Suzanne Somers explains the difference between 'Step by Step' and 'The Brady Bunch'

[RetroGuy2000]

Suzanne Somers explains the big difference between 'Step by Step' and 'The Brady Bunch': 'Carol Brady never had sex'

They may share a first name, blond hairdos and a blended family domestic situation, but The Brady Bunch's Carol Brady (played by Florence Henderson) and Step by Step's Carol Foster are distinguished by one key trait.

"Carol Brady never had sex, that we know of," says Step by Step's Suzanne Somers, who played Carol Foster opposite Patrick Duffy's Frank Lambert in the popular ABC sitcom, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this month. "There were a bunch of kids, but I don't know how she had them! Frank and Carol ... were a very sexy couple. The whole show was about trying to get laid, but a kid always walked in the room." (Watch our video interview above.)

When Step by Step premiered in 1991, critics certainly noted its resemblance to the classic '60s family sitcom... often in harsh terms. ("The nitwit's Brady Bunch" read one negative review.) Like Carol and Mike before them, Carol and Frank find new love after previous marriages and decide to get hitched, bringing their respective brood of kids along for the ride. Despite mixed reviews, the show caught on with audiences and ran for six seasons as part of ABC's popular "TGIF" lineup, which also included Family Mattersand Boy Meets World. (Step by Step's seventh and final season aired on CBS from 1997 to 1998.) And Somers believes that popularity was due to how the writers brought The Brady Bunch concept of blended families into the present day.

Full article:

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/suzanne-somers-difference-step-by-step-the-brady-bunch-161936530.html

[JO Sweet Heart]

I never compared the two shows and maybe its because I never once watched The Brady Bunch. It only went for five seasons and so what it is that makes it so popular when plenty of other shows over the years were able to go way longer?

God bless you always!!!

Holly

[irehtman]

Forget Brady Bunch, that show was a too rowdy. This show is alright.

[Furienna]

I'm sorry, but I think I can assume that somebody who has three kids had sex.
Not that I really watched "Brady Bunch", but I know that it belongs to a different era.
The writers back then weren't free to talk about sex in family sitcoms.
It would be much different in the '90s, when "Step by Step" was made.
By then, there could be discussions about sex and references to sex in the TGIF sitcoms.
At least I think the parents on "Brady Bunch" were shown to share a bed?
That would have been taboo even for married couples in even earlier sitcoms.