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Revision as of 13:03, 4 October 2018


The Brady Bunch
Season five opening (1973–74)
GenreSitcom
Created bySherwood Schwartz
Starring
Theme music composer
Opening theme
ComposerFrank De Vol
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons5
No. of episodes117 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producerSherwood Schwartz
Producers
  • Howard Leeds
  • Sherwood Schwartz
  • Lloyd Schwartz
Camera setupSingle-camera
Running time25–26 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkABC[1]
ReleaseSeptember 26, 1969 (1969-09-26) –
March 8, 1974 (1974-03-08)
Related

The Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz that aired from September 26, 1969, to March 8, 1974, on ABC. The series revolves around a large blended family with six children. Considered one of the last of the old-style family sitcoms, the series aired for five seasons and, after its cancellation in 1974, went into syndication in September 1975.[3] While the series was never a critical or ratings success during its original run, it has since become a popular staple in syndication, especially among children and teenaged viewers.

The Brady Bunch's success in syndication led to several television reunion films and spin-off series: The Brady Bunch Hour (1976–77), The Brady Girls Get Married (1981), The Brady Brides (1981), A Very Brady Christmas (1988), and The Bradys (1990). In 1995, the series was adapted into a satirical comedy theatrical film titled The Brady Bunch Movie, followed by A Very Brady Sequel in 1996. A second sequel, The Brady Bunch in the White House, aired on Fox in November 2002 as a made-for-television film. In 1997, "Getting Davy Jones" (season three, episode 12) was ranked number 37 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time.[4] The durability of the show has resulted in it becoming widely recognized as an American cultural icon.

Development

In 1966, following the success of his TV series Gilligan's Island, Sherwood Schwartz conceived the idea for The Brady Bunch after reading in The Los Angeles Times that "30% of marriages [in the United States] have a child or children from a previous marriage." He set to work on a pilot script for a series tentatively titled Mine and Yours.[5] Schwartz then developed the script to include three children for each parent. While Mike Brady is depicted as being a widower, Schwartz originally wanted the character of Carol Brady to have been a divorcée, but the network objected to this. A compromise was reached whereby Carol's marital status (whether she was divorced or widowed) was never directly revealed.

Schwartz shopped the series to the "big three" television networks of the era. ABC, CBS, and NBC all liked the script, but each network wanted changes before they would commit to filming, so Schwartz shelved the project.[6] Although similarities exist between the series and two 1968 theatrical release films, United Artists' Yours, Mine and Ours (starring Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball) and CBS's With Six You Get Eggroll (starring Brian Keith and Doris Day), the original script for The Brady Bunch predated the scripts for both of these films. Nonetheless, the outstanding success of the United Artists film (the 11th-highest-grossing film of 1968) was a factor in ABC's decision to order episodes for the series.[5]

After receiving a commitment for 13 weeks of television shows from ABC in 1968, Schwartz hired film and television director John Rich to direct the pilot, cast the six children from 264 interviews during that summer, and hired the actors to play the mother role, the father role, and the housekeeper role.[7] As the sets were built on Paramount Television stage 5, adjacent to the stage where H.R. Pufnstuf was filmed by Sid and Marty Krofft, who later produced The Brady Bunch Hour,[8] the production crew prepared the back yard of a home in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, as the exterior location for the chaotic backyard wedding scene. Filming of the pilot began on Friday, October 4, 1968, and lasted eight days.

Premise

Mike Brady (Robert Reed), a widowed architect with three sons, Greg (Barry Williams), Peter (Christopher Knight), and Bobby (Mike Lookinland), marries Carol Martin (Florence Henderson), who herself has three daughters: Marcia (Maureen McCormick), Jan (Eve Plumb), and Cindy (Susan Olsen). The wife and daughters take the Brady surname. Included in the blended family are Mike's live-in housekeeper, Alice Nelson (Ann B. Davis), and the boys' dog, Tiger. (In the pilot episode, the girls also have a pet: a cat named Fluffy. Fluffy never appeared in any episodes following the pilot.) The setting is a large, suburban, two-story house designed by Mike, in a Los Angeles suburb.[9]

In the first season, awkward adjustments, accommodations, gender rivalries, and resentments inherent in blended families dominate the stories. In an early episode, Carol tells Bobby that the only "steps" in their household lead to the second floor (in other words, that the family contains no "stepchildren", only "children"). Thereafter, the episodes focus on typical preteen and teenaged adjustments such as sibling rivalry, puppy love, self-image, character building, and responsibility. Noticeably absent was any political commentary, especially regarding the Vietnam War, which was being waged at its largest extent during the height of the series.[10]

Cast and characters

Main article: List of The Brady Bunch characters

Main

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 used the then-new "multi-dynamic image technique" created by Canadian filmmaker Christopher Chapman; as a result of the popular attention it garnered in this sequence, it has been referred to in the press as "the Brady Bunch effect".[11][12] In a 2010 issue of TV Guide, the show's opening title sequence ranked number eight on a list of TV's top-10 credits sequences, as selected by readers.[13]

A 3 × 3 grid of squares with face shots of all nine starring characters of the television series: three blond girls in the left three squares, three brown-haired boys in the right three squares, and the middle three squares feature a blond, motherly woman, a dark-haired woman, and a brown-haired man; all the faces are on blue backgrounds.Marcia Brady (Maureen McCormick)Jan Brady (Eve Plumb)Cindy Brady (Susan Olsen)Carol Brady (Florence Henderson)Alice Nelson (Ann B. Davis)Greg Brady (Barry Williams)Peter Brady (Christopher Knight)Bobby Brady (Mike Lookinland)Mike Brady (Robert Reed)
Cast of The Brady Bunch in the signature three-by-three grid featured in the show open. Click on a character for the actor's biography.

Recurring characters

  • Sam Franklin (Allan Melvin) is Alice's boyfriend. He is the owner of a local butcher shop. Sam appears in only eight episodes, but they span all five seasons. He is also frequently mentioned in dialogue, and Alice occasionally goes on dates with him off-screen. By the time of the 1981 made-for-TV movie The Brady Girls Get Married, Alice and Sam are married.
  • Tiger the dog – the original dog that played Tiger died early in the first season.[14] A replacement dog proved problematic, so 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. Tiger seemingly vanished without an explanation and was not shown again after "The Impractical Joker" (last episode shown with Tiger) and "What Goes Up" (last episode made with Tiger).
Robbie Rist as Cousin Oliver
  • Mr. Phillips (Jack Collins) is Mike's boss at the architectural firm. He appears in only three episodes, all during season two, but is often mentioned in other episodes when issues occur around Mike's work.
  • Cousin Oliver (Robbie Rist) – in the middle of season five, producers added a new character named Oliver, Carol Brady's young nephew, who was sent to live with the Bradys while his parents were living in South America. The character was added in an attempt to fill the age gap left by the maturing Brady children – the youngest (Susan Olsen) was 12 years old during the show's final season. Lloyd Schwartz, son of creator and executive producer Sherwood Schwartz, later admitted that the character threw off the balance of the show and said that fans regarded the character as an interloper. Oliver appeared in the final six episodes of season five, which proved to be the final season, as ABC cancelled the series in 1974. The addition of the character has been cited as the moment the series "jumped the shark".[15] The term "Cousin Oliver" has been used to describe the addition of a young character to a series in an attempt to save a series from cancellation.[16]

Notable guest stars

Davy Jones with Maureen McCormick in the 1971 The Brady Bunch episode "Getting Davy Jones"
  • Herbert Anderson (known for playing Dennis's father in the 1960s sitcom Dennis the Menace) as a doctor who comes to treat the boys' measles in "Is There a Doctor in the House?" (season one)
  • Melissa Sue Anderson, who later rose to fame playing Mary Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie, played Millicent, a girl who gives Bobby his first kiss ("Never Too Young", season five)
  • Desi Arnaz, Jr. (teen heartthrob son of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball) meets Marcia, who had written about him in her diary in "The Possible Dream" (season one)
  • Jim Backus (Thurston Howell III in Gilligan's Island) appears three times in the series, twice in two of the three Grand Canyon episodes, "Ghost Town U.S.A." and "Grand Canyon or Bust", playing Zaccariah T. Brown, who mistakenly thinks the Bradys are jumping his gold claim and locks them in a ghost-town jail, and in "The Hustler" (season five) playing Mike's second boss, Mr. Harry Matthews
  • Ken Berry (known for F Troop, Mayberry RFD and Mama's Family) played Ken Kelly, the Brady's new neighbor who was the adopted father of three diverse boys (black, white, and Asian) in the season five episode "Kelly's Kids". Sherwood Schwartz was attempting to sell a spin-off series called "Kelly's Kids" featuring Berry, but the show idea failed to interest ABC.
  • Imogene Coca (known for Your Show of Shows and one of the cast members of Sherwood Schwartz's It's About Time TV series) plays the Brady girls' great-aunt Jenny, whom Jan fears she will grow up to resemble after seeing a childhood photo of her in "Jan's Aunt Jenny" (season three)
  • Don Drysdale (Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher) tries to inject reality into Greg's dreams of being a professional baseball player in "The Dropout" (season two)
  • Don Ho (Hawaiian singer) meets Cindy and Bobby and serenaded Cindy in Honolulu in "Hawaii Bound" (part one of a three-part season-four episode, filmed on location in Hawaii)
  • Davy Jones (of The Monkees) performs at a music studio and then takes Marcia to her school dance in "Getting Davy Jones" (season three) (he also satirized his cameo decades later in The Brady Bunch Movie).
  • Deacon Jones (Los Angeles Rams defensive end) encourages Peter's singing in "The Drummer Boy" (season two).
  • E. G. Marshall as Mr. J.P. Randolph, Marcia's school principal in "The Slumber Caper" (season two) (Marshall and Robert Reed co-starred in The Defenders in 1961–65 – making this a reunion of the two).
  • Bart La Rue, immortalized in Star Trek history as the iconic voice of the Guardian of Forever, played a sports coach in the (season two) episodes "Click" and "The Drummer Boy".
  • Brigadier General James McDivitt (NASA astronaut) signs autographs for Peter and Bobby after appearing on a talk show in "Out of This World" (season five).
  • Joe Namath (New York Jets quarterback) visits Bobby because he thought that Bobby had a terminal illness in "Mail Order Hero" (season five).
  • Wes Parker (Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman) meets Mike and Greg in Greg's math classroom, thus curing Greg of the crush he had on his teacher Miss Linda O'Hara (played by Gigi Perreau), Parker's fiancée in "The Undergraduate" (season one).
  • Vincent Price (horror film actor) appears twice in the series in two of the three Hawaii episodes, "Pass the Tabu", and "The Tiki Caves" from season four, playing the villainous Professor Hubert Whitehead, who holds the Brady boys hostage.
  • Marion Ross (later known as Mrs. Cunningham in Happy Days) appears as a doctor who comes to treat the girls' measles in "Is There a Doctor in the House?" (season one).
  • Natalie Schafer (Lovey Howell in Gilligan's Island) is Mike's fussy client, Penelope Fletcher, who is charmed by Cindy's impromptu 'Shirley Temple' routine in "The Snooperstar" (season five).
  • Marcia Wallace played a salesclerk in "Would the Real Jan Brady Please Stand Up" (season two) and "Mrs. Robbins" in "Getting Davy Jones" (season three).
  • Rita Wilson (actress and wife of Tom Hanks) began her career with a guest appearance in "Greg's Triangle" (season four) where she played one of the candidates running against Marcia for head cheerleader.
  • Paul Winchell (ventriloquist and actor; Winchell-Mahoney Time, voice of "Tigger" in Disney's Winnie-the-Pooh cartoons) appears as Skip Farnum, the TV commercial director in "And Now a Word From Our Sponsor" (season three).

Production notes

Theme song and credits sequence

The theme song, penned by Schwartz and Frank De Vol, and originally arranged, sung, and performed by Paul Parrish, Lois Fletcher, and John Beland[failed verification] under the name the Peppermint Trolley Company,[17] quickly communicated to audiences that the Bradys were a blended family. The Brady family is shown in a tic-tac-toe board with Carol on the top center, Alice in the middle block, and Mike on bottom middle. To the right are three blocks with the boys from the oldest on top to the youngest. To the left are three blocks with the girls from the oldest to the youngest. In season two, the Brady kids took over singing the theme song. In season three, the boys sing the first verse, girls sing the second verse, and all sing together for the third and last verse. The sequence was created and filmed by Howard A. Anderson, Jr., a visual effects pioneer who worked on the title sequences for many popular television series.[18]

The end credits feature an instrumental version of the theme song's third verse. In season one, it was recorded by the Peppermint Trolley Company. From season two on, the theme was recorded in-house by Paramount musicians.

The Brady house

The house used in exterior shots, which bears little relation to the interior layout of the Bradys' home, is located in Studio City, within the city limits of Los Angeles. According to a 1994 article in the Los Angeles Times, 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.[19] A false window was attached to the front's A-frame section to give the illusion that it had two full stories.[20] Contemporary establishing shots of the house were filmed with the owner's permission for the 1990 TV series The Bradys. The owner refused to allow Paramount to restore the property to its 1969 look for The Brady Bunch Movie in 1995, so a facade resembling the original home was built around an existing house.[citation needed] The house was for sale in 2018 with an asking price of $1.885 million,[21] and television network HGTV outbid seven others for it.[22]

In the series, the address of the house was given as 4222 Clinton Way (as read aloud by Carol from an arriving package in the first-season episode entitled "Lost Locket, Found Locket").[23] Although no city was ever 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.[24][25]

The interior of the Brady house was used at least three times for other Paramount shows, twice for Mannix and once for Mission: Impossible, while The Brady Bunch was in production. In the case of Mission: Impossible, the Brady furniture was also used.[26][27][28] A re-creation of the Brady house was constructed for the X-Files episode "Sunshine Days", which also revolved around The Brady Bunch.

Episodes

Main article: List of The Brady Bunch episodes
SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast airedNetwork
125September 26, 1969 (1969-09-26)March 20, 1970 (1970-03-20)ABC
224September 25, 1970 (1970-09-25)March 19, 1971 (1971-03-19)
323September 17, 1971 (1971-09-17)March 10, 1972 (1972-03-10)
423September 22, 1972 (1972-09-22)March 23, 1973 (1973-03-23)
522September 14, 1973 (1973-09-14)March 8, 1974 (1974-03-08)

Reception

U.S. television ratings

SeasonEpisodesOriginally airedRankRatingTied with
First airedLast aired
125September 26, 1969 (1969-09-26)March 20, 1970 (1970-03-20)5614.9 [29]—
224September 25, 1970 (1970-09-25)March 19, 1971 (1971-03-19)———
323September 17, 1971 (1971-09-17)March 10, 1972 (1972-03-10)3119.3[30]Mission: Impossible
422September 22, 1972 (1972-09-22)March 23, 1973 (1973-03-23)———
522September 14, 1973 (1973-09-14)March 8, 1974 (1974-03-08)5416.1 [31]Chase

Ratings data prior to 1972 is scarce for shows which did not place in the Top 30. Beginning in 2017, TV Ratings Guide began publishing vintage television ratings as they became readily available from old newspaper publishings. [32] The Brady Bunch never achieved high ratings during its primetime run (never placing in the top 30 during the five years it aired) and was cancelled in 1974 after five seasons and 117 episodes; it was cancelled shortly after the series crossed the minimum threshold for syndication. At that point in the story, Greg graduated from high school and was about to enroll in college.[33]

When the episodes were repeated in syndication, they usually appeared every weekday in late-afternoon or early-evening slots on local stations. This enabled children to watch the episodes when they came home from school, making the program widely popular and giving it iconic status among those who were too young to have seen the series during its primetime run.

According to Schwartz, the reason the show has become a part of Americana, even though other shows have run longer, were rated higher, and were critically acclaimed, is that the episodes were written from the standpoint of the children and addressed situations that children could understand (such as boy trouble, sibling rivalry, and meeting famous people such as a rock star or baseball players). The Bradys are also portrayed as a harmonious family, though they do have times when one of the children does not cooperate with his or her parents or the other children.

Awards and honors

Award Year Category Result Recipient
Young Artist Award 1989 Former Child Star Lifetime Achievement Award Honored Barry Williams
TV Land Awards 2003 Hippest Fashion Plate – Male Nominated
Favorite Dual-Role Character Nominated Christopher Knight
as Peter Brady and Arthur
Funniest Food Fight
The Brady Pie Fight on the Paramount Lot.		 Nominated
Favorite Guest Performance by a Musician on a TV Show Won Davy Jones
Most Memorable Male Guest Star in a Comedy as Himself Won Joe Namath
2004 Favorite Fashion Plate – Male Nominated Barry Williams
Most Memorable Mane Nominated Susan Olsen
Favorite Made-for-TV Maid Won Ann B. Davis
2005 Theme Song You Just Cannot Get out of Your Head Nominated
Best Dream Sequence
For episode "Love and the Older Man," in which Marcia has a crush on her dentist.		 Nominated
Favorite Two-Parter/Cliffhanger
For the Greg Brady surfboard accident.		 Nominated
Favorite Singing Siblings Nominated Williams, McCormick, Knight, Plumb, Lookinland, Olsen
2006 Best Dream Sequence
For episode "Love and the Older Man"		 Nominated
Favorite Made-for-TV Maid Won Ann B. Davis
Favorite TV Food
Pork chops and applesauce		 Won
2007 Most Beautiful Braces Nominated Maureen McCormick
Pop Culture Award Won Williams, McCormick, Knight, Plumb, Lookinland, Olsen, Davis, Henderson, Lloyd J. Schwartz (producer)

Syndication and distribution

Since its first airing in syndication in September 1975, an episode of the show has been broadcast somewhere in the United States and abroad every day of the year.[34] Episodes were also shown on ABC daytime from July 9, 1973 to April 18, 1975 and from June 30 to August 29, 1975, at 11:30 a.m. EST/10:30 CST.

The show was aired on TBS starting in the 1980s until 1997, Nick at Nite in 1995 (for a special event), and again from 1998 to 2003 (and briefly during the spring of 2012), TeenNick (under the channel's former name The N) from March to April 2004, on TV Land on and off from 2002 to 2015, Nick Jr. (as part of the NickMom block from 2012 to 2013), and Hallmark Channel from January to June 2013 and again starting September 5, 2016, until September 30, 2016.

Episodes in the syndicated version have been edited for time to allow for commercial breaks, down from the original version of 25–26 minutes.

Current airings

Since its launch as a national network in 2010, the Weigel Broadcasting owned classic TV network MeTV airs a weekly two-hour block of the show every Sunday morning/early afternoon promoted as the "Brady Bunch Brunch". In the years following, MeTV has also periodically aired the series weekday mornings.[35] Decades - a sister network of MeTV - also occasionally airs the show.

Online, the show is available on Hulu and CBS All Access, though not all episodes are available for either service.

Discography

During the series' original run, the Brady kids recorded several albums on Paramount's record label. While session musicians provided backing, the actors from the series provided their own singing voices (which was not always the case for early 1970s television crossover acts). None of the albums or singles from The Brady Kids ever became hits on any national music charts.

Albums

Singles

Also includes solo recordings as indicated

Year Single (A-side, B-side) Label & number Album
1970 "Frosty the Snowman"
b/w "Silver Bells" 		Paramount 0062 Merry Christmas From The Brady Bunch
1971 "Sweet Sweetheart"
b/w "Sunny"
Barry Williams solo single 		Paramount 0122 Non-album tracks
"How Will It Be?"
b/w "The Fortune Cookie Song"
Eve Plumb solo single 		RCA 0409
1972 "Time to Change"
b/w "We Can Make The World A Whole Lot Brighter" 		Paramount 0141 Meet The Brady Bunch
"We'll Always Be Friends"
b/w "Time To Change" 		Paramount 0167
"Over and Over"
b/w "Good For Each Other"
Chris Knight solo single 		Paramount 0177 Non-album tracks
"Candy (Sugar Shoppe)"
b/w "Drummer Man" 		Paramount 0180 The Kids From The Brady Bunch
1973 "Zuckerman's Famous Pig"
b/w "Charlotte's Web" 		Paramount 0205 Phonographic Album
"Truckin' Back To You"
b/w "Teeny Weeny Bit (Too Long)"
Maureen McCormick solo single 		Paramount 0217 Non-album tracks
"I'd Love You To Want Me"
b/w "Everything I Do" 		Paramount 0229 Phonographic Album
"Little Bird"
b/w "Just A Singin' Alone"
Maureen McCormick solo single 		Paramount 0246 Non-album tracks
1974 "Harmonize"
b/w "Love's In The Roses"
Maureen McCormick solo single 		Paramount 0292
"Love Doesn't Care Who's In It"
b/w "Gum Drop"
Mike Lookinland solo single 		Capitol 3914

Spin-offs, sequels, and reunions

Several spin-offs and sequels to the original series have been made, featuring all or most of the original cast. These include another sitcom, an animated series, a variety show, television movies, a dramatic series, a stage play, and theatrical movies:

Kelly's Kids

A final-season Brady Bunch episode, "Kelly's Kids", was intended as a pilot for a prospective spin-off series of the same name. Ken Berry starred as Ken Kelly, a friend and neighbor of the Bradys, who with his wife Kathy (Brooke Bundy) adopted three orphaned boys of different racial backgrounds. One of the adopted sons was played by Todd Lookinland, the younger brother of Mike Lookinland. While Kelly's Kids was not subsequently picked up as a full series, producer Sherwood Schwartz reworked the basic premise for the short-lived 1980s sitcom Together We Stand starring Elliott Gould and Dee Wallace.[36]

The Brady Kids

Main article: The Brady Kids

A 22-episode animated Saturday morning cartoon series, produced by Filmation and airing on ABC from September 1972 to August 1974, is about the Brady kids having various adventures.[37] The family's adults were never seen or mentioned, and the "home" scenes were in a very large, well-appointed tree house. Several animals were regular characters, including two non-English-speaking pandas (Ping and Pong), a talking bird (Marlon) which could do magic, and an ordinary pet dog (Mop Top, not Tiger). The first 17 episodes featured the voices of all six of the original child actors from the show, but Barry Williams, Maureen McCormick, and Christopher Knight were replaced for the last five episodes due to a contract dispute.

The Brady Bunch Variety Hour

Main article: The Brady Bunch Hour

On November 28, 1976, a two-hour television special entitled The Brady Bunch Variety Hour aired on ABC. Eve Plumb was the only regular cast member from the original show who declined to be in the series and the role of Jan was recast with Geri Reischl.[38] Produced by Sid and Marty Krofft, the sibling team behind H.R. Pufnstuf, Donny and Marie, and other variety shows and children's series of the era, the show was intended to air every fifth week in the same slot as The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, but ended up being scheduled sporadically throughout the season, leading to inconsistent ratings and its inevitable cancellation.

In 2009, Brady Bunch cast member Susan Olsen, with Lisa Sutton, published a book, Love to Love You Bradys, which dissects and celebrates the Variety Hour as a cult classic.[39]

The Brady Girls Get Married / The Brady Brides

The Brady Bunch
GenreSitcom
Created bySherwood Schwartz
Lloyd J. Schwartz
Directed byPeter Baldwin
StarringMaureen McCormick
Eve Plumb
Jerry Houser
Ron Kuhlman
Florence Henderson
Ann B. Davis
Keland Love
Theme music composerFrank De Vol
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes10
Production
Executive producersSherwood Schwartz
Lloyd J. Schwartz
ProducerJohn Thomas Lenox
Production locationsParamount Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
CinematographyLester Shorr
Running time25 minutes
Production companiesRedwood Productions
Paramount Television
Original release
NetworkNBC[40][41]
ReleaseFebruary 6 (1981-02-06) –
April 17, 1981 (1981-04-17)
Related
The Brady Bunch

A TV reunion movie called The Brady Girls Get Married was produced in 1981. Although scheduled to be shown in its original full-length movie format, NBC at the last minute divided it into half-hour segments and showed one part a week for three weeks, and the fourth week debuted a spin-off sitcom titled The Brady Brides. The reunion movie featured the entire original cast; this proved to be the only time the entire cast worked together on a single project following the cancellation of the original series. The movie's opening credits featured the season-one "Grid" and theme song, with the addition of The Brady Girls Get Married title.[42] The movie shows what the characters had been doing since the original series ended: Mike is still an architect, Carol is a real-estate agent, Greg is a doctor, Marcia is a fashion designer, Peter is in the Air Force, Jan is also an architect, Bobby and Cindy are in college, and Alice has married Sam. Eventually, they all reunite for Marcia and Jan's double wedding.

The Brady Brides features Maureen McCormick (Marcia) and Eve Plumb (Jan) in regular roles. The series begins with Marcia and Jan and their new husbands buying a house and living together. The clashes between Jan's uptight and conservative husband, Philip Covington III (a college professor in science who is several years older than Jan, played by Ron Kuhlman) and Marcia's slovenly and more bohemian husband, Wally Logan (a fun-loving salesman for a large toy company, played by Jerry Houser), were the pivot on which many of the stories were based, not unlike The Odd Couple. Florence Henderson and Ann B. Davis also appeared regularly. Ten episodes were aired before the sitcom was cancelled. This was the only Brady show in sitcom form to be filmed in front of a live studio audience. Bob Eubanks guest-starred as himself in an episode where the two couples appear on The Newlywed Game.

Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, The Brady Girls Get Married was rerun on various networks in its original full-length movie format.

Episodes

No. Title Original air date
1"The Brady Girls Get Married (Part 1)"February 6, 1981 (1981-02-06)
Marcia and Jan announce that they are both getting married and plans soon begin for a double wedding.
2"The Brady Girls Get Married (Part 2)"February 13, 1981 (1981-02-13)
Jan and Philip want a traditional wedding, and Marcia and Wally want a modern wedding.
3"The Brady Girls Get Married (Part 3)" February 20, 1981 ( February 20, 1981)
The weather spells disaster for an outdoor wedding, so they end up having the ceremony inside the Brady house.
4"Living Together"March 6, 1981 (1981-03-06)
After all the houses they see are too expensive, Marcia, Jan and their husbands decide to share a house.
5"Gorilla of My Dreams"March 13, 1981 (1981-03-13)
Marcia and Jan get some self-defense lessons from their mother, while a thief attempts to burglarize their home.
6"The Newlywed Game"March 20, 1981 (1981-03-20)
Game-show host Bob Eubanks asks Marcia and Jan to appear on The Newlywed Game with their new husbands.
7"The Mom Who Came to Dinner"March 27, 1981 (1981-03-27)
Carol temporarily moves in with her newly wedded daughters and their husbands.
8"The Siege"April 3, 1981 (1981-04-03)
Wally's guilt over parking tickets causes him to panic when a policeman visits the house, so he decides to impersonate Philip.
9"Cool Hand Phil"April 10, 1981 (1981-04-10)
Philip tries to change his image by dressing and acting "hip."
10"A Pretty Boy is Like a Melody"April 17, 1981 (1981-04-17)
Marcia is forced to use Wally and Philip in her fashion show after her models go on strike.

A Very Brady Christmas

Main article: A Very Brady Christmas

A second TV reunion movie, A Very Brady Christmas, aired in December 1988 on CBS and featured all the regular cast (except Susan Olsen, who was on her honeymoon at the time of filming; the role of Cindy was played by Jennifer Runyon), as well as three grandchildren, Peter's girlfriend, Valerie, and the spouses of Greg, Marcia, and Jan (Nora, Wally, and Phillip, respectively).[43] The Nielsen ratings for A Very Brady Christmas were the highest of any television movie that season for CBS.[44]

The Bradys

Main article: The Bradys

Due to the success of A Very Brady Christmas, CBS asked Brady Bunch creator Sherwood Schwartz and his son Lloyd to create a new series for the network. According to Lloyd Schwartz, his father and he initially balked at the idea because they felt a new series would harm the Brady franchise. They finally relented because CBS was "desperate for programming". A new series featuring the Brady clan was created entitled The Bradys. All the original Brady Bunch cast members returned for the series, except for Maureen McCormick (Marcia), who was replaced with Leah Ayres.

As with A Very Brady Christmas, The Bradys also featured elements of comedy and drama and featured storylines that were of a more serious nature than that of the original series and its subsequent spin-offs. Lloyd Schwartz later said he compared The Bradys to another dramedy of the time, thirtysomething. The two-hour series premiere episode aired on February 9, 1990, at 9 pm on CBS and initially drew respectable ratings. Subsequent episodes were moved to 8 pm, where ratings quickly declined. Due to the decline, CBS cancelled the series after six episodes.[45]

Day by Day: "A Very Brady Episode"

The Day by Day episode, titled "A Very Brady Episode" (February 5, 1989), on NBC, reunited six of the original The Brady Bunch cast members: Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, Ann B. Davis, Christopher Knight, Mike Lookinland and Maureen McCormick [46][47]

Film adaptations

Twenty years following the conclusion of the original series, a film adaptation, The Brady Bunch Movie, went into production and was released in 1995 from Paramount Pictures. The film is set in the present day (1990s) and the Bradys, still living their lives as if it were the 1970s, are unfamiliar with their surroundings. It stars Gary Cole and Shelley Long as Mike and Carol Brady, with Christopher Daniel Barnes (Greg), Christine Taylor (Marcia), Paul Sutera (Peter), Jennifer Elise Cox (Jan), Jesse Lee (Bobby), Olivia Hack (Cindy), Henriette Mantel (Alice), and cameo appearances from Ann B. Davis as a long-haul truck driver and Florence Henderson as Carol's mother.

A sequel, A Very Brady Sequel, was released in 1996. The cast of the first film returned for the sequel. A second sequel, The Brady Bunch in the White House, was made-for-television and aired on Fox in 2002. Gary Cole and Shelley Long returned for the third film, while the Brady kids and Alice were recast.

DVD releases

Paramount Home Entertainment released all five seasons on DVD in Region 1 from 2005 to 2006, before CBS DVD took over DVD rights to the Paramount Television library (though CBS DVD releases are still distributed by Paramount). Paramount/CBS has released the series on DVD in other countries as well.

A Complete Series box set was released in 2007 by CBS and Paramount, which includes the TV movies A Very Brady Christmas and "The Brady 500" (an episode of The Bradys), as well as two episodes of The Brady Kids animated series. The box art for the set features green shag carpeting and 1970s-style wood paneling.

The first two seasons are also available on Region 2 DVD for the Nordic countries, with audio in English and subtitle choices in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, or Finnish.[48][49] The series has also been released on VHS, but the VHS tapes have gone out of print.

On April 7, 2015, CBS Home Entertainment released a repackaged version of the complete series set, at a lower price, but it does not include the bonus disc that was part of the original complete series release.[50]

Seasons one and two have also been released in the UK.

DVD name Episodes Release dates
Region 1 Region 2 Region 4 DVD Special Features
The Complete First Season 25 March 1, 2005 August 27, 2007 September 19, 2007 Audio Commentary on 4 Selected Episodes.

15min Behind the scenes Feature

Special Features are on Region 1 Release Only

The Complete Second Season 24 July 26, 2005 March 24, 2008 March 6, 2008 None
The Complete Third Season 23 September 13, 2005 — September 4, 2008 None
The Complete Fourth Season 23 November 1, 2005 — April 2, 2009 None
The Complete Fifth Season 22 March 7, 2006 — June 18, 2009 None
The Complete Series 117 (with extras) April 3, 2007 — — Audio Commentary on 4 Selected (Series One) Episodes.

15min Behind the scenes Feature (Series One)

A Very Brady Christmas

"The Brady 500"

Two episodes of The Brady Kids

The Brady Kids: The Complete Series 22 February 16, 2016 — August 6, 2016 Episode Promos
Very Brady Christmas Film October 10, 2017 N/A N/A None

See also

References

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  2. ^ "The Brady Bunch". CBS.
  3. ^ "Ann B Davis obit". Straight.com. Retrieved June 3, 2014.
  4. ^ "Special Collectors' Issue: 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time". TV Guide (June 28 July 4). 1997.
  5. ^ a b Edelstein, Andrew J.; Lovece, Frank (1990). The Brady Bunch Book. New York: Warner Books. pp. 5–9. ISBN 0-446-39137-9.
  6. ^ The Biography Channel documentary titled "The Brady Bunch", retrieved on June 16, 2008.
  7. ^ Schwartz, Sherwood; Schwartz, Lloyd J. (2010). Brady, Brady, Brady: The Complete Story of The Brady Bunch as Told by the Father/Son Team who Really Know. Running Press. pp. 46, 48. ISBN 0-7624-4164-X.
  8. ^ Sutton, written by Ted Nichelson ; commentary and special features by Susan Olsen ; art direction and design by Lisa (2009). Love to love you Bradys : the bizarre story of the Brady Bunch Variety Hour. Toronto: ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-55022-888-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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  10. ^ History Channel, "The Social History of Television" (Aug 2013)
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  12. ^ The Hollywood Reporter, "Oscar-Winning Creator of 'The Brady Bunch' Effect Dies at 88"
  13. ^ Tomashoff, Craig. "Credits Check" TV Guide, October 18, 2010, Pages 16–17
  14. ^ "Growing up Brady" by Barry Williams with Chris Kreski, p. 210, 1992
  15. ^ Schwartz 2010 p.201
  16. ^ Ariano, Tara; Bunting, Sarah D. (2006). Television Without Pity: 752 Things We Love to Hate (And Hate to Love) About TV. Quirk Books. p. 63. ISBN 1-59474-117-4.
  17. ^ "The Biography of the Peppermint Trolley Company". Danny Faragher.
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  20. ^ Alleman, Richard (2003). Hollywood: The Movie Lover's Guide: The Ultimate Insider Tour of Movie L.A. Random House Digital, Inc. pp. 427–428. ISBN 0-8041-3777-3.
  21. ^ O'Kane, Caitlin (July 19, 2018). "Iconic "Brady Bunch" house for sale after nearly 50 years". CBS News. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
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  24. ^ Mansour, David (2005). From Abba to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century. Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 54. ISBN 0-7407-5118-2.
  25. ^ Terrace, Vincent (1985). Encyclopedia of Television: Series, Pilots and Specials 1974–1984. Vol. 2. VNR AG. p. 63. ISBN 0-918432-61-8.
  26. ^ Mannix – season three, episode 19 – "Who is Sylvia?"
  27. ^ Mannix – season four, episode two – "One for the Lady"
  28. ^ Mission: Impossible – season six, episode 20 – "Double Dead"
  29. ^ "The TV Ratings Guide: 1969-70 Sitcom Scorecard -- CBS Mops The Floor Again, 18-49 Demos Tell Different Story". Retrieved April 26, 2018.
  30. ^ "1971-72 Ratings History".
  31. ^ "1973-74 Ratings History".
  32. ^ "1973-74 Ratings History".
  33. ^ "Brady Bunch history". Bradyworld.com. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
  34. ^ Rubin, Lawrence C., ed. (2008). Popular Culture in Counseling, Psychotherapy, and Play-based Interventions. Springer Publishing Company. p. 248. ISBN 0-8261-0119-4.
  35. ^ The Brady Bunch on Me-TV - Me TV Network.com
  36. ^ Stoddard, Sylvia (1996). The Brady Bunch: An Outrageously Funny, Far-Out Guide To America's Favorite TV Family. Macmillan. pp. 151–152. ISBN 0-312-96053-0.
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  39. ^ "'Love to You Bradys' exposes troubled set". today.com. August 31, 2009. Retrieved April 29, 2013.
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  42. ^ "Brady World – Episode Guide". Bradyworld.com. Retrieved August 11, 2010.
  43. ^ Owen, Rob (1999). Gen X TV: "The Brady Bunch" to "Melrose Place". Syracuse University Press. p. 26. ISBN 0-8156-0585-4.
  44. ^ Newcomb, Horace (2001). Encyclopedia of television: A-C, Volume 1 (2 ed.). CRC Press. p. 300. ISBN 1-57958-411-X.
  45. ^ Schwartz 2010 p. 228
  46. ^ "Day by Day Season 2 Episode 11 A Very Brady Episode". TV.com. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
  47. ^ "Day by Day Episode Guide 1989 Season 2 - A Very Brady Episode, Episode 11". TVGuide.com. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
  48. ^ "The Brady Bunch – Sesong 1 (Television 1969, Serie på 4 plater)". Lovefilm.no. Retrieved August 11, 2010.
  49. ^ "The Brady Bunch – Sesong 2 (Television 1970, Serie på 4 plater)". Lovefilm.no. Retrieved August 11, 2010.
  50. ^ "Paramount to Re-Release a 20-DVD Set of 'The Complete Series'". Archived from the original on January 22, 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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