The original Brady Bunch (1969-74) was a corny, cheesy, innocent sitcom of the 1970s, and that's precisely why it was so well-loved and still is, so many decades later. That was it's charm, and the escape it provided to viewers dealing with mundane problems of the world. The producers of the Brady Bunch Movie (1995), and A Very Brady Sequel (1996) understood this and made two unforgettable films.
The Brady kids in 1974 wanted to introduce lots of ridiculous plots into the next season, such as Peter becoming homeless, Jan gets wooed by a European Prince, Cindy gets a pet horse. And they were going to sack Robert Reed, make him divorce Carol Brady, have Mr Brady's brother move in with the family. Fortunately the series got canned before this happened.
The original series was followed by a cringeworthy variety show (1977) good for a laugh, but a very Brady thing to do. Then there was the Brady Brides and A Very Brady Christmas in the 1980s that still maintained the original charm and corniness we loved so much. That's where it should have ended on a high note.
Instead, tv decided to change a comedy sitcom into a serious drama. They changed 9 main characters into over 20. They turned the lovable innocent Brady's into a dysfunctional family: Marcia is an alcoholic with her loser husband and they struggle with homelessness; Bobby gets crippled; Alice suffers dementia, Mike turns into a politician and Peter is a womaniser. How depressing.
It's as if the producers were embarrassed by the original series and wanted to show how hip they were with the 1990s. All they did was ruin everything we loved about the original series so it looked and felt wrong. Even the cast made fun of this series on set and couldn't take it seriously. Changing a comedy into a melodrama was the worst mistake ever - especially for a show like the Brady Bunch.
The Brady kids in 1974 wanted to introduce lots of ridiculous plots into the next season, such as Peter becoming homeless, Jan gets wooed by a European Prince, Cindy gets a pet horse. And they were going to sack Robert Reed, make him divorce Carol Brady, have Mr Brady's brother move in with the family. Fortunately the series got canned before this happened.
The original series was followed by a cringeworthy variety show (1977) good for a laugh, but a very Brady thing to do. Then there was the Brady Brides and A Very Brady Christmas in the 1980s that still maintained the original charm and corniness we loved so much. That's where it should have ended on a high note.
Instead, tv decided to change a comedy sitcom into a serious drama. They changed 9 main characters into over 20. They turned the lovable innocent Brady's into a dysfunctional family: Marcia is an alcoholic with her loser husband and they struggle with homelessness; Bobby gets crippled; Alice suffers dementia, Mike turns into a politician and Peter is a womaniser. How depressing.
It's as if the producers were embarrassed by the original series and wanted to show how hip they were with the 1990s. All they did was ruin everything we loved about the original series so it looked and felt wrong. Even the cast made fun of this series on set and couldn't take it seriously. Changing a comedy into a melodrama was the worst mistake ever - especially for a show like the Brady Bunch.