The Brady Bunch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Brady Bunch | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Genre | Sitcom |
| Running time | approx. 23:00 (per episode) |
| Creator(s) | Sherwood Schwartz |
| Starring | Robert Reed Florence Henderson Barry Williams Maureen McCormick Christopher Knight Eve Plumb Mike Lookinland Susan Olsen Ann B. Davis |
| Opening theme | The Brady Bunch Theme |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Original run | September 26, 1969–March 8, 1974 |
| No. of episodes | 117 |
| IMDb profile | |
The Brady Bunch is an American television situation comedy, based around a large blended family. The show originally aired from 1969 to 1974 on the ABC network, and was subsequently syndicated across the world.
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[edit] Overview
[edit] 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. 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.
[edit] Plot
Mike Brady, a widowed architect with sons Greg, Peter, and Bobby, married Carol Martin (née Tyler), whose daughters were Marcia, Jan, and Cindy. 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.
The new family, including Mike's housekeeper Alice, moved into a new home designed by Mike. 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.
Subtle references to larger societal problems occasionally found their way into the dialogue. 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.
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.
The theme song penned by Schwartz quickly communicated to audiences that the Bradys were a blended family though from the second season on scripts tended to deemphasize the fact, 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. In "Kelly's Kids," the Bradys' adoptions were referenced when their neighbors, the Kellys, adopted three boys of different races.
[edit] Original run and subsequent success
The Brady Bunch was not a highly rated program during its primetime run (it never placed in the top 25 in the five years it aired) and was cancelled in 1974. 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 theatrical 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 2006. It was also shown on ABC in the daytime during the summer months from July 9, 1973 to August 29, 1975. (The only time the show was off television was from August 1974 when the prime time and daytime runs ended until October 1974 when the daytime reruns on ABC resumed in most markets.) 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. The Bradys also comprised a harmonious family (compare that to the Bunkers or the Simpsons or any number of dysfunctional television families). 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 children on the show began singing careers as they toured the USA in the 1970s, calling themselves The Kids from the Brady Bunch, although only Barry Williams and Maureen McCormick have stayed in the music business as of 2005, and Christopher Knight readily admits he has no singing talent.
[edit] 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 sometimes perceived to have appeared in many of the show's episodes. While he is frequently mentioned in dialogue, 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, Barry Williams 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.
[edit] Cousin Oliver
In 1974, during the show's final season, the producers decided to add a younger character, Cousin Oliver (Robbie Rist), to balance that the children were now all 12 and over (Barry Williams was 19 during the show's final season). In the episode in which Oliver was introduced ("Welcome Aboard"), Carol explained that Oliver's dad took a four-month engineering assignment in a South American jungle where there would be no schools. Oliver appeared in the series' last six episodes; ratings were not boosted enough to keep the show from being cancelled. 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 Brady Bunch "jumping the shark"
[edit] The Bradys' dog, Tiger
The dog that played Tiger was hit by a car and killed early in the first season. 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. According to Barry Williams, the doghouse remained because it was needed to cover holes caused by a falling stage light in the artificial backyard. The premiere also had the first and last appearances of the Brady's other pet, "Fluffy" the cat, who belonged to the Brady girls.
[edit] 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 St., North Hollywood, within the city limits of Los Angeles, California. 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.
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 shots, 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 was ever specified, it was presumed from references to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Los Angeles Rams, and a Hollywood movie studio, among others, that the Bradys lived in suburban Southern California. In "Eenie, Meenie, Mommy, Daddy" there is an establishing shot of the Dixie Canyon Avenue School, located in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California. Snow or cold weather was never shown.
In the years since the show first aired, those who have owned the house have had problems with visitors who trespass on the property to peep into the windows (perhaps expecting to see an interior that looked like the set of The Brady Bunch), or who even 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.
[edit] Music recordings
During the run of the television show, the cast recorded several record albums:
- Merry Christmas from the Brady Bunch
- Meet the Brady Bunch
- Kids from the Brady Bunch
- The Brady Bunch Phonographic Album
- Maureen McCormick and Chris Knight from the Brady Bunch
Two very popular songs were Sunshine Day and Keep On. The two songs were performed in the fourth-season episode Amateur Nite, which originally aired January 26, 1973.
[edit] Spin-offs and sequels
Several sequels to the original series were made, featuring all or most of the original cast.
[edit] 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."
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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 college 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 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.
[edit] The Bradys
The dramedy series The Bradys was produced in late 1989, and premiered on February 6, 1990; Maureen McCormick decided not to participate in this series, and 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 features the familiar blue squares it has featured through the original series, and reunions (with the exception of the variety hour) then they all divide and move off-screen in different directions as there are 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 appears side to side, the rest of the cast appears 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 her spot and then 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 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".
[edit] 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.
- The Brady Kids, animated 22-episode series, aired 1972–74, about the Brady kids living in a tree house without any adults but with various pets. The first 17 episodes feature the voices of all six Brady kids, but Barry Williams and Christopher Knight are replaced for the last five episodes due to a contract dispute. Known mostly for the 1st animated appearence of the DC Comics superheroine , Wonder Woman .
- The World of Sid & Marty Krofft at the Hollywood Bowl, 1973. Aired on Saturday morning on ABC. The kids sing in the famous Los Angeles venue, while Robert Reed and Ann B. Davis watch from box seats.
- Donny and Marie Show, ABC, October 1, 1976. Florence Henderson, Maureen McCormick, Mike Lookinland, and Susan Olsen appear as their Brady characters on an episode of Donny and Marie Osmond's variety show, without permission of the copyright owners of The Brady Bunch. They appear in several comedy sketches and the kids sing Cole Porter's We Open in Venice.
- The Brady Bunch Variety Hour, ABC, November 28, 1976. From the producers of Donny and Marie comes this special. It leads to The Brady Bunch Hour as a series on ABC.
- The Brady Bunch Hour, ABC, January–May 1977 (8 episodes). Details above.
- The Brady Girls Get Married, NBC, January–February 1981 (made for TV movie shown in three parts). Details above.
- The Brady Brides, NBC, February–April 1981 (7 episodes). Details above.
- The Love Boat," ABC, circa 1984. Although the name 'Brady' is not mentioned, Robert Reed and Florence Henderson appear in a cameo and talk about how they can take a cruise since the kids are all grown up. Other famous TV couples appear in the episode.
- A Very Brady Christmas, CBS, December 18, 1988. The highest-rated TV movie of the 1988–89 television season.
- Day by Day: A Very Brady Episode, NBC, February 5, 1989. Robert Reed and Florence Henderson reprise their roles as Mike and Carol in this episode of a short-lived sitcom starring Linda Kelsey and Courtney Thorne-Smith. Other Brady veterans appear, including (a then pregnant) Maureen McCormick. In the episode, a teenage boy in the family (Christopher Daniel Barnes) dreams he's Chuck Brady, and escapes to the Bradys' world after he is yelled at for his poor scholastic habits (he was watching a Brady marathon); however, Chuck's dream comes apart when various Bradys begin repeating comments made only a few minutes earlier. Art came to imitate life when Barnes was cast as the new Greg Brady in the theatrical Brady Bunch movies in 1995 and 1996.
- Free Spirit: The New Secretary, ABC, December 10, 1989. Although the name Brady is never mentioned, Robert Reed and Florence Henderson play a couple seeking a divorce in an episode of this short-lived sitcom about a witch (Corinne Bohrer) working as a nanny to a widowed lawyer.
- The Bradys, CBS, January–March 1990 (six episodes). Details above.
- Bradymania: A Very Brady Special, 1993. Based loosely on Elizabeth Moran's book Bradymania, this special was hosted by Florence Henderson and include clips comparing Brady behavior with that on other sitcoms.
- The Brady Bunch Movie, 1995. Theatrical release. A parody of the original series. Most Brady veterans appear in cameos, except for deceased Robert Reed. Scenes with Mike Lookinland and Susan Olsen were shot, but were cut from the final film.
- A Very Brady Sequel, 1996. Theatrical release. Same cast as previous.
- Brady Bunch Home Movies, May 23, 1995. During the original series run, Robert Reed gave each of the juvenile cast members an 8 mm movie camera. This special includes footage the Brady kids shot in those days and is their tribute to Reed. Susan Olsen was executive producer.
- Groovin' with the Bradys, 1998. A 1998 special produced by VH1.
- Attack of the Bradys, 1998. Another VH1 special.
- E! True Hollywood Story: The Brady Bunch, June 6, 1999. Members of the cast retell their anecdotes for the benefit of this E! Network series, including an extensive discussion of Robert Reed's homosexuality.
- Unauthorized Brady Bunch: The Final Days, May 16, 2000. A made for TV movie looking at the making of The Brady Bunch focusing on the final season which was marred by dissension among the cast pertaining to their business arrangements and the creative direction of the show.
- Growing Up Brady, May 21, 2000. A made-for-TV movie of Barry Williams's hit 1992 book.
- Pop-Up Brady, VH-1, July 18, 2001. Several episodes of The Brady Bunch with textual commentary added in the form of on-screen balloons.
- The Weakest Link, NBC, September 24, 2001. All members of the Brady cast, except Reed and Davis, compete on this game show, including Robbie Rist, who joked during introductions, "I hope I don't kill this show, too!" Topics included Brady trivia.
- The Brady Bunch in the White House, November 29, 2002. Made-for-TV movie parody in the mould of The Brady Bunch Movie but with a mostly new cast.
- The Brady Bunch 35th Anniversary Reunion Special: Still Brady after All These Years, September 29, 2004. Reunion special featuring entire surviving cast, hosted by Jenny McCarthy.
- My Fair Brady, 2005. A reality TV series starring Christopher Knight and Adrianne Curry (The first America's Next Top Model Winner) and their relationship post a stint on VH1's The Surreal Life. Barry Williams and Florence Henderson appear in the series as well.
- Coming Together under One Roof, 2005. Sherwood Schwartz narrates this documentary about the creation of The Brady Bunch for the DVD release of the first season.
- Biography: The Brady Bunch, A&E Network, June 24, 2005. A&E's popular documentary program, having earlier profiled both Florence Henderson and Robert Reed, devotes an episode to the series.
- The Brady Bunch Cast Back in Hawaii, 2005. Florence Henderson, Barry Williams, Christopher Knight, Mike Lookinland, and Susan Olsen go back to Hawaii and meet up with Don Ho.
[edit] 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).
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- The Brady Bunch at the Internet Movie Database
- Brady Residence
- Encyclopedia of Television
- bradyworld.com - online resource for The Brady Bunch
- The Canonical Brady Bunch Episode Guide
- Bradymaniac's Supergroovy Page
- Aerial view of the home used for exterior establishing shots
- Chateau Brady (Los Angeles Times, Sept. 26, 1994)
Categories: 1969 television program debuts | 1960s TV shows in the United States | 1970s TV shows in the United States | ABC network shows | The N channel shows | Fictional families | Sitcoms | Television series by CBS Paramount Television | Brady Bunch | Television shows set in California | Television series named after fictional characters
