‘Brady Bunch’ show recycled
By JERRY BUCK AP Television Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) Producer Sherwood Schwartz has something in common with the hog farmer who sold every part of the pig but the whistle.
Schwartz, from a clan of comedy writers, has established himself as an expert at recycling his old series. All that remains is for him to find a market for the laugh tracks. Back in 1964, he came up with a series called “Gilligan’s Island.” It was canceled after three years on CBS and everyone thought that was the end of that. In fact, many people prayed that it was.
No such luck. Besides the endless reruns, “Gilligan’s Island” spent time as an animated series and in its present incarnation as a movie series on NBC.
That’s nothing compared to “The Brady Bunch," an ABC series from 1969-74 about the uniting of a widower with three sons and a widow with three daughters. It, too, became an animated series. But in 1977, ABC brought back the cast save for Eve Plumb for a variety show. Not the end yet.
Schwartz sold a two-hour movie to NBC about the Brady girls getting married. He no sooner had the movie finished than NBC's Fred Silverman decided to broadcast the show as a miniseries in four half-hour episodes Finally, as it went on the air, it was proclaimed a regular series “The Brady Brides. ”
The Friday night series stars Maureen McCormick and Eve Plumb as the Brady girls. Jerry Houser and Ron Kuhlman play their husbands. Ann B. Davis.also from the original series, is a regular in her role of Alice. Florence Henderson has made guest appearances in several episodes beyond the first four, and others from "The Brady Bunch’’ may appear from time to time.
The show’s really the mating of “The Brady Bunch" and another series Schwartz had been trying to sell for six years.
“It was a show called Full House,’ about two young couples who have to pool their resources to buy a house that they all share," he said. "I couldn't sell that until my son Lloyd, who now produces the series, came up with a solution. He said, “Why don't we make the two girls who get married the two oldest Brady girls? Same show, but now you have the power of the old series behind you.'
“So, in a sense, we gave the network what they wanted, a show with a built-in audience, and they gave us what we wanted ”
Reviving “The Brady Bunch ” was no easy task.
Schwartz said Miss Davis came out of semi-retirement in Denver to do the show. Robert Reed went to a lot of trouble to get a leave from his Broadway show, “Death Trap.” “I couldn’t believe it,” Schwartz said, “ because in the beginning of “The Brady Bunch,’ he was not too happy about the show."
Another stumbling block was rebuilding the Brady house. “We almost came to a parting of the ways over that,” he said. “The house is a character. Kids remember every room in the house. I wouldn't do it without that house. The reconstruction cost $200,000, which was a huge chunk of the budget. But I said, ‘There’s no way I can put these people in a different house.’ They said, ‘People move.’ I said, ‘Not the Bradys’”
Schwartz said he is confident that people will like “The Brady Brides" because it’s an old-fashioned family show. “I think people are tired of insult shows," he said. “They’re supposedly family shows, but really they’re anti-family shows.
Schwartz, from a clan of comedy writers, has established himself as an expert at recycling his old series. All that remains is for him to find a market for the laugh tracks. Back in 1964, he came up with a series called “Gilligan’s Island.” It was canceled after three years on CBS and everyone thought that was the end of that. In fact, many people prayed that it was.
No such luck. Besides the endless reruns, “Gilligan’s Island” spent time as an animated series and in its present incarnation as a movie series on NBC.
That’s nothing compared to “The Brady Bunch," an ABC series from 1969-74 about the uniting of a widower with three sons and a widow with three daughters. It, too, became an animated series. But in 1977, ABC brought back the cast save for Eve Plumb for a variety show. Not the end yet.
Schwartz sold a two-hour movie to NBC about the Brady girls getting married. He no sooner had the movie finished than NBC's Fred Silverman decided to broadcast the show as a miniseries in four half-hour episodes Finally, as it went on the air, it was proclaimed a regular series “The Brady Brides. ”
The Friday night series stars Maureen McCormick and Eve Plumb as the Brady girls. Jerry Houser and Ron Kuhlman play their husbands. Ann B. Davis.also from the original series, is a regular in her role of Alice. Florence Henderson has made guest appearances in several episodes beyond the first four, and others from "The Brady Bunch’’ may appear from time to time.
The show’s really the mating of “The Brady Bunch" and another series Schwartz had been trying to sell for six years.
“It was a show called Full House,’ about two young couples who have to pool their resources to buy a house that they all share," he said. "I couldn't sell that until my son Lloyd, who now produces the series, came up with a solution. He said, “Why don't we make the two girls who get married the two oldest Brady girls? Same show, but now you have the power of the old series behind you.'
“So, in a sense, we gave the network what they wanted, a show with a built-in audience, and they gave us what we wanted ”
Reviving “The Brady Bunch ” was no easy task.
Schwartz said Miss Davis came out of semi-retirement in Denver to do the show. Robert Reed went to a lot of trouble to get a leave from his Broadway show, “Death Trap.” “I couldn’t believe it,” Schwartz said, “ because in the beginning of “The Brady Bunch,’ he was not too happy about the show."
Another stumbling block was rebuilding the Brady house. “We almost came to a parting of the ways over that,” he said. “The house is a character. Kids remember every room in the house. I wouldn't do it without that house. The reconstruction cost $200,000, which was a huge chunk of the budget. But I said, ‘There’s no way I can put these people in a different house.’ They said, ‘People move.’ I said, ‘Not the Bradys’”
Schwartz said he is confident that people will like “The Brady Brides" because it’s an old-fashioned family show. “I think people are tired of insult shows," he said. “They’re supposedly family shows, but really they’re anti-family shows.
