DVD Release Date: July 26, 2005 (Paramount Home Video)
Color
MSRP: $38.99
Number of Discs: 4
Number of Episodes: 24
Running Time: Approx. 10 hours
Languages, Subtitles, Closed Captioning: English; No
Subtitles; Closed captioned
Special Features: None
Introduction:
Here's the story... of America's grooviest TV sitcom family! It's the story of The Brady
Bunch, and in Season Two of this best-loved comedy series, there are plenty of high jinks
underfoot in split-level suburbia. Greg? He's got a far-out new bachelor pad
to impress all the chicks. Marcia? She's embracing Women's Lib. Peter? He's headed
for the doghouse after breaking Carol's favorite vase. Jan? She's gone from
"hair of gold" to hair of black - via a brand-new wig. Bobby's pet parakeet
may help him overcome his fear of heights, and Cindy's plagued by a schoolyard
bully who's been making fun of her lisp. On the adult front, Mike's architectural firm
plans to build right on top of a beloved neighborhood park; Carol tries her creative
hand at writng for a women's magazine... and Alice the housekeeper has called
the exterminator on "Myron" - Greg's science project! There are 24 episodes in The Brady
Bunch: The Complete Second Season... all featuring laughter, tears and Day-Glo colors.
It's the way they all became The Brady Bunch!
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
The show really started to come into it's own in season two (1970-71) with some classic episodes.
With Alice away and Cindy developing sniffles, Mike and Carol are set to cancel
their night out on the town - until Greg and Marcia argue that they are responsible
enough to look after their siblings in "The Babysitters."
Peter breaks Carol's favorite vase and after his attempt to fix it fails, the other Brady kids
decide to take the blame so Peter will still be allowed to participate in a weekend
camping trip in "Confessions, Confessions." Mom always said don't play blal in the house!
Greg's band is practicing a groovy new song ("Clowns never laughed before...")- but
there's discord all around when Jan and Cindy catch him smoking and Marcia tells their
parents in "Where There's Smoke." Tired of being a golden-haired Brady girl
and fearing she's too "plain" to attract boys, Jan decides to break out of her shell by
buying a curly brunette wig to wear to a party - much to the amusement of the other partygoers
in "Will The Real Jan Brady Please Stand Up?." Greg decides to leave
childhood behind by dressing "mod," wearing tinted "shades," turning Mike's converted
den into a swinging bachelor pad, and trying to hit on older girls at school in "Our Son, The
Man."
Some well-known athletes and past and future sitcom stars made guest appearances during
the second season. Don Drysdale, a future Hall of Fame pitcher, appeared as himself
in "The Dropout." E.G. Marshall, Hope Sherwood (Sherwood Schwartz's daughter), Barbara Henderson
(Florence Henderson's daughter), and Carolyn Reed (Robert Reed's daughter) appeared
in "The Slumber Caper." Gordon Jump played the Mechanic in "Call Me Irresponsible."
Marcia Wallace appeared as the Saleswoman in "Will The Real Jan Brady Please Stand Up?."
Deacon Jones, a future Football Hall of Fame member, appeared as himself in "The Drummer
Boy." Julie Cobb, who played the mom on the first season of Charles in Charge, appeared
as the Girl in "Our Son, The Man." Hal Smith guest starred as the Cartoon King in
"The Winner." Jackie Coogan appeared as the Man in "Double Parked."
Packaging:
The packaging is very similar to the season one set. It features the famous
Brady Bunch checkerboard grid with a hologram type cover. When you turn it
from side to side and you are in good light, you can see the cast's faces
move in different directions as you saw on the show's opening credits. They used
the same opening grid (but different theme song) for season three. The
overall color theme of the set is purple and green. The back of the
box gives some details on the set and has 4 small photos
from the show. All 24 episodes are listed on the back of the box - organized
by disc. There are 2 slimcases inside the box. The front of the cases feature
5 different photos on each, and the backs of the cases list the episode
titles with some pretty detailed summaries and the original airdates. The first
slimcase is purple while the second is green. Two single sided discs can be found in
each case. I don't think the two discs per slimcase is the best idea. The discs
seem to pop out of their cases too easily, and they can be easily scratched.
Inside the cases, there are a few quotes from the episodes with various
photos of the cast in the green or purple background. Disc 1 is purple with photos
of Carol and Mike and has episodes 26-31. Disc 2 has photos of Marcia and Greg
with episodes 32-37. Disc 3 is green and shows photos of Peter and Jan and includes
episodes 38-43. Disc 4 is green and has a shot of Bobby and Cindy and contains episodes
44-49.
Menu Design and Navigation:
The menus feature various photos and different colored backgrounds on each disc.
Disc 1 has a photo of the Brady Bunch grid and logo with a blue and green
flower background. The episode titles are listed vertically in white. There is a squiggly
line under the episode you select. Disc 2 has a photo of Peter, Bobby, and Greg
with a red and blue background. Disc 3 has a shot of Jan in her wig with Marcia
and Cindy watching with a red and purple background. Disc 4 offers a photo
of Marcia, Alice, and Cindy with a green and pink background. Once again, there
is no theme song played on the menus which I think would have been a nice touch.
All discs have a Play All button and there is a Previews option for some other
Paramount DVD releases (Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, MacGyver,
Charmed, and The Brady Bunch - Season 1) on the first disc. There are chapter stops
within the episodes, but there are no separate menus for scene selections.
Video and Audio Quality:
The episodes look pretty good considering their age.
It seems like Paramount used a variety of prints to get the complete, unedited
episodes. Some scenes look great with no video problems. Other scenes look like
they have some dirt and debris, and the color looks a little faded or the picture
is not as sharp. The scenes with the poorer quality generally seem to be the ones that were cut out of syndication
and re-inserted for these dvd sets. The episodes are well spread out over 4 discs,
so there are no compression problems. All episodes appear to be unedited, running
around 25 minutes in length. There is approximately 3 minutes of footage in each
episode that isn't shown in syndication. The original bumpers "The Brady Bunch - In
Color" are once again shown at the start of the episodes.
The bumpers featured a still photo of the cast on the stairs with about 7 seconds of music
playing in the background. These haven't been shown in syndication in a number of years.
There are no commercial break bumpers saying "The Brady Bunch will return in a
moment" though.
For the closing logo enthusiasts, there is the red, white, and blue closing Paramount logo that
was used at the time. I noticed some episodes had the 1970 copyright date on them while
others did not. The episodes are presented in their original airdate order.
The audio track is standard Digital 2.0 Mono. There really are no major problems with
the audio, and I don't think what was originally recorded could be improved that much.
The volume is at a good level and easy to hear. Season 2 featured the debut of The Brady Bunch kids singing the opening theme song.
Closed captioning is available on all episodes.
Special Features:
After a nice amount of special features on the season 1 set including 3 audio commentaries
and a featurette with new interviews with the cast and crew, this season 2 set is
a bit of a disappointment with no extras included. According to
Barry Williams Official Website, he did episode commentaries with
Susan Olsen and Christopher Knight for seasons 1-3. I don't understand
why Paramount chose not to include them here. The commentaries on the season 1 set were
fun to listen to and added some enjoyment to watching the episodes. I thought they would do
it like the Seinfeld DVDs and record all the interviews and commentaries over the course of a few days for all the
season sets. There's no question the complete uncut episodes are most important to me,
but it would be nice to see some special features if they went to the effort to make them.
How about some bloopers or other vintage material such as network promos?
Final Comments:
This is another nice set by Paramount. I'm not sure why the audio commentaries
weren't included if they recorded them. Maybe something suddenly came up.
The suggested retail price of the 2 sets is the same - with
or without special features. I would say the fact that the episodes are complete
and unedited is the most important thing for me. To see whole scenes and lines
that are cut in syndication is great to watch even though some of the re-inserted
material is sometimes lower quality video. Season 3 is less than 2 months away!
Look for that to be released on September 13th with season 4 possibly in late 2005 or early
2006.
