The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch was a US television situation comedy, based around a large family. Broadcast between September 1969 and August 1974 on the ABC network, there are 117 episodes.
Mike Brady, a widower with sons Greg, Peter and Bobby and a wisecracking housekeeper called Alice, married Carol Martin, whose daughters were Marcia, Jan and Cindy. They all moved into a new home designed by Mike and various family problems ensued. Initially scripts focused on the various family member's attempts to adjust to the new blended family. Later, problems of growing teenagers such as school yard rivalries, dating problems and household squabbles were explored.
The show is somewhat of a cultural phenomenon, having lasted in the minds of Americans for over thirty years. It is the show in widest syndication with the longest consecutive airing time in history. Since its first show date, an episode of the show has been on TV somewhere in the world every single day. This is despite the fact that The Brady Bunch was not a high-rated show during its first run on television. When the episodes were repeated in syndication, usually in early-afternoon slots so kids could watch them when they returned from school, the ratings were much higher, on par with syndication favorites Gilligan's Island and I Love Lucy.
The teenage talent on the show spun off singing careers as they toured the USA in the 1970s, calling themselves The Brady Bunch Kids.
The house used in exterior shots of the series is located in the San Fernando Valley, in Los Angeles, California. The house was only one-story, but a false window was attached to make it look like it had two.
Cast
The 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:
Spinoffs and Sequels
A variety show called The Brady Bunch Variety Hour was spun-off (featuring a replacement actress for Eve Plumb.) A TV reunion movie called The Brady Girls Get Married, and a spin-off sitcom as well as a dramedy were attempted (The Brady Brides and The Bradys). While the reunion movie fueled new interest in the clan, the television shows were not successes and were canceled almost immediately.
A 1995 movie, The Brady Bunch Movie placed the original 1970s sitcom characters, with their 1970s fashion sense and 1970s sitcom family morality, in a contemporary setting, and parodied the resulting culture clash. The resulting movie was successful enough that a reasonably well-received sequel, imaginatively titled A Very Brady Sequel, was produced, which made sly comment on the well-documented real-life sexual tension between some of the teenage cast members of the original TV series. In 2002 there was a made-for-TV movie called The Brady Bunch in the White House which had very bad reviews.
Albums
During the run of the television show, the cast recorded several 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 Groovin'."
