The Bradys

The Bradys is a six-episode American drama series 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 Brady Bunch Hour (1976-77) and The Brady Brides (1981).

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 cast members of the original Brady Bunch returned except for Maureen McCormick. The role of Marcia Brady was played by Leah Ayres. The show also incorporated cast members from The Brady Brides, who portrayed their roles from the earlier series.

Style

Produced at the height of the dramedy trend in American television, epitomized by such shows as Frank's Place and Hooperman, The Bradys aimed to change direction toward more dramatic storytelling than viewers had been used to in the previous Brady series.

Format

Unlike the original 30-minute sitcom, The Bradys was an hour long and featured far more serious plotlines. Among them:

• Family patriarch Mike begins a political career.
• Bobby's budding car-racing career ends abruptly in the first episode after an accident leaves him a paraplegic. As he recovers, he marries his college girlfriend.
• Peter breaks up with his fiancée, to whom he became engaged in A Very Brady Christmas, and begins dating the abusive daughter of Mike's political rival.
• Jan and Phillip, unable to conceive children of their own, adopt a Korean girl named Patty.
• Stay-at-home mother Marcia battles alcoholism while Wally loses yet another in a series of jobs, the latest being as 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.

Cancellation

The show was put on hiatus with plans to continue sometime later in the year. Poor reviews and low ratings led to the hiatus and quiet cancellation of the series after six episodes. At the time, it was thought that the audience was simply unwilling to accept the sitcom characters in a more dramatic setting. But it turns out more viewers preferred to watch Full House and Family Matters in the same hour on ABC. In Barry Williams' book Growing Up Brady, 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 time slot. Attempts to convince CBS to move the show to the later time slot met with no success.

Episodes

"Start Your Engines" and "Here We Grow Again" were later repackaged as The Brady 500 2-hour movie.

"A Moving Experience" and "Hat In The Ring" were later repackaged as The Bradys On the Move 2-hour movie.

Cast

• Robert Reed as Mike Brady
• Florence Henderson as Carol Brady
• Ann B. Davis as Alice Nelson-Franklin
• Barry Williams as Dr. Greg Brady
• Leah Ayres as Marcia Brady Logan
• Christopher Knight as Peter Brady
• Eve Plumb as Jan Brady Covington
• Mike Lookinland as Bobby Brady
• Susan Olsen as Cindy Brady
• Jerry Houser as Wally Logan
• Ron Kuhlman as Philip Covington III
• Caryn Richman as Nora Brady
• Martha Quinn as Tracy Brady
• Ken Michelman as Gary Greenberg
• Jaclyn Bernstein as Jessica Logan
• Michael Melby as Mickey Logan
• Jonathan Taylor Thomas as Kevin Brady
• Valerie Ick as Patty Covington

External links

• The Bradys at the Internet Movie Database
• The Bradys at TV.com
• Brady World - episode guide
• History of The Brady Bunch by Wendy Winans