Trivia for
"The Brady Bunch" (1969) More at IMDbPro »

• 464 girls and boys were interviewed by producer Sherwood Schwartz to find the Brady kids.
  
  
• In addition to the albums recorded by the Brady kids, there was an album featuring only Maureen McCormick and Christopher Knight. It was a commercial failure.
  
  
• The Bradys' sliding glass door in the back of the house actually had neither glass nor a screen in it. It was simply put on the sliders with no glass so as to prevent glares from lighting.
  
  
• During her first day, acting as "Mrs. Brady", Florence Henderson, the Brady production staff were too busy to take care of her make-up, so she was sent over to the adjoining studio, where she found herself seated in a make-up chair between William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, being made up for their day's work on "Star Trek" (1966). Henderson recalls neither actor spoke to her.
  
  
• There are many references to a fictional place called "Mount. Claymore". This is where the Brady's went camping in "The Brady Bunch: A-Camping We Will Go (#1.8)" (1969) and it was mentioned many other times in their five seasons.
  
  
• The theme song during the first season was performed by The Peppermint Trolley Company. In the last four seasons, it was was sung by the Brady kids.
  
  
• We saw the Brady's bathroom many times, but not once did we see a toilet. The popular joke was that the Bradys are so good, clean and wholesome that didn't even go to the bathroom. The truth is, they had intended putting a toilet in the bathroom, but the network censors wouldn't let them.
  
  
• Sherwood Schwartz originally wanted Gene Hackman for the role of Mike Brady, but Hackman wasn't considered well-known enough at the time.
  
  
• Tiger, the Brady's dog, dis-appeared after the second season of the show. In reality, Tiger ran away and supposedly got hit by a car. The reason the dog house remained there was because one of the studio lights fell and burned a hole through the astro-turf, so they moved the dog house to cover up and hide the burned hole.
  
  
• Even though this show stayed on for five seasons, it never was a ratings hit. The highest it ever got was number 34 in the Nielsens, but stayed on the air due to its popularity among children.
  
  
• The Brady kids attended Westdale High School, Filmore Junior High and Clinton Elementary School. However, in Episode 1.3, "Eenie, Meenie, Mommy Daddy", the name of Cindy's school is Dixie Canyon Elementary School (an actual elementary school in Studio City, California).
  
  
• The Bradys' next door neighbors, the Ditmeyers, were talked about, but only Mr. Ditmeyer was seen on one occasion.
  
  
• The girls originally had a cat named Fluffy, but it was only seen in the pilot. The cat was gone by the time the second episode aired.
  
  
• Carol's last name from her previous marriage was Martin. Her maiden name was Tyler. This would make the three girls' names, and from oldest to youngest, (before the wedding): Marcia Martin, Jan Martin and Cindy Martin.
  
  
• Even though Greg dated a lot, you never actually saw him kiss any of the girls he went out with. The only Brady kid to have a kissing scene was Bobby.
  
  
• The house used for exterior shots, which was normally seen at the beginning of every episode as well as various points throughout the show's run, is at 11222 Dilling St., Studio City, California. Since the series ended, the owners of the home have erected an iron fence, let heavy shrubbery grow to cover much of the front, and have suffered numerous trespassers. They also refused to let producers use the home for exterior shots in the subsequent films in the 1990s.
  
  
• The name of the Brady kids' singing group was the Brady Six. However, in one episode they temporarily changed it to the Silver Platters.
  
  
• Because of difficulties with Robert Reed, Sherwood Schwartz considered the possibility of either hiring a new actor to play Mike Brady or killing off the character altogether, if the series were to be renewed for a sixth season. However, neither idea ever materialized since the show was canceled at the end of its fifth season.
  
  
• Due to its marginal ratings, the show was never renewed for a whole season until its last season on the air (1973-74). During its first four seasons, it was only renewed for thirteen episodes at a time. Several members of the cast have admitted that when they finished filming thirteen episodes, there was always an air of apprehension while they waited to see if ABC would renew the program or not.
  
  
• Robert Reed, who famously disliked his role as Mike Brady, claimed he only took the part because producer Sherwood Schwartz told him the show would be a serious, boundary-pushing look at modern family life.
  
  
• The names of Mike's and Carol's previous spouses were never mentioned on the show. In fact, the only time a picture was shown of Mike's first wife was in the very first episode.
  
  
• The Brady's home address was 4222 Clinton Way. Even though it was widely known that the show was set in the Los Angeles suburbs, the name of the town the Brady's lived in was never mentioned.
  
  
• The character 'Mike Brady' was ranked #14 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" (20 June 2004 issue).
  
  
• Sherwood Schwartz's technique for auditioning child actors was to set out a bunch of toys on his desk, then during the interview see if the child paid attention to him or was distracted by the toys. If the toys went unheeded, Schwartz knew the child had the concentration needed to work on a television series.
  
  
• The name of Cindy's favorite doll was Kitty Karry-All.
  
  
• Was the first television series to be created and produced by Paramount Studios, which up until that time had been a movie studio exclusively. Earlier TV shows, such as "Star Trek" (1966) and "Bonanza" (1959) were acquired by Paramount when the studio purchased Desilu.
  
  
• Barry Williams (Greg Brady) is the only Brady kid to appear in every episode.
  
  
• The Lucille Ball film Yours, Mine and Ours (1968), with its similar theme, inspired ABC to finally green-light this series.
  
  
• Sherwood Schwartz, creator of The Brady Bunch, wrote the lyrics to the unforgettable theme song.
  
  
• Jeffrey Hunter lobbied Sherwood Schwartz for the role of Mike Brady.
  
  
• The Brady Bunch had a total of five theme songs. A new one was recorded for each of the show's five seasons.
  
  
• The major sponsors during the earlier programs of "The Brady Bunch" were Cheerios and Mattel Toys.
  
  
• Barry Williams, Ann B. Davis and Florence Henderson are the only three cast members to appear in all 117 episodes of the series.
  
  
• Robert Reed refused to appear in the episode where the Bradys go to the movie studio because he thought the script was too dumb.
  
  
• The word 'sex' was only mentioned twice in the entire series. First time, it was spoken by Greg, in the first season, but not again, until the series-ending show, by Cousin Oliver.
  
  
• When comedienne Joyce Bulifant was intended to be Carol Brady in the series, it was also planned to cast character actress Kathleen Freeman as the housekeeper, Alice. However, when Florence Henderson was chosen to be Carol instead, it was decided that to have two "straight woman" actresses in the Brady house was a bad idea, so comedienne Ann B. Davis got the part of Alice to keep things evenly balanced.
  
  
• In 2001 VH1 broadcast the series with new pop-up facts called "Pop-Up Brady".
  
  
• The show is sometimes believed to be the first to show a married couple (Mike and Carol) sleeping in the same bed. There were actually a number of shows in which this happened earlier, including, but not necessarily limited to, "Green Acres" (1965), "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" (1952), "The Munsters" (1964), and "The Flintstones" (1960).
  
  
• The show received lots of viewer fan mail, including a few letters from children asking if they could come live with the Bradys, since their own families were troubled or imperfect. Show creator Sherwood Schwartz answered those letters with a reminder that "The Brady Bunch" was only a television show, and the children would do best to make the most of their own home situations.
  
  
• Robert Reed, who played Mike Brady, in reality, was actually a closeted homosexual. Florence Henderson noticed early on that Reed seemed uncomfortable acting romantically with her, and he admitted the truth to her privately. They worked around it, rehearsing kissing and hugging scenes off-camera, so they would look more natural when it came time to film them. The whole cast kept Robert Reed's secret, which was not revealed to the public, until after his death.
  
  
• Sherwood Schwartz's daughter Hope Juber appeared as Greg's date in two episodes of the series. She was also a classmate of Marcia, in her first appearance, and as a graduate-to-be, in the shows finale. Some of the show's plotlines were based on her real-life experiences growing up. She admitted later it was slightly embarrassing to see events from her life played out on television.
  
  
• Several episodes of the series contained recycled plots from the earlier series "My Three Sons" (1960): "Katchoo" (episode 1.5) from "Tramp or Ernie" (7.13), "The Winner" (2.21) from "A Hunk of Hardware" (6.29), and "Two Petes in a Pod" (5.18) from "The Wrong Robbie" (6.30).
  
  
• The Bradys all drove Chrysler Corporation vehicles (until the final season). Mike Brady drove a 1968 blue Dodge Polara convertible in the pilot; a 1969 Plymouth Fury III convertible also blue; second season a 1970 Plymouth Fury III convertible in blue; a 1970 blue Plymouth Barracuda convertible in year three; a 1972 Plymouth Barracuda convertible in year four (actually, it was the 1970 Barracuda convertible modified with a 1972 rear tail light panel and front end grill. Plymouth dropped the Barracuda convertible in 1971. ); also there was a 1972 blue Chevrolet Impala convertible; a red 1973 Chevrolet Caprice convertible; and a bronze 1974 Chevrolet Caprice convertible in year five. The "Bradys" 1974 bronze Caprice was also used in an episode of The Odd Couple in 1975. Carol, on the other hand, drove only two vehicles: a gold 1969 Plymouth Satellite wagon (first season); a gold 1970 Plymouth Satellite wagon; and a gold 1971 Plymouth Satellite wagon (which took the "bunch" on their infamous Grand Canyon trip). Also a gold 1973 Plymouth Satellite wagon (with the big bumper guards) in the last season. The vehicles were loaned to Paramount by the Chrysler Corporation and The Chevrolet motor Division for filming. Incidentally, the 1969 Plymouth Fury III convertible that "Mike Brady" drove was recently restored to showroom condition.
  
  
• All 117 original air dates were on Fridays.
  
  
• "The Brady Bunch" (1969) had 117 shows in total. They all originally televised on a Friday, but just three of them originally televised on superstition date, "Friday, the 13th". First was "The Grass is Always Greener", on Friday, March 13th, 1970. Second was "The Brady Bunch: A Fistful of Reasons (#2.8)" (1970) on Friday, November 13th, 1970. Third and final was "The Brady Bunch: Today, I Am a Freshman (#4.4)" (1972) on Friday, October 13th, 1972.
  
  
• There were seven shows total, with "one character, that was missing". From oldest to newest, they are, "The Brady Bunch: Call Me Irresponsible (#2.6)" (1970), "Cindy Brady", portrayed by Susan Olsen did not act in it. Second was "The Brady Bunch: A Fistful of Reasons (#2.8)" (1970). "Jan Brady, portrayed by Eve Plumb did dot act in it. Third was _"The Brady Bunch" (1969) {Tattle-Tale, The #2.10)}_ "Peter Brady", portrayed by Christopher Knight did not act in it. Fourth was "The Brady Bunch: What Goes Up... (#2.11)" (1970) "Marcia Brady", portrayed by Maureen McCormick did not act in it. Fifth was "The Brady Bunch: Coming Out Party (#2.17)" (1971) "Bobby Brady", portrayed by Mike Lookinland did not act in it. Sixth was _"The Brady Bunch" (1969) {Goodbye, Alice, Hello (#4.10)}_ was the first of two without "Mike Brady", portrayed by Robert Reed. The seventh and final was also the series' ending finale, _"The Brady Bunch" (1969) {Hair-Brained Scheme, The (#5.22)}_ "Mike Brady" was not in.
  
  

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