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.
What’s in a Name?
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.
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.
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.
Not in Front of the Children
Despite 8 visible smiles in the show’s opening credits, behind the scenes, drama was constantly brewing between cast and crew members. Apparently, Robert Reed was known to cause quite the ruckus on set. This was partially due to the fact that he felt like the show was getting more and more out of line with each new episode. A declining quality sometimes happens with TV shows as they go on. Although Reed played a good dad to the children both on and off the screen, Sherwood would have some less than positive things to say about him.
The two constantly butted heads, so much that Schwartz didn’t even include him in the final episode of the show. But, you could say that Reed asked to get the boot. Reed had become so fed up with the show’s quality and silly plots, and was appalled by the show’s final episode. He demanded that Schwartz rewrite the final scene. Instead of rewriting, Schwartz simply cut him from the scene. Well, Reed being Reed, he showed up for the filming of the scene anyways and Schwartz kicked him off the set so as not to have a showdown in front of the children.