What Was Carol Brady Thinking?

Brady Bunch reruns still air more than 40 years after they were made for a reason: The show itself caught some kind of lightning in a bottle that still resonates all these years later. The Bradys are so sincere and so darned sweet that they appeal to small kids in particular, who love the portrait of a family always there for each other, and suffering the mildest of setbacks. Adults and teens tend to enjoy the show ironically, giggling over classic silly lines like Jan's jealous "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!" or snickering at the goofy '70s fashions. So one would think that giving the show the Pop-Up Video treatment would add more mocking fun.

However, the joke writers on What Was Carol Brady Thinking? are pretty weak and sometimes rather sexist. "Who's that guy on the right?" asks the pop up as an older woman with short hair appears onscreen. "Marcia lost her camp's ugliest girl award by a landslide," they say when Marcia flounces into her bedroom, wearing a skirt that's approximately one inch longer than her underwear. While the pop ups do occasionally add an interesting mocking touch (as when they point out "If only there were a machine to shred paper!" as we see Alice cutting up piles of paper with scissors), they're neither interesting nor funny enough to make anyone who's seen the old shows a hundred times watch them again. The What Was Carol Brady Thinking? concept is intriguing, but behind-the-scenes production notes from the real Florence Henderson would be a million times better than lame jokes about hi-fis and Mr. Brady's hair.