I’ve recently watched most episodes of the Brady Bunch. What I like most are the behind the scenes stories, in particular how gay Robert Reed made the BB kids his surrogate family and was there for them and loved them as a real Dad. He was a real-life father but, after the divorce, his daughter didn’t live with him and was later adopted by her step-father.
There’s a moving quote by “Peter” saying Reed was a positive influence on him, and the BB was a more loving family for him than his own.
“Marcia” says in an interview that she didn’t suspect Reed was gay, she’d fantasised she’d “run off with him one day and marry him”!
It must have been amazing for members of the public to see Reed taking the whole Brady Bunch out on holidays together. He’d get permission from their parents, then take them on educational tours to inspire their acting careers.
I like how the kids all got along too, in a Sunshine Day-kinda way.
I haven’t watched the variety shows or other spin-offs, but one of the documentaries says Reed was always insistent that he’d play the father role, even for the musicals, and it took him ages to learn how to sing and dance, as he was hopeless at it (in the Grand Canyon episode, they sing round a campfire, and you can hear how tuneless he was before all the training). Despite Reed hating many of the Brady Bunch scripts (particularly the slapstick element, which he felt was a dated form of comedy), and arguing with the producers a lot, he stuck to playing the father so he could hang out with his BB “family”. I find it very touching.
I like all the BB characters, particularly Jan. Her “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!” tirade and glasses episodes are among my favourites. I like the George Glass, Vote for Jan and Jan the Only Child episodes too. Here’s a parody of the Best of Jan Brady.
Cotton Ward 