In a Brady Bunch vs. Step By Step annoyance battle, nobody wins

[TMC]

http://www.avclub.com/article/brady-...ault:1:Default

Blended families
The Brady Bunch (1969-74)

Here’s a point in favor of Mike, Carol, Marcia, Greg, Jan, Peter, Cindy, and Bobby Brady: Their seeming ubiquity was a posthumous phenomenon. The Brady Bunch only ran for five seasons on ABC—that’s two fewer seasons (and one fewer network) than the deathless Lamberts of Port Washington, Wisconsin. Only in syndication did the family become inescapable, their exploits the ideal programming for young viewers whiling away the half hours until their own moms, dads, brothers, or sisters came home. No incarnation of the Bradys ever cracked the Nielsen Top 30, but they found a loyal audience in kids who saw themselves in domestic squabbles about missing dolls, broken vases, and throwing a complete pass to your sister’s face.

And for all their oppressive wholesomeness, there was something radical about the Bradys. A newspaper statistic about the growing number of blended families in America inspired Sherwood Schwartz’s initial pitch; before network executives objected, Carol Brady was a divorcée. It wound up representing a squeaky-clean, no-worries fantasy, but The Brady Bunch started out by acknowledging the difficulty inherent in getting two separate groups of people—with their own established rhythms, customs, and expectations about bathroom fixtures—to co-exist under the same roof. Everybody’s smilin’ during The Brady Bunch’s “Sunshine Day”s, but they came by it more naturally than the Lamberts: Cindy Brady’s lisp was Susan Olsen’s lisp, and Maureen McCormick really stood in the path of that wayward football. [Erik Adams]

Step By Step (1991-98)

Step By Step brought blended families out of the ’70s and into the TGIF lineup when it debuted in 1991 on ABC. The sitcom featured Patrick Duffy as divorced contractor Frank Lambert and Suzanne Somers as Carol Foster, a widowed beautician. Frank and Carol wasted no time getting married after meeting on vacation in Jamaica, but getting all of their kids to get along proved to be a much more involved task.

The Lambert family initially comprised dad Frank, his son J.T., his daughter Al, and youngest child Brendan. Frank took a one-size-fits-all approach to parenting, which means Al started off as a tomboy whose behavior scandalized Carol’s daughters, Dana and Karen, and her nerdy son, Mark. Once all eight members of the family were under one roof, the oil-and-water shenanigans began.

The men were of the grunting, Home Improvement variety, but the show’s women were multidimensional. Carol ran her own business even after marrying Frank, Dana was smart and outspoken, and Al grew up to be a personable young woman who could still pitch a no-hitter. Yes, Karen was mostly a pageant-circuit dud, but she occasionally did nice things, which is more than can be said for Brendan, who literally just disappeared from the show.

And although the Wisconsin they lived in was laughably fake (that’s the Pacific Ocean in the opening credits), the family’s interactions were authentic. The kids acted like kids, and not like Hummel figurines brought to life. Dana and J.T. fought constantly, because he was a boor and she was a feminist. Al got a training bra, Mark went through puberty, and yes, Cindy, people even said the B word. Names were called, lamps were broken, and the goofy cousin that joined the mix became one of its most popular characters, instead of shorthand for a bad idea. [Danette Chavez]

Less annoying: A judge should really hear both sides of the case, and weigh all of the evidence before making a decision. Once again, I have proven to be a terrible judge, having never seen a single episode of Step By Step. (I have, however, been to Port Washington several times. Did you know that the legendary blues label Paramount Records began as an offshoot of the Wisconsin Chair Company, based in Port Washington? It’s true.) Anyway, the question here is about which family is less annoying. Having watched lots of Brady Bunch in my youth, and with only those memories to go on, I will have to say that the Bradys are less annoying. I’m basing that on two things: One, I never found them particularly annoying in the first place. Two, look at the ****ing kid with the glasses in that Step By Step picture. He’s not even talking and I’m already annoyed. [Josh Modell]

[JO Sweet Heart]

Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but why is the Brady show considered a classic if it only lasted five seasons? Its been mentioned here and there over the years giving me the impression that it was something special, but yet it only lasted five seasons. What gives?

God bless you always!!!

Holly

P.S. No, I have never watched it. Maybe its a good thing that I haven't if it was going to be given the boot rather early?

[DJM77]

Originally Posted by JO Sweet Heart

Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but why is the Brady show considered a classic if it only lasted five seasons? Its been mentioned here and there over the years giving me the impression that it was something special, but yet it only lasted five seasons. What gives?

Five seasons isn't a short run. There are a lot of shows that didn't last as long as that but are also considered classics.

[Torgo]

Originally Posted by JO Sweet Heart

Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but why is the Brady show considered a classic if it only lasted five seasons? Its been mentioned here and there over the years giving me the impression that it was something special, but yet it only lasted five seasons. What gives?

God bless you always!!!

Holly

P.S. No, I have never watched it. Maybe its a good thing that I haven't if it was going to be given the boot rather early?

Season amount doesn't always equal quality, just look at the last few seasons of shows like Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley.

Also, many shows gain popularity after the show was canceled and began airing re runs. The Brady Bunch was one of those shows that re ran a lot years after it was off the air.

The Honeymooners only ran one season and is considered a classic, and I think it's one season is far superior to shows that ran multiple seasons like Full House and Family Matters.

[king of comedy]

Step by Step was better.

[gidgetgrape]

Originally Posted by DJM77

Five seasons isn't a short run. There are a lot of shows that didn't last as long as that but are also considered classics.

I agree. Five seasons is a respectable run. Traditionally, TV shows went into syndication after 100 episodes and The Brady Bunch had 117 total. We're talking about a show that is and will probably always be a cultural phenomenon.

The original series has spawn other TV shows, a cartoon, a reality show, multiple movies and most recently a Snickers commercial. You can say
"Marsha, Marsha, Marsha" and "Oh, my nose!" in places all over the world and people will know what you are talking about. Similarly, the original Star Trek series only had 79 episodes when it went into syndication and you'd have to live under a very large rock to not know something about that show even if you've never seen it.

[TMC]

http://screenrant.com/tv-shows-kids-...ly-bad-sucked/

As one of the many shows in ABC’S TGIF block, Step by Step had all the heart and schmaltz you’d expect. Functioning as an updated version of The Brady Bunch, the series starred recognizable faces Suzanne Somers of Three’s Company and Patrick Duffy of Dallas as a recently married couple with a blended family of six.

Yet unlike its spiritual predecessor, or any of the other TGIF mainstays such as Full House, Family Matters, and Boy Meets World, the series fails to provide any storylines or characters worth gravitating toward besides the comic relief nephew, the hopelessly wacky surfer boy Cody. The characters were flat and the plots were recycled, and even worse, countless cast and plot changes made the series hard to invest in for the long term, even though both ABC and CBS would invest in the series for seven long seasons and 160 episodes.

Alongside series that became instantly iconic for creating sensations like the Olsen Twins, Steve Urkel, and Cory and Topanga, Step by Step just couldn’t keep up.

[tlc38tlc38]

Originally Posted by TMC

http://screenrant.com/tv-shows-kids-...ly-bad-sucked/

Completely disagree with that article. SBS is just as good as the other TGIF shows...even better than some.