The Brady Bunch (1969–1974) User Reviews

Light hearted misadventures of an idealized Big Happy Family

[roghache · 7/10 · 9 June 2006]

This is a sitcom from the 1970's that is based on an unlikely premise but nevertheless makes good family viewing...fun, heartwarming, and entertaining escapist drivel. The story revolves around a blended family originating when the widowed California architect, Mike Brady, marries a lovely lady, Carol, who is herself a single mom raising three daughters. Mike's three boys, Greg, Peter, & Bobby, originally range in age from 7 to 13. Carol's girls, Marcia, Jan, & Cindy, vary from age 6 to 12. By the series' end all the kids are basically teenagers. Meanwhile, the six offspring in this new combined family together experience assorted growing up trials, sibling rivalry, school issues, dating woes, and family vacations. Also included in the Brady family is their comical live-in housekeeper named Alice.

Of course it isn't exactly a likely scenario, the blending of so many children (including teenagers) more probably fraught with major serious challenges. Here the family is both relatively affluent and very functional, with any difficulties quite trivial and always amusingly solved within the half hour. Not only do these six kids have a stay at home mom but also the benefit of the affable & amusing Alice to help sort things out for them. Furthermore, the former spouses prove to be no problem. The boys experience no prolonged grief for their birth mother, Mike's first wife. It isn't clear whether Carol is divorced but in any case, her first husband seems conveniently out of the picture. The kids immediately assume all appropriate parental and fraternal bonds with their step people.

However, the show's essential positive values more than compensate for all these inadequacies, with sitcoms generally not intended to be unduly realistic anyway. True, the Bradys live a prosperous California lifestyle in a Los Angeles suburb, the parents are invariably patient and caring, and the kids sometimes even get to choose their own punishments. Nevertheless, these Brady kids are respectful of their parents, who are assumed to know more than their children (not the reverse). They are disciplined when they go astray, taught concepts of right and wrong, and generally expected to live up to them. All in sharp contrast to prevailing modern TV standards.

I haven't really watched the show in re runs though would still tune in now and then, if given the opportunity. Therefore it's been awhile, so I don't recall many specific episodes. The Bradys are definitely an idealized average American middle class family. However, it's a carefree, innocent, and light hearted program, improbable but with good values.

my latchkey youth

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 29 January 2021]

Mike Brady (Robert Reed) marries Carol Martin (Florence Henderson). He has three sons, Greg (Barry Williams), Peter (Christopher Knight), and Bobby (Mike Lookinland). She has three daughters: Marcia (Maureen McCormick), Jan (Eve Plumb), and Cindy (Susan Olsen). In addition, they have housekeeper Alice Nelson (Ann B. Davis).

I watched the reruns as a latchkey kid. It is silly. It is light weight. It is my youth. There are some great classic moments. Moments that are so iconic that some have become cultural. Is the show actually any good? It's good enough. It wasn't critically acclaimed during its day but more important than that, it is now beloved by multiple generations who saw it in syndication. Someone describes it as the "Full House" of its day. Quite frankly, Disney has made a whole TV network on the back of shows like it. Disney isn't the only one either. In a way, it is the blueprint for a whole genre of TV.

Great innocent fun

[fantasyislander65 · 8/10 · 3 January 2009]

I'm gonna say this straight out: "The Brady Bunch" is one of my three all-time favorite TV shows. Don't like it? Go somewhere else.

My father was actually quite a bit like Mike Brady, in mannerisms and in his (usual) patience dealing with me and my brother growing up. Robert Reed may have hated the role with every fiber of his being, but he played Mike with total professionalism while the cameras were running. The problems he had with the show were many, but he kept them all behind the scenes. Why else would America have been so shocked around 1991 when he admitted he couldn't stand the show or his part in it? I wanted Cindy for a sister and I wanted my hair to look like Marcia's. Maureen McCormick and Susan Olsen are my two favorite players in the series. And there were plenty of occasions when I'd have gladly traded my brother for any one of the three Brady boys, especially either Greg or Peter. I myself was probably most like Jan, feeling invisible and confused about her place within the family and, maybe, in life.

For every fan of the Bunch, there are 20 people who like to sneer and make fun of them. That merely goes to prove they just don't get it. These are probably the same people who hang breathlessly on every second of "Fear Factor" and anything Ashton Kutcher was in. (The only thing truly 70s about "That 70s Show" was the set decor -- take it from someone who grew up in the 70s.) Contrary to one comment, there are indeed laughs to be had in this series. In "A Clubhouse is Not a Home", the six kids act exactly the way real-life siblings would act, and that very realism is the source of those laughs -- "Hey, we acted like that too!" And there are hilarious moments in "Peter and the Wolf", where Peter tries to act older than he is and is trying out a fake mustache in the bathroom. He finally lets Jan and Cindy in, informing them he was shaving. Jan's response: "What, your legs??" A great line.

This show is classic Americana. I refuse to watch any of the annoying junk on today's prime-time schedule. The shows I grew up with are much more appealing to me.

One of my favorite sitcoms in the 1970's!!!a cult classic!!

[Doc_Who · 9 October 1999]

This is one of my favorite shows from the 1970's.You know the words, the people , the outragous situations! I love the Brady Bunch because I could often relate to the problems the brady bunch faced!I am the 8 of 11 children. So I could easliy relate to them . Of course the show was not without controveries. Most of the brady bunch actors have gone to other things!my favorite brady are florence hendersen (mom brady ) and barry williams. Of course I love all the brady bunch actors!!If you can relate to this show , you will love the videos and reruns!!BTW, this show is now reaching cult status!!Pretty cool for a OK family show from the 1970's!!It also was made into two big screen movies in the 1990's!!

Came Out The Right Decade

[coreycitn63 · 7/10 · 10 October 2021]

The Brady Bunch came out the right decade. The Brady Bunch would have been unaccepted 10 years earlier at the end of the Eisenhower era cause it was about a blended family. It would be laughed and dismissed as anachronistic 10 years later. The reason The Brady Bunch came out was because it was The Vietnam War and it was escape TV from the realities of the time period. As the seasons gone by it was being overshadowed by the Norman Lear shows.

Old time classic

[ringbyme · 7/10 · 12 November 2020]

Family favourite as a child. Marcia was my childhood crush and role model.

Heavily Flawed, But Beyond Irresistible! This is the kind of family everybody always wanted.

[Movie-ManDan · 10/10 · 19 February 2017]

The Brady Bunch has always been one of my favourite shows. Being heavily influenced by styles from the 60s and 70s, I don't think I will ever grow out of it. But there are so many other things that can contribute to someone not liking it. Anything bad that this show has is part of its charm.

If I'm not mistaken, The Brady Bunch was the first show about a blended family. A man named Mike Brady (Robert Reed) has three sons: Greg, Peter, and Bobby (Barry Williams, Christopher Knight, Mike Lookinland). He marries a lovely lady named Carol bringing three very lovely girls--who have hair of gold like their mother: Marcia, Jan, and Cindy (Maureen McCormick, Eve Plumb, Susan Olsen). Also moving into the Brady house is Mike's housekeeper Alice Nelson (Ann B. Davis) who has worked for him since his wife died. They are one big happy family.

Like any family sitcom, its main area of expertise is sibling rivalry. Six kids are bound to get on each other's nerves. It also deals with other traditional formulas such as smoking, running away, egos, and that's about it in terms of serious issues. The show never really showed any true dangers of serious issues. There have been a few when the family takes vacations, but that doesn't count issues that ordinary kids face. But whatever, the episodes in their place are good enough. And the more serious episodes are like older James Bond and John Wayne stuff.

Aside from the lack of social issues, what other problems does this show have? People like to nitpick at its little things, but those are too noticeable not to poke fun at. For instance, the house has only one bathroom for nine people and there is not a toilet. Then there's their dog called Tiger. He was gradually faded out from the show, but his doghouse stayed. I read that the dog was in a car accident and they tried one episode with a replacement dog but the people on set found the switch to be too noticeable. Why not use this in an episode? A death of a pet could have worked well. But perhaps the biggest flack people give this is how happy the family is. They always throw words around like "swell" and "nifty." Nobody is ever really angry. Sometimes the kids get all fired up (especially in the first season which became super annoying) but nothing even Happy Days handled.

The perfect family may not be realistic, but it was certainly charming beyond belief. The world is full of misery, so The Brady Bunch provided the perfect getaway for people that didn't have the most loving family in the world. There was so much love that you couldn't NOT rewatch the show. Then there's the groovy styles in fashion and music that are far out. Everybody must remember songs like "Sunshine Day" and "Keep On." It just adds to a wonderful show.

The Brady Bunch spawned s few spinoffs and movies. The spinoffs sucked but the movies were good (well, just the first two). The movies poke fun at what fans secretly thought for years. Does that diminish the show's quality? Not at all. It just gives some more things to laugh at.

Say what you will... people still

[MarieGabrielle · 7/10 · 31 October 2006]

remember this series, created by Sherwood Schwartz. Yes, it is silly, yes Carol and Mike have the perfect marriage (that no one has) and perfect kids who screw up, but learn a value lesson from their mistakes.

I remember as a kid, watching this and my Dad laughing: "How come Mike Brady never works?", (lol); that is so true- no families were like this; BUT that is why people liked watching it.

Carol Brady (Florence Henderson) is a bit too plastic, but always comes through for the kids. Jan is annoying, Peter was humorous, Marcia and and Greg as the oldest provided more interesting plot points. People grew up relating to the characters, or they wouldn't have made the 1988 "Very Brady Christmas".

One favorite episode is the trip to Hawaii. It was a big trip for the Brady family, and American kids wanted to follow suit, take a trip to Hawaii and get lost in the tiki cave- chased by Vincent Price.

It is good clean fun that kids used to watch- for a seven year old, I would rather have them watch this than some reality trash. At least this series was made before the more jaded era we are in now; and young kids still enjoy this show. Notably, Sherwood Schwartz once commented that he created this show with the 1970's American family in mind. Divorce was on the rise, and this show was merely wish-fulfillment. Interesting.

Brady is an emotion. Good or bad is up to you.

[ruinously · 9/10 · 12 March 2005]

I was born four years after "The Brady Bunch" went off the air, so I have no clue how people felt about it when it was actually on prime time television. But as a child growing up in the 1980s, watching "The Brady Bunch" in the afternoon was always fun. I think this is one of the most feel-good shows of all time.

It is obvious "The Brady Bunch" is not based on reality. If a false view of the world turns you off, this show will not entertain you. No family is this perfect, and the problems that came up were usually very trivial 90 percent of the time. Yet any show that portrays family life as this great should be thanked in some way.

The characters and the actors that play them are all great. How can you not like the young Brady brood? How can you not see the greatest aspects of your own parents in Carol and Mike? It just can not be done. The greatest roles for me personally were Bobby, Greg, Alice, Mike, Carol and Marcia.

My personally favorite episode is the one where the family goes to King Cove amusement park in Ohio and Jan loses Mike's plans. I just find the aspect of a California family going to Ohio for a vacation as delicious.

I have been watching reruns of "The Brady Bunch" for almost twenty years. This is in my top ten television shows of all time. Only a few episodes turn me off (less then 5 percent) and most of them actually make me feel very good. I will continue to watch "The Brady Bunch" and consider it one of the greatest products of television, America and Earth.

Classic Family, Comedy, Drama

[etmahoneyiv · 7/10 · 26 May 2022]

Great show a lot cleaner than today's TV. They do tease people about acting like a girl. There are also a few references to sex, but they'll probably go over their heads. A character does say the word sex, when he says, I think your mom has a problem with discussing sex. Also "the birds and the bees" are mentioned. There is a beach episode where there are women in skimpy bikinis. One time Greg comes up to a girl sitting on the beach and puts sunscreen on her bare shoulders. A lot of sibling rivalry. But it is still a great show and is a classic. All of the characters have a moral compass and usually try do to what's right.

With Apologies to Alice

[hilda-10 · 2/10 · 6 February 2007]

The Brady Bunch is one of the best examples of "visual clutter" on the air that I have ever seen. I was in high school when this show came out. I couldn't stand it then, and I can't stand it now. Everything about it is phony, pat and artificial- the acting, dialogue, situations, premise, etc. If the producers had spent most of the time focusing on Alice, then I would have watched it- especially if she could have found a way to have the family committed to the local laughing academy, so she could have the house and the show all to herself.... Oh well, at least I can dream.....

I would watch Little House on the Prairie any day of the week over this dreck.

Alice, you were the best part of the show.

The best family sitcom

[jaybabb · 10/10 · 19 June 2006]

The Brady Bunch is a blended family. A lady with 3 girls meets a Man who has 3 boys. They fall in love, get married. This is how they became the Brady Bunch.

Mike Brady(Robert Reed)is an Architect and Carol(Florence Henderson) is a homemaker, and Ann B. Davis plays Alice-the Bradys housekeeper. These are the 3 adults who are in charge of brining up the 6 kids listed below: The boys- Greg(Barry Williams) Peter(Christopher Knight) Bobby(Mike Lookinland) The girls- Marcia(Maureen McCormick) Jan(Eve Plumb) Cindy(Susan Olsen)

Each one of the kids in this show takes turns as lead in an episode. I will be writing reviews for several individual episodes within the coming weeks-but for now I have General thoughts on the whole series.

1. I gave this show a 10 rating because of it's positive outlook on life. The values that this show puts forth is a wonderful thing because they are lacking in todays shows. Some of these include: -Discipline-when one of the kids do something wrong-they are taught that it's wrong. -Work-the kids are taught that "Your allowance is only earned-not a hand out. -Respect-the kids are taught to respect their parents and each other. This is one of the few shows that has parents knowing more than the kids-not the other way around. These are a few of the things that I like about this show.

2. This is not a perfect show. It is not 100% realistic. Here are some things about the Brady bunch that is not Realistic: A. The rosy view it paints of a blended family. The reality is that Blending a family is often fraught with challenges. B. In a blended family, The kids of the mother Do not call the father Daddy and the kids of the father do not call the mother Mom. They usually refer to them by their first names. C. No family who has a stay at home Mother has a live in maid. If Carol was a working mom, then that would be different.

Conclusion: This is TV. And no TV show is ever going to be 100% realistic. This is something that always needs to be remembered. I also feel that some of the user comments are unfair to the Brady Bunch. I think That they criticize this show because they don't like the family values that are well represented in the Brady Bunch. They hate to be told the difference between right and wrong. They don't want to be told the truth such as "There's such a thing called the power of the press-and with the use of that power comes responsibility" (this is only 1 example)

This show went on for 5 seasons-and I AM SO GLAD that they are all on DVD for years of enjoyment. While it is still on TV, On DVD-you get the whole uncut episodes.

God Bless,

Jay

PS: You can access my reviews on individual episodes by clicking on the season links on the main page of the Brady Bunch at IMDb.

This Group Would Somehow Form A Family

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 8 April 2009]

I think it's ironic as all get out that just when the anti-war movement was at its height and kids all over the nation were doing all kinds of experimentation with drugs that on television we managed to find solace in the gentle G-rated adventures of a blended family that was called The Brady Bunch.

In true paternal style the man with the three boys named Brady wed the woman whose name I can't recall, but Florence Henderson and her girls became Bradys just like Robert Reed's boys. In fact it was hard to remember that they weren't biological Bradys.

The anti-war movement, Civil Rights, gay rights (Stonewall happened the year of The Brady Bunch Debut) was something that was never mentioned on the show. Sports got into things occasionally, Joe Namath from football and Don Drysdale from baseball got some guest starring roles as themselves.

The Bradys did dress in the latest fashion though. I do remember those bell bottoms that I wish I could get into now. Barry Williams as Greg Brady wore them with style. He was quite the teen heartthrob during the run of the show.

The shows hearkened back to Leave It To Beaver with Robert Reed as the all knowing dad. You did get the feeling unlike Hugh Beaumont and Barbara Billingsley, Reed and Henderson did have a sex life. Some concession to the times.

The shows were positively antiseptic. Barry Williams chasing after this that or the other girl, Cindy not being a tattle tale, Peter's voice changing, and the tag line that the show got known for, middle girl Jan's jealousy of older sister Marcia, with that cry of 'Marcia Marcia Marcia'.

Later on it came out that all American dad Robert Reed was gay after of course he died of AIDS. In the community that was pretty well known, a friend of mine recalls meeting Reed at a gay bar in New York City during the Seventies. The cast and crew of The Brady Bunch knew it too, but as Barry Williams points out in his memoirs, they didn't care, he was accepted as an artist and a human being. That was a concession to Stonewall that we didn't know about until later.

Blended families are still fodder for situation comedies like Step By Step and Life With Derek. Those have a bit more bite to them than the ever loving Bradys. Still those kids still looked real good and I did so like Barry Williams back in the day.

Banal Show That Has Nothing To Do With a Real Family in America During the 1970's--Eve Plumb as Jan Only StandOut

[classicalsteve · 3/10 · 30 November 2009]

The idea that "The Brady Bunch" portrayed a "realistic" suburban family has its roots in TV fantasy-land, similar to the silliness of "Happy Days" and "Leave It to Beaver". Most of the situations in this show were ridiculous contrivances that had little basis in reality whatsoever. The seed of the show was conceived from a newspaper article stating that something like 40% of families had children from other marriages. I guess if you can take a statistic and make it into a TV show, you can do anything. You can also throw spaghetti against the wall and hope it sticks.

The shortcoming of the entire show was that the writer-producers did not seem to base any of the episodes upon real-life incidences, which is where the real human drama resides, and where some of the funniest material comes from. I have always believed the best story material can't be made up; it comes from seeing real people doing ridiculous things you could never imagine. That's why shows like the Dick Van Dyke Show are so well-written and ultimately hilarious because it was based on the writers' experiences. Even the Partridge Family was based on a real-life singing family. Not the Brady Bunch whose scripts were strictly drummed out of thin air, which is always the least effective way to write if the intention is to be "realistic".

The contrived situations seemed at odds with the issues with which young people were facing in the late 1960's and early 1970's. For a time resplendent with social issues and social change, the Brady Bunch relied on the banal. (In fact, the father of the show played by Robert Reed was an in-closet gay man. Wouldn't that have made the show interesting?) But no, the Brady's situations were mainly trivial. Playing ball in the house. Bobby is falsely accused of doll-napping. Cindy makes it a habit to tattle-tale. Rather silly stuff. They never dealt with death, prejudice, love, hate, race relations, or politics.

I was slightly younger than the Brady Bunch kids (I grew up in the SF Bay Area suburbs in the 1970's and 1980's), and yet I never knew anyone who had the kinds of "situations" that the Brady's did. I'll confess that I did watch the show in reruns, but there were a lot of episodes that, even as a kid, I thought were rather stupid. One of the kids having an "identity crisis" was a recurring theme throughout the show. I never knew anyone, among my family or my friends, who engaged in this kind of behavior. In one episode, Peter Brady adopts the personality of Humphrey Bogart. In another Jan Brady wears a wig. In yet another, Bobby tries to make himself tall by hanging from a swing set. Or when Marcia becomes stuck on herself as a "star".

Maybe one of the few episodes that had a spark of realism was when Jan was jealous over Marcia's success at school. Of course, Marcia wins every award you could imagine. And when Marcia enters an essay contest in which she describes her relationship with her father, of course she wins first prize. It would have been far more interesting and real if she hadn't won but still felt the same way about her father. The fact that she wins somehow loses any modicum of interest the episode might of had. But of course, this is American television, 1970's style. She HAS to win.

Probably the stand-out of the show was Eve Aline Plumb as Jan. Despite a lot of the mediocre writing, Plumb brought a sensibility to her character that was lacking in a lot of the rest of the cast, including the parents, who were probably the least-interesting of the whole family. The parents, Mike and Carol seemed like know-it-all busy bodies who were near-perfect but lacked any real emotions, not to mention any shortcomings. I would have like to have seen a little more blood-feuding between them. That's what happens in real families. But again, not the Brady Bunch. Even the cook-housekeeper Alice was a bit more interesting than the parents.

Overall, a mediocre show at best and a contrived somewhat intelligence-insulting program at worst. I think the Brady Bunch tells us more about perceived sensibilities and prescriptive norms of Americans in the 1970's than being a realistic portrayal of the 1970's, much the same as "Leave It to Beaver" in the late 1950's to early 1960's. And maybe that's the problem. The Brady Bunch never showed what it was really like but instead tried to show us what we were supposed to be like.

I Always Wanted to be a Brady

[kmeanyonelmst · 7 April 2004]

I am proud to be a Brady Bunch Junkie. I can quote practically every episode verbadum. I can identify each episode within the first 5 seconds (which I love to do to impress my friends). I bet I know each episode better than the cast does! When I was growing up, my sisters and I would try to cover each others mouths so that we could sing the opening song solo and a cappella. I,too, am a "middle child". The middle of three girls. I would have given anything to have three brothers to offset the middle child syndrome. Even if it meant not having a toilet (which was never shown). Jan was someone I could relate to and I thought my sisters could relate to me better through her. Whenever she was a focal point in an episode, I'd be all "see what I mean" and "that's how I feel" about being in the middle. To this day I still refer to myself as the "Jan" in my family. And if I meet a guy who happens to be a middle brother, I say " oh, you're like Peter". If he doesn't get it, than he's out. Anyway, regardless if I'm the middle or not, I always wanted to be a Brady. Where else could you find a family that let you decide your own punishments, live by exact words, help you contact Davy Jones, give up their den so that you could have your own "funky" room, let you have a slumber party (after you were in trouble with the school principal) put on a play of Snow White and the Seven Drawfs in your backyard, believe you when you say the cigarettes they found in your jacket were not yours AND had a live in maid! The only thing they asked of you was "don't play ball in the house". And, morals of the story were taught in Latin so you didn't understand them anyway (coviat emptor); "let the buyer beware." However, Mike & Carol did try to realte with their kids by using such phrases as "right on", "groovy", "far out" and my personal favorite "wrapping". Hopefully Carol realizes by now that it is not against the law. Overall, they were a well-rounded and well-balanced family who believed in each other and stuck by one another. As corny as the show was, for those thirty minutes, I secretly wished that I was a Brady.

Brady, Brady, Brady !

[rcaliendo-424-345328 · 6/10 · 31 May 2021]

When you think of the 70's, specifically TV in the 70's TBB has to come to mind pretty quickly. Yes, it was dumb and saccharine, but producer, Sherwood Schwartz obviously had a talent for nailing shows of that nature, since this one, along with Gilligan's Island are, to this day, among the most cherished of so-called "classic" TV sitcoms.

Almost nothing about it could be termed or seen as realistic and the show has to be interpreted simply as a way overly idealized version of the traditional American family. Perhaps one of the great ironies of the show, revealed only decades after it wrapped production was that the idealized American father was in fact gay.

Although it was supposed to be a comedy, in reality, it was more silly than funny. The actual funniest thing about the show, at least in retrospect is how seemingly, and ridiculously out of step the show appeared to be with the times. The may have worn bell bottoms, had perms and uttered the occasional "groovy" now and then, but apart from superficial acknowledgements of the era, this was basically Ozzie and Harriet in color. It's no wonder that the 1995 BB movie really nailed it by sarcastically playing up the truly funniest aspect of the show - how unbelievably "square" they were in comparison to any era, except for, maybe the 50's.

I suppose not too many other comedies in the 70's concerned themselves with Vietnam, Kent State, civil unrest, drugs or Watergate, because ... well, they were comedies ! But, while there were ground-breaking comedies like All in the Family and Mary Tyler Moore being made, Schwartz and co. Stuck to their guns and insisted on making a wholesome, milquetoast and probably unrealistic show with actual family values. Kudos to them, because, despite the odds being against them, they still created something that half a century later, still resonates with American culture.

A memorable family sit com.

[mm-39 · 6/10 · 11 July 2019]

A memorable family sit com. Two merged families with 6 kids makes for situational comedy. The Brady Bunch is lame by today's standards, because the Brady Bunch was copied and copied every bit and was redone over and over again. Just add different area of country, race, social class and time frame, but the story stays the same. Memorable episodes are Peter with the budgie, the vase, the trip out West etc. Well dated , cheesy for today series, but had the charming push of American family values and doing the right things. Dated for today's crowd! Not for the H B O crowd. 6 out of 10 stars.

If only all TV programming was like this

[yasmine_ib · 10/10 · 6 May 2007]

The Brady bunch is one of those shows that make you wanna live those times in the 60's and 70's.This was the best family show.Unfortanatley,viewers don't like family shows but more of action packed shows.Today, you don't really have shows that you can sit and watch with your family.The only shows like that are on PBS!The Brady bunch series consists of problems that most families experience and the solutions are very reasonable. In my opinion,The Brady Bunch should air on stations like back in the day . Today,you can find the Brady bunch every once in a while on T.V land in the mornings. This is the ultimate family show. If parents sat down with their children and actually watched these videos,they would see how things have changed and how things should be.

Wasted Opportunities

[Falconeer · 6/10 · 25 April 2018]

Of course it's an iconic TV show, and we ALL watched at one point. But watching as an adult it becomes obvious how timid the writers of "The Brady Bunch" really were. It's as if they were terrified that they might offend ONE viewer somewhere in the Bible Belt. Because of this, nothing of substance ever happens to the Brady family. They wasted so many opportunities to tackle important subjects like drug usage, teen sex, or even a subject like lying to your parents. Considering this was the 1970's, I believe this lack of reality, alienated a lot of viewers, who preferred more honest fare like "Welcome Back Kotter" and "All In the Family." This show actually comes across as a product of the 1950's, which wasn't an appealing thing to 70's audiences. Because of this, most of the episodes are frustrating and forgettable. The show does improve with each passing season, as the kids get older, and the writers are forced to create something more believable, as nobody would accept the idea that Marsha and Greg were sexless plastic dolls. Looking back, the most memorable episodes were the edgiest ones. The final episode, when Bobby becomes the pool hustler, actually got it right; still sweet, but something that actually approached "being cool" to anyone over the age of 10. And I was amazed recently, while watching old reruns, to come across an episode that I had NEVER seen before. The subject matter was "bullying." The episode had a very un-PC message; that the way to handle a bully is to knock his teeth loose! And Peter does just that while defending Cindy against an older boy. He is actually praised for doing it as well, and regarded as a hero. I'm sure that is the reason that they NEVER show that episode. All in all, watching the "Brady Bunch" remains a nice way to pass time..but it could have been a lot more.

Very charming!

[sadewolu · 10/10 · 11 January 2014]

First off, I must say, the Brady kids are very adorable. My favorite characters are Marcia and Greg---Marcia because she and I are both typical teenage girls, obsessed with boys and all that, and we both share the same birth date! (No joke) I also like Greg because he's just so cute and charismatic in that way.

Also, this show and Full House are pretty much similar. Whenever I watch FH, I automatically think of this show. The Tanner girls and the Brady girls are very pretty and in a way, they're kind of similar. D.J. and Marcia are boy-crazy, Stephanie and Jan are the whiny middle children, and as for Cindy and Michelle---Cindy is a bit more sophisticated and mature when she needs to be, and Michelle could easily literally get away with murder. As well as Full House, the Brady Bunch will live on forever.

before the subpar football player there were the Brady Bunch

[ThunderKing6 · 6/10 · 10 November 2021]

Brady Bunch no doubt was an iCONIC sitcom for the sheeple to indulge.

It was a family, warm, comedy sitcom about a family and their children. Why do we care? Because it's on TV. DUH Even before I existed, I can say this show was wonderful and was the uncle of sitcoms. Sanford and Son is the King of sitcoms, and Seinfeld would be the Mother. Who's the father?

Anyways...

Brady Bunch was a warm show that taught lessons as you relaxtained. Every character was iCONIC.

There has been many versions, movies and shows of this show. Just watch anyone and you'll enjoy it.

Enjoyable fluff, but little in the way of laughs

[Scott351w2001 · 4/10 · 15 May 2006]

OK, I admit it. I used to watch this show when it was on ABC, and have watched it now and then in reruns. I can understand the affinity for this show, especially in comparison to the sex-filled dreck that permeates the airwaves today. the series was entertaining, but really was nothing more than enjoyable fluff. If looking at it from the standpoint of its status as a sitcom, however, I would say the show was terrible. I can honestly say, that there was not one laugh during the entire run of the show.The stories were light, fluffy and "nice", but were just not funny. Even Sherwood Shwartz's other show, "Gilligans Island", for all its faults, was often funny, in albeit in a low comedy way.

And, in addition, why did the boys and girls call and treat each other as if they were brothers and sisters, when in fact, their characters were totally non-related? (different father AND mother) Why did Alice call Mike and carol "Mr.and Mrs. Brady" she lived with them ,for heaven's sake, and was older than them. Couldn't they be on a first name basis? I can honestly say, can't blame Robert Reed for hating his role, especially after his fine work on "The Defenders" All in all, the show was enjoyable, not funny, but was a classic compared to the various spin-offs that the series later spawned.

Stevie's Favorite Family :Nostalgically Too.

[Stebaer4 · 10/10 · 1 December 2006]

They've always been my favorite family of which they'd always be my main theme for looking forward to Friday Nights for.Friday Nights were never the same without The Brady Bunch once they came into being.I'd still look forward to their TV Reunion Movies with the whole original cast intact even without the Dear Old Dad. As I've periodically said there can still be Brady Bunch Reunions but no more pregnant jokes & the last of which was heard in A Very Brady Christmas.It was on one episode that Carol had a hard time convincing Jan for an hour that she wasn't having a baby while on the arrival of Oliver episode,both Bobby and Cindy was the first to hear just the 1st part of the conversation that Carol started with Mike that lead Cindy to say to Bobby "Did you hear that Mom's going to have a Baby?"The old times that resurface into the new times including Marcia,Marcia,Marcia are really cool too.but to experience a forward reminiscence going backwards is really something when after seeing Kartoon King in his prior role in the movie called The Three Stooges Meet Hercules.I knew he looked strikingly familiar & then I had later figured out it was on this show where I'd seen him first.This Actor is Hal Smith check out the Christmas episode for him as Santa Clause,one of my favorites for Cindy's wishful thinking that he could get her Mommy's voice back so she can sing in the Church on Christmas Day & she gets to.Also check him out as Otis on The Andy Griffith Show.You may ask me & just about any episode will take away nostalgically except for the Safe Detergent one but the Get Davy Jones one especially sends me with the "Girl" song. The Late Great Robert Reed refused to appear in the last episode, feeling it was because just too unrealistic and so if there'd been a 6th season,he'd have been written out & there was a similar case later for The Bradys.So Check that one out on that site as well as The Brady Bunch Movie,A Very Brady Sequel,The Brady Girls Get Married,The Brady Brides,A Very Brady Christmas,and The Brady Bunch Variety Hour a.k.a. The Brady Bunch Hour,The Brady Bunch Home Movies,Unauthorized:The Brady Bunch,Growing Up Brady,and Still Brady after all these years too.

Truthfully, Stephen "Steve" G. Baer a.k.a."Ste" of Framingham,Ma.

awful

[welshNick · 1/10 · 7 July 2013]

This is on my list of worst 5 programs to have ever been made in the US. The list in no particular order are this, The little house on the prairie, The Waltons, champion the wonder horse and perhaps the worst of the lot Joanie loves Chachi.

The idea for this was quite good. 3 girls 3 boys and 2 parents growing up together so where did it all go wrong ? The scripts were terrible, the acting equally bad and everything was completely unbelievable and far removed from American life.

Added to this was one of the most annoying them tunes ever written for the small screen and we have the complete disaster. Awful, really really bad and a blessing to the current generation that they have not been subjected to this,

Love it

[Monika-5 · 20 December 2000]

Yes, the Bradys are corny, cheesy, tacky, etc. I LOVE them! I always liked Cindy the most out of all of them for some reason. The first few seasons were the best, but the show took a huge dive once Cousin Oliver showed up (he looked exactly like a pint-sized clone of John Denver). My favourite episodes are the Pilgrim episode, the one where Marcia gets hit in the nose with the football ("something suddenly came up"), and where Greg gets a used car. Where would pop culture be without the Bradys?