TVLand's "Alan Brady Show" - the trainwreck!

[B&W fan]

Did anyone else watch the "animated" debut of the Alan Brady Show on TVLand? Oh my goodness! That was horrible. But worse than that is that Carl supposedly has a major hand in the show, and that scares me to death as it concerns the Fall airing of the DVDS Reunion Special.

I had high hopes that the Special would be done in the spirit of the 60's, when the DVDS originally aired. By that I mean that I hoped the special wouldn't fall into the all too familiar trap of resorting to sex jokes, cursing, potty humor and whatever else didn't take place on the original.

Well, if this animated show is any indicator, I'm not gonna like the Reunion Special when it airs. Within the first couple of minutes of the "Alan Brady Show" last night there was sexual inuendo and two curse words! I'm really disappointed in Carl for allowing this. He's such a creative man that I really thought he'd forego such obvious stuff as sex jokes, cursing, and the like to get a laugh. I guess I was wrong.

Too bad. It looks like I'll have to be content with the dvd's from the original show. Just one more example of how Hollywood simply can't make a show today that doesn't rely on all that garbage!

B&W "sorry to come off so upset, but I really was expecting Carl Reiner to take a higher road with this new show" fan

[benjamoon]

I agree. It was HORRIBLE and Carl Reiner wrote the script! It was extremely disappointing and not funny at all. I wasted half and hour watching that piece of crap

At least we got TDVDS at 9 and 9:30 every night last week because of it

[BLT]

I had to turn it off before the first commercial break. However, I will still be optimistic about the reunion. After all last night's special was focused on being new and hip as opposed to being a genuine reunion.

[Christine0089]

I'm actually completely against the reunion. Even if he comes up with a fantastic idea, I think great shows should be left where they were. I don't really want to know what became of Rob and Laura. I just want to remember them as being a young married couple on Bonnie Meadow Road.

[jon123]

I hope that the animated Alan Brady Show, being a cartoon, was written in the spirit of parody and will not necessarily be in the same timeline as the real show.

Hopefully Rob and Laura became very successful so it would not make sense for them to still be living in the same small house. We do know that Richie now lives in the house and I always hoped that Rob would make it big and move to California. We will soon find out.

When the actual DVD reunion special airs, I hope that they do not say "The Alan Brady Show" is still on the air weekly because that would make no sense at all. Variety shows like the one depicted as the Brady show went out in the 70's. Actually, when Alan Brady appeared on "Mad About You" it was implied that his show was no longer on the air. Also, in the last episode of the Van Dyke show Rob said that Alan was going to make a sitcom based on Rob's book which also implies that Rob hit it big and if they had made a sitcom certainly it would have been produced in Hollywood, not New York.

But whatever Carl comes up with it will be a delight to see everyone together again, the only shame that it if had been done five years ago then Morey would have been along for the party also. It will absoluetly not be the same without him. (Richard Deacon and Jerry Paris have been gone for a long time-but hopefully there will be mention of them also.)

[hawaii five-o]

This show was horrible. Too bad, I wanted it to be funny.

[SawgrassSteve]

I missed it, but from the tone of these posts, I shouldn't be dissappointed!

Steve

[Crimson and Clover]

I missed it too.

[The Modfather]

I don't have Tv Land I'm getting it in September but I don't even know if I want to watch it!

[Joe F]

I watched it, then watched the 90-minute retrospective on the Dick Van Dyke Show.

I found it ironic that near the beginning of the program, there's a quote from Carl Reiner (or possible Sheldon Leonard, can't remember which) that they felt humor came from funny people reacting to realistic situations. Their most embarrassing moments.

Realizing that virtually every joke in the Alan Brady Show was making fun of the characature of a dumb blonde trophy wife. So dumb she gives mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a puppet. Reiner must have wasted one-fifth of his script just setting up that joke.

I didn't laugh once. It was just too mean-spirited. Too 21st Century.

Count me as a convert to the group who hopes there isn't a reunion script.

[Christina E]

I usually like reunions and such, but I thought this was absolutly awful. The only reason I kept watching it was because I was hoping something in the end might redeem it. But I agree that it was a total waste of a half hour of my time.

What I don't get is who the target adience of this was suposed to be. I think most people who watch TVLand are those who aren't into the new shows as much, like reality TV. I would think that even out of all the people who watch TVLand, the majority who would be interested in watching this special are people who liked the original show. I would find it hard to believe that very many people who are fans of The Dick Van Dyke Show would say they liked the special.

I am really really hoping the reunion isn't "modernized" like this was. I hope Carl and the cast keep in mind that their biggest aduience will be fans of the original show, and the reasons why we like the original show.

Christina

[B&W fan]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt that way about the show.

And I'm also hoping (perhaps beyond hope) that Carl and the rest of the team will keep their "target audience" (hopefully people like us) in mind when they make this Special.

I know we are living in 2003 and not 1963, but I don't need to hear Rob or Laura or Alan Brady cursing or telling off humor jokes about sex or what have you.

I'm probably in the minority on this, but I've got to say that I'm close to throwing my tv out the window! I'm actually in the process of trying to collect as many of my favorite tv shows as possible so that I can eventually get rid of my satellite dish completely. I mean, it's pretty bad when you've got your tv tuned into TVLand watching TDVDS with your kids and the commercials are so bad you have to keep your finger on the remote at all times. I'm just sick and tired of it. And it doesn't matter what time of day it is, or what channel it's on. Garbage and offensive material pop up constantly. I don't want my kids seeing and hearing that crap, and I don't want to see it either!

B&W "rant mode off now" fan

[buddy love]

I agree "The Alan Brady Show" was terrible. The only thing that made sence is they depicted the comedy writers as being young which is in most cases true these days on most shows. But that whole story line about the blonde bimbo and her mother and getting married on the air was pretty boring.

But I also think that just because this was disappointing that the reunion special will necessarily be so. I don't think Dick and Mary would do something which would take away from the spirit of the original series and I doubt Carl would craft something like that.


Finally, I agree that hopefully the reunion special will not depict Alan Brady as still hosting a weekly variety show since that wouldn't make sence. I think him having a special celebrating the 50th Anniversary of his "landmark" variety show would be fine.

[ficlopri]

Jon, as far as The Alan Brady Show possibly still being on the air in the Dick Van Dyke Show reunion and if so it not making sense. You're attaching too much realism to it. The DVDS itself was just a fictional tv show! They can pull chimpanzees out of hats or anything else insane or senseless you can think of. I never felt DVDS was quite as sensible or realistic as hyped. I saw the characters on this show acting very ditsy at times (like all other sitcoms of the time). But perhaps that's another point.

[jon123]

Originally posted by ficlopri
Jon, as far as The Alan Brady Show possibly still being on the air in the Dick Van Dyke Show reunion and if so it not making sense. You're attaching too much realism to it. The DVDS itself was just a fictional tv show! They can pull chimpanzees out of hats or anything else insane or senseless you can think of. I never felt DVDS was quite as sensible or realistic as hyped. I saw the characters on this show acting very ditsy at times (like all other sitcoms of the time). But perhaps that's another point.

I'm probably attaching too much realism because I have been waiting for the DVD reunion show for 25 years-since the 70's when reunions of shows like Gilligans Island and Father Knows Best started popping up. The reason I care so much about the DVD reunion is because it was head over heels better than any other show during the 60's and won most of the Emmys for best comedy while it was on. Sure it had its occasional ditziness, but it was much more realistic that anything on the air at that time and remember we are talking about a pre-All in the Family era before TV comedy was changed forever. I think the reason we haven't seen a reunion until now is that the cast and producers are worried about living up to the original (as in the awful Mary and Rhoda reunion). I hope that with Carl back at the helm that will live up to the old show but I just worry some after seeing how awful the Brady show was. (Alan, not the bunch!)