A good friend gave me the last season of The Brady Bunch for Christmas and asked me to let him know what happened on the last episode. He couldn't remember and it was driving him crazy. It was the one where Bobby sold the hair tonic that made Greg's hair turn orange before his high school graduation. I vaguely remembered the neighbour pulling off his wig to get the enterprising young Brady to leave him alone.

The odd thing was that Robert Reed, Mr. Brady himself, wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Turns out that dear Robert got out of his Brady Bunch contract before the series ended because he felt that the show was beneath him. Or something to that "I'm not settling for this crappy role anymore" effect. It hurt that he found being upstaged by seven children--including the addition of cousin Oliver--would make him want to leave the Brady nest early. But que sera sera I guess.

So what great acting venture did he take on next? The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.

Yeah, you read that correctly. The original after-school special that introduced a germ-free John Travolta to the world. It's a movie I know quite well since my friend Joanne and I happen to co-own a VHS copy of it. Hey, stop your snickering!

We celebrate the passage of time with occasional BITPB viewings. Some parts, such as the trip to the beach party in an incubator or the horrific hairstyle of the girl next door provide us with an odd sense of comfort. Others are too horrible to watch, so we distract ourselves with comments like:

"Stay away from him, you hussy! You've had more boys' hands on you than a washroom door handle."

"Nice shorts."

"If a plastic bubble collapsed in the forest and nobody was around to hear it, would it make a sound?"

"Oh no! He looks like Elmo's brother in that suit!"

"She's not good enough for you. Stop staring at her with those binoculars!"

If you haven't seen the film, you simply haven't lived. And don't ask me to lend you our copy. It's hard enough for Joanne and I to keep track of who has it with just the two of us. You'll just have to get your own. ;)