Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Forum administrators, Interface administrators, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
116,199
edits
No edit summary |
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (added franchise template) |
||
(13 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{work}}{{Needs Disambiguation}}
[[File:Brady DVD 5941.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|''Until the one day when the lady met this fellow
''And they knew it was much more than a hunch
''That this group must somehow form a family
''That's the way they all became The Brady Bunch
|[[Expository Theme Song]]}}
[[Sherwood Schwartz]] (previously of ''[[Gilligan's Island]]'' fame) developed and produced the series. He was shopping the show around to networks for a year or so before it was picked up to capitalize on the success of ''Yours Mine And Ours,'' a 1968 feature film about another large blended family. (This was obliquely acknowledged by the makers of ''A Very Brady Sequel'' when they selected one of the stars of ''Yours Mine And Ours,'' Tim Matheson, to play Carol Brady's long-lost first husband...[[Spot the Imposter|sorta]]).
Never a huge hit in its initial network run on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], the show became inexplicably popular (perhaps through its [[Theme Tune]], and the songs they did?) once it [[Vindicated by Reruns|went to daily syndication]] in the late '70s, and a cultural icon (and eventual subject of vast quantities of nostalgia and derision in equal measure) for Gen-Xers. Over the years, the show gained two made-for-TV reunion movies and a couple of spin-offs. Moreover, the actors of the children have appeared in specials and game-shows numerous times.
In the years since the show's cancellation, various tidbits have come to light regarding the show and its cast: like its sister series ''Gilligan's Island'', the concept grated on several of the cast members (several actors were busy most of the time sending angry memos to the producers about the horrible scripts they had to work with). Also, there were behind-the-scenes romance stories between almost every member of the cast. Oh, and Tiger (the dog) was actually ''two'' dogs; the 'original' Tiger wandered off the set one day looking for a place to 'do his business' and was promptly hit by a truck.
The show has had several continuations and spin-offs. Tropes can be found on these pages:
Line 20 ⟶ 21:
* [[The Brady Kids]]
* [[The Brady Bunch (film)]]
{{tropenamer}}
{{tropelist}}
* [[Absentee Actor]]: [[Robert Reed]] refused to appear in the original show's final episode, finding its plot (Bobby selling Greg a shampoo that turns his hair orange) to be too ridiculous.
* [[An Aesop]]
* [[Alliterative Title]]
* [[Animated Adaptation]]: ''[[The Brady Kids]]''.
* [[As Himself]]: Barry Williams and creator/producer Sherwood Schwartz in present day sequences of the TV Movie version of "Growing Up Brady".
* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Ann B. Davis, when Robert Reed got her pissed off enough, or when she was forced to work with Rip Taylor in ''The Brady Bunch Variety Hour''. In the latter instance, no explanation has been offered by Davis, as she has refused to talk about her experiences on the program ... even to longtime friend and co-star Susan Olsen (who wrote a book about the series); it has been speculated that she viewed Taylor's act as profane and contrary to her Christian beliefs. With Reed, Davis let him know her feelings whenever she finally had enough of his complaining about a script he believed was poorly written, that a given scene was unrealistic, and so forth.
** As far as the original series, Peter, in "A Fistful of Reasons
* [[Big Damn Movie]]: The first film involved them saving their neighborhood from being turned into a shopping mall.
* [[Bizarrchitecture]]: Requested by Beebee Gallini (she wanted Mike to design a cosmetics factory that looked like a perfume bottle, poo-poohing Mike's advice that such buildings would structurally fail).
** And let's not overlook the fact that the exterior of the Brady house (which spreads out side-to-side) doesn't jive with the interior (which spreads out from front to back). When [[HGTV]] bought the house used for exterior [[Stock Footage]] in 2018 and remodeled it to match the sets inside, they had to add a wing and do such odd things as putting Greg's attic room in the basement.
* [[Born in the Wrong Century|Born In The Wrong Decades]]: The eponymous family in the movies.
* [[
{{quote|'''Marcia:''' "He even wrote something in my yearbook in French! "''[[Getting Crap Past the Radar|Menage A Trois]].''" I bet that means "You're the most.""}}
* [[Brand X]]: Several examples, most famously with the brand of laundry soap the family uses – Safe, as viewers learn in "And Now a Word From Our Sponsor
** In a [[Truth in Television]] moment, Mike rolls his eyes as Carol explains the family's laundry detergent history. Indeed, Robert Reed, in his scathing memo about the episode, reprinted in Barry Williams' book "I Was a Teenaged Greg", said he was annoyed at the scriptwriter's use of one-syllable words for laundry detergent names (an "obvious writer's technique" that was clichéd and made Carol sound like a ninny, Reed contended).
* [[Canon Discontinuity]]: In ''The Brady Girls Get Married'', ''The Brady Brides'', ''A Very Brady Christmas'', and ''The Bradys'', nobody ever acknowledges the year the family spent as [[Variety Show]] stars in ''The Brady Bunch Hour''.
* [[The Cast Showoff]]: [[Eve Plumb]] was one hell of an artist, which made its way into a few episodes and eventually became Jan's major talent.<ref>Plumb ended up painting many of the reproductions of paintings from the show used in [[HGTV]]'s ''[[A Very Brady Remodel]]''.</ref> [[Florence Henderson]] was also known for her beautiful voice, which led to two episodes revolving around Carol singing.
** Florence Henderson also sang the theme to ''The Bradys''.
* [[Celebrity Star]]
* [[Cheaters Never Prosper]]: Reversed with Greg, who has on more than one occasion shown his integrity and desire for honesty in tough situations. For instance, in Season 1's "Vote for Brady
** Played straight in "Quarterback Sneak
* [[Christmas Episode]]
* [[Classically-Trained Extra|Classically
** Parodied in ''[[Grand Theft Auto
* [[Cooking Duel]]: Several, between the boys and the girls.
▲* [[Cousin Oliver]]: The [[Trope Namer]].
* [[Cowboy Episode]]: ''The Brady Bunch'' had a dude ranch episode.
* [[Crack Defeat]]
Line 56 ⟶ 58:
** Also ''The Real Live Brady Bunch'', an early '90s stage show in which original episode scripts were performed word-for-word, but with a self-consciously [[Camp]] sensibility that anticipated the tone of the films.
* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: What Robert Reed often accused the Schwartzes and various writers of doing with the scripts. In addition, Reed's criticisms have fallen in the bad writing and [[They Just Didn't Care]] tropes.
** In the Schwartzes' memoir about the series, Lloyd (son of Sherwood) refuted Reed's scathing critique of the infamous final episode ("The Hair-Brained Scheme") by contending [[Shown Their Work|there had been well-publicized real-life examples]] of people having their hair damaged by hair gels, and magazine "get-rich quick" advertisements enticing children to sell overstock of discontinued products. Reed refused to accept the
* [[Disco Dan]]: The entire family, in ''The Brady Bunch Movie'' and ''A Very Brady Sequel''.
** Ridiculously with Greg's "Johnny Bravo" facade.
* [[DIY Disaster]]: Greg bought a used car and tried to fix it up, part of the result of which was faulty wiring. The horn made the windshield wipers work, for example.
* [[Drunk with Power]]: Supposedly what happens to Bobby when he becomes hall monitor.
* [[Exact Words]]: To circumvent a severe punishment for insubordination, Greg gets his parents to agree to go by the letter of house rules and pre-stated agreements.
* [[Extremely Overdue Library Book]]: In the episode, title "The Private Ear", one of the [[Dark Secrets]] that Greg has was that he doesn't want anyone to know (save Marcia)...Until Peter lets his big brother know that the library won't be very happy, that he'd better pay the fine, and that he might eventually face the music with the folks.
* [[Expository Theme Tune]]: "And that's the way we all became the Brady Bunch!"
** Also a [[Do-It-Yourself Theme Tune]] (sung by the Brady kids) beginning in the second season.
* [[Fashion Dissonance]]: The fifties? Over? Fah! Not in Mike's house!
* [[The Film of the Series]]: ''The Brady Bunch Movie'' (1995), ''A Very Brady Sequel'' (1996).
* [[Flanderization]]: The theatrical films exaggerated the characters' personalities a bit such as Jan's jealousy towards Marcia and Cindy's tattling, but true to the show. They were the characters from the later seasons stuck in the 1990s. The TV movie The Brady Bunch in the White House made them
* [[Flat Character]]: Marcia got all the teenage drama and coming of age stories, Cindy got all the cute child plot lines, what was Jan? She was the middle child, that's pretty much the full extent of her character.
** Actually, being the middle child made her anything ''but'' flat as it gave her an insecure, neurotic personality that lent itself to the most ''relatable'' storylines. (Who ''doesn't'' remember being afraid their glasses make them look geeky, or being jealous of an older sibling?)
Line 73 ⟶ 76:
* [[Framed Face Opening]]
* [[Friends Rent Control]]: A stay-at-home wife, six kids, and a full-time housekeeper, all being supported by one staff architect's salary. Yet the kids all have their own bikes, they vacation in Hawaii, and nobody complains about wearing hand-me-downs except when it serves the plot for money to be tight.
** They didn't "vacation" in Hawaii. Mike was working on a new building in Hawaii and Mr. Phillips said to bring the whole family along because he was just
* [[Full House Music]]: Years before the trope namer was so much a twinkle in the eyes of Miller-Boyett, ''The Brady Bunch'' made liberal use of mellow or dramatic music cues, often at a dramatic point or (even more often) as Mike or Carol offered the [[An Aesop|moral]] for that particular episode.
* [[Game Show Appearance]]: Cindy (on a ''[[College Bowl]]''-type game).
Line 80 ⟶ 83:
** Arguably the female housekeeper could be balanced by the male dog.
* [[Gilligan Cut]]: Despite Mike, Tiger comes to the Brady wedding. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* [[Girlish Pigtails]]: Cindy.
* [[The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry]]: "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!"
** [[The Unfavourite]]: Jan certainly ''feels'' that way often enough.
Line 87 ⟶ 90:
* [[Happily Adopted]]: Mike evidently legally adopted the girls, since they go by the name of Brady for the entire series.
* [[Happily Married]]: Mike and Carol
* [[Hearing Voices]]: Jan
* [[He Who Must Not Be Seen]]: The Dittmeyers, who lived next door to the Bradys. They were eventually shown in - and played a major role in the plot of - ''The Brady Bunch Movie''.
** We
* [[Homage]]: The subject of many.
* [[Identical Stranger]]: "Two Petes in a Pod".
* [[I Owe You My Life]]: "My Brother's Keeper".
* [[Its Always Sunny in Miami]]: There has never once been a rainy day on the Brady Bunch. Could be explained away that they live in Southern California but a more practical [[Real Life]] reason is probably that they had a huge backyard set that would be a bitch to dry out.
* [[Large Ham]]: Pretty much any time the kids do a play or a homemade movie.
* [[Line-of-Sight Name]]: Jan's invented boyfriend, George Glass. {{spoiler|He is proven to exist in the ''The Brady Bunch Movie''.}}
* [[Locked in a Freezer]]: Greg and Bobby in "Big Little Man".
* [[Lovely Assistant]]: Peter has magic as a Fleeting Passionate Hobby and does the Disappearing Girl trick with Jan as his lovely assistant, which freaks Cindy out. Even when they try to explain the trick to her she is still terrified. Then on the day of the Talent Show Jan twists her ankle and can't perform with Peter, so Cindy steps up and takes her place. Once she's been in the cabinet and sees how it's done she gets very enthusiastic, even wanting to do the trick again.
* [[Meganekko]]: Whether or not Jan became an example or an aversion of this trope once she started wearing glasses is possibly [[Your Mileage May Vary|in the eye of the beholder]].
Line 110 ⟶ 113:
* [[Nuclear Family]]: Of the blended variety.
** Although after the first few episodes the fact that they're step siblings becomes rarely mentioned, if at all, to the point where the opening credits become the only indicator that they're not related.
* [[Obfuscating Disability]]: One episode had a plot where a man claimed to have been grievously injured after only a minor car accident with Carol. Mike proved the man was lying by throwing his briefcase on the floor while the man's back was turned; after the sudden slamming noise, the man rapidly turned in fright, [[Artistic Licence Law|and the judge immediately ruled]] in favor of the Bradys.
* [[Oh, Cisco]]
* [[Out-of-Character Moment]] / [[Conflict Ball]]: Carol's strong objections to Greg playing football in "click". While Carol was shown to worry about her kids' well-being, she'd never had any complaints about any of the boys playing on sports teams prior to the episode. Possibly justified by the fact that high school football ''can'' be tougher than other sports, and the fact that Carol once dated a football player and may have had to deal with him constantly getting hurt.
* [[Panty Shot]]: Cindy in a couple of first season episodes; a cheerleader in "Her Sister's Shadow
* [[Perplexing Plurals]]: The B-plot of the episode "The Personality Kid" concerns Bobby and Cindy going ape-shit over safety. The following concerns some electrical outlets in the kitchen, which have so many extensions & multi-prongs plugged in that one is referred to as an "octopus
{{quote|''Bobby hands Carol a new plug.''
'''Carol''': Now I hope these are the right plugs.
'''Bobby''': Just the kind the teacher said to get instead of that old octopus.
'''Alice''': Do you know that all last night I dreamed about octopuses?...Octopussys?...Octopi?
* [[Poorly-Disguised Pilot]]: "Kelly's Kids", a
* [[The Prima Donna]]: Marcia, when playing Juliet in the school production of ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'', is such a diva that she actually gets kicked out of the show.
* [[Reunion Show]]: The made-for-TV [[The Movie|movie]]s ''The Brady Girls Get Married'' (1981) and ''A Very Brady Christmas'' (1988).
* [[Revival]]: ''The Brady Bunch Hour'' (1977), a [[Variety Show]] produced by [[Sid and Marty Krofft Productions]]; ''The Brady Brides'' (1981), a sitcom following Marcia and Jan in their post-marital lives; and ''The Bradys'' (1990), which rather drastically reworked the show's premise as a [[Cerebus Syndrome|heavy drama]].
** Making the variety show variant funnier is that it was reportedly the
* [[Rewind, Replay, Repeat]]: Greg has become the photographer for the high school football team (after his injury makes him ineligible to play). During a crucial, contested touchdown he was taking pictures of his girlfriend, a cheerleader. But he manages to catch the foot of the player as he was making the catch in the
* [[Running Gag]]: Alice throwing her back out while doing tasks.
* [[The Seventies]]
* [[Shaped Like What It Sells]]: A client, Beebee Gallini, freaks Mike out when she asks him to design her makeup factory first in the shape of a powder puff, then a lipstick, and finally a compact, complete with hinged roof.
* [[Shoot the Money]]: Episodes took the Bradys on location to Grand Canyon and Hawaii.
* [[Shout-Out]]: In one of the movie adaptations that is a
* [[Sibling Rivalry]]: Frequently.
* [[Sleeping Single]]: Although not the first, one of the earliest complete [[Averted Trope|aversions]], as Mike and Carol were always depicted sleeping together.
Line 135 ⟶ 138:
* [[The Stool Pigeon]]: The theme for this trope is in the season two episode "The Tattle-Tale".
* [[Sudden Humility]]: A [[The Bully|bully]] is teasing Cindy for having a lisp, so Peter knocks his front teeth out. Now ''he'' has a lisp.
* [[Suspiciously Apropos Music]]: "Time to Change", in the episode where Peter's voice... changes.
** Not really suspicious. They were going to sing We Can Make the World a Whole Lot Brighter and then Peter's voice changed during a rehearsal. And taking a vote whether or not to keep Peter or dump Peter (which came out a tie since
* [[This Is My Side]]
* [[Treehouse of Fun]]: The kids briefly had a treehouse, just long enough for Bobby to sprain his ankle climbing up, developing a fear of heights.
Line 142 ⟶ 145:
* [[Uncanny Family Resemblance]]: Alice's cousin Emma in "Sergeant Emma" and Connie Hutchins and Judge Hank Brady, Carol's grandmother and Mike's grandfather in "You're Never Too Old".
* [[Unexpected Positive]]: Carol lets the doctor check her tonsils to show Cindy that it won't hurt. Turns out Carol and Cindy ''both'' need their tonsils out.
* [[Vacation Episode]]: Season 3 started with a three-episode trip to the Grand Canyon, while
* [[Very Special Episode]]: There was [[an
* [[Wangst]]: Eventually angst became middle daughter Jan's defining trait, as noted by Eve Plumb in the years since the end of the show.
* [[Wedlock Block]]: In one of the movies, the parents are reluctant to officially approve Jan's marriage plans because Marcia is single. Marcia explains this problem to a random male stranger she meets...resulting in a [[Fourth Date Marriage|Fourth Date Double Marriage]] with Jan and her beau.
* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: A double example. The pilot introduced the boys' dog Tiger and the girls' cat Fluffy. Fluffy disappeared immediately
** Because a stage light fell down and damaged the
** The family literally wonders what
* [[Would Hurt a Child]]: Humorously played in "Bobby's Hero
{{reflist}}
[[Category:The Seventies]]▼
{{Brady Bunch Franchise}}
[[Category:The Sixties]]▼
{{Best in TV: The Greatest TV Shows of Our Time}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:American Series]]
[[Category:Dom Com]]
[[Category:The Brady Bunch]]▼
▲[[Category:TV Series]]
[[Category:Kid Com]]
[[Category:Live-Action TV of the 1970s]]
▲[[Category:The Seventies]]
▲[[Category:The Sixties]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brady Bunch, The}}
|