The Bradys

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The Bradys is a six-episode American television drama that aired on CBS in 1990. It was a revival of the early 1970s sitcom, The Brady Bunch (1969–1974), and was about the trials and tribulations of the extended Brady family some 15 years after the end of the earlier series. It followed two earlier short-lived spin-off/continuation series: the 1977 effort The Brady Bunch Hour and 1981's The Brady Brides.

Contents

[edit] Influence and casting

The Bradys series came about as the result of the ratings and critical success of the 1988 television movie A Very Brady Christmas. All of the original cast members of the 1969-1974 series returned except for Maureen McCormick, who declined to reprise the role of Marcia Brady due to her real-life pregnancy and was replaced by Leah Ayres. The show also incorporated cast members from The Brady Brides who reprised their roles from the earlier series. This show marks the only time that the cast of a sitcom has been reunited playing the same characters in an hour long drama series solely featuring the original sitcom cast.

[edit] Style

Produced at the height of the dramedy trend in American television, The Bradys aimed to change direction towards more dramatic storytelling than viewers had been used to in the previous Brady series. The dramedy format of the time was epitomised by the series Thirtysomething, and this led to the series being nicknamed Bradysomething.

[edit] Failure

Poor reviews and low ratings led to the cancellation of the series after six episodes. In his book Growing Up Brady, Barry Williams stated that when the initial two-hour episode aired, ratings were poor for the first hour, but when the second hour aired, the show won its timeslot. Attempts to convince CBS to move the show to the 9:00 p.m. time slot were to no avail.

[edit] Episodes

Episode Title Airdate
01 Start Your Engines February 9, 1990
02 Start Your Engines Part 2 February 9, 1990
03 A Moving Experience February 16, 1990
04 Hat in the Ring February 23, 1990
05 Bottoms Up March 2, 1990
06 The Party Girls March 9, 1990
  • Note: In syndication on channels such as ABC Family (formerly FOX Family), episodes are bundled into two-hour blocks and retitled.
    • Episodes 1 and 2 sometimes are known as The Brady 500
    • Episodes 3 and 4 sometimes are known as Bradys on the Move
    • Episodes 5 and 6 sometimes are known as Big Kids, Big Problems

[edit] Cast

[edit] Format

Unlike the original thirty-minute sitcom, The Bradys was an hour long and featured far more serious plotlines. Among them:

  • Bobby's budding car-racing career ends abruptly in the first episode after an accident leaves him a paraplegic.
  • Peter breaks up with his fiancée, to whom he became engaged in A Very Brady Christmas.
  • Jan and Phillip, unable to conceive children of their own, adopt a Korean girl.
  • Stay-at-home mother Marcia battles alcoholism while Wally loses yet another in a series of jobs, the latest being Mike's campaign manager. Wally and Marcia, who along with their two children have been forced to move in with Mike and Carol, eventually decide to open their own catering business to support their family.
  • Radio host Cindy begins a romantic interest with her boss, a widower more than 10 years her senior who has two children.

Despite the more downbeat tone, the show did feature a laugh track at certain moments.

[edit] External links

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Television series produced or created by Sherwood Schwartz