So I am browsing the latest issue of da nu yawka (June 9 & 16) when a longish short story starts to get pretty weird - there are name and situation references that resonate oddly. The ending made me alternately want to hoot, scamper, groan mightily and throw the rag across the room.
Anyone a fan of early-1970s sitcoms might want to check out “Here’s the Story” by David Gilbert. For the most part, it is a story about suburban families and the husband of one and the wife of the other who develop a business relationship and then start falling into an adulterous one. They are on a business trip and committing to consummating the illicit relationship when… the plane clips some trees and crashes outside Cincinnati, killing everyone on board.
Their last thoughts are of their families, whom they each list off for the first time, and it becomes completely apparent that…
They are the “other parents” of the Brady Bunch, leaving behind Mike and Carol to get married.
(Preserve the spoiler for at least the first few posts, thanks.)
Maybe, but I was caught between alerting those interested and keeping as much of the twist secret as I could.
It’s not a bad story. Appears to be 95% factual - TWA flight 128 did go down outside Cincy on the date mentioned, all the sports background checks out, etc. The whole thing is “real” except the main characters. Nifty conceit.
It has this meta-observational style, that uses the reader’s knowledge of the show to make fun of Mike and Carol, indirectly. I think they (Mike and Carol) really come of looking like jerks. Makes you wonder why we liked the show.
Though that view comes from Ted and Emma’s POV, I wonder if it is the author’s opinion, too. Maybe the author shouldn’t have made Ted such a doormat to Carol’s personality? But Emma just seems mismatched with Mike. I didn’t see anything wrong about her, just with Mike. Was he really that domineering on the show?
Now I want to watch The Martin Bunch, where Mike and Carol die, and Ted and Emma marry.
I did like the one passing comment about Carol, from Ted: Carol always paused after one of her clever lines, anticipating laughter from an audience, it seemed. Maybe too meta, but I can imagine people like that, the stars of their own “show”.
One rumor is that we almost got that - had the show gone to a sixth season, Robert Reed would have been written out and Carol’s first husband would return and step into the role. The social/cultural landmines of doing that in 1972 or whatever would have made it… interesting.
