When Mike and Carol met, Mike Brady was a widow. Carol Brady’s former status was never revealed. However, during the Honeymoon episode, Carol Brady’s former name was revealed to be Carol Tyler.
When she married Mike, she changed her name to Carol Martin. This supports the theory that she was a divorcee and not a widower like her new husband.
Searching for the Perfect Children
Casting characters on a TV show is never easy. When thousands of actors show up to audition, it can be difficult to know what is the best choice to make. Well the producer and creator of the show, Sherwood Schwartz was definitely no stranger to the struggle. For the cast of The Brady Bunch, it was important for him to find actors that bore a resemblance, considering that they were to play siblings in the show.
Making a show seem realistic to the audience is very important. To find the perfect fit, Sherwood auditioned over 464 boys and girls. It was also important for him to find kids who would be able to endure the challenges of spending long hours on set, filming. During auditions, he placed toys on his desk to filter out the children who became distracted by the toys. He ultimately found the best kids to play the Brady children.
The D-Word
Do you know a 7 letter word that is even worse than the F or S swear words? Well, in the decade that the Brady Bunch was filmed, DIVORCE was about as taboo as it gets. As a result, the network didn’t allow Schwartz to cast Carol as a divorcée.
While it was never made clear what Carol’s status was, she is thought to have been a widower, similar to Mike whose wife passed away. Schwartz wasn’t happy about the network’s decision, so he never mentioned her deceased husband during the series.
Many Widowed Parents
In the late 60s and early 70s, several TV shows centered around widowed parents. The Brady Bunch did the same, although they took it a bit to the extreme, so much that they were criticized for this. For each parent to have a set of three children, one with all boys and one with all girls already seems like a bit of an exaggeration. The show took this even further when everyone seemed to accept one another as family members and lacking was the resentment which is typically involved in blended families.
Although the children were ambivalent at the beginning, once the family was living all together, there weren’t any conflicts involved and the family lived “happily ever after.” Also quite excessive is the fact that all of the children call both Carol and Mike mom and dad from the get-go.
Cindy and Bobby Had a Crush on Each Other
Although Cindy and Bobby were step-siblings on the show, their real-life selves were into each other in a way that a step-brother and sister are typically not, but nine-year-old kids are. According to Susan Olsen, things got hot and heavy between her and Mike Lookinland.
Think, kissing sessions in Tiger’s doghouse. To call it a heavy heated make-out session would be a bit much, considering their young age.