV Talent Review”.  Well, it would appear Greg’s singing talent is being auditioned while the kids audition their dance moves.  Unlike previous Brady tunes, Barry Williams looks to be going it alone on this one. At one point, Greg serenades Cindy during the audition.

Those sitting in the audience have mixed reactions to the kids’ performance.  An attractive blonde lady really seems to be grooving to the music.  The man behind her, not so much.  The older looking woman sitting to her right doesn’t seem to be enjoying it at all, but I did notice her mouthing the words to the song Greg is singing. I wonder if she was a relative of one of the cast or maybe a voice/dialect coach.

With the kids audition complete, they are told right away they have a spot on next Saturday’s show.  Unlike their last TV appearance, no question is made about their group name or costuming.  As the kids exit the studio, they are stopped by the lady in the audience who was enjoying their performance.  It turns out she is an agent and is looking to take on new musical talent.  She tells Greg to call her the following day at 10 AM.  After she leaves, the kids all eye the business card she left with Greg.  One will notice here that Peter’s voice has gotten much deeper since season four.

The kids all arrive home and commence to another round of sharing that there is exciting news, but won’t share what said exciting news is.  This gag was due for the glue factory long ago.  Season five sees Peter’s voice get deeper and Carol’s hair get shorter.  The ‘do she is sporting here is the best look for her during the duration of the series.  While on the subject of hair, it appears Barry Williams got his unruly locks under control since last season.  Carol thinks the kids’ fantastic news is they made it on the Hal Barton program.  While that is great, they are more excited about the prospect of being represented by an agent.  Carol is happy too and could not be more proud than if she was mother to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  This episode aired on Pop-Up Brady in the early 2000s.  After Carol shared the line about the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, a bubble popped up sharing that at the time of this episode, Mike Lookinland was a Mormon.

The b-plot begins in the next scene.  Mike finds that Greg has received a letter from state university.  Carol forgot to give it to Greg when he arrived home.  Here, Mike and Carol discuss the merits of Greg attending each of their own alma maters.  Carol is a proponent of Greg going to State University and Mike wants him to go to Norton College.  This is a nice touch of continuity.  In past episodes, a diploma from Norton College has been visible on Mike’s office and den walls.  It is worth mentioning again that Norton College does not appear to be  real university in the United States.  A Google search states of the school: Norton College is a mixed secondary school, sixth form and specialist humanities college with academy status in Norton, North Yorkshire, England.   There is also a Wheaton College in Norton Massachusetts, but it admitted women only until 1988.  Readers, if any of you know of any other Norton College that at one time existed, please let us know.

The following day, the clock strikes ten and all the kids rush Greg to make the call to Tammy Cutler.  It was a funny scene with them all sitting there watching the clock.  Greg calls the agent and has to explain who he is.  This too was a humorous bit.  Upon her finally recognizing who was calling, she asks him to come to her studio right away.  The other kids are bummed to learn it is only Greg she wanted to come to the studio.  Greg tells them he is going to represent all of them.  They all agree to this a little quickly for it to be realistic, but TV’s time constraints allow for some suspension of disbelief.  The other factor we must suspend disbelief for is that Greg is going without any parental representation.  Perhaps Greg is 18 all ready and Tammy somehow knew this.  Mike does give him a word of warning to keep his cool when dealing with the agent.  Since at the time, it was still thought that Greg was going on his and all of his siblings behalf, it is very surprising that neither Mike or Carol insisted on accompanying him to meet the agent.

Greg arrives at the studio and meets Tammy’s partner Buddy Berkman.  This guy has the flower child hippy vibe down cold.  He greets Greg with “alright, outta sight, dynamite”.  Greg brought with him a tape of the kids’ music, but in a funny moment, it is tossed away with little regard.  Greg is invited to start playing the guitar for the business duo right away.  The guitar they hand Greg is a bedazzled Fender Telecaster.  Readers, do any of you know if Fender ever released a guitar that was all decked out like this or was this just a studio modification?  I love the guitar and the Telecaster is my favorite.  I only own the Fender Squier version.  My skills at strumming do not justify the cost of a genuine Fender Telecaster.  As Greg plucks away at the guitar, Buddy really seems to be digging the music.  He praises it so much that his words start to ring hollow and his praise is rendered phony.  Well, friends, it is.  As Greg plays, Buddy and Tammy discuss if Greg will fit the suit.  Tammy assures Buddy that Greg will as she never misses.

For reasons unknown, the director shot all the wide shots of the music executives’ office with that shiny silver plant/decoration slap in the center of the shot.  I found this quite distracting.

With a few strums of the guitar, Tammy and Buddy are ready to make Greg a star.  However, it is only Greg they are interested in.    They seek to make him into a star of their own molding.  He will be the new Johnny Bravo!  He won’t be in the top twenty, he will be the top twenty!

Greg arrives home and shares the news with this siblings.  Their reactions are what one would expect upon learning they’d been dumped.  Marcia calls her brother a sell out.  Cindy says he might be on his way to being a big star, but he is a very small person. One can only wonder if No Doubt’s band members reacted to Gwen Stefani this way or if some member of The New Edition called Kenny Rogers a small person.  At least the members of Genesis never had to express such disappointment with Phil Collins as he continued to record with them in the years after his solo career began.

Greg shares with Mike and Carol the news of his new album and the tour that will follow.  They question how college will fit into Greg’s star tour.  These concerns seem quite premature.  Are Tammy and Buddy so wealthy or influential that they have the means to finance a tour before the song is even recorded?  Mike and Carol are now concerned that their eldest son may not get a college education, but will instead be a rock and roll superstar.

Up in the girls’ room, they all mourn the loss of their singing group.  Jan says instead of Johnny Bravo, Greg should be called Benedict Arnold.  I thought the references to the famous traitor ended last season; I was wrong.  Cindy proposes their singing group just be renamed The Brady 5.  Alice is the voice of reason as she suggests the group be renamed “The Sour Grapes”.  This was a funny line.  She calls to question if the girls would have reacted any differently if it was one of them who was offered the superstar job.  They all concede that they too would have sold out their siblings.  With this, apologies are made to Greg and he is wished well on overnight stardom.

As Mike and Carol garden, Greg shares with them his decision.  He will not be going to college, he will be Johnny Bravo instead.  His parents are none too happy about this.  Carol states how fame is a fleeting thing but a college education will last a lifetime.  It was never asked or stated what kind of money Greg would earn being Johnny Bravo.  Even as a kid watching this, I reasoned the paycheck from cutting the first album might have been enough to pay for a college education later on.  Greg could do his thing and even if the album flopped, possibly walk away with enough money to finance his learning.   If Greg did hit it big and eventually his fame fleeted away, again he would have funds to go to school then.  It isn’t until Greg has made his decision that Mike thinks it prudent to look into the music agency.

Greg heads down to the agency and is ingratiated into show business in the course of an afternoon.  He meets his PR man, hired female fans and attorney all in one day.  The hired fans run in and rip Greg’s shirt to shreds.  I’ve always found that scene funny.

Claudia Jennings

The folks making this happen for Greg were played by Claudia Jennings and Paul Cavonis . Claudia Jennings was an interesting choice of actress for the Brady Bunch as she had previously appeared in Playboy Magazine and was even Playmate of the Year in 1970.  Her IMDB acting resume lists several appearances in film and television.  None of the movies were titles that I recognized and the only one of her TV credits I recognized was Barnaby Jones.  She was considered as a replacement for Kate Jackson on Charlie’s Angels but her Playboy modeling career made network executives leery of hiring her.  Sadly, she was killed in a car accident in 1979.  Paul Cavonis’ IMDB resume consists of mostly appearances on TV series and TV movies.  His only feature film credit was also his final acting credit in 1992. Despite no feature film roles or recurring roles on TV shows, he remained a busy actor from 1972 to 1984.

On the same day that Greg went to the office, met his PR man, met his attorney, had his shirt ruined, he also cut his first track.  Buddy declares the music as “sweet” and “the jive that’s alive”.  Greg sure doesn’t dig it.  He says the recording sounds nothing like him.  Here he learns that doesn’t  matter.  His voice was going to be electronically altered regardless.  He was hired on as Johnny Bravo because he fit the suit.  I would like to know what song was played on the tape recorder during this scene.  I’ve always thought that the recording, while altered, did sound like Barry Williams singing.  Greg will have none of this.  He rips the contract and exits the studio.  Tammy and Buddy briefly plead with him not to leave, but let him walk out.  After Greg is gone, Buddy says, “You know, that suit never really fit right in the shoulders.”  It was a funny conclusion to Greg’s Johnny Bravo ambitions.

Pop-Up Brady also shared some fun trivia surrounding Barry Williams in this episode.  First off, he attempted to romance Claudia Jennings, but she did not return those affections.  He also wanted to keep the Johnny Bravo suit, but the studio said no.  Years later he had a replica of it made.

Greg arrives home and shares the news with Mike and Carol.  They are relieved he has abandoned the Johnny Bravo career.  What he did not do however is abandon Greg Brady’s singing career.  I thought this episode seemed to wrap up kind of quickly, but then realized why.  We are treated to another Brady tune to close out the episode. Here the six kids sing and dance to “Good Time Music”.  It is a very catchy Brady tune and probably my favorite that they did.  The fellows have on some swanky looking 70’s duds.  The girls borrowed colorful dresses from a western production nearby.  Those threads look to be from Little House on the Prairie.  As the band plays, Hal Barton gives the gang an OK sign.

Jeff Davis

Hal Barton was played by Jeff Davis.  He is most remembered as President of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865.  Wait, wrong Jeff Davis!  This Jeff Davis’s acting career consisted mainly of appearances on TV series.  IMDB lists his most recent credit as 2005.  Per IMDB, he is still with us.

The epilogue wraps up the b-plot.  Greg comes to visit Mike and Carol after they are in bed with an update on his college plans.  He says he has been reading through the pamphlets from each school.  Geez, if the colleges consider those texts pamphlets, I would hate to see the reading assignments of actual books in the courses!  Those “pamphlets” are huge!  Greg tells Mike and Carol he plans to travel a few years before going to college and then reveals these plans to be a gag.  Check out Mike’s gold chain he wears to bed.  I never considered Mike Brady to be the jewelry wearing type.

Thank you for joining me in reviewing “Adios, Johnny Bravo”.  If viewed from the perspective of it being just a fun story with some Brady singing thrown in, it is a great episode.  Any attempt at taking the story seriously would result in a very bash-worthy tale.  Next week, we review “Mail Order Hero”.  Based on the title alone, I have no idea what episode this is.  As always, I look forward to reading your own thoughts and comments on this episode.  See you next week!