The Brady Bunch: America's Favorite Hollywood TV Family

The Brady Bunch is one of the most famous Hollywood families known across America and this family is featured on the show by the same title, created by Sherwood Schwartz. The Brady Bunch is a sweet, family show about a large family growing up together and learning life lessons such as having your first crush, telling the truth, and other humurous things.

THE SUMMARY:

A widow named Mike Brady was left to raise his three sons, Greg, Peter, and Bobby after his wife died sometime prior to the series and he marries a single mom named Carol Martin, who had three girls of her own. And together they became a big happy family, dubbed The Brady Bunch.

THE CHARACTERS:

The show mainly revolves around the life of Carol, Mike, their kids, and their live in maid, Alice as they try to function as a family and learn life lessons while growing up.

Mike Brady, played by the late Robert Weed, is a widowed architect with three sons. Mike is very down to earth and has a strong sense of ethics. If he is asked to do a commercial to promote an item that he doesn't like, he won't do. He always tries to set a perfect example for his sons and step-daughters.

Carol Brady, played by Florence Henderson, is a stay at home mom, and a very groovy one at that. She is from Swampscott Massachusetts and always tries to set a good example for her daughters and step-sons. She is often the one to give advice to the children, though hers are often from a feminine point of view.

Greg Brady is the oldest son of Mike's three boys, played by Barry Williams. He seems to ahve many talents such as playing football, surfing, singing, and playing the guitar. Greg is also extremely popular with the girls in his school, which tends to get to his head. When he and the other Brady kids cause mischief, he is the one often leading and devising the plans.

Marcia Brady is the oldest daughter of the Brady girls, played by Maureen McCormick. She is seen being mature and very popular, much to the dismay of her sister, Jan. Marcia always tries to be perfectly flawless and seems to switch boyfriends every week like Greg switches girlfriends every week.

Peter Brady is the middle and second son, played by Christopher Knight. Peter is always thinking negatively about himself and he is the clumsiest of the bunch.

Jan Brady is the middle and second daughter, palyed by Eve Plumb. She is often insecure about herself and gets jealous over Marcia's popularity at school. Her catch phrase. "Marcia Marcia Marcia!". Jan is also often absentminded as well. Bobby Brady, played by Mike Lookinland is the youngest son of the Bradys. He is often adventurous and very mischevious. He often got the other kids in trouble. Cindy Brady, played by Susan Olsen, is the yongest of the

Brady Daughters. She is often naive and isn't very good at keeping secrets. She is most notably recognized for having pigtails.

Alice Nelson is the house maid, played by Ann B. Davis. She is often telling jokes and is very close with the kids.

Cousin Oliver is Carol's nephew from season five. He is a naive boy that often followed Bobby's every command. He often helped Bobby in all of his schemes.

THE ORIGINAL IDEA

In 1966, Sherwood Schwartz started a script of The Brady Bunch, originally titling it, Yours and Mine, but because the three networks that he presented the script to had wanted to make some major changes, Schwartz had no choice but to put the show on hold until 1968.

AIRING

The Brady Bunch aired from 1969 until 1974. There were five seasons featuring 115 episodes and it spawned off three sequels, and had two related shows.

PARODIES

There were many parodies and shows that poked fun at the various aspects of The Brady Bunch. Such as The Brady Bunch movies that had the movie version of Jan always saying, "Marcia Marcia Marcia!" whenever she got jealous and the very popular tv show called, Family Guy, often featured twisted ideas of The Brady Bunch, like how Mike and Carol Brady would severely punish the kids if they stepped out of line or something.

POPULARITY

Everyday after school, everyone would come home after school and watch The Brady Bunch and wish that they had a family like that where everyone would was always getting along and almost never get punished. It was the highly comedical sense of family and love that made this show one of the beloved classics of all times. And not to mention the very catchy theme song, "The Brady Bunch."

The Brady Bunch became highly popular because it was written from the children's stand point and the kids who all watched it all seemed to identify or saw themselves in one of the kids. Many kids had often wished that they could run away from thier own families and live with the Bradys. This "desire" was mentioned in the movie, My Girl, when the main character's best friend, Thomas J, had stated that he wanted to run away from home and be adopted by the Brady Bunch.

I, myself, have watched The Brady Bunch as a little kid and it was during the 90's too. I've always loved The Brady Bunch and now, whenever I see any reruns on TV Land, I would fondly remember the days of watching The Brady Bunch and wonder why I had such a crush on Greg Brady.

REFERENCES
The Brady
Bunch - IMD
The Brady Bunch Shrine