Whats Hot On TV

When we grew up, we didn’t have Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Disney, or even pre-recorded movies to flip on after school. We had to make do without cable, VCRs, or DVRs. I watched The Mike Douglas Show when I would get home from school, which certainly led to my love today of The Ellen deGeneres Show and The Bonnie Hunt Show. A few times a year it would be Beach Week on the 3:30 Movie, and I’d watch Frankie and Annette instead. After this, it was always comedy reruns that filled the TV screens until primetime started.

I watched them all, but for me, it was always The Brady Bunch that I refused to miss. I had each episode memorized, and could tell exactly which one it would be from the very first line or camera shot, from the the pilot which took place at the wedding of Mike and Carol to the last episode that had Greg accidentally dying his hair green from Oliver’s hair tonic.

Because of all this, I soak up every minute of Brady trivia I can, watching all their appearances on reality TV shows now, and also read their books. Barry Williams’ Growing Up Brady was very enlightening. Who woud have thought he was sitting up in his room getting high on days off from filming? He also revealed in the book his dalliances with costar Maureen McCormick and TV mom Florence Henderson.

Now there’s to be another book out, this one written by Maureen McCormick, Here’s the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice will be hitting the book stores tomorrow. McCormick does more than detail her life during the show. She talks about the struggles she had after the show as well.

McCormick returns the favor for Williams, also chatting it up about their relationship. She also discusses other dates she had, such as with Michael Jackson and Steve Martin, neither of which I understand. We know she’s not Jacko’s type, and I would have thought he’d rather be   with Peter. Pun intended. And Steve Martin? While he first seems much older, a quick check of the age bracket only makes him her senior by a decade.

There was also a cocaine and Quaalude habit. Really, what would Harvey Klinger, the pre-pubescent bug expert say? There were trips to the Playboy mansion as well as parties at Sammy Davis, Jr.’s house, and an “unwanted pregnancy.” McCormick admits to trading sex for drugs through this, and if she’d just stuck with Harvey Klinger, he would have allowed her to trade sex for bugs.

McCormick admits in the book to insecurity problems, but honestly, what teenager doesn’t experience that? She also reveals a secret she was hiding as a young girl, and talks about her bouts of depression. A decade later after the show ended, she got sober in 1985, although my memory tells me that from watching her on Celebrity Fit Club, she still didn’t have it all figured out. She was boozing it up still while on the show, yet managed to win all the weight she needed to and more.

My only question at this point is if I’ll hit the store right away tomorrow to buy the book or wait and buy it next time I’m out.

Photo by John Sciulli, and courtesy of yahoo.com and wireimage.com

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