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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 20, 2005)
48 JUSt OUt ♦ may 20. 2QÛ5 TELEVISION ▼......... Corner of Sandy Blvd. & NE 64th 3106 NE 64th Portland, OR 9721 3 , It's all relative 503-280-8080 fr DVDs focus on the funky families * (jifts for '.Romance in an 'Lieg ant Setting Home Theatre • Home Audio • Sound Advice HAÍI NADL73, 999.00 2627 NE BROADWAY 503-280-0910 WWW.STEREOTYPESAUDIO.COM Dance 503-236-5129 Cha Cha Rumba Country Swing Waltz Foxtrot out dancing&yahoo.com Support the advertisers who support the community. just FTTH by Terrence McNally May 23 & 24, 2005; 7:00 p.m. A fable about the birth, life, and death of Joshua, a modern-day homosexual Christ figure. profile Theatre project (503) 242-0080 Profile Theatre Project ■ 3430 SE Belmont Street ■ www.profiletheatre.org Wonderffalls: The Complete Series The Brady Bunch: The Complete First Season ere’s rhe story...of a sitcom that has aged ne of the quirkiest shows on television for quite nicely. quite some time, Wonderfalls had only four It’s easy to mock The Brady Bunch for its episixles to prove itself before Fox gave it the ax in early 2004. But fan and critical reac wholesome approach to family fluff like missing tion was strong, leading to a DVD release of all dolls and lockets. But when the sitcom is placed in pop cultur- 13 episodes, including the nine that never al context, it was downright revo aired. lutionary: a mixed household A slack reflecting changing family dynam er named ics in the United States, a couple J aye (Caro who actually slept in the same bed line Dhaver- nas) works together...and televisions first divorcée? While the pilot directly at a Niagara Falls gift addressed the death of Mike shop when Brady’s (Robert Reed) first spouse, not avoid we never learn what became of the mysterious Mr. Martin. Was ing her suc cessful and he a deadbeat dad who abandoned overachiev Carol (Florence Henderson) and ing family: their three young girls? Did she Republican escape from an abusive situation? surgeon Or did she kidnap the children, Dad change their names and start life (William anew? Inquiring minds what to Sadler), know! novelist Regardless, Bunch creator Mom Sherwtxxl Schwartz knew what he (Diana was doing. Like his previous hit, Scarwid), Cnlligan’s'lsland, he assembled lik Gay actor Robert Reed portrayed the man of secretly les the house in The Brady Bunch. able yet predictable stereotypes bian lawyer guaranteed to connect with sister (Katie Finneran) and multiple-Ph.D. viewers: charismatic older sibs Greg (Barry brother (Lee Pace). Jaye is just trying to enjoy Williams) and Marcia (Maureen McCormick), life with her best friend (Traci Thoms) and to insecure middle children Peter (Christopher romance a cute bartender (Tryon Knight) and Jan (Eve Plumb) and precocious Leitso)...except that things are talking to her. youngsters Bobby (Mike Ltxikinland) and A wax lion, a wind-up penguin and a fish Cindy (Susan Olsen). mounted on the wall are just a few of the inani Each episode brings a new calamity to the mate objects that only she can hear. And family: Marcia hates her new braces! Jan is they’re telling her to do things—things that allergic to the dog! Cindy can invite only one affect other people’s lives in a positive way if parent to the school play! It’s all neatly resolved she does them right, and her life in a negative by the epilogue, which traditionally contains a way if she gag along the lines of does them “Oh, dear, here we go wrong or again! avoids her Queers can especially unwanted appreciate the family’s responsi outdated yet familiar bility. battles-of-the-sexes Created involving who gets to by openly use the backyard club gay writer house, which family Bryan doctor to call and how Fuller, to spend those damn Wonderfalls trading stamps. We also mixes some love ambiguously gay scathingly housekeeper Alice (Ann funny poli The Wonderfalls clan included a semi-closeted lesbian B. Davis), always reli tics and able for some sad-sack lawyer (Katie Finneran, third from right). sexual sub comic relief. (Sure, she text into its plots. One storyline has the lesbian messed around with Sam the butcher here and sister breaking up with her bisexual girlfriend there, but c’mon, it’s not like she could come colliding with a birdnapping plot; potshots at out in 1969 suburbia.) Republicans are common. Dhavemas is an The real superstar of the show, however, is astonishingly gifted actress whose Gen Y per Reed—a classically trained thespian whose sonality is spot-on. She’s clearly going places. sharp comic timing made Mike Brady one of The set also includes six commentary tracks, television’s most beloved patriarchs, despite the a d<x:umentary, a music video and more. For fact that he was portrayed by a closeted homo those who might like to see what kind of show sexual. The actor died of AIDS in 1992. would result if you combined the eccentricity of The set also includes commentary tracks Twin Peaks with the knowing antics of Malcolm from Schwartz, Williams, Knight and Olsen in the Middle, the funny, strange and sometimes along with the featurette “Coming Together touching Wonderfalls is the answer. Under One R<x)f." —Andy Mangels —Jim Radosta JF1 O
