Children of the 70s may remember the Brady Bunch Hour,
August 21, 2002 10:44 AM   Subscribe

Children of the 70s may remember the Brady Bunch Hour, the cornball song-dance-sketch variety show featuring the cast of the famous sitcom. You may also recall controversial cast member, Geri Reischl, a.k.a."Fake Jan". Reischl replaced Eve Plumb in nine episodes of the variety show after Plumb (wisely) refused to appear in the musical revival. Some fans even cite Reischl's exceptional singing and dancing abilities as the highpoint of the Brady Bunch Hour—just ask the fine folks at The Official Geri Reischl Website.
posted by VelvetHellvis (14 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
She must have been very special, as the imdb link you've provided has her guesting on Gunsmoke 4 years before she was born...
posted by jalexei at 11:09 AM on August 21, 2002


Well that explains the Simpsons spin-off episode in which they had a musical variety show with a tall, pretty blonde teen replacing the original Lisa who refused to appear in it. Heh. I had never heard of the Brady Bunch Hour. It looks cheesy beyond belief.
posted by picea at 11:47 AM on August 21, 2002


Eve Plumb (the original Jan) certainly has had a fulfilling (and diverse) career since the show:

Films
Kill the Man (1999)
I’m Gonna Git You, Sucka (1988)
And God Spoke (1994)
Nowhere (1997)
Kill the Man (1999)
Man Fast (2001)

Theater
Slumber Party
Your Very Own TV Show
South Pacific - Bucks County Playhouse (1991)
The Real Live Brady Bunch - Annoyance Theatre (1991)
Charles Manson: The Musical

Beyond that observation, I just wanted to say - love the handle, VelvetHellvis.
posted by yhbc at 12:01 PM on August 21, 2002


"And God Spoke" is hilarious. I strongly recommend it.
posted by ColdChef at 12:53 PM on August 21, 2002


Even as a kid I knew The Brady Bunch Hour was pure evil.
posted by bondcliff at 12:55 PM on August 21, 2002


Geri was apparently no slouch herself, appearing in The Bold Ones: The New Doctors, I Dismember Mama and the Brotherhood of Satan before taking her bow as Jan.
posted by mikrophon at 1:14 PM on August 21, 2002


And, by the way, did anyone notice that this was part of the Wacky World of Sid and Marty Kroft? Is there anything that these guys did that wasn't creepy in some way?
posted by mikrophon at 1:35 PM on August 21, 2002 [1 favorite]


Oh, I remember her alright..... She gave me nightmares. I couldn't figure out where Jan went.... and Sid and Marty Kroft spooked me about as much as "The Point", that weirded out cartoon about a round head kid in a pointy head world..... My mother used to make us watch it over and over. Narrated by Ringo Starr, written by Harry Nilsson ( sappy songwriter extraordinaire) and totally hippified. I watched it years later and said, Jesus Christ, look at all the innuendo! ( My Mom thought it would instill a sense of morality and other nonsense in us wee kiddos. All it did was make me want to smoke pot.)

Maybe , on second thought, it was pure genius.
posted by bradth27 at 2:55 PM on August 21, 2002


the Simpsons spin-off episode in which they had a musical variety show with a tall, pretty blonde teen replacing the original Lisa

The Simpsons, animation, cartoon.. 'tall, pretty blonde teen' in a cartoon. Someone has been hitting the acid!
posted by wackybrit at 3:22 PM on August 21, 2002


Well that explains the Simpsons spin-off episode in which they had a musical variety show with a tall, pretty blonde teen replacing the original Lisa who refused to appear in it. Heh. I had never heard of the Brady Bunch Hour. It looks cheesy beyond belief.

It suddenly all makes sense!

...sort of.
posted by cx at 2:57 AM on August 22, 2002


By the way, this picture shows who picea thinks is a tall, pretty blonde teen!
posted by wackybrit at 8:52 AM on August 22, 2002


Sure she's got yellow skin, no chin and a severe overbite, but in the Simpsonsverse, she'd be considered pretty! She's no Mindy Simmons however. Ahem.
posted by picea at 9:42 AM on August 22, 2002


Did you ever notice the eye shape differences in The Simpsons?

People generally of lower class have round/circular eyes, whereas the higher the class, the more human/wide oval like the eyes become?
posted by wackybrit at 10:08 AM on August 22, 2002


I think the more realistic look happens when they're trying to squish real life celeberities into the Simpsons' style mold. If you look at some of the higher class, original characters like Mr. Burns, Dr. Hibbard, Kent Brockman, the Quimbys and the ever-fainting, wealthy dowager, they've all got the bug-eye thing happening too.

That said, the animators do a good job of caricaturing the celeberities, given the rather strict and pared-down style they're restricted to using. Rodney Dangerfield must've been pretty easy though, as he already had Homer Simpsons eyes before being translated into cartoon form.
posted by picea at 11:40 AM on August 22, 2002


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