The Brady Brides Final Episode

Original Air Date: April 17, 1981

Video Link: https://dai.ly/x4jtcv7

Hello again friends and readers.  Today we end our blogging adventure that has been The Brady Brides.  Thank you for all those who have suffered along with me as we reviewed some weak plots, idiotic scripts and underdeveloped characters.  If you enjoyed these episodes, I want to thank you for joining as well.  I will say that of all The Brady Brides episodes this one, “A Pretty Boy Is Like a Melody”, was probably the best of the lot. I reviewed the writing credits for all of the episodes and they list Lloyd J. Schwartz and Sherwood Schwartz along with another writer or two.  For the painful experience that was “The Siege”, Hope Sherwood was one of the writers.  She played Greg’s date Rachel in the episode with the frogs in the backseat at the drive-in.  The episode we are reviewing today was penned with the assistance of Richard Gurman.  I scanned his other writing credits on IMBD and he wrote scripts for some series I have enjoyed; among them are episodes of The New Leave It to Beaver, Married… with Children and Still Standing.  I am not saying for sure I saw the ones he wrote, but his resume suggests some talent and it shines through in “A Pretty Boy Is Like a Melody”.  IMDB notes Richard Gurman wrote  the script for a well known Happy Days episode that has Fonzie integrating a diner in the south.

Something I noticed with The Brady Brides was the Logan/Covington home shares something in common with the childhood home of Marcia and Jan.  The outside doesn’t quite jive with the inside.  The front door appears to be to the far left of the front porch, while interior shots indicate it should be to the right .

This time it is Marcia’s turn to have her livelihood threatened.  She arrives home with the fantastic news that some of her designs will be part of a fashion show with a big shot critic in attendance.  The scene plays out in the kitchen.  Before this episode, we only got to see the kitchen through the opening from the dining area.  I hope the production getting the funds for a full kitchen set didn’t get their hopes up that the series would be on a while.

Some genuine humor plays out when some models arrive at the house to be fitted for the fashion show duds.  Wally is expecting some fine looking ladies to grace his living room.  He answers the door to find Harry standing there.  A few seconds later, it is revealed some studly men are modeling Marcia’s clothes.  Wally is dismayed by this and as Harry leaves he laughs at him through the window.  This was quite funny and I still chuckle thinking about the exchange.

Jealousy abounds as Wally must share the company of the two hunky dudes and learns they work with Marcia regularly.  The models throw a few barbs at Wally.   The David Hasselhoff looking guy, Brandon, tosses his coat on Wally as he disrobes for a fitting.  As Marcia begins the fitting, Wally asks if they don’t all ready know their own measurements.  The reply from Brandon is he does in fact know them and they get bigger every day.  Wally’s jealous way eventually annoy the pair to the point that they decide to leave.  The guy who looks like Scott Baio, Lance, tells Marcia that Muhammad Wally is a bit much and they are out.   The entire scene had me laughing out loud a few times.   Oh, if only the other episodes could have done that.

Tom Gagen

Tom Jordan

Brandon and Lance were played by Tom Gagen and Tom Jordan.  Tom Gagen’s IMDB resume lists little of note and no acting gigs beyond a 1982 appearance on The Powers of Matthew Star.  Tom Jordan’s acting career continued until 2017.  He appeared in 146 episodes of Fair City along with other appearances on TV and in movies.  Tom Jordan died in 2019.

Without models, Marcia’s show can not go on.  She states it is the weekend and the agencies are closed, leaving her with nobody else to hire.  Surely in southern California there were models to be found for work on the weekend!  So her career may not end, the husbands agree to model for the show.   Philip is of course cajoled into it.  The fashion show exhibits the typical nonsense that was to be expected with this show.

Marcia’s designs are all sportswear of some sort, despite her company’s name being Casual Clothes.  A fencing get up, leopard print shorts and a scuba suit are hardly what I would consider casual.   Wally and Philip clumsily model the clothes and Wally is soon stuck in the scuba suit and unable to model “Jungle Fever”.  As Marcia dashes backstage to help, Carol gets on stage and stalls the audience.  Philip’s unwillingness to walk out on stage in the leopard shorts should be the comedic high of the episode, but in my opinion that happened already.  The fashion show concludes with the big shot fashion critic telling Marcia she will do fine as a designer.

There is a scene back at the house, but at this point dear readers, I am done with the Brady Brides.  I welcome your own thoughts on this episode and the series as a whole.  Thanks to all who have shared their thoughts thus far.  I’ve really enjoyed reading your commentary.  My plan is to review the first two of the parody movies next.  However, with two small children and the holidays rapidly approaching, I am not sure when I will have time to sit down and scrutinize a film from start to finish.   So, it may be a while, but I will be back with more Brady blogging!