307 - Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again

Ever heard of The Bradys? In 1990, ABC were kicking afternoon butt with the Full House/Family Matters power hour, and CBS needed something to compete. Why not steal ABCs own Brady Family and use them against ABC?

Starring the original now-20-years-older cast, The Bradys reworked the original sitcom into a dramedy, with the following setup:

- Bobby is a former racecar driver, paraplegic after a crash
- Peter is trapped in an abusive relationship
- Jan and her partner are unable to conceive
- Marcia is an alcoholic whose husband is fired by Mike

It still had a laugh track.

The show was canned after 6 episodes due to poor ratings. Some suggest that Uncle Jesse and Urkel were a source of unlimited power foolishly squandered, but others suspect a) the characters were worn out and b) even i they weren’t no-one wanted to see the most innocent characters TV ever saw thrust into such cartoonishly adult situations.

If this sounds like a colossal train wreck, bear this in mind; NBC tried to do the same thing with Archie comics 2 months later and fucked it up worse.

Wiki - Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again
IMDB - Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again
Cult Oddities’ entry on this pilot
People Magazine’s review from 1990

Reviewers: James Ferris, Lisa Dib, David Shaw
Soundboard: Alex Malone