To me, BB seems so much more modern than Beaver. Is it only the color v black and white that makes it that way?

To me, BB seems so much more modern than Beaver. Is it only the color v black and white that makes it that way?

America "lost it's cherry" for myriad reasons during the time period in question, The Long Hot Summer, the Counter Culture, The Kennedy killing, discontent with lies the govt was telling us about Viet Nam, the Space Race, and "tune in, turn on, and drop out", being just a few of the forces working in concert to promote change.
Being traditional was seen as being "so yesterday", while being MOD was "so tomorrow"

There was an unprecedented undercurrent to part with the past.

Leave It To Beaver is a black and white family sitcom from the late 1950's/early 1960's, while The Brady Bunch is a color family sitcom from the early and mid 1970's. There's definitely a difference between the two shows, for one thing Leave It To Beaver is a smaller family with two sons, while The Brady Bunch is a larger, combined family with three sons and three daughters. I think both shows reflected the styles of their times fairly well.

From the late 50s/early 60s to the late 60s/early 70s was a huge shift in style, for the reasons listed by GentlemanJim above. The two shows reflect those changes in style.

I don't think there's any doubt about which show I prefer and has better stood the test of time. Just look at what message board I'm on.

Incidentally, season 16, episode 16 of the show "Family Guy" portrays the show's cast re-set into vintage 1950s and 1960s sit-com families.....and I found the humor priceless. Including a cameo by Mike Brady/Robert Reed.

Well worth a watch.

I think the shift from black and white to color was monumental. The types of stories they could tell were greatly enhanced with the introduction of color. It was both a technological breakthrough and an artistic one. The Bradys' trip to Hawaii would have been far different in black and white, not just in terms of the cinematography, but also the technical ability to shoot on location and have the final product look appealing.

This isn't to say that LITB wasn't a great show, because it was. But they couldn't do many of the things we now take for granted in a medium that was still in some ways limited.

Of course, there are times when The Brady Bunch was garish and too colorful. It was a sign of the times... but the truth of the matter is: "just because you have color doesn't mean you should assault viewers with it." That first decade or so of color TV was quite the experiment! :lol:

To me, BB seems so much more modern than Beaver. Is it only the color v black and white that makes it that way?


Also look at season 1 of Beaver vs. season 6. Cars, clothes, styles, furnishings, all look more up to date.

With BB color didn't help everything--just look at that orange kitchen. And as BB went on, check out the wide ties and Robert Reed's permed hair. Ugh!

Beaver's writing is at a markedly higher level than the Brady Bunch.

Just as one measure, the Brady Bunch never escaped it's core cast. Outside of the core, only Sam the Butcher and Cousin Oliver appear in five or more episodes, and Oliver is one of notorious failures in all sitcoms. Beaver had at least twenty characters outside of the core cast who were on five or more episodes, and many of them are very memorable. Extended family, friends, family of friends, school and town people - Beaver is a fictional world, the Bradys are a series of sketches.

The relative complexity shows everywhere. Beaver routinely moved from indoors to outdoors - not an outdoor set but shooting in the open air. Beaver's theme song was interesting enough to turn it into a very catchy jazz tune.

Rather than being modern, I think that the Brady Bunch is a period piece of the early 70s, while Beaver is timeless.

Well said, and my sentiments exactly. I would add that I don't see color as necessarily an artistic improvement - in some contexts, perhaps, but not in others. In general I consider B&W to be more subtle and artistic. Just look at B&W versus color TAGS. Neither LITB nor early TAGS needed color to tell the stories they wanted to tell.

Excellent points, ABH--just to outline characters beyond the star cast (opening credits)--in no order:

Larry Mondello - Beaver's best friend in the first three seasons.

Eddie Haskell - Wally's best friend thru the series. A seminal sitcom character.

Whitey Whitney - another Beaver friend, all 6 seasons.

Gilbert Gates/Bates - a one-off in the second season, Beaver's best friend in the last three seasons.

Richard Rickover - another Beaver friend in the later seasons.

Lumpy Rutherford - another Wally friend, a unique character who started as a bully, and evolved into sort of a lovable oaf

Fred Rutherford - Lumpy's blowhard father, Ward's friend and co-worker

Julie Foster - Wally's girlfriend in later seasons

Gus the fireman - an adult friend for Beaver, who often provided him sage advice

Judy Hensler - the class snitch in early seasons, an ideal foil for Beaver

Penny Woods - another Beaver nemesis in later seasons, a slightly kinder and gentler version of Judy

Miss Canfield - Beaver's understanding second grade teacher

Miss Landers - Beaver's teacher in seasons 2 thru 4

Mrs. Mondello - Larry's mother, who provided some excellent comedy

Aunt Martha - few appearances, but often spoken of. An important character in June's background.

Mrs. Rayburn - school principal, often a substitute teacher in Beaver's classes. Beaver was sent to her office a few times.

Tooey Brown - another Wally friend in the early seasons.

Chester Anderson - same.

Mary Ellen Rogers - another regular Wally girlfriend

Benjie Bellamy/Chuckie Murdock - a couple of moppets to create varying troubles for Beaver

Harry Harrison - "Larry Mondello II", a brief friend for Beaver in the 4th season

Post, if I missed any...

There were six kids in The Brady Bunch family, there was also Alice the housekeeper, so that series didn't really require the ensemble of supporting characters like Leave It To Beaver had. Leave It To Beaver is overall the better written show, but The Brady Bunch is fun in it's own way.

I agree with 'retro,' although I think first season of BB was a bust (to me), with several poorly written episodes, and some poor acting by the kids. But both problems improved in the later seasons.

America "lost it's cherry" for myriad reasons during the time period in question, The Long Hot Summer, the Counter Culture, The Kennedy killing, discontent with lies the govt was telling us about Viet Nam, the Space Race, and "tune in, turn on, and drop out", being just a few of the forces working in concert to promote change.
Being traditional was seen as being "so yesterday", while being MOD was "so tomorrow"

There was an unprecedented undercurrent to part with the past.

These are some good points. If BB came out in 69, when did they start writing it or thinking about it, 67 or 68? That makes the window between Beaver and BB even shorter.

I was born late November back in 63 so I did not see Beaver's original run, but I did see BB as I would have been 5-6 and close to Bobby and Cindy in age. I remember Charles Manson being on TV.

The convertible car that Ward and Wally buy and the car that Greg buys look very similar in make and style, yet in Beaver with the black and white, it looks older than a similar car does in BB with color.

When I see films or pics about WW2 the skies are always gray looking making me think it's winter but that is not true.

If everyone wanted out with the old and in with the new by the time they got to the BB then that might be one of the reasons it looks so much more modern to me.

Correct. A few others appeared, but in roles.

And one of those appearances on BB, Davy Jones, got us an absolutely horrible song at the end.

Six years between LITB and the BB is roughly the time that Cindy Brady came to be. So one might wonder had June given birth to a baby girl c.1963 and had it kept going, would it have been more like BB in 1969?

Scary thought...one whiny Cindy is enough for me!

One of the other habits that "time capsules" the Brady Bunch is the use of celebrity guest stars as themselves. That did that about half-a-dozen times. Beaver, I think, did it just once with Don Drysdale. Is that right?

Don't forget "Duke Hathaway". :conan: (albeit in a role, not as himself)

That list of characters shows that LITB had a rich story world, a sign of the care that went into the writing of the show.

Correct. A few others appeared, but in roles.

And one of those appearances on BB, Davy Jones, got us an absolutely horrible song at the end.

Its not horrible at all. Lots of fans for it.
Girl, look what you've done to me, me, and my whole world...

If everyone wanted out with the old and in with the new by the time they got to the BB then that might be one of the reasons it looks so much more modern to me.

It wasn't "just color" that was so noticeable, imo. It was also in how they were being used.

You had guys like Peter Max making their livings off of selling visual concepts that were unheard of 10 years prior. So, the colors used in the stripes on BB clothing (or wallpaper) never would have been used in the same combinations in the 1950s. That contributed to the overall mix.

I wonder if Ward would have "approved" if they had found a Lava Lamp in the boys bedroom?

My intuition tells me that it would have been a belabored approval, if at all.
And such was the actual case with a lot of the "mod" culture being sold to the american public at the time.

You were hard sold, ....you didn't dare risk appearing "out of date", so you accepted it.

Its not horrible at all. Lots of fans for it.
Girl, look what you've done to me, me, and my whole world...

I enjoyed the guest appearance of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart on I Dream of Jeannie a bit more than I did Davey on BB.

Don't forget "Duke Hathaway". :conan: (albeit in a role, not as himself)

That modest, unassuming fellow appeared twice. Tommy Ivo, I think--on Father Knows Best, he played an opposite personality in an early episode (the guest star in that one was Duke Snider).

I enjoyed the guest appearance of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart on I Dream of Jeannie a bit more than I did Davey on BB.

Absolutely! They also appeared on Bewitched, singing Serena's ("Pandora Spocks") song. As opposed to Jones' song on BB, "I'll Blow You a Kiss in the Wind" was a good song...

That modest, unassuming fellow appeared twice. Tommy Ivo, I think--on Father Knows Best, he played an opposite personality in an early episode (the guest star in that one was Duke Snider).

Tommy Ivo was more famous as "the drag racer who had been on TV" than he was as "The TV star who drag races". At my age I can just barely recall my first exposure to him being "OH really? this guy has been on TV too?"

Clearly, Ward had no problems with his sons hanging around with "TV Tommy Ivo".
I do have to wonder how Ward might react to the carpet-bombing commercials we are shown for Ru Paul's dragraces?

When we hear the screech of Duke's wheels as he leaves, Ward should have said "That kid drives like Tommy Ivo."

The first time I saw Ivo was as his Duke character, I was born in '70, and didn't start seeing Beaver re runs until the 80s. But I started learning who he was when I saw him appear as himself in the 1959 movie Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow

Six years between LITB and the BB is roughly the time that Cindy Brady came to be. So one might wonder had June given birth to a baby girl c.1963 and had it kept going, would it have been more like BB in 1969?

Or would she be more like Kitten from FKB?