The Brady Bunch

The Brady Bunch was a US television situation comedy, based around a large family. Broadcast between September 1969 and August 1974 on the ABC network, there are 117 episodes.

Mike Brady, a widower with sons Greg, Peter and Bobby and a wisecracking housekeeper called Alice, married Carol Martin, whose daughters were Marcia, Jan and Cindy. They all moved into a new home designed by Mike and various family problems ensued. Initially scripts focused on the various family member's attempts to adjust to the new blended family. Later, problems of growing teenagers such as school yard rivalries, dating problems and household squabbles were explored.

The cast appeared in an opening title sequence in which video head shots were arranged in a three-by-three grid, with each cast member appearing to look at the other cast members. The sequence has been widely imitated and lampooned since:

Maureen McCormick (Marcia)	Florence Henderson (Carol)	Barry Williams (Greg)
Eve Plumb (Jan)	Ann B. Davis (Alice)	Christopher Knight (Peter)
Susan Olsen (Cindy)	Robert Reed (Mike)	Mike Lookinland (Bobby)

The show is somewhat of a cultural phenomenon, having lasted in the minds of Americans for over thirty years. It is the show in widest syndication with the longest consecutive airing time in history. (Since its first show date, an episode of the show has been on TV somewhere in the world every single day.) The teenage talent on the show spun off singing careers as they toured the USA in the 1970s, and a variety show called The Brady Bunch Variety Hour was spun-off (featuring a replacement actress for Eve Plumb.) TV movies starring the Bradys were made, and a few spin-off sitcoms were attempted, including The Brady Brides. All failed.

The house used in exterior shots of the series is located in the San Fernando Valley, in Los Angeles, California. The house was only one-story, but a false window was attached to make it look like it had two.

A 1995 movie, The Brady Bunch Movie placed the original 1970s sitcom characters, with their 1970s fashion sense and 1970s sitcom family morality, in a contemporary setting, and parodied the resulting culture clash. The resulting movie was successful enough that a reasonably well-received sequel , imaginatively titled A Very Brady Sequel, was produced, which made sly comment on the well-documented real-life sexual tension between some of the teenage cast members of the original TV series. Just recently there was a made-for-TV movie called The Brady Bunch in the White House which had very bad reviews.

Among the television show, there were a few albums that were made: Merry Christmas from the Brady Bunch, Meet the Brady Bunch, Kids from the Brady Bunch, the Brady Bunch Phonographic Album, and Maureen McCormick and Chris Knight from the Brady Bunch. Two very popular songs were "Sunshine Day" and "Keep On Groovin'".