The Girls by Stan Zimmerman

Author:Stan Zimmerman [Zimmerman, Stan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-09-08T00:06:59+00:00

7

THE BRADY LADIES

Before ABC-TV came up with their famous “TGIF” (Thank God It’s Friday) tag line, they had a legendary lineup of Friday shows. I was glued to our Zenith TV, starting at eight p.m. with The Brady Bunch, then The Partridge Family, Room 222, The Odd Couple, and ending with Love, American Style at ten p.m.

Sitting on our brown Naugahyde couch in our den, I had no idea one day I would be offered the opportunity to rewrite a movie based on The Brady Bunch. But that’s exactly what happened in April 1994 when our film agent, Richard Feldman, called.

Richard: “Hey, are you two interested in doing a production polish on a movie at Paramount?”

We didn’t have to hear more to say, “Yes!”

He told us to read the latest draft and see if it was something up our alley. I knew it would be and was even more excited when I was told his client, Betty Thomas, an Emmy winner for her role as “Lucy Bates” on NBC’s hit ensemble cop show, Hill Street Blues, would be directing.

I was literally packing my bags for a vacation to Greece (Athens, Mykonos, and then finally the magical island of Santorini) when the script arrived at my door. I read it instantly. To be honest, I didn’t find it that funny. It had a clever premise—The Brady family (and their trusted maid, Alice) were stuck in the 1970s even though they lived in current day, 1985. They were still the wholesome, dorky, polyester-clad characters I grew up with. But I felt there were so many joke areas left untapped in the current draft. And there were a lot of writers’ names on it. About four teams. And that didn’t include the Schwartzes, even though Sherwood Schwartz created the series. Or Joey and Faith Soloway, who created The Real Live Brady Bunch, a cult hit stage show in 1991. It had super successful runs in Chicago, New York, and eventually LA. The format for this parody play was a word-for-word reenactment of one of the episodes for Act One. And a Brady-based game show for Act Two. It was pretty hysterical and really campy. Jim and I went to see it at the Westwood Playhouse. Jane Lynch (pre-Glee) played Carol Brady, and Andy Richter (pre-Conan O’Brien Show) was Mike Brady. Bonnie and Terry Turner (Third Rock from the Sun) did a major rewrite on the film script, and I believe were the ones who came up with the concept of the movie.

We told our agent we were very interested. We desperately wanted to work on a movie that was actually being filmed, not just in development. But I wasn’t willing to cancel my trip, so off to Greece I went.

After a harrowing cab ride from the Athens airport to my hotel, I wanted to hide in my room. Then the phone rang. It was a low voice. No “hello,” just, “You wanna come back and write The Brady Bunch Movie for me?!” I thought it was a man.

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