


In the real world, the definition and makeup of the American family was evolving, and it was a brief, statistical mention of that in the Los Angeles Times that inspired Sherwood Schwartz to create the show that would become "The Brady Bunch." "It said that year, 1965, 31% of all marriages involved people who had a child or children from a previous marriage," Schwartz told Brady World in 1998. In the 1950s and 1960s, family sitcoms were almost always about the traditional nuclear family unit - a man married to a woman raising their shared biological children. Hope for a sunshine day, avoid flying footballs, and keep on, keep on, because here’s the story … of "The Brady Bunch." A factoid inspired the creator It looms large not just in the history of TV, but movies, too, with its ironic and meta big-screen versions in the ’90s. "The Brady Bunch" is a touchstone for multiple generations and part of the shared collective cultural knowledge of America.

Should the show’s infinitely ear-worming theme song from one of its endlessly running reruns fail to register, it’s the story of sweet and fun Carol Brady (Florence Henderson), a single mom of three girls, Marcia, Jan, and Cindy - all who have hair of gold, like their mother - who combines her life and family with her second husband, good guy architect Mike Brady, a widower and father to three boys, Greg, Peter, and Bobby. Originally airing on ABC Friday nights from 1969 to 1974, "The Brady Bunch" would become a signature show of American television of the era: a groovy, outta sight, but squeaky-clean and delightfully cheesy sitcom about the then-new phenomenon of blended families. A tic-tac-toe board of fresh and happy faces smiling at each other while a small army of singers explain how and why this group would somehow form a family - that’s the way each episode of "The Brady Bunch" began.
