Television

Today a cultural touchstone of the ‘70s, The Brady Bunch sailed into uncharted waters when it introduced America to two fully realized blended families unified as they were. Its future was uncertain and among the many doubters, Robert Reed fully believed The Brady Bunch would be canceled before four months were up. The Brady Bunch saw Reed as the patriarch of the family, Mike Brady, opposite the maternal Carol Brady, played by Florence Henderson. His TV son, Barry Williams, who played Greg Brady, chronicled Reed’s open skepticism towards ABC’s surprise cultural phenomenon in his memoir, Growing Up Brady, I Was a Teenage Greg. Here’s what Reed really thought. Robert Reed was sure ‘The Brady Bunch’ would be canceled quickly Growing Up Brady, I Was a Teenage Greg by Barry Williams / Amazon In his book, Williams directly cites Reed and his surety that The Brady Bunch would soon be canceled not long after it began. “Sherwood and I met over dinner in his office, and basically, he fooled me,” claimed Reed. RELATED: Whatever Happened To Robert Reed, Mike Brady On ‘The Brady Bunch?’ “When he discussed The Brady Bunch with me, it was all in sociological terms,” he went on. “You know, there was 'a need to discover these figures in American life,' and all about 'families put asunder,' and blah blah blah, and how he'd gotten the idea for doing a show about putting two of these families together, and that it would be in a general comic context, but that it would also 'represent American life to American people.' So I thought, 'Well, gee, that sounds pretty good to me.’” Jump ahead to Reed reading the script for episode one, and, “I couldn't believe what I was reading! I mean, it's Gilligan all over again, with just as much insanity, and I quickly said, 'NO!’” There was some precedent for doubting ‘The Brady Bunch’ would stick the landing Robert Reed was sure The Brady Bunch would get canceled after 13 weeks / Everett Collection Reed was convinced to stick around long enough to ease fully into the role of Mike Brady, but the uncertainty lingered. “My private feeling was that it'll never get off the ground — take the money and go,” he admitted. “So we did the pilot, and of course it was terrible, so I was absolutely stunned when it got picked up,” he added, according to Williams. “And even then, I thought, 'It can't last more than thirteen weeks.' And it went on forever, which shows you what I know.” The Brady Bunch sailed into uncharted territory / Everett Collection Besides his disdain for some of the episodic plot points, there was also the issue of The Brady Bunch being practically unprecedented. This was still a time of major firsts happening on TV, from Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz presenting America to the first mixed-race couple - with caveats - on TV, to, then, The Brady Bunch starring a blended family. As television producer Sherwood Schwartz noted, “Television was loaded with happily married couples, and single widows and widowers, but there wasn’t any show that revolved around the marital amalgamation of two families.” Today, it feels like a totally safe setup. But that’s exactly because of the new ground The Brady Bunch dared to tread on.