"The Alan Brady Show Presents" is one of those "DVD" episodes that basically lets the cast put on a little mini-revue. This time, of course, it's a Christmas theme, with the setup being that Brady thought the holiday presents a perfect opportunity for the writers and their families to put on a show for the viewers.
Somehow I doubt that would happen today. Can you imagine Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer taking a week off from "Two and a Half Men" so that the head writer and his wife could do a soft-shoe routine?
It's a fun episode, but what really interests me is the performance of Richie Petrie, who gets a prime solo spotlight to sing "The Little Drummer Boy." I think it's a fairly common sentiment among "DVD" fans that Larry Mathews, AKA Rich, is not the most, uh, sophisticated actor on the show. I can't help but wonder what dialogue led to his role in this episode. Just picture a couple show bigwigs brainstorming, whether it be Carl Reiner, credited episode scribes Sam Denoff and/or Bill Persky, or whoever.
"Hey, are we gonna give Richie something to do in this one?"
"Well, we said writers and their families, so maybe we should."
"Yeah, it's Christmas, and the kid should be there."
"Well, we can't give Larry too much to do, you know, because--"
"I know, I know. But he's a cute kid, and people eat up cute kids around Christmastime."
"We could give him a song."
"A song? Can he sing?"
"I don't know, but how hard can it be?"
"Oh, yeah, sure, no pressure there. Why don't we make him go out and do it all by himself, too, without Dick or Mary?"
"Yeah, great idea. Why don't we give him a real solemn number, too, so all the attention is on him the whole time."
"Yeah, and we'll make it one that exposes him if he CAN'T sing--like Little Drummer Boy?"
"Perfect."
[brief pause]
"HA HA HA!"
"Yeah, right."
"Ok, seriously, guys, what can we put in that slot?"
Only they got stuck for time and had to go with that idea after all. Could this be what happened?
Hey, I don't mean to bag on the child actor, and his musical number is a little rough, but it's sweet. It's a nice, quiet several minutes in a fun but sometimes wacky episode, and I'm glad it's there.
But I do wonder if poor Larry Mathews was cool with it.
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