The Brady Bunch
 A mother with three daughters by one marriage (it was never
specified if she was divorced or widowed) marries a widower with
three boys, a housekeeper and a dog.
The first season focused on the newly blended family and the
conflicts that arose from the merge.
After that, the remaining
years were about the daily lives of a wholesome, but large, family
with plotlines familiar to anyone growing up in white, suburban,
upper middle-class America.
The show seemed to have a special formula for finding a 22
minute solution to miniscule yet melodramatic problems.
The Brady Bunch was one of the last of the American shows full
of well-kept kids, trivial adventures and hopelessly middle-class
parents.
The instant family was formed by Carol - with three daughters;
Marcia, angst-ridden Jan and Cindy - marrying architect Mike Brady,
a widower with three sons; Greg (pictured below left), Peter and Bobby.
 The first choice to play Mike Brady was none other than Gene
Hackman ("Hi Honey! Popeye's home!").
The family was completed with Alice the wacky spinster
housekeeper and Tiger, the family dog. They all lived in a grand
house (four-bedrooms & two-bathrooms) at 4222 Clinton Way, San Fernando Valley, California.
Every single person in the western world knows the Brady
family. We watched them grow up and grew up with them. We were
there when they had their first dates, when Jan got her glasses -
and broke them - and Marcia got her braces.
We were there when Peter dressed up as a Sunflower Girl to sell
cookies after losing a bet, and when Bobby realized he was the
only Brady without a trophy and lost the plot.
We shared their
laughter and their tears (and their holidays to the Grand Canyon
and Hawaii).
 As a small boy I was madly in love with Marcia
(pictured at right). I once told a girl in my high school that she reminded
me of Marcia Brady - which was meant to be a compliment. She hit
me in the head with a pencil case (So she must have liked me).
As I grew older I became more enamoured of Carol Brady instead,
and from time to time as she grew older, of Cindy (pictured
below). For a while I also thought Alice was really a man . .
.
Stories revolved around going steady, competition for the
telephone, family camping trips and war over who was going to use
the bathroom!
The episodes always had some moral story to tell (like when
Peter wouldn't own up to breaking Carol's favourite vase
("Mom always says, 'don't play ball in the house') and all
the other kids are punished for covering up for him.
Numerous guest celebrities appeared on the show to help the
kids with projects or schemes they had cooked up. Who can forget
the episodes with Davey Jones of The Monkees and Joe Namath?
 The kids ranged in age from 7 to 14 at the series start, and
the oldest son, Greg, soon became a real-life teen idol. Actor
Barry Williams was receiving over 6,000 fan letters per week
during 1971 (more than Johnny Bravo ever did!)
He and most of the other kids tried to turn their huge TV
success into recording careers in the early 1970s, but to no
avail.
They were infinitely more successful as The Bradys on the
talent shows they entered in the show.
The
Brady family have become big (make that HUGE) business . . .
In
addition to a Brady Bunch Saturday morning cartoon (The Brady
Kids), there was The Brady Bunch Variety Hour, The
Brady Brides, A Very Brady Christmas and The Bradys.
Additionally, there have been two successful feature film
send-ups of the series (The Brady Bunch Movie and A Very
Brady Sequel) and a stage show called The Real Live Brady
Bunch.
A short-lived spin-off made it to the air, albeit in concept
only. Twice, in fact. A Brady Bunch episode entitled Kelly's
Kids aired in January 1974, with Brady neighbours Ken (Ken
Berry) and Kathy Kelly (Brooke Bundy) adopting orphaned Matthew
(Brady cast member Mike Lookinland's brother Todd).
 They then adopt his Asian pal Steve (Carey Wong) and black
friend Dwayne (William Attmore II).
All was set for a successful series based on the tried-and-true
Brady formula of an alternative family living
and loving. Then it didn't happen.
Brady creator Sherwood Schwartz did eventually manage to get a
show based on that set-up, Together We Stand, on CBS's
schedule in the fall of 1986.
Elliott Gould played a former Portland Trail Blazers coach who,
together with wife Dee Wallace Stone, headed a household of one
natural son and three ethnically diverse adoptees.
After a brief time jumping around the network grid, the show
left the air until February, when it returned as Nothing Is
Easy.
This time around, Gould was nowhere in sight and Wallace Stone
was a widow. The show was gone by the end of April.
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