I mean a drama? Really? They should've thought this one through a little bit more and perhaps make it a comedy at least. Agree? Disagree?

I think it was an idea that must have looked great on paper, but the execution was lousy. Maureen McCormick had just given birth and was dealing with other issues, so Leah Ayres Kalish stepped into her shoes. People just didn't cotton to a new Marcia (and Leah did the best she could in a bad situation). Then you had Bob Reed, who was ill and no one really knew it at the time. A later time slot and different writers probably would've helped. Sherwood Schwartz's bread and butter is sitcoms, NOT drama.

I agree that they should have done 'The Bradys' as a comedy instead of a drama. I also think that they should have done two or three TV movies a year instead of a weekly series.

I agree - a series of TV movies would've worked out much better. Maureen McCormick had planned to do The Bradys TV movies until they decided to make it into a weekly series. She didn't want to commit to a series - she'd just given birth, hated the script, and was going through a lot of issues that she would later address in her book.

Like I said before, I think the whole thing was a classic example of a good idea/bad execution. Of course, your mileage may vary.

They broke the one TV rule that everybody breaks. You cant go back.


Do one great TV show and move on (with exceptions of reunions).

The Bradys didnt have a prayer because there was not enough interest and Maureen McKormick wasnt on. People want to see all original members.

They broke the one TV rule that everybody breaks. You cant go back.


Do one great TV show and move on (with exceptions of reunions).

The Bradys didnt have a prayer because there was not enough interest and Maureen McKormick wasnt on. People want to see all original members.
Not to mention they had a lousy timeslot (Fridays at 8 opposite ABC's TGIF lineup).

The Brady's, as I understand it, was meant to be about the Brady kids being all grown up and facing grown up problems. I think it would be difficult to tell those kinds of stories and do it as a comedy. Let's face it there's nothing funny about Marcia being an alcoholic or Bobby being in a wheelchair. So they were right to do it as a drama. It should have been in a later time slot and probably on a different day of the week. I don't think the network ever understood the show and so they didn't treat it right. If they had put it on at 10 PM on Wednesday or Thursday night I suspect it would have done significantly better in the ratings.

^ Alas, we'll never know!! :(

I didn't like the supporting cast. I just didn't care about any of those characters and the only ones I remember clearly now are "Wally" and "Phillip" because of "The Brady Brides." "The Brady Bunch" wasn't a show were there was a steady supporting cast. One week one Brady kid had a friend and a couple weeks later it would be another new friend. No regular boyfriends (except for Sam) or girlfriends either so it was just weird to have all these husbands, wives and children on the scene. I wish they would have given us more movies instead.

Oh and I missed the primary colors.

Yeah, it would've been smarter to just keep the Bradys in TV-movie format - at least until Robert Reed passed away.

Here are some pictures of "Fake" Marcia, as played by Leah Ayres Kalish. She is now retired from acting and is now a yoga instructor.

Then & Now:

The plan was to have done two TV movies for CBS, with the potential for more if the ratings were good. When anyone watches "The Bradys"--you can clearly see the first 4 episodes are indeed designed plot-wise as movies. But CBS was greedy and also in a ratings slump at the time--it mistook the nostalgia fueled ratings success of "A Very Brady Christmas" and thought it meant America wanted more Brady--grown up style. Perhaps if the hour was done more "Eight is Enough" type dramedy, rather than heavy handed topical drama, it may have succeeded--that and a later time slot. Evidence that ratings for 9pm eastern slot would have been good can be seen when "The Bradys" premiered--the 8pm hour--it was clobbered by Full House and the like. The 9pm hour-it clobbered the competition. The result was a lukewarm 12.0 HH rating average for the 2 hours. Had CBS realized this, it would have gone for at least another season.

Here are the two Marcias today - Maureen and Leah - both in their 50s and better than ever!!

Yeah, it would've been smarter to just keep the Bradys in TV-movie format - at least until Robert Reed passed away.

Here are some pictures of "Fake" Marcia, as played by Leah Ayres Kalish. She is now retired from acting and is now a yoga instructor.

Wow, had no idea that "Fake Marcia" from "The Bradys" was that chick from Bloodsport (1988).

I was aware she left acting but didn't really know her from anything else except that flick.

Yup - that's her!! Her first screen role was a bit in Bob Fosse's All That Jazz (1979), and she also had a two-year gig in the early 80s on the now-defunct soap opera The Edge of Night.

I was just getting warmed up to The Bradys when CBS canceled it and to make matters worse on the last airing it was pre-empted :rolleyes:
I am used to 1 Brady being absent but I figure 5 out of 6 aint bad :wave:

I enjoyed Leah Ayres when she was on The Edge Of Night--my favorite soap

Here's Leah as Valerie Bryson on The Edge of Night:

I was just getting warmed up to The Bradys when CBS canceled it and to make matters worse on the last airing it was pre-empted :rolleyes:
I am used to 1 Brady being absent but I figure 5 out of 6 aint bad :wave:

I enjoyed Leah Ayres when she was on The Edge Of Night--my favorite soap
I'm glad you feel that way because 5 out of 6 was the average for most Brady reunions. I think they had all 6 for the Brady Girls Get Married. Geri Reischl replaced Eve Plumb on the Variety Hour, Jennifer Runyon replaced Susan Olsen in a Very Brady Christmas, and Leah Ayers (Kalish) replaced Maureen McCormick in The Bradys.

Yup - The Brady Girls Get Married was the one and only time all 9 series regulars appeared in a TV reunion together.

...in fact, he told CBS, in effect, "This is a 9 o'clock show- if you schedule it earlier, you'll kill it". They didn't listen; they wanted viewers to get "comfy" seeing "THE BRADYS" at 8pm(et) on Fridays....just like "the good old days". But it wasn't "the good old days"...and this wasn't the same show!

:tv:

...in fact, he told CBS, in effect, "This is a 9 o'clock show- if you schedule it earlier, you'll kill it". They didn't listen; they wanted viewers to get "comfy" seeing "THE BRADYS" at 8pm(et) on Fridays....just like "the good old days". But it wasn't "the good old days"...and this wasn't the same show!

:tv:
Exactly - but they still probably would've gotten clobbered in the ratings by the second half of TGIF on ABC. If CBS had put The Bradys on a different night at 9 PM, it might have had a shot.

Actually Monika, the second part of TGIF was very vulnerable.....as witnessed by the Bradys 2 hour premiere--Full House was the big TGIF powerhouse and everything else was just a matter of being time slot hits more or less.

Actually Monika, the second part of TGIF was very vulnerable.....as witnessed by the Bradys 2 hour premiere--Full House was the big TGIF powerhouse and everything else was just a matter of being time slot hits more or less.
Well, maybe I'm talking more as a kid because I was 10 at this time. I adored Perfect Strangers at 9 PM on Fridays and whatever show they had on after that. What show was on ABC Fridays at 9:30 at the same time The Bradys were on - does anyone know?

Just the Ten of Us.

Just the Ten of Us.
Really? I thought that show was off the air by that point. Oh well - I liked that show (the dad was a riot) and I'd love to see it again. :cool: :D

Really? I thought that show was off the air by that point. Oh well - I liked that show (the dad was a riot) and I'd love to see it again. :cool: :D
I got that info from The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows. Bill Kirchenbauer was great as Coach Lubbock. I really liked Deborah Harmon as his wife too. And of course Frank Bonner was on the show as a catholic priest. Quite a change from playing Herb Tarlek!!

Great show - one that needs to see the light of day on DVD!! Is Shout Factory listening??

^Also the victim of ABC not knowing what to do with a show it had no room for.....the TGIF schedule was virtually all Jeff Franklin/Miller Boyett productions and they wanted the entire TGIF block. So ABC axed Just the Ten of Us, despite the fact the ratings didn't justify it.

^Also the victim of ABC not knowing what to do with a show it had no room for.....the TGIF schedule was virtually all Jeff Franklin/Miller Boyett productions and they wanted the entire TGIF block. So ABC axed Just the Ten of Us, despite the fact the ratings didn't justify it.
They replaced it with Going Places which was a very mediocre sitcom from Miller-Boyett. Just the Ten of Us got screwed.

http://www.youTube.com/watch?v=zwNV5pLIHS8

Here is a link to the theme song on youtube. If ABC had treated the show fairly this would be a much better known song.

They replaced it with Going Places which was a very mediocre sitcom from Miller-Boyett. Just the Ten of Us got screwed.
I remember Going Places - they had quite a large number of cast members go on to bigger and better things - Heather Locklear, Alan Ruck (Spin City), Hallie Todd (Lizzie McGuire), Jerry Levine (the stationery store guy on Seinfeld), and both Staci Keanan and Chris Castille went on to Step By Step. GP wa a fun little show, from what little I recall.

I remember Going Places - they had quite a large number of cast members go on to bigger and better things - Heather Locklear, Alan Ruck (Spin City), Hallie Todd (Lizzie McGuire), Jerry Levine (the stationery store guy on Seinfeld), and both Staci Keanan and Chris Castille went on to Step By Step. GP wa a fun little show, from what little I recall.
I watched it every week, mainly because there was nothing else on. I was waiting for Dallas to come on at 10. lol It had a great cast. I was a fan of Heather Locklear and Staci Keanan ( she was great in My 2 Dads). Keanan was very underused though. It had it's moments but it was missing something. I was also angry because I was a big fan of Just the 10 of Us and I didn't like the fact that ABC ruined such a perfect lineup.

Just The 10 Of Us RULED. JoAnn Willette (Connie) added me as a friend on Facebook, by the way.

Back to The Bradys, do you guys think the ratings would've improved had Maureen McCormick been there, thus accounting for the entire original cast? Or would the show still have tanked??

Just The 10 Of Us RULED. JoAnn Willette (Connie) added me as a friend on Facebook, by the way.

Back to The Bradys, do you guys think the ratings would've improved had Maureen McCormick been there, thus accounting for the entire original cast? Or would the show still have tanked??
I honestly think the show would have been better as a series of movies. It seems like whenever they do specials, it's a big ratings winner but when they settle down for a weekly series, the show tanks. The Brady Brides was the same way. Of course I think everything would have been doomed anyway after Robert Reed died. No show would have been the same without him.

^ I agree with that, and Maureen McCormick herself has said she would've signed on had they just been a series of movies rather than the weekly grind. Plus, no matter what Sherwood Schwartz may think - no Brady series would've been the same without Robert Reed. Thank goodness we never had to find that out!!

The only problem is that the Bradys left the fans hanging....are we still to think Bobby never walks again? That all the Brady kids stayed in the same relationships they were last in (for Peter, would he still be an aging playboy?, etc)? Hmmmmm...... :lol:

The only problem is that the Bradys left the fans hanging....are we still to think Bobby never walks again? That all the Brady kids stayed in the same relationships they were last in (for Peter, would he still be an aging playboy?, etc)? Hmmmmm...... :lol:
Peter did get engaged in a Very Brady Christmas. I wonder why that wasn't acknowledged in The Bradys?

The only problem is that the Bradys left the fans hanging....are we still to think Bobby never walks again? That all the Brady kids stayed in the same relationships they were last in (for Peter, would he still be an aging playboy?, etc)? Hmmmmm...... :lol:
Alas, we'll never know!! Oh, about Going Places - there was yet another cast member who hit big afterwards...Holland Taylor, who is now the mom on Two And A Half Men. Ironically, she and Leah Kalish were both on The Edge of Night - just not at the same time.

I didn't care for it as a heavy drama, also didn't like what they did to Marcia and Bobby. They could do one last special reuniting everyone and resolve Marcia and Bobby's predictament and deal with the loss of Mike Brady.

I didn't care for it as a heavy drama, also didn't like what they did to Marcia and Bobby. They could do one last special reuniting everyone and resolve Marcia and Bobby's predictament and deal with the loss of Mike Brady.
That's a good idea, but I don't see it happening. First of all, Ann B. Davis is getting on in years and is pretty content with life out of CA (from what I hear). Second of all - and the biggie - with Maureen and Eve still feuding, you'd have to do it with one or the other.

That's a good idea, but I don't see it happening. First of all, Ann B. Davis is getting on in years and is pretty content with life out of CA (from what I hear). Second of all - and the biggie - with Maureen and Eve still feuding, you'd have to do it with one or the other.
Well Leah Ayers Kalish took Mo's place in "The Bradys" so it would make sense if she did so in any reunion movie to wrap up storylines from "The Bradys". And that should keep Eve happy!

Peter did get engaged in a Very Brady Christmas. I wonder why that wasn't acknowledged in The Bradys?

It was addressed--Peter broke up with Valerie (now played by Mary Cadorette) when she didn't want to go with him to Nashville for Bobby's surgery.

I consider "Still Brady..." as the final reunion and we should just accept that we are not going to see any other kind. So I guess in our minds, we do know Bobby walks again....all the Brady kids are healthy and happy with their families and Carol has readjusted to life without Mike.

Another thing that ruined this show, IMO, was the dopey laugh track in the later eps. I can't stand when "comedy-dramas" try to use a laugh track. It seemed out of place on Eight Is Enough too.

Another thing that ruined this show, IMO, was the dopey laugh track in the later eps. I can't stand when "comedy-dramas" try to use a laugh track. It seemed out of place on Eight Is Enough too.
Agreed. :nod:

Well Leah Ayers Kalish took Mo's place in "The Bradys" so it would make sense if she did so in any reunion movie to wrap up storylines from "The Bradys". And that should keep Eve happy!
Or maybe they should get Geri to play Jan!!! :lol:

Or maybe they should get Geri to play Jan!!! :lol:
That would work too.

Another thing that ruined this show, IMO, was the dopey laugh track in the later eps. I can't stand when "comedy-dramas" try to use a laugh track. It seemed out of place on Eight Is Enough too.

I think laugh tracks are stupid on any show that isn't filmed in front of a live audience.

I think they should do a movie called Planet Of The Bradys. And have both Marcias, both Cindys and both Jans. There can be a battle royale between the real and fake girls for the finale.

I think they should do a movie called Planet Of The Bradys. And have both Marcias, both Cindys and both Jans. There can be a battle royale between the real and fake girls for the finale.
I just found out that Jennifer Runyon (Fake Cindy) is the daughter-in-law of director Roger Corman. She is retired from acting, and is basically a full-time wife and mom, using her married name of Jennifer Corman.

I think laugh tracks are stupid on any show that isn't filmed in front of a live audience.
AMEN TO THAT!!!! :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap

I think they should do a movie called Planet Of The Bradys. And have both Marcias, both Cindys and both Jans. There can be a battle royale between the real and fake girls for the finale.
Forget a battle royale between the real and fake girls - there would be one major one with just Maureen and Eve!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

I think The Bradys would have lasted longer had they actually had written more scripts for it. Cause the other day I was watching a Archive of Television Intereview of Florence Henderson and she was saying that she thinks it was the wrong thing to do, she thinks that they should have written some scripts and then came back and tried to do the show.

I wish that they had should have just done TV Movies of them cause I really like the first one where Bobby gets paralyzed. I think it's really good and yeah drama probably wasn't right for The Bradys, but I thought that this one was good. The rest of the episodes are okay. The alcohol one is good, but I was watching Party Girls on youtube and they put the laugh track in places when it wasn't even that funny! I was getting so irritated with it! That's why the ones without are better. I also enjoyed hearing Florence Henderson sing Through the Eyes of Love on the first one.

When I was 8 in 1990, I recall these airing, but I only remember seeing and remembering "Bobby getting in the accident" and "The Brady's moving the house". I didn't recall what the rest of the show was about, but I just remembered these as reunion movies, and I thought that both things happened in that one movie until years later when I watched them on ABC family. I never saw The Brady Girls Get Married until it aired on ABC family in 1998 or so.

Being a big Brady Bunch fan, the first 4 hours were pretty much okay. They seemed to be the "TV Movie" type with no laugh track. I never saw the last 2 when I was a kid, but did see Marica's alcohol one on ABC Family...I never saw the final one they did with the Party Business.

The Alcohol one was just stupid. They added the laugh track into it unlike the other earlier parts.

Having the drama was okay, but it wasn't really much like the old fashioned Brady Bunch we all love. I think that's why this got cancelled fast.


They did leave us hanging. We never knew what happened with the following:

Peter and if he found someone nice to marry instead of being a playboy
Jan and Phillip actually having a baby of their own aside from adopting
Marcia and Wally out of financial/alcohol troubles
Cindy and her boss and what became of them...does she marry him/leave him?
Bobby and the wheelchair...does he ever walk again?


Greg pretty much was the only stable one if I recall, great career and family


After this got cancelled, they should have made one more movie before Robert Reed died, answering all those questions. The Brady Bunch history just ends with The Party Girls episode, that's the last we'll ever see of the Brady Family, and it's been almost 20 years since it aired.


We can even say that Mike is still alive as he was still alive the last time we saw him. Even though the actor died, his character could be very much still alive in the fictional series since he wasn't killed off in "The Brady's" or any reunions after that point since they never did another one addressing his death/replace him with another actor.

It sure would've been nice if they'd done one more TV movie to wrap things up, but it's a moot point now.

I remember Going Places - they had quite a large number of cast members go on to bigger and better things - Heather Locklear, Alan Ruck (Spin City), Hallie Todd (Lizzie McGuire), Jerry Levine (the stationery store guy on Seinfeld), and both Staci Keanan and Chris Castille went on to Step By Step. GP wa a fun little show, from what little I recall.

Alan Ruck had actually already DONE something bigger and better... he played Ferris' best friend Cameron Frye in Ferris Bueller's Day Off Ruck actually turned 30(!) the year F.B.D.O. was released (1986).

But as far as "The Bradys", it wasn't really all that interesting to me... the Bradys were never about "real" things that happened. It wasn't about drinking, or being paralyzed from an accident... it was just fun. The other thing about the "grown up" stuff that the BB cast did was that I had no interest in the extended families (i.e. the spouses or the grandkids). Those aren't the people that I grew up watching and I just really wasn't interested in them.

It would be like having whoever's left from "The Dick van Dyke Show" get together (maybe 20 years ago or so), and introduce Richie's kids.... I wouldn't care. I grew up watching Rob and Laura and Ritchie.. Just because they recruit some kid from a Burger King commercial and throw him in there as "Ritchie's son", doesn't mean I'm gonna care about him.

I think that some things are just for a certain time, and when they try to re-create it with reunion shows or new series with the kids all grown up now, it's never anywhere near as good the second time around.

Alan Ruck had actually already DONE something bigger and better... he played Ferris' best friend Cameron Frye in Ferris Bueller's Day Off Ruck actually turned 30(!) the year F.B.D.O. was released (1986).
Yeah, I'd forgotten about that - thanks for the reminder!! :cool:

Yeah, I'd forgotten about that - thanks for the reminder!! :cool:


"...when Cameron was in Egypt's land.... let my Cameron...goooooo!"

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I think they should do a movie called Planet Of The Bradys. And have both Marcias, both Cindys and both Jans. There can be a battle royale between the real and fake girls for the finale.

Here are the three "fake" girls - and all three still look terrific!!

I liked the show at first and I think I watched every episode but I agree that taking a comedy show and turning it into a drama was a bad decision.

I just found out that Jennifer Runyon (Fake Cindy) is the daughter-in-law of director Roger Corman. She is retired from acting, and is basically a full-time wife and mom, using her married name of Jennifer Corman.

Actually, her husband is the NEPHEW, not son, of Roger Corman. Bad me!! :o

Peter did get engaged in a Very Brady Christmas. I wonder why that wasn't acknowledged in The Bradys?

It was. Valerie was played by another actress and was some workaholic bitch boss so they broke up I think in the first hour or something like that. That, plus making Wally a bum, Marcia a lush, and all that other crap, it was bad.

It's like Barry Williams said in his book, it was a combination of the show not having a focus (is it a comedy or a drama) and too many characters and bad scheduling.

I think seeing The Bradys in a TV movie is one thing: It's like catching up with an old friend. But seeing them week after week, the novelty wore off. Had they stayed with the original plan of having a couple of movies every year, it might have fared better.

Alas, we'll never know!! Oh, about Going Places - there was yet another cast member who hit big afterwards...Holland Taylor, who is now the mom on Two And A Half Men. Ironically, she and Leah Kalish were both on The Edge of Night - just not at the same time.

I remember Holland Taylor from even earlier, when she played Kip & Henry's boss on Bosom Buddies going back to 1980.

It was. Valerie was played by another actress and was some workaholic bitch boss so they broke up I think in the first hour or something like that. That, plus making Wally a bum, Marcia a lush, and all that other crap, it was bad.

On The Bradys Mary Cadorette played Valerie, Peter's soon-to-be-ex-fiancee. She'd already played Jack Tripper's live-in girlfriend, Vicky Bradford, on Three's a Crowd, so Valerie was probably too old/mature for Peter Brady by this time.

Here are the three "fake" girls - and all three still look terrific!!

I wish the 3 "fake" Brady girls had done some sort of award presentation together, maybe on the defunct TV Land Awards.

I spent the weekend watching my self recorded now to dvd 30 years ago, wow, time flies all "five" episodes as broadcast by CBS.

Maybe it was the time that has gone by, myself getting older, i remember being in my late 20's (yet was in a relationship...lol) staying home and recording in SP speed each of those Friday night airings at 8:00PM eastern.

Again maybe it was the time, but i actually enjoyed revisiting the series, yet enjoyed as much seeing how much network television has changed obviously for the worse.

As a purist and completest I knew I wanted the commercials for future preservation, never thinking on how "sponsored by", "bumpers", "This is CBS", complete readable credits, next week on......., great series gone by advertisements and the best not a single logo, advertisement, or anything else marring my precious perfectly working 36 inch 4:3 aspect ratio TV.

Oddly my memory got it wrong, the original series had an instrumental theme and the later reruns mostly on ABC Family had the Florence Henderson sung opening theme.

Yes many i share the same opinion as it was a poorly written show, yet, the absence of Maureen McCormick really hurts, yet the series often referred to as "Bradysomething" a pun on the 90's ABC relationship series "30something" did attempt to portray the family in more modern times, with the phrase "PMS" actually used! LOL remember the original series couldn't even show a toilet.

So with the impending DVD release I am very glad I have these as they aired, as i expressed in another post I believe something somewhere will be messed up or missing for us purists.

I would have to say I thoroughly enjoyed watching the complete 6 hours as broadcast in Feb/Mar 1990 for many reasons expressed above.

Actually, her husband is the NEPHEW, not son, of Roger Corman. Bad me!! :o

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Our Very Brady Halloween comes to a close, or at least it will if the Copyright Terrorists allow it to, with a look at 1990's nighttime soap disaster "The Bradys."

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These 13 Week Theatre clips are very funny.

As most of us probably know, the original plan was to do 2 or 3 two hour Brady TV movies each season -- this was because A Very Brady Christmas had been so successful in 1988.

Each movie would center around a storyline like Mike running for office or Bobby's racing career, and we would see what was going with the other characters in subplots.

But the network got greedy and wanted the Bradys back on a weekly bases, so that's why we got The Bradys.

Too dramatic, too many characters and no Maureen McCormick.

With a different Marcia being an alcoholic and Bobby in a wheelchair….the BB was a comedy, not a soap opera and it didn’t work for me. They could have made it a sitcom or dramady like Eight is Enough maybe.

With a different Marcia being an alcoholic and Bobby in a wheelchair….the BB was a comedy, not a soap opera and it didn’t work for me. They could have made it a sitcom or dramady like Eight is Enough maybe.

Or it could've in theory, been Modern Family before Modern Family.

As most of us probably know, the original plan was to do 2 or 3 two hour Brady TV movies each season -- this was because A Very Brady Christmas had been so successful in 1988.

Each movie would center around a storyline like Mike running for office or Bobby's racing career, and we would see what was going with the other characters in subplots.

But the network got greedy and wanted the Bradys back on a weekly bases, so that's why we got The Bradys.

Too dramatic, too many characters and no Maureen McCormick.

It appeared that CBS and/or the Schwartz's were trying to emulate those "yuppies with first world problems" dramedy shows that were in vogue in the late '80s-early '90s like Thirtysomething and The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd.

...
It would be like having whoever's left from "The Dick van Dyke Show" get together (maybe 20 years ago or so), and introduce Richie's kids.... I wouldn't care. I grew up watching Rob and Laura and Ritchie.. Just because they recruit some kid from a Burger King commercial and throw him in there as "Ritchie's son", doesn't mean I'm gonna care about him.
...


This happened back in May 2004 w/ "The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited". The 1-hour show had a range of opinions about its quality. I thought it was nice to watch but was also glad not to be going back to a weekly series w/ this cast. Of course the cast members wouldn't have agreed to that either.

It's like Barry Williams said in his book, it was a combination of the show not having a focus (is it a comedy or a drama) and too many characters and bad scheduling.

I think seeing The Bradys in a TV movie is one thing: It's like catching up with an old friend. But seeing them week after week, the novelty wore off. Had they stayed with the original plan of having a couple of movies every year, it might have fared better.

From what I heard, the producers originally wanted to do a series of movies that were themed around a holiday --- Memorial Day, Election Day, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, etc. Basically, they would have some dramatic thing happening to propel the plot, but also include lots of trademark Brady humor, as happened in A Very Brady Christmas.

You can still see the bones of the holiday themed ideas in some of the Bradys episode plotlines. For example, Bobby being injured while race car driving would've tied into the Indy 500, which rides on Memorial Day weekend. And Mike running for elected office tied into Election Day.

But CBS after seeing the massive ratings for A Very Brady Christmas and in dire straits elsewhere, pushed for a weekly series instead of periodic movies. I'm guessing that in that regard, CBS, given that they were in third place at the time, were in a "strike the iron is hot" mode.

Since the new weekly show (what would become The Bradys) would be 60 minutes long instead of 90 or 120 movie, they had to cut out much of the humor to tell the story in that 60 minutes. This was always going to be a challenge because The Bradys and A Very Brady Christmas before it, had to do the juggling act of needing to capture the spirit of the original while at the same time, making it contemporary.

Perhaps, where The Bradys went wrong is that while it did introduce some drama as AVBC managed to do, on the weekly series, it was either too much or too serious. Plus, with the series, they seemed to swing back and forth between being a silly sitcom (complete with a laugh track) and a heavy soap, so there was a massive case of "tonal whiplash" (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MoodWhiplash). Basically, it was like throwing two shows together in a blender to put it in another way.

From what I heard, the producers originally wanted to do a series of movies that were themed around a holiday --- Memorial Day, Election Day, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, etc. Basically, they would have some dramatic thing happening to propel the plot, but also include lots of trademark Brady humor, as happened in A Very Brady Christmas.

You can still see the bones of the holiday themed ideas in some of the Bradys episode plotlines. For example, Bobby being injured while race car driving would've tie into the Indy 500, which rides on Memorial Day weekend. And Mike running for elected office tied into Election Day.

But CBS after seeing the massive ratings for A Ver Brady Christmas and in dire straits elsewhere, pushed for a weekly series instead of periodic movies. I'm guessing that in that regard, CBS, given that they were in third place at the time, were in a "strike the iron is hot" mode.

Since the new weekly show (what would become The Bradys) would be 60 minutes long instead of 90 or 120 movie, they had to cut out much of the humor to tell the story in that 60 minutes. This was always going to be a challenge because The Bradys and A Very Brady Christmas before it, had to do the juggling act of needing to capture the spirit of the original while at the same time, making it contemporary.

Perhaps, where The Bradys went wrong is that while it did introduce some drama as AVBC managed to to, on the weekly series, it was either too much or too serious. Plus, with the series, they seemed to swing back and forth between silly sitcom (complete with a laugh track) and heavy soap, so there was a massive case of "tonal whiplash" (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MoodWhiplash). Basically, it was like throwing two shows together in a blender to put it in another way.

Exactly.

I wonder if The Bradys would've been marginally, more successful had Maureen McCormick come back to play Marcia instead of having Leah Ayres fill-in. Marcia is perhaps, the most memorable and iconic of the six Brady kids and thus, the hardest to replace.

As most of us probably know, the original plan was to do 2 or 3 two hour Brady TV movies each season -- this was because A Very Brady Christmas had been so successful in 1988.

Each movie would center around a storyline like Mike running for office or Bobby's racing career, and we would see what was going with the other characters in subplots.

But the network got greedy and wanted the Bradys back on a weekly bases, so that's why we got The Bradys.

Too dramatic, too many characters and no Maureen McCormick.

I recently began to wonder why the Leave It to Beaver revival from the '80s was successful but all of the attempts to bring The Brady Bunch back into a more modern era weren't. The New Leave it to Beaver ran for four seasons across two networks (The Disney Channel and later TBS) and at least 100 episodes. And like The Bradys, it pretty much owes its existence to a made for TV reunion movie that aired on CBS (called Still the Beaver from 1983).

But again, there were so many things that were working against The Bradys. You had Robert Reed once again being difficult and uncooperative to work with. And The Bradys gotten a second season, then Mike would've in all likelihood, have been killed off, leaving Carol to have to deal with life as widow.

There was also the fact that Maureen McCormick didn't participate. The fact that the most popular and iconic Brady kid wasn't going to be involved was a major turn off right from the start.

And finally, there was the questionable idea to attempt to emulate the "dramedy" (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Dramedy) trend (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy-drama) (as seen (https://books.google.com/books?id=pqnbPn2wGuEC&pg=PT115&lpg=PT115&dq=dramedy+hooperman+frank%27s+place+molly+dodd&source=bl&ots=wHpEm0tFnV&sig=ACfU3U0IN-BpSmGBH2ilOIenM0PxtTLERQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj09cXtjvf1AhV6nGoFHVz4CgkQ6AF6BAgPEAM) in shows like Moonlighting (https://bleedingcool.com/tv/moonlighting-how-the-pre-dramedy-era-dramedy-made-words-cool-again/), Thirtysomething, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd (https://news.nestia.com/detail/Remembering-%E2%80%98Frank%E2%80%99s-Place%2C%E2%80%99-A-Lost-Gem-From-The-First-Age-Of-TV-Dramedy/6867804), Hooperman (https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-04-27-ca-1785-story.html), The Slap Maxwell Story, and Frank's Place (https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-01-11-ca-23505-story.html)) in hopes of making it more relevant in the new era. What made The Brady Bunch so endearing though, were the cheesy tropes and goofy characters, not the more overtly "adult themes".

Plus, outside of Moonlighting, none of those shows that I just mentioned, were really commercial successes (https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1989-06-09-8901290656-story.html).

The only problem is that the Bradys left the fans hanging....are we still to think Bobby never walks again? That all the Brady kids stayed in the same relationships they were last in (for Peter, would he still be an aging playboy?, etc)? Hmmmmm...... :lol:

That was the problem with the show right there, they never let anything develop. Bobby was in a coma until the third act. Marsha was an alcoholic for an afternoon. Jan's adopted daughter didn't fit in for an hour.

That was the problem with the show right there, they never let anything develop. Bobby was in a coma until the third act. Marsha was an alcoholic for an afternoon. Jan's adopted daughter didn't fit in for an hour.

I agree that Fake Marcia stumbling for an afternoon then instantly spouting the Twelve Steps was too bogus. Plus there were entirely too many grandkids and in-laws for the viewers to keep track of or care about (and often took the focus from the REAL Bradys and Alice). BTW, does anyone out there think that MTV VJ Martha Quinn playing Bobby's wife helped the show any?

I agree that Fake Marcia stumbling for an afternoon then instantly spouting the Twelve Steps was too bogus. Plus there were entirely too many grandkids and in-laws for the viewers to keep track of or care about (and often took the focus from the REAL Bradys and Alice). BTW, does anyone out there think that MTV VJ Martha Quinn playing Bobby's wife helped the show any?

I don't know exactly how Martha Quinn (https://twitter.com/marthaquinn/status/500869311993761792) got involved other than it just comes across as stunt casting. Martha Quinn (https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-06-17-tv-472-story.html) was and likely still is, the most famous and iconic MTV VJ (https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1991-12-08-1991342174-story.html) of all time (back when that channel actually still played music videos), so having her marry one of the Brady kids would've naturally, created some extra buzz for this new (https://nostalgiacentral.com/television/tv-by-decade/tv-shows-1990s/bradys-the/) iteration (https://www.bradyworld.com/episodes/thebrady.htm). And Martha did have a wholesome, girl-next-door image to begin with, so she wouldn't have been so out of place with the wholesome image of The Brady Bunch (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Trivia/BradyBunchSpinOffs).

Here's Martha herself talking about The Bradys (https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1990-02-09-9001230811-story.html):
p9DsQeCByhM

I don't know exactly how Martha Quinn (https://twitter.com/marthaquinn/status/500869311993761792) got involved other than it just comes across as stunt casting. Martha Quinn (https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-06-17-tv-472-story.html) was and likely still is, the most famous and iconic MTV VJ (https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1991-12-08-1991342174-story.html) of all time (back when that channel actually still played music videos), so having her marry one of the Brady kids would've naturally, created some extra buzz for this new (https://nostalgiacentral.com/television/tv-by-decade/tv-shows-1990s/bradys-the/) iteration (https://www.bradyworld.com/episodes/thebrady.htm). And Martha did have a wholesome, girl-next-door image to begin with, so she wouldn't have been so out of place with the wholesome image of The Brady Bunch (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Trivia/BradyBunchSpinOffs).


While you and I may debate whether Miss Quinn's presence was a boon or was one of the problems re 'The Bradys' one thing I believe we can agree on: her presence alone would prove to be not enough to save the show from early cancellation.

The Brady's could have closed out nicely with a few more hour long movies.


We should have seen the outcome of Cindy with her boss. I think she would have said yes to marriage with him.

Valerie could have returned and Peter would have probably eloped with her but the family would have objected and they'd have a wedding at the house.


I feel those 2 stories would have made for at least 2 more hour long episodes. They could have finished it all up with those 2 weddings. All the kids would have been married by the end of the series. Sadly, CBS didn't order anymore episodes. There was for sure more to tell with Cindy and Peter. The others all had families of their own. Maybe Bobby and his wife would be expecting a child by the end of the series. I could have seen Greg working in the field he wanted to go into, helping the handicap in some way, (I think that's what he was thinking of switching to?) Bobby finally walking again and his wife getting pregnant, Cindy marrying her boss, Peter marrying Valerie....Mike and Carol...I don't know what they'd be doing? Probably just there. Jan finally getting pregnant...Wally's bad luck changing...maybe winning the lottery?

I agree that they should have done 'The Bradys' as a comedy instead of a drama. I also think that they should have done two or three TV movies a year instead of a weekly series.

Lloyd Schwartz stated that was the approach he & his dad wanted to take, but CBS pretty much forced the series on them because "Networks are built on series". I thought it was a concept better-visited in tv movies than a full series. The series only went 2 episodes past their planned tv movies anyway.

''A Very Brady Christmas'' had some of the strongest ratings in 1988, but the series that followed did not (https://www.metv.com/stories/a-very-brady-christmas-had-some-of-the-strongest-ratings-in-1988-but-the-series-that-followed-did-not)

Any Brady from the Bunch is a household name when it comes to classic TV. Though The Brady Bunch never broke into the Top 30 of the Nielsen rankings, the show has stood the test of time in the decades since.

The longevity success of the show made up for the series' slower start and its 34th ranking, the highest the series ever hit during its initial run. As fans know, when The Brady Bunch went off the air in 1974, their story wasn't over. What followed were specials, reboots and even recreations of the show.

The most successful was the 1988 made-for-television film A Very Brady Christmas. The series was a smash hit when it debuted, and in the years since, has turned into a holiday classic for plenty of families.

A Very Brady Christmas wasn't the first attempted revival of The Brady Bunch. The Brady Kids was a 22-episode animation series that followed the Brady children, which were voiced by all six original members with the exception of a few episodes at the end of the series. The Brady Bunch Variety Hour followed, as did The Brady Girls Get Married, a made-for-TV movie, and the subsequent spinoff The Brady Brides in 1981.

All of these revivals paved the way for more, and more came. In 1988, the most successful of the bunch aired and the Brady phenomenon kept coming back.

The cast returned all grown up, with real problems. Of course, Susan Olsen was in Jamaica when the movie was being filmed so she was replaced by Jennifer Runyon to play Cindy Brady. Sam the Butcher was portrayed by Lewis Arquette rather than Allan Melvin, but the rest of the bunch from the original series was left intact.

Despite a new Cindy and Sam, the TV movie was a smash hit in the ratings department. When it aired, it was the most-viewed TV movie of the year. Mike and Carol were grandparents and each grown up Brady child faced their own adult-like problems. Seeing the success was reason enough to put a full continuation show on the table.

As a result, the network began production of The Bradys, a series in which everyone was much older, making adaptations a necessity according to producer Sherwood Schwartz. One of those being a full hour show.

"The kids were too old to do a half-hour comedy," he said in a 1990 article from Night-Rider Newspapers. "The problems that people this age deal with aren't frivolous. It clearly became, in my mind, an hour series."

The addition of grandchildren turned the Brady home into a "tri-generational household," said Schwartz.

The Bradys had a six-episode commitment, but it didn't get any further than that. Though the ratings for A Very Brady Christmas were off the charts, it was difficult for audiences to see the Brady children in such a different light. With such strong numbers from the now Christmas classic, it was no surprise CBS tried to capitalize on it.

Often times, nothing will beat the original. In some rare cases, like The Brady Bunch, some adaptations do great, while others stumble.

No matter how many recreations, continuations and sequels there are, nothing will change the fact that The Brady Bunch will always be a classic TV staple, and that A Very Brady Christmas was a top-ranked holiday hit.

With a different Marcia being an alcoholic and Bobby in a wheelchair….the BB was a comedy, not a soap opera and it didn’t work for me. They could have made it a sitcom or dramady like Eight is Enough maybe.

If they wanted to go that route, then they needed to do it in a way in which the problems don't simply start and become resolved within a single episode. I mean, I don't think that Marcia being an alcoholic is touched upon again (https://youtu.be/0Kcc11uRKFk?t=2940) after that single episode.

If they wanted to go that route, then they needed to do it in a way in which the problems don't simply start and become resolved within a single episode. I mean, I don't think that Marcia being an alcoholic is touched upon again (https://youtu.be/0Kcc11uRKFk?t=2940) after that single episode.

One of the worst examples of a "one and done" episode in which a character goes through alcoholism is the fourth season Welcome Back, Kotter episode, "Come Back, Little Arnold."

Horshack, who pines after Mary Johnson, is too shy to ask her to the prom. She asks him, but he's way too anxious about the whole thing. Carvelli gives him a bottle of whiskey. He takes one sip, grimaces, and is an instant alcoholic.

He becomes combative and scares everyone, including Mary. At the prom, he's so enraged that he accidentally punches out Mary. This forces Horshack to realize he's got a problem, but Mary tells him he has to stop. He smiles, says that now he's got love. They kiss. The end. It's never mentioned again.

McCormick also stated that she was dismayed about how bad the script was, but that she should have taken the money and run.

McCormick also stated that she was dismayed about how bad the script was, but that she should have taken the money and run.

She was probably right. She didn't do much after leaving Marcia behind for good.

I mean a drama? Really? They should've thought this one through a little bit more and perhaps make it a comedy at least. Agree? Disagree?Yes indeed!!!!!

I think the big mistake was not sticking to the original plan of 2-3 TV movies per season, scheduled for sweeps periods.

I think the reason why Very Brady Christmas did so well was that fans were starving for nostalgia. Having watched it, they got their fix.

I think that if it remained a series of spaced out (as in spaced out on the schedule, that is) movies, it might have done better.

OMG I need this thread.
I am old enough to remember when the Brady's premiered. I was so excited they were coming back but stopped watching out of boredom after the first episode. There are only like around 7 episodes in existence. Lately I've been watching them on youtube when I lay in bed. They are so boring that I fall asleep every episode. When I wake up I have to rewind the episode again. They are horrible. Sometimes I like to watch horrible shows because they are so bad they are entertaining. This is just so bad that its not even entertaining. So much fake Marcia that it does not even seem like the Brady Bunch. The grandkids are so darn annoying and get way too much time. Marcia has a drink and suddenly turns into an alcoholic and interrupts her dad's speech. Its lame for even drama. Then it supposedly has jokes scattered around because they have the canned laughter in places. Sherwood Schwartz was involved in this. How dare he criticize the Brady Bunch Variety Hour. That was leaps and bounds better than this. Its bad acting, bad scripts, bad drama, bad comedy all around.

McCormick also stated that she was dismayed about how bad the script was, but that she should have taken the money and run.

I wonder if that was what Robert Reed had issues over. I was also very opinioned over what he considered the subpar quality in the original series, so it's really hard to figure out specifically, what he didn't like about The Bradys.

Weird that he loathed his time on the BB, but returned for all of the bad movies and the drivel that was the BBCH and the Brady’s.