DVD Release Date: November 1, 2005 (Paramount Home Video)
Color/1972-73
MSRP: $38.99
Number of Discs: 4
Number of Episodes: 23
Running Time: Approx. 9 hours, 41 minutes
Languages, Subtitles, Closed Captioning: English; No
Subtitles; Closed captioned
Special Features: None
Introduction:
Less than two months after the last DVD release, The
Brady Bunch is back with the complete fourth season on
DVD! Join Mike, Carol, Greg, Marcia, Peter, Jan,
Bobby, Cindy and Alice for 23 more half hours of
groovy fun. Lessons to live by in season four: 1.
Football + Nose = Ouch! 2. Beware of Mysterious Tiki
Idols. 3. Make Every Day a ‘Sunshine Day!’ So sit
back with your family during the holiday season for
some family fun with the wholesome Bradys!
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
Like season three opened with a vacation three part
episode, the fourth season did as well. This season
they head on over to Hawaii (“Hawaii Bound,” “Pass the
Tabu,” “The Tiki Caves”). Aloha…oh! The Bradys fall
under the curse of an ancient Tiki idol during their
tropical trip. Once safely back in suburbia, the
Bradys find even more family escapades awaiting them,
from the traumas of school curses (and errant
footballs) to revoked driving privileges and sibling
rivalries. And the Brady kids create their own
singing group—oh what a Sunshine Day that will be!
Must see episodes are the Hawaii 3-parter, “Today I’m
a Freshman” is where Marcia enters high school, “Love
and the Older Man” sees Marcia fall in love with
dentist Dr. Vogel (love that name!), “Greg Gets
Grounded” has Greg losing his privileges to drive,
“Amateur Night” is where we first see those kids sing
Sunshine Day, “The Subject Was Noses” ‘Oh, my nose,’
and “Room at the Top” has a battle between Greg &
Marcia for the room in the attic.
Guest starring this season is: Don Ho & Vincent Price
in the Hawaii three-parter; Kym Karath (“Cyrano de
Brady”); Rita Wilson (“Greg’s Triangle”); Nicholas
Hammond (“The Subject Was Noses”); and the legendary
Burt Mustin (“Bobby’s Hero”).
Packaging:
The packaging remains similar to the first three
season releases. 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.
The overall color scheme of this set is lime red and
blue. On the back of the box, they give some details
of the set and there are three memorable photos from
this season. The 23 episodes of the set are broken
down by disc. Two slim cases slide out from the right
of the box. Slim case #1 holds discs 1 & 2 and has an
aqua blue cover with 4 photos of Cindy, Alice/Carol,
Greg/a date, and the Brady kids singing. Slim case #2
holds discs 3 & 4 and has a red cover with 4 photos of
Marcia, Marcia/Cindy/Peter/Bobby, Mike/Carol, and
Peter. There are some detailed episode summaries on
the back of the cases that list the original airdates
as well. The episodes are in original airdate order.
Two single-sided discs can be found in each case.
Inside of slim case #1, the background is aqua blue;
the classic quotes from the show are there when you
remove the discs from the case. Slim case #2 has a red
background color inside and has classic quotes again
when you remove each disc. Disc 1 is red and has a
photo of Carol and Mike with episodes 73-78. Disc 2
is also red and pictures Greg and Marcia with episodes
79-84. Disc 3 is blue and shows a picture of Jan and
Peter with episodes 85-91. Disc 4 is also blue and has
a shot of Bobby and the youngest one in curls (Cindy)
with episodes 92-96.
Menu Design and Navigation:
The menus have a familiar look as the first three
season sets. They feature various photos and different
pastel-colored backgrounds on each disc. The episode
titles are listed right on the main menu screen. All
discs have a Play All button or you can play the
episodes individually. There is a Previews option on
the first disc, with a few movie and TV DVD trailers.
There are well-placed chapter stops within the
episodes using the commercial break as stops, but
there are no separate menus for scene selections.
Again, it would have been nice to hear the theme song
or some of the great music cues by Frank DeVol on the
menus.
Video and Audio Quality:
The episodes are well spread out over 4 discs with no
more than 6 episodes per disc, so there are no
compression problems. All of the episodes appear to be
unedited, running from 25-25:30 minutes in length. Most
of the episodes are 25:20. There are no original
bumpers included on the set (S1 and S2 had them). On
the first 2 releases, they had "The Brady Bunch - In
Color" still image at the start of the episodes. I'm
sure they dropped them by the time seasons three and
four originally aired. There are no commercial break
bumpers saying "The Brady Bunch will return in a
moment." Those would have been fun to see. For the
closing logo enthusiasts, there is the red, white, and
blue closing Paramount logo that was used at the time.
The Grand Canyon episodes in season three had a little
voiceover saying stay tuned next week for the next
episode, but the Hawaii three-part episode does not
have that. The audio is a standard Digital 2.0 Mono
track. The audio is at a good level and there are no
noticeable problems. Closed captioning is available on
all of the episodes.
Special Features:
Season 1 had a nice amount of special features, and I
think fans were hoping to have them on all seasons. No
special features were included on seasons 2 and 3.
Unfortunately, they've continued that trend on this
set again. The complete, unedited episodes are
probably the most important thing to people. The Brady
Bunch DVDs are coming out so fast, so I think fans are
very happy, as some shows come out on DVD like snails.
I understand Barry Williams recorded commentary;
Paramount should have included all those at least.
There are about 3 minutes worth of previews of
Paramount DVD releases on the first disc that play
when you pop the disc in and there is an option again
on the main menu.
Final Comments:
We are already done with four of the five seasons on
DVD! Good job by Paramount in releasing these in a
fast pace. Extras would have been nice to have for
seasons 2-4. I hope we get at least audio commentary
for the final season. Maybe Paramount will release
other related series like The Brady Kids animated
series, the sitcom The Brady Brides (with the two hour
pilot movie!), and the drama series The Bradys. Maybe
by next Christmas they can come out with A Very Brady
Christmas on DVD, too! Hopefully the reason Paramount
is releasing the original series in a fast pace is so
they can release all the other movies and incarnations
of the show. I think we can expect season 5 in early
2006, if I were to guess, most likely in February or
March. If that is the case, we would have all the
seasons in just one year. Talk about fast paced!
"Keep on, keep on..." Paramount!
