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.
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.