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Over the course of 35-odd years, The Brady Bunch aged from hit series to iconic rerun. (How many times has that opening grid of lolling-headed smiley faces been copied? Did the communist Chinese ever try it, only this time with nothing but nine Chairman Maos?) After that the show slid—with surprising ease—into camp, thanks to 1995's Brady Bunch Movie. Now we arrive at My Fair Brady. It's not as weird as Being Bobby Brown, but it's a shabby slab of reality programming. Mike and Carol married to spawn this?
Here's the premise: Christopher Knight, a.k.a. Peter Brady, tries to make a go of his relationship with Adrianne Curry, first-season winner on America's Next Top Model. They met on The Surreal Life 4. (What a beautiful tale for the children!) Knight, at 47, has held up well: Depending on the camera angle, he looks like a seedier Tom Cruise or a better-toned Jack Nicholson. Still, he's 24 years older than Curry and wonders whether the whole thing is a mistake. He's disturbed when she allows a friend, Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Gos, to smear cake on her chest at a birthday party. Mmm, well, yes. Then she's upset that he and Wiedlin make out. Time for Florence Henderson—aka. Mrs. Brady and, as luck would have it, a licensed therapist—to visit. Henderson is pleasant, tart, crisp. She'd have had those Von Trapps squirming under her heel in five minutes. She tells her sitcom son that, yes, Adrianne should get her own place.
Curry is a peculiar creature. She's reedily beautiful and gives off a vibe that suggests a thousand fine tendrils of vulnerability. She's also a vulgar idiot, burping like a 4-year-old and trotting around in a leather S&M getup to administer spanks. She's Amelie for reality TV.
