The Brady Bunch – The Complete Fourth Season
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: C+
The Brady Bunch – The Complete Fourth Season is the
one where the show really started to overplay its hand. The cast of children had lost their young cuteness
and though they were still lively, the scripts started to become convoluted and
the histrionics of their characters had wore thin at this point. The emotional states did not match the
supposed progress of the characters or the show, as if the moral values and
loving parents had somehow failed. They
are good parents, so how does all this drama keep happening? Instead of dealing with this or writing
teleplays showing progress, they set the cast to Hawaii not long after going to
the Grand Canyon.
There, they meet a curse, new culture and evil plot
involving Vincent price in one of his worst roles. Like Florence leaving The Jeffersons for a failed
spin-off, the show never recovered, though the 1972-73 season (and its 23
episodes) still have the trappings of the psychedelic era and the unreality had
finally eclipsed the charm. Robert Reed
was obviously getting bored, while Florence Henderson still managed to have all
kinds of energy. We did skip the third
season set just to break any repetition on our part, but that was the last
season that really dealt with any of the relevant issues that have made the
show a favorite today. From here on in,
it was starting to coast on being a franchise.
Paramount and ABC might have thought going broader would help the
ratings, but that did not happen and the show was reaching its end.
The 1.33 X 1 image is also poorest than the first two
sets, with more than just detail lacking on the shows. It is in the color. For a show known for its bright colors these
transfers are dull and the sunny daytime in the first three shows set in Hawaii
look dull and dim. Not only did this
outdoor travel footage look better on old TV broadcasts, similar shooting from
the third season Grand Canyon that also happen to be featured on full color 3-D
GAF View Master slides looked better, so they really do look bad. Why the downturn all of the sudden is odd,
but these are likely older analog NTSC transfers. Fans should brace themselves.
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is not as good as previous DVD sets, with Frank
DeVol’s score starting to repeat itself, but then what could he do? Once again, there are no extras this time,
but Paramount continues the lenticular flicker covers that do not look like
they’ll be limited editions after all.
ABC & Paramount have to have some more extra materials to dig up for
fans for that final set and Paramount will hopefully do the animated series as
well. To find out more about the show,
check out my review for the first season elsewhere on this site.
- Nicholas Sheffo
