The Brady Bunch

Cindy (Susan Olsen) was my facebook friend.... and a vicious, anti-muslim cunt!

I was a kid during the original run and thought it stupid then. Then when it took on some sort of retro hip smug snarky appeal, I still thought it was stupid. How it's had the life it's had, I have no idea. But then the same was true for Sherman Schwartz's other claim to fame Gilligan's Island.

The most interesting thing about it was Robert Reed's being in the closet.

Good points OP. I too also wondered why none of the kids seemed to give a crap or ever mention their biological mom & dad respectively.

And no, Alice was not a lesbian... she had a thing for the butcher.

I always wondered why the biological missing parents were never mentioned. I'm assuming they were both widowed?

Really, R1?

Oh Peter, making generations of boys realize they are gaylings.

The movie remakes are funny as hell R2.

Of course, that should be SherWOOD Schwartz.

R2, when I look at the show know, I can sort of see in Robert Reed's mannerisms that he was gay. Yep, R3, I know there was Sam, but she still had that butch thing about her. R4, I believe the boys' mom had died, but I believe Carol's former husband was still living.

The Brady Bunch has essentially zero resonance with anyone under the age of 20.

This show was on my must watch list as a child along with the Sonny and Cher show and the Monkees.

And back then the question was "Which is better ,The Brady Bunch or The partridge Family?"

Nobody's answered yet, and I've wondered for a while: what exactly did Carol do? Was she one of those non-working moms who was always "busy" with committees, community stuff etc?

I never thought about the missing parents. lol

No, Carol was a widow. There's no way she could have been a divorcee on a TV show in that era.

Coming from a family of six kids myself, I know that being a mom to a brood like that is a full-time job. They just never particularly showed her being very busy.

Based on books and the second movie, Carol was divorced. That was the intention of Schwartz, but it was never spelled out on screen. In the pilot, it is clear that Mike is a widower. And after the series started, nothing about their previous lives were ever mentioned.

The question of Carol's first marriage was left deliberately vague. Sherwood Schwartz wanted her to be a divorcee, but ABC thought that would be too controversial (in 1969, yet). [italic]TV Guide[/italic] described her as a widow, though, in its '69 fall-preview issue, presumably based on info from ABC's PR.

Did you see the episode where Alice's cousin comes to stay? Ann B. Davis plays her also (twinsies!), but she portrays her as humorless and no-nonsense, and the character comes off unintentionally bull-dykey.

There was one episode in the first season where Bobby grew distant with Carol and it was discovered that he was doing so because he thought she was trying to replace his mother and that he would forget her. It was a surprisingly somber episode for a sitcom.

[quote]Why didn't the girls ever speak of their natural father ever again?

Witness protection program. Get it?

[quote]How did three boys and three girls share one bathroom?

I don't know.

[quote]Was Alice a lesbian (I know there was Sam the butcher and all, but still...)?

Alice had a same tie next year arrangement going on with her identical cousin, that drill sargeant W.A.C.

[quote]Did Mike and Carol ever have sex?

Yes. Very loud in bed from what the kids have said. A couple of screamers.

[quote]What did Carol do all day if Alice cooked and cleaned?

Carol liked to sew her own pantsuits go to the beach.

[quote]Did Greg and Marcia fancy each other later on (seeing as though they were both attractive teens and weren't actually blood relatives)?

Marcia was NOT allowed in Greg's attic bedroom.

[quote]What happened to Tiger the dog after season one?

Alice ran Tiger over one day while Mike was teaching her how to back out of the garage. That's why Alice never drives or goes anywhere. She felt really terrible about it.

We only watched it because we were waiting for The Partridge Family. I always wondered why they used season two images for the third season opening...

Do they still have the Meatcutters' Ball?

one of the weird things about the show was that several of the kinds turned out naturally to be very good singers, so they started bringing in more and more singing onto the show: first with the Johnny Bravo episode, then with the "Time to change'/Peter's voice breaks episode, and then with the Silver Platters episode, and then with the episode where Carol and Marcia perform "Together" at the school talent show. (In real life, Florence Henderson had been a singer whom everyone had predicted would make it huge on Broadway one day if she just had the right vehicle--she never did because her shows were all flops, but she did have a lovely voice.) Yet they never spoke about it in other episodes.

The kids' singing got to be so popular they had them perform all around the country at state fairs during the latter years of the show. They also released an album of all the kids, and then decided to have the most popular of the gorls and the most popular of the boys release an album together: unfortunately, the most popular of the boys was Peter, and Christopher Knight was the only one of the six kids who couldn't sing well. But Maureen McCormack, the most popular of the girls, had a fine voice, and carried him.

When Schwartz proposed doing the variety show (which he passed through the network because of the popularity of The Donny and Marie Show), everyone was expecting that the hardest one to convince to do it would be Robert Reed, since no one at the network knew if he could sing and he had proved so difficult in the later years of the show, always complaining about the scripts. On the contrary, he was the FIRST of the nine lead actors to agree to do it: he had always wanted to sing onscreen, and since he was not a strong singer himself (though he loved to sing) he knew this would give him a rare chance to do it, because he knew he'd be paired often with Florence Henderson who could carry him in duets. (Also, he absolutely adored Henderson and the children, and wanted to work with them again.) The only one who didn't do it was Eve Plumb because she was getting great work on TV movies of the week (most famously "Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway") and was hoping she could distance herself from the show and be famous on her own as an actor rather than just for the show. (Of course that never happened.)

Why did these children even try to sing?

I liked how there was a subtle change to the pre-titles intro music with each season.

I think in a house full of nine people there would be plenty of work for Carol even with Alice there full-time. Their washing machine must have been going around the clock and they probably made huge treks to the grocery store at least twice a week. Plus, Alice wasn't a slave. She presumably got nights and weekends off.

Just for you, R25. The transition from first to second season was the least subtle, though, because the kids didn't sing in the first one.

I just can't imagine the producers would think they should expand upon Barry's obvious talent crooning "Clowns never laughed before"

This was by far the best episode. That boy was hot!

I had such a crush on Christopher Knight. It would continue long after the series ended. I was a couple of years younger than him, I think.

Mill Penny?

"They also released an album of all the kids, and then decided to have the most popular of the gorls and the most popular of the boys release an album together: unfortunately, the most popular of the boys was Peter, and Christopher Knight was the only one of the six kids who couldn't sing well. But Maureen McCormack, the most popular of the girls, had a fine voice, and carried him."

Peter was the most popular of the boys? I would have assumed that Greg, as the oldest and the "grooviest", would have had the biggest following of girls with crushes on him.

r30 see r6

Peter was definitely the hottest.

Peter was much better looking than Greg and the perm looked better on him than on Barry's already dry and thinning mane.

Last summer I went to a Fringe Festival play ( the name escapes me) that was a satire of The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family. It was done as a tragedy, so by the end everyone was dead. As a child of the 70's I watched both shows religiously. I was thoroughly entertained by the play. It was $15 well spent.

He turned into a total muscle-hottie after the show, and is now a hot muscle-daddy.

In Florence Henderson's autobiography, she says that she insisted that every time Mike and Carol Brady were shown in bed together, Carol had to be wearing an attractive nightgown. She want to stress that Mr. and Mrs. Brady were a romantic couple when they were alone together at the end of the day.

Just as Barry Williams' and Maureen McCormick's autobiographies are must-reads for any BB fan, so is Flo's. Not so much for the BB stuff, because it wasn't as big a part of her life as it was of theirs, but her life story in general is quite interesting... from poor Kentucky girl in a huge Catholic family with a mother who deserted the family when Flo was 9 and a father who was borderline sexually abusive, to Broadway fame and the Brady Bunch immortality!

Actor Barry Williams (Greg Brady) was actually stoned during the filming of this scene! He writes about it in Chapter 17 of his book, "Growing Up Brady."

Just look at his eyes he looks Chinese he's so stoned !

Its funny everyone sees them as the perfect family even though the kids fought a lot. Especially in season 1. Mike and carol should have fought too. Every married couple does.

No mention yet about father Mike Brady. He was so handsome yet I did not resonate with him being gay or fantasy material due to young age.

Only cast and crew knew the true Hollywood Story.

All those scenes with Florence Henderson running down the stairs in flowing nightgown with a big smile on her face and you wonder if they had sex?

My mother used to snicker at those scenes.

Loved episode where Greg went on double date to drive in theater and Had to take Peter. They put fake moustache on him and it kept coming off and the dates were in hysterics.

Best TV ever!

R23- don't forget Carol singing "O Come All Ye Faithful" in the Christmas episode!

Maureen McCormack's voice was awesome. I saw her play Rizzo in the 94 Broadway revival of GREASE. I screamed when she made her entrance. So exciting to see her onstage.

RE: . I screamed when she made her entrance. So exciting to see her onstage.

MARY!

I don't remember where the show was set, but I can tell you that plentry of people back East - and in the South - and by no means necessarily lower middle class/poor - grow up in good-sized families, sharing a bathroom. I have 5 cousins who grew up sharing one bathroom - them, their parents, a great-aunt, and a grandmother. The actor Christian LeBlan talks about being one of 8 kids and growing up, in New Orleans, with 10 people sharing the bathroom.

Can be done, but nothing I would like; 4 of us was bad enough!

LOL R39. The other thing that is hilarious about the scene is that when Susan Olsen says 'Wow, a boat!" Barry Williams responds by first looking in the wrong direction! Definitely stoned.

R9, what about him pinged in his performance?

"Mike and Carol should have fought too."

Oh, there were plenty of disagreements, especially when it came to stuff like "women's lib." But they never went to bed angry with each other.

R39 here, yeah you can also see that Mike Brady just about breaks down laughing when he first sees Gregg, after he stumbles over the bike pump.

At the end of clip when it freezes frame you see the horrified/paranoid look on Greggs' face "OMG they all know I'm STONED!"

I have a vivid memory of Robert Reed doing a guest appearance on Love, American Style (another show that aired on ABC on Friday nights). It was not during one of the regular segments; he appeared on one of the little "blackout" vignettes they would show in between.

The premise was that they were looking for men to "bare all" on national television. They showed a close up on Robert Reed's face, he smiled into the camera and said something along the lines of "Would I do it?" Then they zoomed out to show him mostly nude, laying down in a centerfold pose, with a bunch of roses in front of his crotch.

I was probably only 7 years old at the time, but seeing "Mr. Brady" naked was amazing and unforgettable for me.

Do any of you remember seeing this? I have looked for it on Youtube and have never been able to find it...

r48, that poster was an effeminacy propagandist. He is trying to associate same-sex attraction with men acting like women.

[quote]I was probably only 7 years old at the time, but seeing "Mr. Brady" naked was amazing and unforgettable for me.

Whore.

Remember the cartoon version?

[quote]I was probably only 7 years old at the time, but seeing "Mr. Brady" naked was amazing and unforgettable for me.

Whorelette

I've seen several productions of the stage shows they used to do.

Being a kid who grew up in Ohio, The Brady's going to King's Island for Mike's conference was beyond amazing.

Same here, R57... but I figured out pretty quickly that they weren't REALLY there. I'd been to the park enough to know I didn't recognize most of those places.

Carol's first husband was lost at sea on a boat called the Minnow?

[quote]but I figured out pretty quickly that they weren't REALLY there.

Yes they were.

The Brady Kids released 4 albums together. The Maureen McCormick-Christopher Knight album appeared after the last of the Brady albums in 1973 - though for some reason I always thought it hadn't come out until after the show was cancelled. Anyway by that time I guess Peter had overtaken Greg as the most popular Brady boy. Even then it must have seemed an odd pairing. Greg and Marcia would have made much more sense. I wonder if Barry Williams turned down the project. He always had delusions he was a better singer than he is. Maybe he thought he could leave the show and have success as a solo artist.

Most houses built before the late 70's/early 80's had only one bathroom. We had 7 total in our house and we shared one bathroom and it was small. It's doable; not ideal, but doable.

I've posted this a couple of years ago, but Christopher Knight was an investor in a start-up company I worked for and he would come into the office occasionally.

Believe me when I say that he represents VERY WELL in person.

This was just before he had his big reality TV revival and he was all buffed out, in great shape.

It was a pretty casual company, as most internet start-ups are, and we used to call him "Peter Brady" when he wasn't in the room.

He was in the office one day and a co-worker called him "Peter" by mistake. He wasn't amused.

Kind of an aloof person, to be honest. I never got a sense of who he was - very hard to get a read on.

I had a slight crush on the oldest son when I was a kid. But I REALLY watched the show to see Alice the Dyke, whom I loved.

Damn, Mr. Brady- lookin' good.

What movie is this from? Little Marcia is smoking and showing cleavage.

r62, where on earth did you grow up? Where I grew up (suburbs of a big city), houses built in in the late 50's/early 60's on up routinely had at least two bathrooms, often a powder room as well if the house was big enough.

I presume the Brady house had three bathrooms - we only ever saw the kids' bathroom but presumably there was one in the master bedroom and one off the maid's room behind the kitchen. We never heard of any of the adults needing to wait their turn for the kids' bathroom.

I believe the Chris Knight/Maureen McCormack record album was a scheme cooked up by their mothers. Poor Chris had the least singing talent but his parents were the most enthusiastic promoters of the Brady Kids' music career among the six sets of parents.

Surely I wasn't the only one here who empathized with Jan. Come on, you know that you were Jan, too! Admit it.

It was always amusing seeing the Brady Kids post Brady in bit parts on other television shows.

It was funny seeing Maureen dressed in fifties garb telling Potsie to 'drop dead" on "Happy Days."

IMO, Eve was just as beautiful as Maureen by the last year of the show.

Who is r37 talking about?

R71, I thought so, too. Maybe even a bit better looking. She was just more sensitive so her looks were hidden by her lower standing on the social totem pole. To me, she was the most realistic part of the show. The sensitive middle kid that is overlooked or treated like crap.

True, r71. By the last season Eve had grown out of her awkward phase, and Susan Olsen had started hers.

Show jumped the shark with Cousin Oliver. But it's too bad that spinoff show with Mike and Carol's friends adopting three "ethnic" boys wasn't picked up. It would have been way ahead of its time.

By the last seasons, Greg looked like that weird 45-year-old guy who never moved out of his parents' house.

[quote]I presume the Brady house had three bathrooms - we only ever saw the kids' bathroom but presumably there was one in the master bedroom and one off the maid's room behind the kitchen. We never heard of any of the adults needing to wait their turn for the kids' bathroom.

I always thought Mike and Carol's bathroom was behind that screen thing that was behind their bed.

LOL R46! Agreed. I wonder if he lies about his age.

Eve's been doing theater in NYC recently, and is also featured in a short web series called "The Sisters Plotz."

Nothing tops "Oh my nose."

Maureen took it like a trooper.

So did Barry William ever have a fling with Maureen McCormick?

Greg sings "Pinball Wizard" with Bobby and faux Jan singing backup. About 1 minute in.

Maureen aged better than Eve. Maureen still looks great.

Re the photo at R65's link: in her autobiography, McCormick indicated that she had become extremely self-conscious about her weight and deliberately held that towel in front of her to hide her stomach. (That book was some good reading. Damn, she was a wild thing IRL!)

I went to a middle school with a girl who was in the famous Peter "pork chops and apple sauce" episode. She was the cutest girl in school and the entire junior high probably tuned in to see her. She had speaking lines (she was one of the girls at the party) and delivered them pathetically. Next Monday, she was absent and missed the entire school mimicking her lines and laughing about how she'll win the Emmy award.

What did Maureen do that was wild?

[quote]What did Maureen do that was wild?

Major drug addict, fucked around a lot (no big deal for a sexually liberated woman in the Swinging 70s, but so different from what people would expect due to thinking of her as being like her pristine character), a few abortions, etc, etc.

[quote]Major drug addict, fucked around a lot (no big deal for a sexually liberated woman in the Swinging 70s, but so different from what people would expect due to thinking of her as being like her pristine character), a few abortions, etc, etc.

R87, you also forgot that parasitic twin she had removed when she was 25.

Thanks, R87. Wow, I'm surprised about the abortions.

So is Ann B. Davis really a lesbian?

Ann B Davis is a devout Christian/fundie nutcase. She lives on a commune in Colorado and only returns to Hollywood for Brady reunions. I assume she's a lesbian but maybe an Agnes Moorehead type lesbian.

Hot post-Brady Maureen

Barry Williams--during the run of the show--was the hottest Brady boy, with Chris Knight coming in a close second. In later years (as in recently), Chris became the hotter of the two, but Barry is still not bad. He was also NOT losing his hair during the run of the original show, as someone upthread said.

Some Brady trivia:

Chris Knight is the only member of the cast with brown eyes

Robert Reed constantly had four letter word arguments with show creator Sherwood Schwartz, and absolutely refused to be in the "Greg has orange hair" episode because of the absurdity of it

Barry Williams, during the initial run of the show, took his TV mom Flo Henderson out on a "date", as he harbored a crush on her

None of the Brady reunions had all original 9 castmates (the Brady Variety Hour had Faux Jan, and A Very Brady Christmas had Faux Cindy)

LOVED "A Very Brady Christmas". It was the highest-rated TV movie of 1988.

R94 -- sorry, but I think one of the reunions did have all of the original cast. "The Brady Brides" in 1981 was the only time everyone got back together to play Bradys.

True, R96, but I thought only Maureen, Eve, Flo and Ann B. reprised their roles (at least during the series's run).

Eve in her late teens and 20s was more beautiful than Maureen, but Maureen aged better. Maureen has the type of face that looks better with some weight.

Peter was the hottest Brady boy. I've never met anyone who thought otherwise.

You need to get out more, R99.

I always thought Christopher Knight was hot as hell.

Correct, R98.

Strangely enough, Peter, despite being more my type never did anything for me. I liked Greg.

[quote]You need to get out more, [R99].

You need glasses r100

I jacked off to a shirtless Peter in the Hawaii episode.

Got 'em on, R104, and, while Chris turned out to be the hotter of the two in later years, during the initial run of the show it was Barry Williams who was the hotter of the two.

Barry Williams looked like a 35 year old man towards the show's end.

No way r106. Gotta agree with r99/104. Peter was hottest.

I was a child of the late 80s and would always watch reruns of "The Brady Bunch" on TBS growing up. Even then, 20+ years after the show first began airing, I still grew up thinking Greg Brady was hot as hell. Unfortunately, now he's just kind of pathetic.

P.S. The two Brady movies are amazing. I love RuPaul as Jan's guidance counselor and Jean Smart as the horny neighbor next door.

The delivery boy that came over was hot too.

The TV movies and spin-offs with the original cast were grim though R109. The Brady Brides?! Martha Quinn?! Marcia as an alcoholic?!

What are you smoking, R107? Barry in no way looked that old on TBB.

I always figured Carol's first husband was abusive and abandoned her and the girls.

What happened to Mike's Boston accent after Season 1? Petah became PeteR.

The Brady movies starring Shelley Long and Gary Cole are fricken' hilarious though.

Mike Lookinland is a natural blonde.

My favorite episode is the one featuring Davy Jones. "Girl! Look what you've done to me!"

During the Kings Island episode, the kids were prepping to film a scene of them on a roller coaster. Robert Reed spoke up and asked if the director had tested the camera rigging. He hadn't and on RR's insistence, they ran the coaster empty to test the rigging. The camera snapped off mid-ride. If someone had been in the coaster at the time, they would have been killed from the impact of the flying camera rigging.

LOL R113, I noticed the "accents", too. They also used to say "skewl" for "school" and "boahs" for "boys".

Christine Taylor as Marcia in the movie does a great job of parodying that weird "sk-yew-el" proununciation of "school".

Thanks for the info, R115. That was very nice and smart of Robert Reed.

It was odd that Alice was always "Alice", but even in the reunions she had to call them "Mr and Mrs Brady". What a couple of pricks.

LOL R119. I've been watching TBB for the past few days and noticing that, while they are kind to Alice, little things they do and say let you know that they know she's "the maid". In yesterday's episode, Alice and Carol were setting the table for dinner, and Carol says "Alice, why don't you call the kids to dinner?" I found myself wishing Alice'd had a Florence from the Jeffersons moment and said "You've got a voice, YOU call them!"

R119 has never had servants.

I was a little boy when TBB came out, and was about the same age as Bobby. I remember having a HUGE crush on the Asian boy in the 'orphan triplets' episode. Maybe that's why I'm so into Asian guys as an adult...

I worked as a gardener for very high end estates for years. I always called my clients Mr. and Mrs. _____, even if they asked me to call them by their first names. We could be friendly and chat as so forth but I always felt it was important to keep them at a certain distance. It's a business thing.

Actually I did grow up with a maid in the house. Our maid was nothing like Alice. If so, they would have been on first name basis. I think about all the times on TBB that Alice gave Carol a Brazilian. Also the fact that she showed Marcia and Jan what it was like being a woman.

Haha, I love that "Alice, why don't you call the kids to dinner?" example. Yes, it was funny they brought Alice on family vacations with them yet she still couldn't call them by their first names.

Do you think they made Alice work during the vacations? Like, was she washing out their underwear in the hotel sinks every night?

Alice was clearly brought with them on vacations as a plot device, to keep the comedy going.

I can't imagine that would ever happen in reality.

Alice was brought on vacation to work. She had to feed them - Carol could never have managed hot dogs and baked beans over an open fire!

I love the episodes in Hawaii.

Barry Williams is going to work in Branson, MO. He is doing a show called "Lunch with Barry Williams." This about his time on "The Brady Bunch." You can find out more by searching Barry Williams and Branson.

Barry Williams turned scab to play Captain von Trapp in a non-AEA production of "The Sound of Music."

(This was back in 2000; I don't know whether he's made up with Equity since).

They showed the Davy Jones episode today. It was a season 2 episode, and I was shocked at how over just one year the kids (especially Barry and Maureen) had sprouted up big time (I know kids have spurts, but still).

It was also cool to see how the fashion had changed a bit, with Mike's outfits becoming a little less dressy and severe, and Carol's hair becoming that weirdo short on top, long and flipped up in the back thing.

Carol had a mullet!

Alice had a windowless bedroom right next to the laundry room.

What does that tell you?

[quote]Indian Boy from the Grand Canyon episode

Ya Ta Hey!

I think I remember seeing a second bathroom near the laundry room/Alice room area? Wasn't that where Carol's Cleopatra-style earrings were left near the sink, and Alice swooped them into the laundry basket by accident with a towel? Also, wasn't that where the rabbits were dyed orange in that last awful episode?

Was Vincent Price in that Hawaiian episode tying up the kids the first pedo character in the history of television?

Beans in a flashlight and some squishy hot dogs!

Was Carol's flipped mullet at all similar to the way any real-world women were wearing their hair in the early '70s? Or was it bizarre even then?

[quote]One of the most beloved yet one of the corniest shows to ever grace television, it still endures through reruns, remakes and retrospectives. Why didn't the girls ever speak of their natural father ever again? [/quote]

This was kept deliberately ambiguous, so as to shift the issue to the blended family, away from any controversy over a divorce plot line.

[quote]How did three boys and three girls share one bathroom? [/quote]

There was a downstairs bathroom for emergencies.

[quote]Was Alice a lesbian (I know there was Sam the butcher and all, but still...)? [/quote]

Sam appeared in only eight episodes!

[quote]Did Mike and Carol ever have sex? What did Carol do all day if Alice cooked and cleaned? [/quote]

Carol ran the family, while Alice did the chores. Each would also fill in for the other obviously.

[quote]Did Greg and Marcia fancy each other later on (seeing as though they were both attractive teens and weren't actually blood relatives)? [/quote]

It was Greg and CAROL....

[quote]What happened to Tiger the dog after season one? [/quote]

Run over by a car drievn by Kitty Carryall.

I think the show was popular in NYC because the suburban way of life was so ALIEN.

Now why did an architect not design a bigger home for six kids?

[quote]Carol had a mullet!

Back then it was called a 'shag'. Lots of women had them- Donna Mills, Vanessa Redgrave, and Jane Fonda among them.

[quote]Barry Williams is going to work in Branson, MO. He is doing a show called "Lunch with Barry Williams." This about his time on "The Brady Bunch."

What the hell else would it be about? Like he has anything else to talk about but milk his Greg Brady persona for aging middle-class baby boomers.

I'd go see it.

Because, R141, it was just him, his wife and his three boys (plus Alice) at first. Carol and her three girls didn't come until later.

according to several of the kids, Robert Reed was very kind/paternal to them and took them on trips.

and yes, he took the job too seriously -- I've done Shakespeare etc

He was overly critical of TBB, yet Reed LOVED doing the Variety Series. Jeez, we queens love our musical theater offshoots.

Brady bunch house floorplan - downstairs.

House floor plan - upstairs.

When did they use the second service porch R147?

Wasn't there one episode that Reed thought was so stupid that he stormed off the set?

Lesbian actress Kathleen Freeman was originally cast as Alice.

But for some reason she was dropped.

Anyone know why?

Yes, R150. The very last episode, in which Greg's hair gets dyed orange.

Yes, that was a really bad one.

They also showed the downstairs bathroom. When Tiger had multiple baths when Jan developed an allergy but it turned out she was allergic to the flea powder!

Did Tiger die? They stopped showing him.

Kathleen Freeman and Joyce Bulifant were both originally cast as Alice and Carol. After Florence screen tested they felt she was the better choice. However, they felt that Joyce was the funny one and Kathleen the straight man. They didn't see Flo as the funny one, so they dropped Kathleen in favor of the funnier Ann B. And the rest is tv history.

Peter stares at Bobby's crotch

Look at Peter's ass in this pic:

Eve Plumb is not bitter.

Ann B. Davis pinged so loud you could hear it in outer space.

The first two Brady Bunch movies were very funny.

"Get with the times, Greg. There's a new thing called women's lib. It means women get everything they want."

I really dig Jan's pants in R158's pic. They're groovy!

Jan's pants are groovy but Jan is the Rhoda to Marcia's Mary in that pic.

You're talking about Jan when Peter's ass is just screaming look at me in that pic?

This place is being taken over by lesbians.

[quote]Ann B. Davis pinged so loud you could hear it in outer space.

That's "two time Emmy awarding winning Ann B. Davis" to you Bub!

Was it Peter or Bobby who was on the bottom?

I'm talking about their bunkbeds, you perv.

I grew up watching the show every Friday night although, of course, I watched it less and less as I grew older. I remember stumbling across one of the later episodes as a teenager and being shocked by how truly horrible it was. It concerned the Bradys putting on a stage production of "Snow White" in their backyard to honor a favorite teacher. I still can't erase the image of Greg marching around on stage singing "Hi-ho, it's off to work we go!" looking 45 and acting like a seven-year-old. I don't think I've watched an episode since. Was that episode truly as awful as I remember it?

[quote]Greg marching around on stage

The word you're looking for there is "mincing".

[qoute] Was that episode truly as awful as I remember it?

Yes

"It concerned the Bradys putting on a stage production of 'Snow White' in their backyard to honor a favorite teacher. I still can't erase the image of Greg marching around on stage singing 'Hi-ho, it's off to work we go!' looking 45 and acting like a seven-year-old."

For me, the most cringe-inducing part of that episode was Susan Olson's pronunciation of "dwarves" as "duh-warves." But I must say that Ann B. was terrific as the Evil Queen, and looked like she was having a ball.

I loved seeing Robert Reed in lavender tights!

[quote]But I must say that Ann B. was terrific as the Evil Queen, and looked like she was having a ball.

"Mirror, mirror, in my... soup."

It's funny, I'm in my late 20s and my siblings and I grew up on this show, The Beverly HillBillies, and The Andy Griffith show (I watched Matlock back to back about 30 mins after and it wasn't years later til I realized they're the same person..stupid, I know). Some shows were off the air by the time I was born, a lot of mileage!

I totally remember seeing this episode of Jenny Jones with Eve Plumb back in the day. She really came across as BITTER. Thanks R159

On one hand, I do feel for Eve and the other kids. Not that any of them were going to be huge stars, but the show became something they could never escape. And it has to be frustrating to keep discussing something that's 40 years in the past. At this point there's nothing we don't know about the show or actors or behind the scenes drama. Yet the public never seems to tire of rehashing all the details every few years. And to her credit, she has taken part in most of the reunion shows and talk show get togethers. She probably just feels she's said everything there is to say and wants to move on.

On the other hand, she does come off poorly in those Jenny Jones clips. If you don't want to discuss the Brady Bunch, why go on a talk show featuring former child sitcom stars?

That Jenny Jones clip is hilarious. Was Eve under the impression they invited her on the show to discuss her current projects, like the production of Love Letters she had coming up at the Podunk Playhouse? And instead she was shocked, SHOCKED to find that what the audience was interested in hearing about was The Brady Bunch?

Short dark hair does not suit Eve.

Carol and Mike were so sexy together. I could totally imagine them having lots of wild sex unlike lots of other sitcom couples.

I've started watching reruns again on insp and I just love it and I don't know why. I watched it a lot as a kid. Maybe it's just comforting. No idea.

Chris Knight was such a STUD in his late teens/early 20s. Look at that butt!

YUM

He's not too shabby now either.

Anyone watching The Brady Brides? I just stumbled upon it on a channel called UP.

[quote]Why didn't the girls ever speak of their natural father ever again?

He ran off with Chuck, the elder brother from from HAPPY DAYS. Neither the Bradys nor the Cunninghams ever spoke of the two of them again. There's a classic episode of HAPPY DAYS where Ralph Malph accidentally mentions "when Chuck ran off to be the fucktoy of that Martin guy from California, the one with three daughters," and everyone freezes as Mrs. C says, "We never mention that name in this house" in an icy tone.

[quote] How did three boys and three girls share one bathroom?

They actually address that on the show. It was especially hard when Marcia was brushing out ehr hair a hundred times and Peter really had to go.

[quote]Was Alice a lesbian (I know there was Sam the butcher and all, but still...)?

No, because Sam supplied her with plenty of meat.

[quote]Did Mike and Carol ever have sex?

Constantly.

[quote]What did Carol do all day if Alice cooked and cleaned?

She was big on her anti-smoking mother's groups.

[quote]Did Greg and Marcia fancy each other later on (seeing as though they were both attractive teens and weren't actually blood relatives)?

They dated in real life, but on the show after the first season everyone forgot they were a blended family.

[quote]What happened to Tiger the dog after season one?

The Dittweilers next door used him in one of their satanic rituals.

The Cunninghams forgot about Chuck, but the Bradys forgot their premise.

My favorite episode was when Sam caught Alice in bed with her friend Kay.

How is one "borderline sexually abusive" was this answered already? I can't bother with reading every page in one sitting. r38t

R23

[quote]When Schwartz proposed doing the variety show (which he passed through the network because of the popularity of The Donny and Marie Show), everyone was expecting that the hardest one to convince to do it would be Robert Reed, since no one at the network knew if he could sing and he had proved so difficult in the later years of the show, always complaining about the scripts.

Incorrect. Sherwood did not propose the Variety show. He was flat out against it and did not want it getting made. He was happy when it got cancelled. The project he wanted to do was the Reunion Episode with Marcia and Jan having a double wedding. He was told the only way he could get it green lit was if all cast members agreed to return. I believe that was the only time they had all original cast members in a reunion show.

The Brady Bunch Movie is on right now and it still cracks me up.

[quote]based on books and the second movie, Carol was divorced. That was the intention of Schwartz, but it was never spelled out on screen. In the pilot, it is clear that Mike is a widower. And after the series started, nothing about their previous lives were ever mentioned.

Most surely Schwartz was telling stories. Like his stories with Gilligan's Island never add up because he will tell these elaborate stories about the cast and how he was trying to send "a message" but the the original cast and conception was a highschool teacher and two secretaries, not a movie star, a university professor with advanced degrees and a farm girl.

The mere fact that the girls took the name Brady and the year one episodes show things like Marcia writing a contest to tell about her "New father," and Cindy wanting to show off her "new daddy," don't add up to divorce.

Schwartz often retold the same story to spin a new angle. I'm sure in his mind he wasn't lying but his stories don't add up.

Does anyone ever mention the cartoon?

Watching reruns in the 80s as a kid, the thought of cuddling with Peter was my first gay fantasy at about the age of 6. I wished he was my big brother so he'd love me. Soon my thoughts became less platonic...

Maybe Carol never talked about the divorce because the first husband was gay, too.

[quote]What happened to Tiger the dog after season one?

What the hell kind of a fuckin' name is "Tiger" for a dog?

That's like getting a cat and calling him "Wolf"

[quote[Of course, that should be SherWOOD Schwartz.

That is what Esmerelda always called Darrin.

[quote]I liked how there was a subtle change to the pre-titles intro music with each season.

By season 5 my titties were no long pre

[quote]Carol ran the family, while Alice did the chores. Each would also fill in for the other obviously.

Bullshit, when Carol's lazy ass just merely THOUGHT Alice was going to elope for a week with Sam, she was already interviewing maids. And that is one example. When Alice quits, Kay is there before the kids even get home.

[quote]Alice had a windowless bedroom right next to the laundry room...What does that tell you?

That the window is in the fourth wall. Not hard to figure out Sherlock.

Why did the girls change their birth name of Martin so quickly?

[quote]I worked as a gardener for very high end estates for years. I always called my clients Mr. and Mrs. _____,

Who the fuck does that?

[quote]Mike Lookinland is a natural blonde.

No, he clearly is a red-haired.

r41

Bullshit, Robert Reed is clearly gay and after the Hawaii episodes he clearly is "FAB-u-LUS"

Next August Susan Olsen will turn 60 which puts all of the kids in their 60s. That’s hard to wrap my mind around.

Well most of the kids