Introduction to The Brady Bunch

What is “The Brady Bunch?”

The Brady Bunch is an American television sitcom about a blended family of eight. The story begins when widowed parents, Mike Brady and Carol Martin, get married. Mike Brady is an architect and father of three boys: Greg, Peter, and Bobby. While Carol Martin is the mother of three girls: Martia, Jan, and Cindy. The family move into the Brady’s house and live together with their housekeeper Alice and dog named Tiger.

The main plot of this TV series surrounds the Brady kids, also called the Brady Bunch, and their many adventures growing up. The episodes in season one are mainly about the Brady’s adjusting to their new lives. The episodes in later seasons are usually focused on The Brady kids learning responsibility, dealing with normal pre-teen and teenage problems, and of course “sibling rivalry.” However, at the end of every episode, no matter what the problem may be, everything is worked out in many cases by Mr. Brady, and everyone makes up.

The making of “The Brady Bunch”

In 1966, Sherwood Schwartz, the producer of the hit show Giligans Island, began working on writing The Brady Bunch. He got the idea of the show after reading an article in a newspaper that talked about how 30% of marriages today are made up of blended families. This is where Schwartz got the idea for the character of Mike Brady, a widowed father, and his three boys, and Carol Martin, and her three girls.

Sherwood Schwartz expressed his idea to top television networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC. All three networks loved the idea of The Brady Bunch, however they each wanted to make a few changes. This resulted in Schwartz giving up his idea forThe Brady Bunch, however a little while after, ABC gave in and decided to commit to purchasing some episodes from the series. After hearing this, Schwartz hired director John Rich to direct the pilot episode of The Brady Bunch and to cast the actors to play Mike Brady, Carol Brady, Alice, and the six Brady children. Rich went through 264 interviews, before he finally cast the actors.

“The Brady Bunch”‘s original airing, spinoffs, and impact on American television

The Brady Bunch first aired on September 26, 1969, and ran until March 8, 1974.

Although the show ended in 1974,The Brady Bunch had become so popular, that several spin-offs and sequels were produced. These included, “The Kelly Kids,” which was meant to be the pilot of a spinoff series, but was made into a regular Brady Bunch episode in the final season of The Brady Bunch. In 1972, an animated spin off series of The Brady Bunch, called “The Brady Kids,” began and ran until 1974. It focused only on the Brady Children, and their adventures. On November 28, 1976, a two-hour television series called “The Brady Bunch Variety Hour” aired and featured all of The Brady Bunch original cast, except for Eve Plumb who played Jan Brady. She didn’t want to be in this show, so producers replaced her with Geri Reischl. Because of this shows inconsistency, it was soon cancelled.

A movie was produced in 1981, called The Brady Girls Get Married, and did so well that a series called the Brady Brides was produced, but was eventually cancelled after ten episodes. Another movie was produced in 1988 called A Very Brady Christmas, which was very successful. Because of this movies great success a new spinoff series was created called the Brady’s but it was cancelled after six episodes. Even though it has ended The Brady Bunch will always be one of the greatest family TV shows ever created.