MSNBC Headliners and Legends The Brady Bunch

Here's the story of a TV comedy about six very brave kids That's just the beginning Here's the inside story of a runaway cult hit It's cool to be a pop icon A Brady Bunch phenomenon The show with happy faces on the screen and outside of it, but their real lives had their moments. Berry was an ego-fighting idiot who refused to do the scene, he would just walk off the set, rage, get into fights, and look for some liquid courage and raging hormones. A lot of us, you know, match up a little bit. I'm looking to do something with mom.

I think deep down you really wish Barry and I had a real sexual relationship, but I don't think you guys out there? that's what you really wanted to hear in this hour the laughter, the heartbreak and their brush with tragedy and death, good times and bad times Marcia Marcia Marcia is how they all became the Brady Bunch these are the

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with perfect loan Hello everyone and welcome to

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for decades Americans have been on a nostalgia binge, we are often fascinated and even in love with the way we were or at least the way we thought we were. we were, maybe that's why the pink world of The Brady Bunch seems to live forever.

We return to an imaginary time when life, even for stepfamilies, was sugar and spice and everything nice and behind the scenes was also a lot of fun, but not without some real-life tensions. 1968 is a pivotal year in American history, from protests to war to cultural upheaval, but there is a place in Hollywood where that world doesn't reach. On the set of Paramount Stage five, it's about to become a very Brady world. Its production begins on what will become a television classic. The Brady Bunch, without a doubt. of the biggest pop culture icons on television in no way while we were filming the show did we have any idea of ​​the kind of impact it's simple it's from a child's point of view it validates the children who watch it and it works because of the remarkable synergy of the cast a combination of attitudes and personalities that start to work their magic from the beginning we all had this incredible chemistry between us, we really genuinely liked each other and came to love each other Florence would be the life of anyone's party Barry was 40 years old from the day he I met him, he hasn't changed at all.

Chris became my main goal. There are little games I used to play with him to torture him. He was a jerk, so Mike and I teamed up. Chris and I were friends. Susan Olsen and I were positive. To a large extent, how does a small television show become one of television's most enduring phenomena? It's a story that begins about two years earlier with a man named Sherwood Schwartz. One of my sons tells me that sometimes Shakespeare wrote to be or not to be and what he did. you write Marcia Marcia Marcia in the 1960s America is in the grip of change, even the nuclear family is exploding in two different ways: divorce and single parent families are on the rise and single parents are beginning to meet and marry each other creating blended families Schwartz a veteran television writer and producer receives an idea for a television show about this new type of family within a few weeks writes a script for a pilot My granddaughter, who was 12 at the time, Amy told me, she said, you mean, that's what you have the idea instantly like that and like that I said yes, it was just an instant, I don't have to build it, it was there and she says, well, daddy, that's called an epiphany, but new concepts are a tough sell even for Sherwood Schwartz, a man who was written for classics like The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Gilligan's Island Finally, four years later, in 1968, a movie called Yours, Mine and Ours, based on a true story about the marriage of a widow with eight children and a widower with 10. a hit, then ABC called me and said, hey, that show, you've been coming back here all the time, let's talk about it and this is how the program aired.

Paramount casts Brady Bunch and more than a thousand children. to try out the roles of the six children The Brady Family was just another audition, just another interview, just one more of the large number of interviews you go through when you know you are applying your craft there, but for Schwartz, casting is essential. He wants children who not only look alike but have personality and the kind of natural characteristics of children that he finds so attractive. The younger one said that's an attractive way of speaking that I thought was cool. I started explaining the special effects to him and I guess he thought it was cute.

He liked my Lisp, which was absolutely genuine. He said I was on a horse and the horse was scared by a snake and what a real snake. That we had fake snakes in the movies? She was a sure thing almost from the beginning. I took one person out of my environment and that was Barry Williams. I was usually cast as a tough guy, a renegade, a thief, sometimes maybe an intellectual or something, but never just an all-American kid until the Brady Tribe, after several grueling months of talent searching the kids are placed by father's side is 14-year-old Barry Williams as older brother Greg Brady a born leader an aspiring rock star ten-year-old Chris Knight is eight-year-old Peter the mischievous middle son Mike Lookinland is Bobby the shortest Brother on his father's side mother is 12-year-old Marine McCormack as Marcia, the perfect older sister, ten-year-old Eve Plum is Jan, the middle child who always struggles to get out of Marsha's shadow, and seven-year-old Susan Olsen is Cindy, the pretty one. baby with family braids who just wants to be taken seriously now kids need parents.

I was in Los Angeles for the Dean Martin show and I got a call when I was getting ready to go to Houston, Texas, to appear at a nightclub and they said, Are you going to go to Paramount Studios and meet Sherwood Schwartz and John Rich and everyone? those people you've never heard of after a last-minute screen test? Schwartz hires popular singer Florence Henderson to play Carol Brady for the role of Dad Brady. He wants some. -Well-known actor named Gene Hackman, but Paramount insists on Robert Reed, a beautiful and successful Broadway and television star who, more importantly, already has a studio contract, so they asked him to audition for this show that he hated because he had six children and he thought he was a young protagonist and he didn't want to take on that type of role because if he was successful it would change his life, however, Reed does a good screen test and Paramount locks him in for the role of Alice, the happy housekeeper.

The choices of Schwartz and B Davis, the two-time Emmy Award-winning actress of the 50th comedy show Bob Cummings, with which Sherwood Schwartz gets her perfect cast six children, two parents and a housekeeper nine cast members in total, but how will the public remember them from one week to the next? From the beginning of the week I recognized that television is a close-up medium, so I came up with this chess board and they are memorable because you see their faces. Not only does Schwartz create a memorable family, he writes one of the most well-known television theme songs of all time if you had to explain how they got together and where they met it would take four minutes of each show this way in exactly 60 seconds you can Leaving it all behind Now everyone knows that song It's amazing As the cast of Brady reunites to begin production A family dynamic begins to take shape The pilot sets the tone Mike and Carol's wedding Brady shows the struggles of two families coming together It's a battle of the sexes is a quintet against Brylcreem is dog against cat the pilot was intricate and difficult in the scene where the cats had to jump on the wedding guests.

You put a piece of liver on every other chair and the cat will find that piece of food. We only had one take to do it, so the prop guys knew when to travel to the table to make it happen. it slid down and it worked perfectly the furry but happily married Carolyn Mike Grady went on her honeymoon, but soon after they came back for the kids, a family honeymoon, it's an idea that's too much for some people, that's the which is why we at NBC wouldn't do it. the NBC pilot that's ridiculous to change the script and I wouldn't change it because I think you would or I don't think you would have enormous respect for the love of two people whose love wasn't completed unless the ABC kids decided it was a Guardian and the cast reunites for its first season in 1969, a happy reunion for the most part, the only person who had some difficulties I think was Bob Reed, who I don't think realized what he had gotten himself into .

Robert Reed is a trained. Shakespearean actor, student at England's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, his idea of ​​playing his father is King Lear, not my Grady, father of six. Robert was a pretty serious actor and I think he sometimes took himself very seriously and I often reminded him of that. We were doing a comedy, you know, this was a sitcom. He was amused by the scripts Bob read. He did not examine them from the point of view of comedic values ​​or dramatic values. His whole goal in life was precision and how far he goes. achieve are often very untangled.

II was looking at the script with one hand and the Encyclopedia Britannica with the other and God forbid the script had the wrong population of Duluth or something else and he refused to do the scene and you know why he would just walk off the set the lines of battle are plotted sitcom versus Shakespeare Schwartz wants a sweet light moralistic children's comedy Reid wants something more he tried to turn what was a fairy tale into some kind of drama, you know you can't do that he would He would have destroyed the show if , given his artistic reign, Sherwood Schwartz created the show, he loved the show and the same things that Bob would fight with him about were the things that Sherwood wanted and in the end I think Sherwood was right, the tensions between Schwartz and Reid.

They only intensify as time goes on, but like good parents, they try not to expose the children to their often heated arguments. Bob was very fatherly to us, he would not have wanted to expose us to anything outside of that that was inappropriate and I guarantee that Sherwood would never have allowed such behavior in front of his children. Most of the time when there was trouble, it was after the kids were gone and then there would be these explosions. I think that was very intentional. his part because he wanted that if he saw himself as the father he wanted those children to respect him, but Reid cannot completely hide his fury and frustration from the children he would get into a fight with and look for some liquid courage in him en he would go to the restaurant across the street and come back and then, you know, he would mess with Sherwood a lot of times, after a take he would look at the camera and say Sherwood Schwartz.

I hope you rot in hell for this. Reid hates the show, but he must abide by the terms of his main contract and there's something else: he really loves kids. He would give us very nice gifts for Christmas. He gave me this set of books about art for children. He gave us all movie cameras because he thought it was interesting. life that these kids have I still have, that was the first time I was exposed to filming my own stuff and I used to think it was pretty cool to read once married he has a daughter but his relationship with his ex-wife is strained and he hardly ever sees to his son, the Brady kids, bring out all their parental instincts during a slow season for the program.

He takes them and their teacher aboard the qe2 for a trip to London, to what is dearest to him. He knew how inspiring he had been. He and a father want to inspire his children. Well, here we are, where his children were actors. He wanted to show us British theater on the ship. He would make this experience. The soliloquies tell us about his sickly fear courses that he had taken at the Royal Academy. I saw The Mousetrap in London and we went to Hyde Park and we went to the tower and we had all this stuff off set.

Bob read that he is happy playing the role of America's Greatest Dad, but on set he remains spiteful. He always wanted to shake Bob Reid and say why don't you be more like Mike Brady? The Brady kids grow up. Barry Williams had a crush on Marcia Maureen and I were teenagers and they accuse us and then how fans learn the secret about America's favorite dad. In its first season, television critics dismissed The Brady Bunch for its idealistic, saccharine portrait of American family life. What they don't know is that it has its own family dynamic, many times the episodes come from my own home life with my father and how we grew up.

My father was very much Mike Brady, his attitudes were my father's attitudes are the attitudes of my father the Schwartzes and the cast defend their world Brady to them is about children and what is important to them children live in a different world than adults children are not interested in important problems, they are interested in problems thatThey are important to them, all of us and I think even Bob, when we did scenes, we believed every word, we tried to make it as believable as possible that every kid on the planet could. You get into the typical boy vs. girl, brother vs. sister who's running for student council president or you know, hey, you ate the last box of cookies or whatever when you stole my doll, you know kids really get those things, now you promise to do it.

Shut up, despite the criticism, the show finds loyal fans. Its success reflects Schwartz's philosophy. Studios have a tendency to look at children as if they were property. Our struggle was always to know their children. They should be kids first between scenes. We'd go play on Western Street where they filmed Bonanza or we'd go run down the alley where they filmed. Parents and the Mod Squad team also play an important role in promoting a family atmosphere and all mothers look after each other's children if we would see Barry as slumped over we would say stand up Barry or if anyone saw to anotherThe mother saw Michaels runny nose, they wiped his nose and we all worried about each other.

We involved parents as much as we could. We had chairs right in front of us, so the mothers were always there on set. Children. They are as responsible and professional as the adults who came always prepared they knew their lines when we worked I mean we had fun but they were all professional but even TV stars have to go to school Hollywood working kids have to spend at least 15 hours a day week in the classroom and it's intense we had to have three hours of school every day which sounds easy, it's not, it's three hours of concentration in school you don't have recess you can't throw spitballs in class you know not get rid of Francis Whitfield is a veteran teacher of Hollywood child actors, her students include the children of Lost in Space and the Brady Bunch.

I think they were the best six kids that could have been put together. I gave them all absolute good marks. Saint by order of Mother Teresa to us, our personal Mother Teresa, she would add perspective and always give us interesting things to do, charity projects, she would take my interest beyond just doing the TV show, they were very creative and interested ​​in everything and It was wonderful, but being with them as child actors is that the Brady kids live in a pretty weird world, where they can be themselves. Schwartz is great because he takes advantage of this.

His interests and real-life personalities are what appear on screen. In real life, Chris Knight loves to make fun of Marine McCormack, she drives me crazy with the craziness of her, you know, when I had to do something. Chris Knight gets the shot at him and one of Brady's most well-known episodes in which Peter throws the ball and accidentally hits Marcia. Perfect nose. I'm honored that it was Peter who threw the ball because in real life I would have liked to have done that. As children begin to grow into teenagers, their hormones are raging and love is in the air, even the youngest two.

We are in love Susan Olsen and I got married, now we are terribly married. I think he was the first little boy to come up and kiss me and it wasn't like you ran away, you know, I was like, well, that's not so bad kissing. It was like hugging, you know, kissing, you know, closing our mouths, kissing and telling. I love you all. I love them. We quickly lost interest in why another eight-year-old, well, a nine-year-old would do well. We got divorced and Michael had eyes for Eve because Eve was developing and I wasn't Chris Knight, Eve is Prince Charming but he hasn't even discovered girls but there was probably only one option for me and that was Eve and for a long time I It was an option. for Eve now I was too late, I looked back long enough.

I probably just went out to lunch according to Barry Williams, he and Marine McCormick don't have that problem, they can't keep their hands off each other when we have scenes together. what seemed to be natural would act more like a girl boy than a brother sister and I wouldn't even know what's going on, do you know why everyone gets mad? We're just going to act in the scene and I'm thanking him for being. A sister kiss so wonderful it's totally wrong. All of us, you know, matched up a little bit in one way or another, but I think Maureen and Barry were the only ones old enough to do something about it, but did we make any attempts?

Did we make attempts? our circadian rhythms were never in place we all smile about Barry, I mean he's a really soft guy who tests all the limits. Fifteen-year-old Barry Williams also has a huge crush on his TV mom, and in a bold Casanova-like move, he asks her. On one date, he was really developing a love for music, so he asked me if I would go with the singer and I told him that they sure had to understand that I'm coming at this from a completely different direction. I'm looking to let you know to move on mom and she's thinking, did you know there's a good boy here?

Know? And yes, we could hang out as friends because we were friends. I think deep down you really want it. that Barry and I had had a real sexual relationship, I think people, people out there, I think that's what they really wanted to hear, but nothing happened. The Brady children begin to sing or are headliners and legends who met Lauer in the 70s. A new television family begins that causes a sensation on the airwaves, the family of the singing partridges, with that the Bradys realize quickly that there is money to be made in music, but the question is, can any of them even carry a tune into the fall of 1970's new teen idol David?

Cassidy and the Partridge family joined the Brady Bunch on Friday night television programming. People love the musical family and senior executives are quick to catch on to the trend. Give me some good advice. A very smart marketing person at the Brady Bunch figured out that you know. The Partridge family sells a lot of records, why don't we try it? And they do in 1972, the Brady Bunch Kids released three albums and Chris Knight becomes the Brady equivalent of David Cassidy gracing the covers of every teen magazine. He was our heartthrob. He was our teen idol, girls were crazy about Chris, and naturally the powers that be wanted to package him up and make money off of it.

Chris didn't like any of that, his albums sell well, except for one problem. Chris Knight is deaf and he can't. he sings a note. I remember one time we were at the recording of an album session. Mike takes the phone from him easier and just looks at me. It was so tragic. I felt that bad. The music is still in the air and in the air. the third season of The Brady Bunch Greg writes two songs and enlists his brothers and sisters to tell him: Don't worry, Greg, by Friday, my boss will just be Peter. The shortcomings are explained by his voice change, that was the most romantic episode we have ever seen.

That was the show he didn't want to appear on. I took it personally. I thought what they were doing was pointing out my inadequacy to the entire world by making my crying voice, but despite Chris Knight's personal trauma, the show must. Go on, in 1973, the Brady Bunch child singers hit the road and, to their surprise, discovered they were stars. That was the first time we really went out and met the people who had been watching our show all those times and I was attracted, we went from city to city and we had big crowds everywhere we went when we did constants, we did concerts that we wanted, we were going in front of people live and they were dragging Chris with them to try to sing when we were on tour.

Most of the time his microphone was off, except when he had to do a solo. He was starting to have these back spasms. He couldn't walk, he couldn't stand it. My body was doing everything it could to close out the tour. big hit The Brady Kids are suddenly everywhere in magazines, lunch boxes, coloring books, gum trading cards, and like so many hot Hollywood stars, the Brady kids are wondering if they shouldn't get a bigger slice of the cake, so they hire a powerful top manager to manage his music career, he wants to turn the television show into a vehicle for the musical act, so the children accompany him, he meets with the Schwartzes, although it is not just music and money what the kids demand from my opinion, which is what I remember hesitantly telling Sherwood that Bobby should get a girlfriend as soon as possible, but the meeting takes an ugly turn when a manager attacks the show and himself.

Sherwood Schwartz, poor Sherwood, looks like a wounded animal and then he just started. to make no sense, I know Michael and I looked at each other that at some point it was like what are we doing. I never felt comfortable with the new manager. I finally said no, Michael won't sign with that manager and then of course. Susan and Eve didn't either - half the kids quit the manager marking the first break in the group fed up with Chris Knight quitting the musical act completely. He had bad feelings because he knew he was our hottie, he was our teenage heartthrob, now we would do it.

He wasn't that popular, so his last show was all our last shows, it wasn't low, like it was some kind of threat, it wasn't like it was some kind of spite, it was like freedom, I can walk again. It went from being a comedy to recording artists, doing a cartoon show and personal appearances and as that started to expand, I think everyone's vision changed a little bit, so it created divisions between us in terms of the direction we took. , it didn't really create divisions between us when we were kids because we were still loyal to you know our friendship and we got along well and that was kind of a business friendships won't be enough to keep the show together Sherwood Schwartz is hurt by this confrontation with the kids and his next battle is in progress a final showdown with Robert Reed when the cast of the Brady Bunch returns for its fifth season in 1973, the atmosphere on the set somehow changes, the children grow older and more worldly knowledge and, although Bob Reed He's more of a father figure.

On set, he's still belligerent with the scripts, he started to get a little more tense on set, just between us as a group of individuals, we didn't all have different interests, but we didn't all have the same interests, not even his characters. they're growing up Mike Brady gets a new car Carol a new hairstyle Marcia gets her driver's license Jan is voted the most popular girl in school Cindy finally lets her hair down Greg gets to be Johnny Bravo Peter discovers girls and even Bobby gets his girlfriend here what he was looking for in the script of the last episode of the season, Bobby tests his business skills selling a miracle hair tonic, you want to look elegant, this is unrivaled when it has no buyers, older brother Greg feels sorry for him and buys a bottle , but he turns his hair orange and Bob Reed sees red well.

I get an angry call from Bob Reed that no hair tonic could turn your hair orange. He said it's impossible first of all that hair tonic can do that and that could happen in this time frame. and he was in the normal state of him, you know, he has to be in the encyclopedia and scientifically it hasn't been proven well again. I was prepared because before this script came out I called Clairol and said, is there ever a problem with hair changing unusual colors? they said we have a whole group of lawyers that do nothing but deal with these problems, that's not good enough for Reed and he sends Schwartz a telegram that is a whole diatribe against the program and ends with the words and that's why that I can't do this. show it well, I fight fire with fire and knowing Bob's love for reference books, I went to the dictionary and I can't say that he is physically incapable according to the contract if he is physically incapable of being able not to pay, read it is written out of the episode , his lines are given to Florence Henderson and B Davis, but he shows up and doesn't leave.

I was in a difficult situation because, on the one hand, I'm trying to do the best job I can and, on the other hand, I know that Bob who is not 20 feet away has kind of a scowl and completely disapproves of the nature of the scene. Reed's presence creates tension, especially with Schwartz, who calls a top executive about the problem and is told we can bring in a couple of security guards. down and just pick them up and take it to the set and I said over my dead body that one of the kids will think he's finally going to read the heads of the local bar leaving Schwartz to finish filming the last episode of the season, but what no one knows is that this will happen . will be the last episode ever Schwartz gets someone else to break the bad news I thought they were calling me to pick me up and I remember it starting with thewords he says: you know Barry, I'm sitting here with a bottle of a bottle of whiskey in front of me, he says yeah, the Brady Family is canceled and it's like, oh man, now what, because that's really all he knew After five years and 117 episodes on ABC, The Brady Family is canceled just in time, it seems like we might.

Maybe it went further, but everyone's contract ends after five years, so Mom would have to renegotiate everyone's salary and the show, and her 50 years started to sink in and I was tired of these battles with Bob Reed at that time. moment, so it was essential. It kind of splits up, the kids want to do one thing or another, most kids think their success will carry over to other acting jobs, but they're the Brady Tribe always overshadowed by the characters when it comes to playing Cindy. "I had really had enough and hoped that if the show ended while I was still in the process of growing up, I wouldn't be typecast.

The dream of typecasting becomes a problem for the Brady kids, but Mike Lookinland is lucky. After that appearance, he went straight to work on a hit movie called The Towering Inferno, co-starring Steve McQueen and Paul Newman, and Landis offered me a role in a television series. I told the guys, I'm sorry, but I haven't had anything. kind of a vacation for six years, big mistake, I shouldn't turn down work in Hollywood, no one called me after that Maureen McCormick appears in some teen movies like Skate Town USA and Eve Plum stars in the dawn portrait of a. runaway teenager and Little Women, but the work is still scarce it was like starting from scratch the phone didn't ring and everyone was looking for the new face and you are yesterday's news none of that made sense when Susan Olsen hits the streets of Hollywood she can't even get audition I can You can't even see this, I can't even read for this role, but no, because they are not interested in Cindy Brady, well, I'm not Scindia Susan, but soon she is Cindy again in 1977, three years after Bradys Parkways.

The producers of the popular show Donny and Marie approached them with the idea of ​​reuniting the cast and doing a similar variety act called The Brady Bunch. I don't think they could have come up with a less attractive project for me. That would have been the last thing I would have wanted to do except have the opportunity to work with my friends again or just the opportunity to work with everyone except Eve Plumb, who returns, another actress takes her place, Jan Brady, but Robert Reed is the biggest surprise recruit in The whole reason Bob did it is because you're kidding.

I mean, someone is going to pay me to do something stupid like that, which seems very strange based on the traumas she had with his drama. I wanted to sing in the worst possible way, you know? He loved music. I think the fact that Bob joined us for this show is like he put the seal of approval on it. Well, if Bob is doing this, it's a great thing. The premise of the show is that the Bradys decide to give up their cozy suburban lifestyle and Dad his architectural career to put on the best variety show of all time we had the pool but Donny Marie had his ice skating rink they could sing and we were entertained we were entertained in a completely different way it's like what they are you're looking at, you're looking at someone, it's like a psychedelic experience, it's Ellis day trips, most of the actors are happy that the variety hour The Brady Bunch only lasted seven episodes, the Brady kids once again tried to distance themselves from Brady land, it's not easy to do.

In 1981, the cast reunites for a two-hour television movie called The Brady Girls Get Married, which spawns a short-lived television series on NBC called The Brady Brides. It wasn't idiotic enough, but the world wasn't ready for a reunion and the show wasn't good, it just wasn't very good, it was seven years before the Brady Bunch Phoenix re-emerged in 1988, they returned for a very Brady Christmas in CBS' highest-rated television movie that year and elevates the network to the number two spot for the first time that season, The Bradys also earned a footnote in television history by airing on the three chains.

I kept coming back it's like a disease you can't kill with a stick and it will just get huge ratings people just love this family and Robert Reed loves this family despite the continuous battles with Sherwood Schwartz on every reunion show , he always returns, but his last project with Brady would be in 1990 with two television series with more serious themes called Brady's. is a flop and shortly after Reed is diagnosed with a fatal illness, America's favorite dad fights for his life and dignity in the '90s, The Brady Bunch is one of the most popular shows in syndication and growing more kids.

They grow up with the Meanwhile, Brady, America's favorite dad, Robert Reed, is battling colon cancer and the prognosis is not good. He called me and told me that he wasn't lying to you. He said I really thought he would make it, but he said no. They asked me if he could call the kids and tell them and that was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I remember getting the phone call from Florence saying Bob was sick. I thought I had time and just a couple of days later, Florence called me and told me that she was gone.

Robert Reed dies on May 12, 1992 at the age of 59. The cast of The Brady Bunch is like they've lost a family member. I immediately felt like we would never be whole again. It was a very difficult time because it was at that moment that I began to really understand how much he meant to me. Looking back, it turns out that he was absolutely my role model growing up. Reed is separated from his ex-wife and daughter in In the end, his only real family is the Brady Tribe. I think there was a big hole in his heart and he really wanted to be a father.

There was a feeling that Bob needed us and we would be rehearsing for concert tours all the time. All of a sudden Bob would show up, he said, during all our shows at Knott's Berry Farm we played there for like a week and Bob was there every night and we weren't that good, he had to love us to be there chiming in like his oldest son. Would Barry Williams host Reed's memorial service? He cared a lot about all of us, we were friends and I cared about his life and who he was, and I saw there was an opportunity to step in and organize the memorial service.

I just saw that as my place to do it was a little sad for me too that there weren't many people there it was just very few people but his family was there The Brady Bunch we were there the audience also mourns the death of their favorite TV father but soon Robert reads the most kept secret and is exposed. The tabloid print says the death certificate revealed that he was HIV positive and the tabloids also revealed that he was gay. Bob didn't choose to announce that, so why should anyone know after he died? I thought it was so irresponsible.

Bob died with incredible courage and incredible dignity. Bob is one of the most reserved men I've ever met and he didn't bring his lifestyle to the set with him, he brought his professionalism. I understood Bob and I believe. part of his resentment and his unhappiness came from the fact that he was gay and he was always covering it up, but America's favorite dad was gay. I think that was an even bigger burden on him because he wanted to, I think, protect that staunch image. Brady Bunch fans respect that wish and still love him and read Mike Brady is still alive as the Brady Bunch is reincarnated over and over again in a hit theater production called the real-life Brady Bunch and on Saturday Night Live Sherwood Schwartz even gives the thumbs up good for a satirist.

Take on the Brady Bunch and a 1995 movie, I'm sure, that takes a lot of credit away from him because we're asking to make fun of his own show and I think we're probably the only people in history to satirize our own work. I Have No Friends, the film is a huge box office hit and established the Brady Tribe as a cultural icon. It really caused a sensation. I think the movie changed the whole idea of ​​the Brady Tribe back in the day. I don't think people said "wow." the Brady Tribe, I'm sure it's okay to like the Brady Tribe, the Brady Tribe, although originally disdained in Hollywood and never in the top 20, has transcended its critics and entered the American vernacular taking its place in the pop culture and television history we hear so much about. about family values ​​today and if there was ever a television show that contributed to that, I think the Brady Bunch is an embodiment of that.

Now young parents tell me it's one of the few shows they feel comfortable letting their kids watch Marine McCormack and Eve. Plum doesn't like to talk about being Brady anymore, but the show has left its mark on the cast, who remain practically friends. Not a day goes by that at some point during the day I don't talk to someone about the Brady Bunch. I can't escape it and if I tried I would spend all my time doing that. Having been Cindy Brady, I think it's cool now, it wasn't for a long time, but it's cool to be a pop icon.

We have reached a kind of peace with him, we have had a much more far-reaching effect than I ever imagined and I need to pay him more reverence and respect today, millions of children watched The Brady Bunch on Nickelodeon and the audience only continues to grow. truly become a touchstone for a certain generation, the Brady Tribe is legendary because it is bigger than it ever intended to be, it took on a life of its own, this unit, this family, this group of actors, this TV show, is so ingrained in American pop culture. in so many minds and in so many hearts and it will continue to live on and on and on and on.

You have to admit, it was a kinder, gentler time in the world of television. Each episode of the American family sitcom was a carefully wrapped lesson in morality. the kids were innocent and actually respectful unlike many of the smartasses on today's sitcoms. I'm Matt Lauer, thanks for watching to find out what the Brady cast is up to now. Log in to our headline website at MSNBC dot com.