My Fair Brady (VH-1)
2005-2008

When Adrienne Curry (winner of the first America's Next Top Model, though still not America's Top Model) and Chris Knight (Peter from The Brady Bunch) hooked up on the sole redeeming season of The Surreal Life, their connection seemed genuine in a way that "celeb-reality TV" does not typically show us … if anything, the editors of that show were probably perplexed as to how to deal with the rush of real emotion that spewed forth from this vulnerable and unpredictable young lass and the former child star all of us were surprised to find was kind of a hot dude!

And while the previous Surreal Life season spawned the awkward and largely contrived Strange Love, My Fair Brady seems almost painfully real … indeed, I'm kind of confused by my own reaction to it, for the show is not the drunken free-for-all I expected, but rather something of a too-close-to-home dissection of the difficulties involved in making a relationship work.

Of course, I root for impulsive Adrienne as she seeks to find workable common ground with Chris, whose issues, despite his elder "wisdom," arguably exceed her own youthful or "immature" attitudes. The lover-not-fighter in me wants these guys to succeed, to make it happen, to give in to love freely and humbly, as we all should – almost as though my own relationship is on the line if they don't.

So, while I anticipated more of a funny bullshit celebrity humiliation-fest, I find myself seeking something like redemption in Adrienne and Chris's ability to truly commune. For if they can't, who among us can?

Review by Yuri Poncho © 2006