Why did the show start to try to negate the fact that they were a blended family - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC · 10-03-2019, 03:24 AM

Like there may have been episodes towards the end where they'd speak as if Carol and Mike were the birth parents of all the kids.

Tankeryanker · 10-09-2019, 03:12 PM

I noticed that the first few episodes showed the kids sort of losing their first family identity. Then by the fifth or sixth episode, it was like they were always one family. It bothers me that they wrote it that way.

Smartboy · 10-09-2019, 11:05 PM

I think they were trying to make the point that, your family is your family and that it does not matter whether the other members of the family are related to you by blood, adoption, marriage or whatever. They are all still members of your family.

TSMIV · 10-09-2019, 11:31 PM

I always wanted to know why the girls used the name Brady? They had a father. Where was he? I know Mike was supposed to be a widower, but Carol was a divorcee, right? I liked this show as kid, but even 9 year old me knew it was syrupy and cloying.

Wawwie · 10-09-2019, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TSMIV

I always wanted to know why the girls used the name Brady? They had a father. Where was he? I know Mike was supposed to be a widower, but Carol was a divorcee, right? I liked this show as kid, but even 9 year old me knew it was syrupy and cloying.

Also, the bio dad would have to give Mike his permission to legally adopt his kids and give them his last name. So maybe the bio dad was some kind of deadbeat loser who didn't want to pay child support. So he relinquished his parental rights and gave them to Mike.

Tankeryanker · 10-10-2019, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wawwie

Also, the bio dad would have to give Mike his permission to legally adopt his kids and give them his last name. So maybe the bio dad was some kind of deadbeat loser who didn't want to pay child support. So he relinquished his parental rights and gave them to Mike.

Carol would not have ever married someone like that and she was college-educated and her first husband would have been too.

Tankeryanker · 10-10-2019, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smartboy

I think they were trying to make the point that, your family is your family and that it does not matter whether the other members of the family are related to you by blood, adoption, marriage or whatever. They are all still members of your family.

Except that the kids did still want their first family and adoptees do too. Nobody wants to lose their family. The writers were very calloused the way they wrote it.

It was okay for Bobbie to want his mother in the first episode, but she was gone after that. Out with the old and in with the new.

Wawwie · 10-10-2019, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tankeryanker

Carol would not have ever married someone like that and she was college-educated and her first husband would have been too.

What does being college educated have to do with being a bad parent? The only way that the girls could be legally adopted by Mike is if the bio dad gave up his parental rights and allowed Mike to become the legal father.

Wawwie · 10-10-2019, 08:16 PM

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Originally Posted by Tankeryanker

Carol would not have ever married someone like that and she was college-educated and her first husband would have been too.

Apparently, she did.

Tankeryanker · 10-10-2019, 08:53 PM

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Originally Posted by Wawwie

Apparently, she did.

PROOF?
Anything and everything would be speculation as the show doesn't say. However, child support did not start being garnished until 1988, well past the marriage of Mike and Carol.

If Carol's husband (you say ex but could be a death as well) was such a jerk, why would Carol keep having kids with him? I get that some women are dense and slow to figure things out, but Carol did not seem the type.

Wawwie · 10-11-2019, 01:22 PM

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Originally Posted by Tankeryanker

PROOF?

The proof is that Mike was allowed to legally adopt Carol's children. He would not be allowed to do that unless the bio dad gave his permission.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tankeryanker

I get that some women are dense and slow to figure things out, but Carol did not seem the type.

That's speculation on your part.

rcbrad · 10-11-2019, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smartboy

I think they were trying to make the point that, your family is your family and that it does not matter whether the other members of the family are related to you by blood, adoption, marriage or whatever. They are all still members of your family.

Yes, this is what I was thinking too. (Families are Families no matter how they come to be or what they are made up of)

I also wanted to add to the overall conversation in this thread, that it was never stated if Carol was a widow or a divorcee.

Also, things were very different fifty years ago. Blended families were much less common as they are today.

icecream · 10-11-2019, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rcbrad

I also wanted to add to the overall conversation in this thread, that it was never stated if Carol was a widow or a divorcee.

Exactly! So many presume Carol was divorced, but I don't remember the show ever mentioning it. If Carol was widowed there wouldn't be much of an issue with the girls all changing to the Brady name or Mike adopting them. And with the squeaky clean image of The Brady Bunch, Carol being widowed makes a lot more sense than divorced.

Wawwie · 10-11-2019, 08:25 PM

While Mike Brady is depicted as being a widower, Sherwood Schwartz (creator) originally wanted the character of Carol Brady to have been a divorcée, but the network objected to this. A compromise was reached whereby Carol's marital status (whether she was divorced or widowed) was never directly revealed.

icecream · 10-11-2019, 08:57 PM

So Carol's divorce was all in the creator's head, not in the actual show. With the network overruling and saying no to that theory, it effectively made Carol look like a widower, even if widow wasn't specifically mentioned. That's better than a living father who didn't care about his girls at all.

10-03-2019, 03:24 AM	#1
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 124,896	Why did the show start to try to negate the fact that they were a blended family Like there may have been episodes towards the end where they'd speak as if Carol and Mike were the birth parents of all the kids.

10-09-2019, 03:12 PM	#2
Tankeryanker Do you like my monkey picture? Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Dec 22, 2014 Posts: 3,043	I noticed that the first few episodes showed the kids sort of losing their first family identity. Then by the fifth or sixth episode, it was like they were always one family. It bothers me that they wrote it that way.

10-09-2019, 11:05 PM	#3
Smartboy Member Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 06, 2007 Location: South Orange, NJ Posts: 4,231	I think they were trying to make the point that, your family is your family and that it does not matter whether the other members of the family are related to you by blood, adoption, marriage or whatever. They are all still members of your family.

10-09-2019, 11:31 PM	#4
TSMIV Member Forum Regular Join Date: Dec 29, 2018 Location: Arkansas Posts: 695	I always wanted to know why the girls used the name Brady? They had a father. Where was he? I know Mike was supposed to be a widower, but Carol was a divorcee, right? I liked this show as kid, but even 9 year old me knew it was syrupy and cloying.

10-11-2019, 08:25 PM	#14
Wawwie Member Forum Star Join Date: Jul 26, 2006 Location: New York Posts: 14,376	While Mike Brady is depicted as being a widower, Sherwood Schwartz (creator) originally wanted the character of Carol Brady to have been a divorcée, but the network objected to this. A compromise was reached whereby Carol's marital status (whether she was divorced or widowed) was never directly revealed.

10-11-2019, 08:57 PM	#15
icecream Cat-tastic and Whiskerlicious Forum Celebrity Join Date: Sep 01, 2006 Location: The Catacombs Posts: 20,637	So Carol's divorce was all in the creator's head, not in the actual show. With the network overruling and saying no to that theory, it effectively made Carol look like a widower, even if widow wasn't specifically mentioned. That's better than a living father who didn't care about his girls at all.