DVD Release Date: April 3, 2007 (CBS DVD/Paramount)
Color/1969-74
MSRP: $139.99
Number of Discs: 21
Number of Episodes: 117
Running Time: 2980 minutes
Total Run Time of Special Features: approx. 227
minutes (just counting bonus disc)
Languages, Subtitles, Closed Captioning: English;
closed-captioned
Special Features: A Very Brady Christmas (TV movie);
The Brady 500 (the pilot movie for the 1990 series);
Two episodes from "The Brady Kids" animated series;
previous extras: Audio commentaries from season one
and a featurette on season one
Introduction:
Here's the story...the COMPLETE story of The Brady
Bunch now available for the first time in one complete
20-disc set with a bonus disc filled with more Brady
series! That's right, this groovy & far-out
collector’s edition features all 117 episodes plus
the holiday classic TV-movie A Very Brady Christmas,
the pilot movie for The Bradys, and two episodes from
The Brady Kids cartoon! Join Mike, Carol, Greg,
Peter, Bobby, Marcia, Jan, Cindy, and the housekeeper
Alice for their entire story!
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
These episodes have all been previously released on
single season sets, so we have told you already what
episodes are memorable from all five seasons and which
big stars have come to join the Brady’s. Therefore,
we suggest you head on over to our season set reviews:
Besides the bonus disc, the packaging is very
different from the season sets. The packaging is one
huge case that holds all 21 discs. How is that
possible you may ask? Well, let’s start with the
exterior. First, you have to remove the clear plastic
outer box before you get to the huge case. I found
that annoying, but I guess it protects the huge case.
There is a small hole on the outer box so you can feel
the case. Why would you want to feel it because the
case is wrapped in ‘70s lime green shag carpeting!
Groovy! While it is cool, maybe they should have went
with the Brady turf instead as that is more Brady than
the shag carpeting. Oh well. The shag carpeting could
be annoying to you because sometimes it sheds if you
touch it a lot or keep moving the case. On the cover
in the middle is the Brady Bunch logo and The Complete
Series title in a nice flower that looks cool in
between the carpet. The back of the case of course has
the carpeting and in the middle is the Brady grid with
our family along with some info on the set in a pink
box.
When we open the huge case, we are inside in the
interior! On the left side we have a nice image with
the Brady Bunch logo and the entire case posing in
front of those famous Brady stairs. Actually, that
image is a holder for the Brady Bunch booklet! The
booklet has episode info for each episode by season,
with nice color coordination. Season one is in yellow,
season two is in purple, season three is in green,
season four is in red and season five & the bonus disc
is in orange. In the middle of the booklet, there is
also a meet the Bradys section in pink…nice facts!
Now in the between the left and right panel we can see
the wooden Brady wall! Man I love that wall! On the
right side, we have the discs. A plastic lid (similar
to the outer plastic box) makes sure the discs don’t
fall out because the discs are in plastic cardboard
sleeves shaped in a flower! It looks cool, but it is
not that great really. The first flower says,
“Here’s the Story...” Each disc has its own
cardboard sleeve and each season has a different color
again, just like the episode booklet. The colors are
the same as that but the bonus disc’s sleeve is in
pink. You can take out the cardboard pack anytime you
want, as all the cardboard sleeves are glued together.
When you take out the discs, they can easily be
damaged really. Fingerprints also can be on them more
than usual, which I hate.
All the discs have the same exact art as they did on
the regular season sets. The bonus disc has the Brady
clan posing in front of those stairs again with the
special features listed. The color is pink.
The bonus disc’s menu is basic. It has the Brady
grid on the left with the logo and Bonus Disc on the
top in the center. On the right side, they list the
actual material and you select one. The Brady flower
is the pointer. More on the bonus disc in the special
features section.
Video and Audio Quality:
Once again, the same material from the season sets. I
don’t want to reiterate what we have said already in
our previous reviews. So, for video and audio info,
see our preceding reviews: Season 1 / Season 2 /
Season 3 / Season 4 /
Season 5
I will though mention how the video and audio are for
the extras. The Brady 500 looks very good. Clear
video and very good audio. I actually think this
series was good; yes, I was hooked when TV Land aired
reruns on weekends some years back. It is cheesy just
like the original sitcom, but with actual drama. A
Very Brady Christmas is a Christmas classic and it has
never looked better than it has on this DVD. They
should have listed that first on the menu since it
came before The Brady 500, but not a big deal. The two
Brady Kids episodes look good but the animation
sometimes is not good, we see flashing white dots from
time to time. This is totally ‘70s animation so it
looks as good as it can be, I guess. The sound is
decent.
Special Features:
We will only cover the extras on the bonus disc.
Season one has extras, but that was covered on our
season one review already. The first extra on the
bonus disc is The Brady 500. It runs 88:42 and is the
pilot for the 1990 drama series The Bradys. It is so
cheesy but I liked it. The basic plot of the story is
seeing the Brady’s in jams and Mike running for an
election. Will he win? Watch and see. Maureen
McCormick (Marcia) was the only original star not on
board for this.
Then we have the holiday classic TV-movie A Very Brady
Christmas. It really isn’t Christmas if this movie
is not shown during the holidays, now we can pop this
in anytime! The movie brought back the entire
original cast in the late ‘80s except Susan Olsen
(Cindy). The movie runs 93:49 and it has more drama
than comedy, which I guess was the inspiration to The
Bradys series. Let’s hope we get the rest of The
Bradys episodes on DVD soon.
Finally, the first two episodes from the 1972 animated
series The Brady Kids are on here. Both episodes run
21:35, which seems fishy. “Jungle Bungle, Part 1”
and Jungle Bungle, Part 2” are on this set. I never
liked this series so I can’t stand to tell you what
the episodes are about. They should have given us The
Brady Brides pilot movie instead at least. Hopefully
that series is also released soon.
Final Comments:
This set is or die-hard fans I think! The bonus disc
and the packaging are the only things new here, but
for die-hard fans, it is necessary to own. Now, if you
own all five seasons and are not that big of a fan, it
is up to you if you want to pay all that money for
just a bonus disc and some shag carpeting. You can
sell your previous season sets and buy this set, but
then you’d be losing the cool cases and boxes from
the season sets, as the complete series set doesn’t
have that. If you don’t have this series on DVD yet,
then get this complete set. It will save you time in
buying one by one.
It really is up to you if you want to buy this set, if
you already have the season sets. The packaging is
not bad, but it could have been better. The extras
disc is great but it also could have been a bit
better, like having The Brady Brides pilot movie
instead of the horrible animated series. Let’s hope
we get all the Brady universe on DVD soon. The Brady
Kids, The Brady Brides and The Bradys. And maybe when
all those are finally out, CBS DVD will release
another complete series and spin-offs set and again
make us decide if we want to buy it or not. Once
again, it is up to you if you want to buy this set, or
you can ask Mike Brady, he always has answers...
