RuPaul's Drag Race joins Brady Bunch to re-create classic Jan episode
Wig out with a mashup episode where Barry Williams steps into the role of Mike Brady, and Kylie Sonique Love plays Jan.
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Jan wigs out.
Now this is a groovy TV mashup. Cast members from RuPaul's Drag Race will join with some of the original stars of The Brady Bunch in a crossover event that re-creates the classic 1971 Brady Bunch episode where Jan buys an ill-advised wig. To shake things up even more, some of the Brady stars will be playing roles other than the ones they made famous -- think Barry "Greg Brady" Williams as family patriarch Mike Brady.
Streaming service Paramount Plus announced the crossover on Wednesday and it will air on June 30.
You might remember the episode, Will the Real Jan Brady Please Stand Up? Jan "Middle Child" Brady has one of her semi-annual realizations that she's neither movie-star Marcia nor cutie-pie Cindy, and decides a curly black wig covering her theme-song-famous "hair of gold" is somehow her path to popularity. Spoiler: It's not.
A statement says the show will use "state-of-the-art technology to transport the cast into the original Brady house." And since the episode involves wigs and an underlying commentary on style, it seems a good choice for the crossover.
In addition to Barry Williams playing his one-time TV dad, Christopher Knight will reprise his role as middle brother Peter, and Mike Lookinland will do this same for his character, Bobby. But Eve Plumb, who starred in the original episode as Jan, will instead play Lucy Winters, at whose party the wig makes its debut. Susan Olsen, who played Cindy in the original show, will play Margie Ripple, who has an unrequited crush on Peter.
Drag Race cast members will jump in and play the other roles, with Kylie Sonique Love as Jan, Shea Couleé as Marcia, Bianca Del Rio as Carol, BenDeLaCreme stepping out of drag as Greg, Nina West as Alice, and Kandy Muse as Cindy. RuPaul will make a special appearance as "the wig attendant." (Does this mean the wig saleslady played so well by the late Marcia Wallace?) Michelle Visage will play Helen, another of the department store clerks.
