The Brady Bunch originally aired from 1969 to 1974, but I fondly remember watching it in syndication when I was a kid in the 80s. In 1988, there was a reunion of sorts with the television movie called A Very Brady Christmas. The parents, "Mike and Carol Brady," try to bring together all of the kids, which many have their own families now, to celebrate Christmas. As you would expect, this task is not as easy as it would seem with all of the kids facing personal obstacles that could prevent them from coming.

The special features all of the original cast except for Susan Olsen (who played "Cindy Brady") because she happened to be on her honeymoon in Jamaica when it was filmed. "Cindy" was played by the beautiful Jennifer Runyon (who I remember as the girlfriend in Charles in Charge as well as the subject of Dr. Venkman's experiment at the beginning of Ghostbusters). It was interesting to see the rest of the Brady kids all grown up. Even housekeeper "Alice" (Ann B. Davis) returned despite her character's husband ("Sam" the butcher) leaving her for another woman.

I don't want to ruin it for you, but all of the kids do in fact come home for Christmas. An emergency interrupts Christmas dinner causing "Mike Brady" to have to go help when one of his buildings collapses. Mr. Brady ends up saving the two people who were trapped inside the building, but gets himself stuck in the process and this video below lets you watch the last 9 minutes or so of the special...

As the family and other on-lookers fear the worst, "Carol Brady" begins to sing the Christmas carol "O Come All Ye Faithful." This harkens back to an episode in the first season of the original series when "Carol" sings that song in church after recovering from a lost voice. Here is a link to watch the video of that scene from 1969. In this special, the others join in and there is a touching moment when Mr. Brady appears safe from serious harm. The family rushes to him with hugs and kisses after what appears to be a sort of Christmas miracle. After that the family returns to enjoy their Christmas dinner and the show ends with the entire family singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." All's well that ends well and that was a fine way to end it.

A Very Brady Christmas is pretty much what you would expect it to be. It was written by Sherwood Schwartz (and his son Lloyd) and tries to maintain the same characteristics that so many enjoyed in the original series. Of course, it ends up being very cheesy though I would say it was a fine effort. As far as 80s Christmas specials go, it is at least memorable. The holiday message of appreciating family and helping others is there and those kinds of reminders are always welcome as far as I am concerned.

That'll wrap up this holiday issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks as always for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column to find any other issues you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. You can also follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". I am sending daily 80s tweets, so sign up to get those. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: I have already sent this out on Twitter to all of you who follow me there, but thought it was worth putting here as well. The Muppets performing "Carol of the Bells" as only the Muppets can. Enjoy!

Quote of the day: "My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?" -Bob Hope

Last December, I did special issues on one of my most memorable holiday songs, television specials and movies from the 80s. I did a special issue on my favorite holiday movie, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (which is worth going back to check out again) that just happened to be released at the end of my favorite decade. This year, I wanted to pick another of my favorite holiday films from the 80s and I chose the 1988 comedy Scrooged.

Scrooged is an adaptation of the Charles Dickens story A Christmas Carol directed and produced by Richard Donner. It stars the incomparable Bill Murray as "Frank Cross" who has turned into the stereotypical jerk and has forgotten the true meaning of the Christmas season. He is visited by the traditional three ghosts and realizes he needs to change his ways. Here is the original trailer for Scrooged...

Bill Murray plays the "Scrooge" character as only Bill Murray can. The movie culminates with Murray's character making an improvised monologue on live TV imploring the viewers to not make the same mistake he made. Here is a clip featuring a portion of that monologue...

Even in this modernized version, the message still resonates. One of the characters even says the iconic Tiny Tim line of "God bless us, every one." The film closes with everybody singing the song "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" and the song plays during the end credits as well. The song was originally performed by Jackie DeShannon back in 1968, but the Scrooged version is performed by Al Green and Annie Lennox. This new version would surprisingly reach #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988.

As I included in last year's issue, I wanted to highlight some of the hilarious dialogue featured in the film. Here is OLD SCHOOL'S TOP 5 FAVORITE LINES FROM SCROOGED:

5. "I want to see her nipples." "But this is a CHRISTMAS show." "Well, I'm sure Charles Dickens would have wanted to see her nipples." "You can barely see them nipples." "See? And these guys are REALLY looking."

4. "I can't get the antlers glued to this little guy. We tried Crazy Glue, but it don't work." "Did you try staples?"

3. "I never liked a girl well enough to give her 12 sharp knives."

2. "The bitch hit me with a toaster."

1. "It's Christmas Eve. It's the one night of the year when we all act a little nicer, we smile a little easier, we cheer a little more. For a couple of hours out of the whole year we are the people that we always hoped we would be."

That's all for this holiday issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks as always for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column to find any other issues you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. You can also follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". I am sending daily 80s tweets, so sign up to get those. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: Someone just sent me this, so I thought it was worth sharing. Read the following before looking at the picture...

Well, there is good news and bad news about my Christmas decorations this year. The good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my decorations. The bad news is that I had to take them down after just 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But two things made me take it down.

First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost crashed when they drove by. Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder, almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard.

Kind of feel like I gave in to the man by taking him down but my neighbor did confirm two near miss accidents on the busy street next to my house. I think I made him too real this time. So it was fun while it lasted. See what it looked like below:

Quote of the day: "I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future." -Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol

As I lamented in my last issue (Preview Review on The Lost Boys), I am already sick of all the hype and hysteria over Twilight and the new sequel New Moon. Each generation has their own pop culture lightning rods and mine are obviously from the 80s. I made the statement that I would just assume watch 1987's The Lost Boys instead of this most recent version of a vampire flick. Well, it was pointed out to me that New Moon focuses much more on the werewolf angle, so I have my 80s substitute for that as well. I will have to go with a little cheesy film from 1985 called Teen Wolf.

Teen Wolf starred Michael J. Fox as "Scott Howard" a high school student who discovers he is part werewolf and, after coming to grips with this fact, begins using it to his advantage. Here is the original trailer for Teen Wolf...

The film was released at the height of Fox's popularity. It was a big success with over $33 million at the box office and debuted at #2 only behind Fox's even bigger success, Back to the Future. Teen Wolf was actually filmed before Back to the Future, but was released after that blockbuster which could have partly paved the way for its success. Though quite campy and very much cheesy at times, it is now considered somewhat of a cult classic. Give me the basketball-playing, truck-surfing werewolf from Teen Wolf any day before the angst and love torn werewolf from New Moon.

There is a scene from Teen Wolf which ranks on my popular Best Dancing Scenes from 80s Movie list and another which ranks on my Best Montage Scenes from 80s Movies list (which you should check out if you have not before). There are several things that amuse me about Teen Wolf now that never seemed to stand out when I was a kid watching this film. The first is the nickname of the girl he ultimately ends up with at the end. Her nickname is "Boof" which is strange, yet they never really explain the origination or significance of it. The second is the high school's team name and mascot being the Beavers. The last is the bully from the other school, "Mick" played by Mark Arnold, looks like he is 30 years old but is supposed to be a high school kid. Arnold was actually 28 when the film was released and looked every year of it to me. He ranks on my Best Bullies from 80s Movie list (which is another one worth checking out). It is funny how your perspective changes over the years, though I try to suspend my disbelief and overlook some aspects when it comes to my 80s classics and guilty pleasures.

Teen Wolf was followed by a cartoon spin-off in 1986, and a sequel in 1987 titled, Teen Wolf Too, with Jason Bateman starring as Todd Howard, Scott's cousin. The sequel did not see even close to the success of the original and werewolves seemed to take a backseat for a while. Now, they seem to be making a comeback. First, back in June (2009), MTV announced that they would be adapting Teen Wolf into a television series "with a greater emphasis on romance, horror and werewolf mythology." Then after the huge success of Twilight and New Moon, there is a remake of 1981's The Howling as well as a sequel or relaunch of John Landis' An American Werewolf in London (also 1981) in the works not to mention a Benicio Del Toro film called The Wolfman due in theaters this February. As I said about The Lost Boys, I have to say that I would still be more willing to see Teen Wolf (or the original An American Werewolf in London or The Howling for that matter) than watch Twilight or New Moon. That's still just the 80s kid in me, I guess.

That'll wrap up this issue of Kickin' it Old School. Hope you enjoy the Preview Review issues and please let me know if there are any particular 80s movies that you want to see me cover. Thanks as always for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column to find any other issues you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. You can also follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". I am sending daily 80s tweets, so sign up to get those. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

I don't know about you, but I am sick of all the attention being paid to the new Twilight sequel which opens in theaters this weekend, New Moon. I realize there is a large group of rabid fans for these books and movies, but they do nothing for me. I would just assume watch a vampire movie from the 80s. Lucky for me, there is The Lost Boys which was quite the phenomenon back in 1987 when it was originally released.

The Lost Boys is a movie directed by Joel Schumacher about two kids who move to California and end up fighting a gang of teenage vampires. Those two kids, "Michael and Sam Emerson," are played by Jason Patric and Corey Haim. They are joined by a couple of local vampire killers, one of which is played by Corey Feldman making this one of three movies the "two Coreys" did together in the 80s. Adding to the outstanding teen cast is Kiefer Sutherland who plays the leader of the vampire gang "David" and Jami Gertz as "Star" the love interest. Here is the original trailer for The Lost Boys...

The Lost Boys performed well at the U.S. box office, grossing over $32 million - a strong performance for an R-rated horror movie, especially at that time. I have a fondness for this film due to its pop culture importance in the 80s, but have never been an especially big fan of it beyond that. It is what it is, an action-horror flick featuring several teen heart-throbs. The tagline is "Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It's fun to be a vampire." A little misleading based on what actually happens, but gives you an idea of what direction they were trying to go. If I was not a big fan of The Lost Boys back in the day, you should be able to imagine just how much I could care less about this latest Twilight phenomenon.

After many attempts at a sequel over the years, Lost Boys: The Tribe was released in 2008. This was over 20 years after the original and did include Corey Feldman reprising his "Edgar Frog" role and a short cameo by Corey Haim at the end. I felt I owed it to the 80s to watch this film, so I did see it and would say it was average at best. Earlier this year (2009), it was reported that work had begun on a third installment entitled Lost Boys: The Thirst which would once again feature Corey Feldman not only in the film, but also as executive producer. I have to say that I would be more willing to see that film than watch Twilight or New Moon. That's just the 80s kid in me, I guess.

That'll do it for this issue of Kickin' it Old School. Hope you enjoy the "Preview Review" issues and please let me know if there are any particular 80s movies that you want to see me cover. Thanks as always for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column to find any other issues you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. You can also follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". I am sending daily 80s tweets, so sign up to get those. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.