The Brady Bunch: Difference between revisions

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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.

(For the 1990s version, see ''[[Step by Step]]''.) The manga [[Little House With an Orange Roof]] has a very similar premise.

For the 1990s version, see ''[[Step by Step]]''. The manga [[Little House With an Orange Roof]] has a very similar premise.

The show has had several continuations and spin-offs. Tropes can be found on these pages:

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* [[An Aesop]]

* [[Alliterative Title]]

* [[Animated Adaptation]]: ''[[The Brady Kids]]''

* [[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." Peter was generally even-tempered and willing to get others to reason with him, but when he is pushed to the breaking point – as he is when bully Buddy Hinton continually eggs him on for his refusal to fight (and defend Cindy's honor) – he can make others regret it.

** As far as the original series, Peter, in "A Fistful of Reasons". Peter was generally even-tempered and willing to get others to reason with him, but when he is pushed to the breaking point – as he is when bully Buddy Hinton continually eggs him on for his refusal to fight (and defend Cindy's honor) – he can make others regret it.

* [[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).

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* [[The Brainless Beauty]]: Marcia in the movies, especially ''A Very Brady Sequel'':

{{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." This was the episode where a "hip" movie producer hires the Bradys to act in a TV commercial for Safe, but Mike – speaking for the family – will agree to do so only if Safe can beat their current laundry detergent. Before testing Safe against the family's current detergent, Best, Carol rattles off the names of the other soaps she and Alice have used: Champ the Dirt Fighter, Clear & Bright and Help.

* [[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". This was the episode where a "hip" movie producer hires the Bradys to act in a TV commercial for Safe, but Mike – speaking for the family – will agree to do so only if Safe can beat their current laundry detergent. Before testing Safe against the family's current detergent, Best, Carol rattles off the names of the other soaps she and Alice have used: Champ the Dirt Fighter, Clear & Bright and Help.

** 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''.

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** 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," class president hopeful Greg breaks off his friendship with a boy named Rusty after the latter makes a suggestion that they spread an unflattering rumor about Greg's opponent – stepsister Marcia – being seen in the balcony of a movie theater with a seedy boy.

* [[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", class president hopeful Greg breaks off his friendship with a boy named Rusty after the latter makes a suggestion that they spread an unflattering rumor about Greg's opponent – stepsister Marcia – being seen in the balcony of a movie theater with a seedy boy.

** Played straight in "Quarterback Sneak," from Season 5, where dishonest quarterback Jerry Rogers tries to steal Greg's playbook by lying to Marcia about his romantic interest in her, then actually stealing the playbook. (~~Check~~ that, a fake playbook that Greg had created when he learned that his rival is resorting to stealing playbooks.) Greg – who admittedly sometimes twists the rules to suit his own situation – admits what he did to his father, after Mike counsels him that by stooping to Jerry's level, he's actually harming the players of the opposing team who chose to play by the rules. In the end, Jerry is thrown off the opponent's team, and Greg quarterbacks his team to a big win.

** Played straight in "Quarterback Sneak", from Season 5, where dishonest quarterback Jerry Rogers tries to steal Greg's playbook by lying to Marcia about his romantic interest in her, then actually stealing the playbook (check that, a fake playbook that Greg had created when he learned that his rival is resorting to stealing playbooks). Greg – who admittedly sometimes twists the rules to suit his own situation – admits what he did to his father, after Mike counsels him that by stooping to Jerry's level, he's actually harming the players of the opposing team who chose to play by the rules. In the end, Jerry is thrown off the opponent's team, and Greg quarterbacks his team to a big win.

* [[Christmas Episode]]

* [[Classically-Trained Extra|Classically Trained Main Actor]]: Robert Reed, no doubt fueling many of the squabbles between him and Sherwood Schwartz.

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* [[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 explanation—he insisted that the episode was written as cheap slapstick, and that no kid Bobby's age would be able to identify with him in wanting to engage in a money-making scheme—and demanded that he be written out of the episode.

* [[Disco Dan]]: The entire family, in ''The Brady Bunch Movie'' and ''A Very Brady Sequel''

* [[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.

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** 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)

* [[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 ~~unloveable~~ parodies, such as Marcia crying when she got captain of the cheerleading squad and the vote wasn't unanimous.

* [[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 unlovable parodies, such as Marcia crying when she got captain of the cheerleading squad and the vote wasn't unanimous.

* [[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?)

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** 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

* [[Girlish Pigtails]]: Cindy.

* [[The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry]]: "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!"

** [[The Unfavourite]]: Jan certainly ''feels'' that way often enough.

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* [[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 {{spoiler|and Cindy}} in ''The Brady Bunch Movie''.

* [[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 DO see Mr. Dittmeyer in one episode (probably in the one where Carol and Cindy have their tonsils taken out postponing the ~~famil~~'s trip on Mr. Phillips boat) where Alice is practicing casting a fishing line into a bucket and she overshoots it over the fence and hooks Mr. Dittmeyer. But it was a throwaway gag in the last segment of an episode.

** We DO see Mr. Dittmeyer in one episode (probably in the one where Carol and Cindy have their tonsils taken out postponing the family's trip on Mr. Phillips boat) where Alice is practicing casting a fishing line into a bucket and she overshoots it over the fence and hooks Mr. Dittmeyer. But it was a throwaway gag in the last segment of an episode.

* [[Homage]]: The subject of many.

* [[Identical Stranger]]: "Two Petes in a Pod"

* [[Identical Stranger]]: "Two Petes in a Pod".

* [[I Owe You My Life]]: "My Brother's Keeper"

* [[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"

* [[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]].

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* [[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."

* [[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."

* [[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? }}

'''Alice''': Do you know that all last night I dreamed about octopuses?...Octopussys?...Octopi?}}

* [[Poorly-Disguised Pilot]]: "Kelly's Kids", a ~~season~~ 5 episode which featured Ken Berry as a friend of Mike and Carol's with three adopted sons of different races.

* [[Poorly-Disguised Pilot]]: "Kelly's Kids", a Season 5 episode which featured Ken Berry as a friend of Mike and Carol's with three adopted sons of different races.

* [[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).

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* [[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 ~~light hearted~~ parody of the show, it reveals who Mrs. Brady's first husband was: {{spoiler|The Professor from [[Gilligan's Island]]}}

* [[Shout-Out]]: In one of the movie adaptations that is a lighthearted parody of the show, it reveals who Mrs. Brady's first husband was: {{spoiler|The Professor from [[Gilligan's Island]]}}.

* [[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.

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* [[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 ~~Cinday~~ voted twice), Greg wrote Time to Change from scratch to allow Peter to sing with them.

** 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 Cindy voted twice), Greg wrote Time to Change from scratch to allow Peter to sing with them.

* [[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.

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* [[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 ~~season~~ 4 had a similar arc in [[Aloha Hawaii|Hawaii]]. A ~~season~~ 5 episode takes them to [[Amusement Park|King's Island]] in Cincinnati.

* [[Vacation Episode]]: Season 3 started with a three-episode trip to the Grand Canyon, while Season 4 had a similar arc in [[Aloha Hawaii|Hawaii]]. A Season 5 episode takes them to [[Amusement Park|King's Island]] in Cincinnati.

* [[Very Special Episode]]: There was an aesop in every episode to be sure. But the episodes involving Peter's one week long voice change, and Greg's one day long smoking habit were both treated fairly seriously.

* [[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 afterward, but Tiger stuck around for a few more episodes; it was later revealed that the canine performer who played Tiger was hit by a car and killed, and they elected not to replace him. They did, however, [[The Artifact|keep the doghouse in the Bradys' yard]] for the rest of the series.

** Because a stage light fell down and damaged the ~~astroturf~~ at that point in the yard and the producers had to cover it up.

** Because a stage light fell down and damaged the AstroTurf at that point in the yard and the producers had to cover it up.

** The family literally wonders what ~~happenend~~ to the mouse in an episode about practical joking.

** The family literally wonders what happened to the mouse in an episode about practical joking.

* [[Would Hurt a Child]]: Humorously played in "Bobby's Hero," where Bobby realizes—through a dream sequence where Jesse James shoots and kills his entire family, including his 11-year-old sister Cindy—that the famed outlaw he was trying to worship as a hero was nothing but a "mean, dirty killer."

* [[Would Hurt a Child]]: Humorously played in "Bobby's Hero", where Bobby realizes—through a dream sequence where Jesse James shoots and kills his entire family, including his 11-year-old sister Cindy—that the famed outlaw he was trying to worship as a hero was nothing but a "mean, dirty killer."