Category Archives: Classic Television
CBS’s Brady Bunch Reboot is a Bad Idea
The Brady Bunch Hour
Ignoring the terrible track record for Brady Bunch spinoffs and remakes, CBS has announced plans for a Brady Bunch reboot with Vince Vaughn as the executive producer. Instead of Mike being the Brady getting remarried and starting a new family, his youngest son Bobby will take his place. Unlike the original, which ran from 1969-74 and rarely mentioned Mike’s dead wife or Carol’s ex-husband, the new Brady Bunch will feature Bobby ex-wife, his new wife’s ex-husband, and, of course, their children. While the basic premise of the latest Brady Bunch remake sounds decent, connecting the new show to a series that has not been relevant since the 1970s is a bad idea.
Whether it was first run or syndicated, everyone who has been a child from the early-70s onward has found memories of watching The Brady Bunch. Some people related to having a parent remarry and finding themselves with step-siblings. Others knew what the Bradys were going through when their dog Tiger ran away. Young girls were jealous of Marcia when she got to take her idol Davy Jones to the prom because they would never get to meet their celebrity crush, whereas boys wished could be Bobby just so they could meet Joe Namath. The show is clearly stuck in the 70s, but the themes and events are those that every generation of kids either experiences or wishes would happen to them.
Sherman Hemsley Dead at 74
Sherman Hemsley, who is best known for playing George Jefferson on All in the Family and The Jeffersons, died yesterday. He was 74.
In the 90s, Hemsley was still appearing with his on screen wife Isabel Sanford. George and Louise Jefferson were reprised twice on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Viacom Channels Go Dark on DirecTV
Last night at midnight, 20 million DirecTV subscribers lost 17 different Viacom channels. The channels lost include Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, and more.
DirecTV and Viacom conflict of carriage fees continues. DirecTV says Viacom wants a 30 percent increase in fees, which comes out to an additional $1 billion. Viacom’s Vice President for Corporate Communications Mark Jafar wrote on his company’s blog that the increase amounts to “a couple pennies per day, per subscriber”, that DirecTV has been paying “the same bargain rate” for Viacom programming for 7 years, and that Viacom “accounts for 20% of all viewing on DirecTV.”
USA Today reports that DirecTV subscribers who tune into Viacom channels will now see a “mix” channel of programming from other networks, such as Bravo, FX, and TBS. DirecTV is also making eight Encore movie channels, which are usually part of premium packages, available for free to all of its customers until July 31.
For more on DirecTV’s side of the argument, check out directvpromise. More on Viacom’s view can be found on the company’s blog and whendirecttvdrops.
Weekly TV Update: July 9
Each week we bring you stories from around the Internet that you might have missed.
Ernest Borgnine dies at 95. Before his death, The Hollywood Reporter interviewed Borgnine about his 32 day marriage and his recurring role on Spongebob.
CBS and the cast of Happy Days reach an out of court settlement. The cast, minus Ron Howard and Henry Winkler, were suing because CBS was using their images in merchandising without paying royalties.
Adam Lambert may become the newest judge on American Idol.
Demi Lovato will host the 2012 Teen Choice Awards.
Theme Songs with Forgotten Lyrics
Classic television themes are instantly recognizable. If a theme words, you can sing them. If it doesn’t, you can hum it. However, some classic themes have words that only hardcore fans are aware exist. Others theme songs have words that I swear exist solely to be put on lists like this one. Either way, the lyrics do not actually enhance most of the songs and are better off as answers to obscure trivia questions.
8. Hogan’s Heroes
The “Hogan’s Heroes March” never needed lyrics. The song perfectly fits Hogan’s Heroes without it. While the lyrics don’t totally kill the song, since they are sung by Robert Clary (Lebeau), Richard Dawson (Newkirk), Larry Hovis (Carter), and Ivan Dixon (Kinchloe), they don’t exactly add anything to the song and are quite ridiculous even by Hogan’s Heroes standards. Seriously, this song starts with “heroes, heroes, husky men of war”, goes on to use the word “ear-o’s”, and then has the singers praise themselves for being heroes. If the premise of Hogan’s Heroes didn’t doom the show from the start, these lyrics certainly would have. Thankfully, they were never intended for use on the show.
Wait! What's A Dial? 