Welcome to another weekend flashback. Flashback to The Brady Bunch TV show, cancelled in 1974 by ABC, after five moderately successful seasons. It was in syndicated reruns where the series really caught fire. Still, Susan Olsen (Cindy Brady) says the cast has not received any residuals from the series since around 1979. Find out why and learn more about sibling issues and Olsen’s reaction to the end of the popular comedy series.
The Brady Bunch TV series cast includes: Florence Henderson as Carol Brady; Ann B. Davis as Alice Nelson; Robert Reed as Mike Brady; Barry Williams as Greg Brady; Maureen McCormick as Marcia Brady; Eve Plumb as Jan Brady; Susan Olsen as Cindy Brady; Christopher Knight as Peter Brady; and Mike Lookinland as Bobby Brady. Allan Melvin guest starred as Alice’s love interest, bowling butcher Sam Franklin. Robbie Rist (infamously) recurred as Cousin Oliver in the final six episodes. And of course The Monkees‘ Davy Jones famously guest starred but once, as himself.
Watch Susan Olsen on Oprah: Where Are They Now? from OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.
The Brady Bunch: In the Beginning
Olsen says executive producer Sherwood Schwartz told her she was the first Brady kid cast. Up for two other roles at the time, Olsen confided in her grandmother that The Brady Bunch was her first choice,”Because there would be five other kids to play with.”
The Brady Bunch: Sibling Relations Sweet and Sour
What about all those alleged hook-ups between cast members? Olsen admits she and Lookinland used to smooch in Tiger’s doghouse, but debunks rumors that they “made out” saying, “No. We didn’t know how to make out. We would just kiss each other and go, ‘I love you’, ‘I love you’ and hug.”
As for other sibling relations, Olsen says the only thing that comes close to true sibling rivalry was mostly between the two actors viewers would expect — McCormick and Plumb. Olsen says it was the real-life version of “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.” Olsen says, “It was typical girl stuff, but we all love both of them. We just don’t get to see the two of them together.”
The Brady Bunch: Compensation
Because of The Brady Bunch TV series’ success in syndication, people assume the show which made them famous has seen to it that they are equally rich. Nothing could be further from the truth, says Olsen. They weren’t tricked into a bad deal, she explains. It is just that, before 1973, a standard contract only included residuals for the first 10 runs of reruns. Since the first 10 runs of The Brady Bunch were over by probably 1979, the cast members have made no money off it, since then.
The Brady Bunch: The End
Olsen admits that after The Brady Bunch ended, she was relieved. She says she was awkward, didn’t want to go through puberty in front of the nation, and didn’t want to work. She stayed out of the business until she was 18 with the hopes that she could return and not be typecast. Using a “chain-saw murderer” role as an example, Olsen still couldn’t escape being pigeonholed. At auditions she would hear, “Oh, you really surprised us, but we can’t have Cindy doing that.” She finally decided she did not like acting well enough to put up with it.
As a bonus, watch Davy Jones sing “Girl,” and Marcia (Marcia, Marcia) beg for a chance to talk to him, on The Brady Bunch.
Well, how about the flip side?
What do you think? Do you still watch The Brady Bunch TV show reruns? Do you think the six Brady kids will ever reunite on the same stage again?
They should
I think Gilligan’s Island was a more popular Sherwood Schwartz series than the Brady Bunch. Schwartz started out in show business writing jokes for Bob Hope. He also wrote for The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Armed Forces Radio before he got his break in TV with the Red Skelton Show as head writer from 1956 to 1962, winning an Emmy in 1961. He went on to create and produce Gilligan’s Island and The Brady Bunch.
Loved the show. Great fun and adventure in each episode. They should reunite. The World needs a quarky decent series with family dynamic.
I think a reason that the cast of “The Brady Bunch” isn’t “super-rich” is because “The Brady Bunch” never ranked in the Nielsen Top 30 year-end rankings during any of its five seasons on the air. Plus, critical reception for “The Brady Bunch” wasn’t very good, either, and it was never nominated for any Emmy or Golden Globe Awards.
But, she says above they didn’t have contracts for them back then that paid for more than 10 rerun episodes, which ended in 1979! So, they were famous but, not rich or paid as much as they are today. TV is a huge business that brings in big $$ and it’s all in the contracts. I grew up watching The Brady Bunch as a child and it was well liked. I don’t understand why the Nelson ratings arent showing that. It was the family show to watch along with the reruns. Its to bad they didn’t get more $$ for… Read more »
It’s not showing up on the Nielsen ratings because it simply wasn’t a REAL hit until well after the show was cancelled. It WAS the re runs that made the show famous, not the original block. Heck, on most streaming networks CBS, the company that aired the RE RUNS, is credited with being the publisher of the show, but in reality it was ABC. As a matter of fact the shows producers and director specifically went out of their way to ensure the case would wear “timeless” clothing so that the show would fair well in syndication! Obviously it didn’t… Read more »
My understanding is the cast of the Brady Bunch was never paid all that much during production of the original series (1969-1974). I believe the child actors signed five-year contracts and received little, if any raises. So I hope they were paid well for all the reunion episodes.