Behind-the-Scenes Facts About ‘The Brady Bunch’
Here’s a story about that “lovely lady” and that “man named Brady” – who took the plunge and wound up creating television’s most popular brood in 1969. Obviously we’re talking about The Brady Bunch! For five seasons, everyone watched Mike, Carol, Greg, Marcia, Peter, Jan, Bob, Cindy, and Alice, everyone’s favorite housekeeper, get up to all kinds of shenanigans. Plus it wasn’t all laughs and puppy love; the show also exposed teenage woes, responsibility, self-image, sibling rivalry, and more.
While The Brady Bunch was on air, it actually didn’t have the greatest ratings. No, really. It wasn’t until the show went into syndication that it saw a boost in ratings! Particularity due to its reruns and spin-off series such as The Brady Bunch Hour, The Brady Girls Get Married, The Brady Brides, A Very Brady Christmas, and The Bradys. Thanks to the series and the films, The Brady Bunch is known as an American cultural icon and always will be.
Sherwood Schwartz had experienced tons of success with his television series Gilligan’s Island in 1966, when suddenly the idea for the Brady Bunch struck him. However it’s not what you think, just listen to this. Schwartz was reading The Los Angeles Times and came across an article that said “30% of marriages [in the United States] have a child or children from a previous marriage.” That was it. The idea was in his head and that’s how one of America’s greatest ever shows came to being. Amazing.
Five seasons and 117 episodes, audiences everywhere tuned in as the Brady’s got up to some new antics. As we already mentioned, the show really wasn’t a huge success (especially in the rating department) when it was on air in its original run. The show’s popularity grew in syndication, especially in younger audiences such aschildren and teenage viewers. Schwartz thinks that the show’s boils down to the fact that the episodes were especially written from the standpoint of children. Plus, the show addressed situations that only really children could understand – such as boy trouble, sibling rivalry, and meeting a famous person.
1974 is when the show went off air but we’ve been blessed with reruns to keep us going! And of course their many movies and albums too. We’ve decided to take a look behind-the-scenes of The Brady Bunch and pull up facts you probably didn’t know about the show, the cast, and the crew. See what Marcia did with her life after the show and find out just what her personal relationship with Barry was off-screen. Learn about Mike Brady’s true sexuality and discover just what the cast went through when it came to their salary. Find out more about the tricks that producers used to cast the children of the show, and so much more. Let’s get to it, shall we?
Simple Math
So let’s just dive right in, shall we? The Brady Bunch was inspired by simple math. Quite the statement to make but here’s the explanation: in 1965, Sherwood Schwartz read in The Los Angeles Times that “30% of marriages [in the United States] have a child or children from a previous marriage.”
Simple Math