Information AboutBrady Bunch |
''The Brady Bunch'' is an American Television Situation Comedy , based around a large Blended Family . The show originally aired from September 26 , 1969 to August 30 , 1974 on the ABC network and was subsequently syndicated across the world. OVERVIEW Origins Sherwood Schwartz , creator of the series, conceived the idea for the series after reading an article that a growing share of the marriages in the United States involved children from a previous marriage. To quote him, he said 'Because there was two lines in the L.A. Times that said 40% of marriages in that day had a child or children from previous marriage' Despite the similarities between the series and the 1968 theatrical release '' Yours, Mine And Ours '' starring Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball , the original script for ''The Brady Bunch'' (which was titled ''Yours and Mine'' at that early stage) predated the script for the film. However, the success of the film was likely a factor in the network ordering the series. Plot Mike Brady ( Robert Reed ), a Widow ed Architect with sons Greg ( Barry Williams ), Peter ( Christopher Knight ) and Bobby ( Mike Lookinland ), married Carol Martin (née Tyler) ( Florence Henderson ), whose daughters were Marcia ( Maureen McCormick ), Jan ( Eve Plumb ) and Cindy ( Susan Olsen ). The daughters took the Brady surname. Schwartz wanted Carol to have been a divorcée. The network objected to this, but a compromise was reached whereby no mention was made of the circumstances in which Carol's first marriage ended, but many assume she was widowed. The newly-formed sextet, parents Carol and Mike, Mike's live-in housekeeper Alice ( Ann B. Davis ), and the boys' dog Tiger settled into a large, suburban home designed by Mike. Often erroneously cited as the first series to show a "blended" family (two series which debuted in the 1950s, "Make Room For Daddy" and "Bonanza" had step-siblings and half-siblings respectively), it came at a time when divorce and remarriage in America was seeing a surge. Episodes in the first season chronicled the family learning to adjust to its new circumstances and become a unit, as well as typical childhood problems such as dating, rivalries and family squabbles and the fact that their house had two bedrooms for six children. Subtle references to larger social problems occasionally found their way into the dialogue from time to time. In one Social-issue Episode , season two's "The Liberation of Marcia Brady," Marcia explores the oppression of the Brady women and sets out to prove a girl can do anything a boy can. The boys find this very upsetting and Peter finds himself joining the Sunflower Girls, Marcia's club, in hopes of making her back down from her 'bad idea'. Mike did much of his architectural work in an office/design studio within the house, an apparent way of lending some realism to the way in which sitcom dads seem to be almost always at home while nonetheless earning a good living. Sometimes they would go to his office at the building where he worked. He got home about the same time or a little while after the children got home from school, so they often had episodes where Mike would come in about the same time as the children, or right before dinner. It all depended on how much work he had to do that day. The theme song penned by Schwartz quickly communicated to audiences that the Bradys were a blended family though the situation largely was deemphasized from the second season on with a few exceptions. In the episodes "Not So Rose Colored Glasses" and "Jan's Aunt Jenny" mention was made that Mike and Carol had been married for three years. Those episodes were in the third season. In "Kelly's Kids," the Bradys' adoptions (To quote: "Either way, you adopted three boys and you adopted three girls, right?") were referenced when their neighbors, the Kellys, adopted three boys of different races. Original run and subsequent success In 1970, due to the success of the Brady's ABC Friday night companion show '' The Partridge Family '', (about a musical family) some episodes began to feature the Brady Kids as a singing group. Though only a handful of shows ("Doe-Ri-Me" in the third season, "Amateur Nite" in the fourth and "Johnny Bravo" in the fifth) actually featured them singing and performing, the Brady Bunch began to produce albums. Though they never charted as high as the Partridge Family, they began touring the USA during the summer hiatus from the show, headlining as ''The Kids from the Brady Bunch''. Although only Barry Williams and Maureen McCormick stayed in the music business as adults, Christopher Knight readily admits he felt he could not sing and recalls having great anxiety about performing live on stage with the cast. ''The Brady Bunch'' wasn't a highly rated program during its primetime run (never placing in the top 25 in the five years it aired) and was canceled in 1974 when Greg graduated from high school and was about to move on to college. Despite its less than stellar primetime ratings and having won no awards, the show has become a true cultural phenomenon, having lasted in the minds of Americans and in syndication for over 35 years. The series has spawned several sequel series on all three traditional major U.S. networks, two made-for-theater and three made-for-TV movies, a touring stage show and countless specials and documentaries on both network and cable TV. Since its first airing in Syndication in September 1975, an episode of the show has been broadcast somewhere in the US and abroad every single day of every single year through at least 2007. It was also shown on ABC in the daytime during the summer months from July 9 , 1973 to August 29 , 1975 . The only exception to this was 4/21/75-6/27/75, when ABC temporarily ran a short-lived game show, '' Blankety Blanks ''. When the episodes were repeated in syndication, usually appearing every weekday in late-afternoon and early evening slots so children could watch the episodes when they returned from school, the program became widely popular and achieved iconic status among those who were too young to have seen the series during its Prime Time run. According to Schwartz, the reason the show has become a part of Americana despite the fact that there have been other shows that ran longer, rated higher and were critically acclaimed is that the episodes were written from the standpoint of the children and pointed more in the direction of things children can understand (such as girl trouble, jealousy towards their older siblings and meeting a famous baseball player). The Bradys also comprised a harmonious family (compare that to The Bunkers or The Simpsons or any number of dysfunctional television families), though they did run into problems from time to time when one of the children didn't want to cooperate with their parents or the other children. In fact, the producers had a form letter they sent to children wanting to run away from their own families and live with the Bradys. It has also been noted that the Bradys, while not wealthy, lived well by middle class standards, having a live-in housekeeper and taking frequent trips. The show has since started to air on ABC Family. CAST ''Main article: Characters Of ''The Brady Bunch'' The regular cast appeared in an opening title sequence in which video head shots were arranged in a three-by-three grid, with each cast member appearing to look at the other cast members. The sequence has been widely imitated and lampooned since. A recurring character was Alice's boyfriend, Sam Franklin ( Allan Melvin ), the owner of a local Butcher shop. (By the time of ''The Brady Girls Get Married,'' a made-for-TV movie in 1981 , Alice and Sam were married.) Sam is incorrectly perceived to have appeared in many of the show's episodes. While he is frequently mentioned in dialogue and Alice occasionally went out on dates with him when she wasn't needed around the house, Sam actually appears in only eight episodes, although his appearances span all the seasons. Although many actors who become type-cast into the roles they played on a particular series sometimes resent this, it is exactly the opposite with the actors and actresses who played on the ''Brady Bunch'' series. Recently on a ''TV Land'' documentary, the actors revealed that they all remain close friends, and most have remained in regular contact with one another. On several episodes of Christopher Knight's reality show series, '' My Fair Brady '', Florence Henderson made guest appearances, and gave advice on Chris' ongoing relationship issues. Knight also invited Williams, Susan Olsen , and Mike Lookinland to a wedding party, during which most of his time was spent hanging out with them, away from the party, and he stated that it was important that his fiance accept that his ''Brady Bunch'' friends are an important part of his life. Cousin Oliver In 1974 during the show's final season, the producers decided to add a younger character, Cousin Oliver ( Robbie Rist ), since the Brady children were now all 12 or older ( Barry Williams was 19 during the show's final season) and a lot of the fifth season was aimed towards Greg going to college. In the episode in which Oliver was introduced ("Welcome Aboard"), Carol explains that her brother—Oliver's father—took a four-month engineering assignment in a South American jungle where there would be no schools. He was taking his wife with him and Oliver couldn't go. At first, the Brady kids think that accident-prone Oliver is a "jinx," and this discussion is overheard by Oliver. Oliver later tells Mike what he heard, and Mike sits down with the kids for a discussion about the importance of making Oliver feel welcome in their family because, like it or not, Oliver was staying. The kids express their concerns that Oliver is the reason they keep getting into trouble, but Mike assures them that these are merely accidents. The kids promise their father to try harder to be nice to Oliver and make him feel like he belongs and, true to their word, they do try to include Oliver more. Oliver overcomes his accident-prone life when the Brady kids, along with Alice and their mother, Carol, get to guest star in a movie because they had Oliver with them. The movie roles were a prize given to a person in line for the studio tour, which was the last member of their group. If Oliver were not with them, the people behind them would have won. Oliver is overjoyed. Oliver appeared in the series' last six episodes; ratings were not boosted enough to keep the show from being canceled. (This also parallels The Partridge Family , which brought in a younger character named "Ricky" for six episodes of its final season that same year, in an unsuccessful attempt to revitalize the show.) Because of this, Cousin Oliver is sometimes jokingly referred to as the character who "killed ''The Brady Bunch''" and is overwhelmingly viewed as the main reason for the show " Jumping The Shark ." Rist also played Ted and Georgette Baxter's son on the last year of the " Mary Tyler Moore Show ," but the child actor has never been blamed for causing its demise. "Cousin Oliver" has become television slang for a new character (especially a cute kid) introduced late into a show's run to boost interest and ratings, particularly when the show features child actors who have grown out of the age of cuteness. The Bradys' dog, Tiger The dog that played Tiger was hit by a car and killed early in the first season (although Tiger's death was not referred to in any episode). When a replacement dog proved problematic, the producers decided the dog would only appear when essential to the plot. Tiger appeared in about half the episodes in the first season and about half a dozen episodes in the second season. His last appearance was in "What Goes Up," which aired in 1971. Eventually, the dog was phased out altogether. He disappeared completely after the third season and was not mentioned again, not even when the show ended. According to Barry Williams, the doghouse remained because it was needed to cover holes caused by a falling stage light in the artificial backyard. No explanation or reference was ever made to what happened to Tiger on the show. This was another similarity to the Partridges, whose dog Simone mysteriously disappeared during the second season, neither dog ever to be heard from again. The ''Brady Bunch'' pilot also had the first and last appearance of the Brady's other pet, "Fluffy" the cat, who belonged to the Brady girls prior to the marriage. Fluffy was most likely left with their grandparents when they moved out. They had been living with Carol's mom and dad before the wedding and Fluffy had also lived there. The dog's disappearance was referenced in '' The Brady Bunch Movie '', with Carol remarking, "Whatever happened to that dog?" THE BRADY HOUSE The house used in exterior shots, which bears little relation to the interior design of the Bradys' home, is located at 11222 Dilling Street, '', the San Fernando Valley house was built in 1959 and selected as the Brady residence because series creator Schwartz felt it looked like a home where an architect would live. The real house is a Split-level Ranch Home . A false window was attached to the front's A-frame section to give the illusion it had two full stories during filming of the series' many Establishing Shot s, all of which took place before the program debuted. The address of the house in the series was given as 4222 Clinton Way (or Avenue). Although no city ever was specified, it was presumed from references to the Los Angeles Dodgers , the Los Angeles Rams , and a Hollywood movie studio, among many others, that the Bradys lived in Southern California , most likely Los Angeles or one of its suburbs. In the 2002 TV movie ''The Brady Bunch in the White House'', Cindy's map and Mike's speech state that the family lived in Santa Monica, California . In the years since the show first aired, those who have owned the house have had problems with visitors who trespassed on the property to peep into the windows, or who came to the front door asking to see the fictional Bradys. As a result, the property has been extensively re-landscaped, so someone casually driving by most likely would not recognize it as the house shown in the TV show. For many fans, however, it is indeed still recognizable as the Brady house. Contemporary establishing shots of the house were filmed with the owner's permission for the 1990 TV series ''The Bradys''. The owner refused to restore the property to its 1969 look for '' The Brady Bunch Movie '' in 1995 , so a Façade resembling the original home was built around an existing house. SPIN-OFFS AND SEQUELS Several sequels to the original series were made, featuring all or most of the original cast. ''The Brady Bunch Variety Hour'' A variety show called ''The Brady Bunch Variety Hour'' was spun-off in 1977 . It was canceled after only nine episodes. Eve Plumb was the only regular cast member from the series who declined to be in the series and the role of Jan was recast with Geri Reischl . The entire cast took part in sketches and musical numbers, including the very non-musical Reed and Davis (in one memorable bit, a game-for-anything Reed even appeared in drag as Carmen Miranda ). Produced by Sid And Marty Krofft , the sibling team behind '' HR Pufnstuf '', '' Donny And Marie '' and other glitzy variety shows and children's series of the era, this show was an infamous disaster that has been much parodied since and enjoys an avid cult following. The show was intended to air every fifth week in the same slot as '' The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries '', but ended up scheduled sporadically throughout the season, leading to very inconsistent ratings, since fans could not remember when it was on or more likely saw a promo with Mike and Carol stating "The Brady Bunch Hour won't be seen this week, but we will back again soon".
''The Brady Girls Get Married''/''The Brady Brides'' A TV reunion movie called ''The Brady Girls Get Married'' and a spin-off sitcom were produced in 1981 and aired on NBC . The reunion movie featured the entire original cast; this would prove to be the only time the entire cast worked together on a single project following the cancellation of the original series. The ensuing series (titled ''The Brady Brides'') featured Maureen McCormick (Marcia) and Eve Plumb (Jan) in regular roles. The series had Marcia and Jan both married and both couples living together. The clashes between Jan's uptight husband, Phillip Covington III (a college professor who was several years older than Jan), and Marcia's more slob of a partner, Wally Logan (a salesman who could never seem to keep a job), were the pivot on which many of the stories were based. Bob Eubanks guest starred in this show as himself in the episode where the two couples appear on '' The Newlywed Game ''. ''A Very Brady Christmas'' See Also: A Very Brady Christmas A second TV reunion movie ''A Very Brady Christmas'' featured all the regular cast (except Susan Olsen; the role was played by Jennifer Runyon ), as well as three grandchildren, Peter's girlfriend and the spouses of Greg, Marcia and Jan (Nora, Wally and Phil, respectively). Mike is still an architect and Jan has followed in his footsteps to become one herself; Carol is a realtor; Greg is a physician; Marcia is a stay-at-home mom; Peter works in an office; Cindy is in her last year of college; Bobby was in graduate school studying for business but dropped out to drive race cars. After a series of pratfalls to get the family together, everyone comes home harboring various secrets (e.g., Jan and Phil are considering separation; Wally is out of work again, having lost his job in a merger at his toy company; Greg's wife Nora wants to spend Christmas with her family; Cindy felt pressured to come home in lieu of a skiing trip with her college friends; Peter feels inferior to his girlfriend, who is also his boss; and Bobby hasn't revealed his leaving graduate school for a racing career). Alice, meanwhile, temporarily moves back in with Mike and Carol after her husband, Sam, runs off with another woman. ( Allan Melvin did not reprise the role; he had retired from acting and was replaced in a single scene by Lewis Arquette .) Even Mike has problems: Contractor Ted Roberts, wanting to save money on a downtown office complex project (at 34th St. and Oak) where Mike is the architect, demands that he redesign the building to omit important safety specifications. Mike advises against it and causes his firm to lose Roberts' services. On Christmas Day, the building crumbles, and Roberts, unable to contact anyone at the new firm he hired, must rely on Mike to find what caused the building's structure to become unstable. While inside, the building continues to crumble, trapping Mike and two security guards inside. Of course, everyone turns out to be okay, and Alice and Sam reunite. The movie, which aired on CBS in December 1988 to high ratings, renewed interest in the Brady clan and set out the current careers and family situations which were continued in ''The Bradys''. The fact that this movie aired on CBS gave the Bradys a rare feat: the original show and reunions aired on all of the "big 3" networks — ABC, CBS and NBC. ''The Bradys'' See Also: The Bradys The Dramedy series ''The Bradys'' was produced in 1989 and premiered on February 6 , 1990 ; Maureen McCormick was pregnant at the time and decided not to participate in this series; her role of Marcia was filled by Leah Ayres . With this short-lived series came a brand new opening sequence and theme song. The visual still featured the familiar blue squares of the original series, and reunions (with the exception of the variety hour); then they all divide and move off-screen in different directions, with current episodic clips with the actors' names on the box they contain and a clip (from the Brady Bunch 1969 opening) of each actor superimposed in the back of a colored backdrop as a full clip opens up afterwards. Florence Henderson and Robert Reed appear side to side, the rest of the cast appear solo. After the last cast member (which is Mike Lookinland's "Bobby") is seen the familiar squares move back on screen with Ann B. Davis appearing in her spot; her clip blinks out and the squares divide staying on screen this time with the title appearing in the familiar title area (Alice's space). The theme music used an instrumental version for the ( CBS ) network run and a lyrical version for reruns. The theme lyrics no longer featured the "That's the way we all became The Brady Bunch" lyrics and also the theme was no longer sung by The Brady Kids, it was performed by the Brady mom Florence Henderson. TV critics dubbed this '' Thirtysomething ''-style dramedy: "Bradysomething". SPECIALS, DOCUMENTARIES, AND OTHER REVIVALS ''The Brady Bunch'' has met with a remarkable amount of television coverage, although most of this did not happen until the series had been off the network for more than 20 years.
ROBERT REED VS. THE PRODUCERS Robert Reed became increasingly jaded about appearing in the series, as he felt that his Shakespearean training would mean nothing after being typecast in the "Mr. Brady" role. He frequently fought with producers to make changes in the show's scripts in order to remove what he felt were unbelievable scenes or dialogue. Despite his battles, he was allowed to direct several episodes, "The Winner" and "The Big Little Man" ( 1971 ), "How To Succeed In Business" and "Getting Greg's Goat" ( 1973 ). Reed did not appear in a 1972 episode, "Goodbye Alice Hello," although his absence from this episode has never been explained. By the final season, his arguments with the producers led to his absence from the series finale, "The Hair-Brained Scheme", (because he believed a key plot point was too implausible to be believed). In addition to "The Hair-Brained Scheme," Barry Williams' autobiography, ''Growing Up Brady'', contains two of Reed's negative critiques of the episodes "The Impractical Joker" and "And Now a Word From Our Sponsor" ( 1971 ). =Marathons= Here is a list of marathons of The Brady Bunch that have been in the past, current, and future. National Marathons
Local Marathons Post your Station's Local Marathons here. =Other mentions=
SEE ALSO DVD RELEASES CBS DVD has released all five seasons of ''The Brady Bunch'' on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. EXTERNAL LINKS
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