Partridge Family Vs. Brady Bunch

       
 



    I was mulling over topics to blog about, when I spotted Final Destination 5.  This movie is the one where they think they can cheat death by killing someone, therefore saving their own lives. I continued to channel surf until I hit the SyFy channel. I am after all a science fiction fan.  I came upon an original Syfy movie called Bigfoot. After watching it I decided it should be called Danny Partridge Vs. Greg Brady.  The first time I saw them, I had to do a double take, I  was sure no one would cast them together like that. It was brilliant. I would have watched Bigfoot for the casting alone. I was laughing so hard. The cast also included Sherilyn Fenn (Twin Peaks), Howard Hesseman (WKRP in Cincinnati), and Andre Royo (The Wire). I love the SyFy channel.

          In my early teen years The Brady Bunch had a strong influence on me.  I wanted to be Marcia (Maureen McCormick), but really felt more like Jan (Eve Plumb).  I watched The Partridge Family when I could, as I was totally crushed on David Cassidy with his wind swept shag hair cut, and his beautiful face. Danny Bonaduce played Danny Partridge of the singing Partridge Family.  He was the precocious red head boy on the show, and since then has become famous for many things, including but not limited to being a radio celebrity, fighting his person demons and finally his recovery.  Barry Williams was the oldest Brady boy, Greg Brady. The oldest Brady kids were my age or close to it, so they were like school mates to me at 13.

           Sherilyn Fenn was on the wonderful odd drama Twin Peaks.  Twin Peaks covered the investigation into the murder of Laura Palmer. the Show was filmed in the Northwest where I am from, so I resonated with the vibe of the small town with all this corruption just below the surface. Ms. Fenn played Audrey Home in Twin Peaks, she was a kind of femme fetale that had a huge crush on the FBI agent Dale Cooper (Kyle McLachlan).  WKRP in Cincinnati was a sitcom about  a radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Howard Hesseman was a DJ, the show shot Loni Anderson to fame. Andre Royo played an addicted informant named "Bubbles" on The Wire. So the cast was good to start with.

            The premise of the story is that Harley Henderson (Bonaduce) is trying to stage a concert given by Alice Cooper (another performer from my youth), so he is clearing the woods in South Dakota near Mt Rushmore. Williams is the environmentalist fighting for bigfoot's habitat.  The funniest scene is the barroom brawl where Greg Brady hits Danny Bonaduce in the back with an acoustic guitar.  My son and I laughed so hard we cried. The men were so campy in their roles, so hats off to you Syfy for bringing pop TV stars of the 1970's to television life again. I am not sure that is the SyFy Channel was going for, but it was completely entertaining. Finally (lol),  Final Destination 5 demonstrates again and again, there is no way to cheat death. Though I, like many others watch over and over to the gory ways in which death gets its due, this for the 5th time.