“Here’s the story of a lovely lady…” To this day, those seven words that begin the iconicThe Brady Bunchtheme song still put a smile on people’s faces, people only too happy to carry on with the rest of the tune. That theme song summarizes the entire premise of the show perfectly: a woman with three girls meets a man with three boys, and they form a family.The show was groundbreaking at the time, as shows about blended families simply weren’t made in the late 1960s. As recalled by famed TV producerSherwood Schwartz, “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.”The Brady Bunchbecame the first, and the two families grew into one, one thatplanted a family tree that lasted well beyond the series' initial five-season run withThe Brady Bunchmoviesand various spinoffs.
The Brady Bunch
The misadventures of a large family united when a widower and a widow marry.
‘The Brady Bunch’ Family Tree Begins When a Lady Met This Fellow
Mike Brady (Robert Reed) is a widower and father to three boys: Greg (Barry Williams), Peter (Christopher Knight), and Bobby (Mike Lookinland). Single mother Carol Martin, née Tyler (Florence Henderson) has three girls: Marcia (Maureen McCormick), Jan (Eve Plumb), and the youngest one in curls, Cindy (Susan Olsen). Now the fate of Carol’s husband, Daniel Martin, was never revealed on the show. Schwartz claims Carol was a divorcee, but execs weren’t keen on the idea. For her part,Henderson jokingly stated, “I killed my husband. I was the original black widow! I always said I just got rid of him.” However, inA Very Brady Sequel(whichReddit claims as the superiorof the two films),Carol (Shelley Long) saysher husband was the Professor, aka Roy Hinkley (Russell Johnson) ofGilligan’s Island. That assertion, which linksThe Brady Bunchwith Schwartz’s other big sitcom, is certainly much more fun to believe, so for our purposes here? Sorry, Daniel Martin, we want to run with the Professor as canon.
Little is known about the branches above Mike and Carol, however. Henderson’s fun cameo in 1995’sThe Brady Bunch Moviesaw her play Carol’s mother, whose name isn’t disclosed. In the Season 4 episode “You’re Never Too Old,” we’re introduced to Carol’s grandmother from Kentucky, Connie Hutchins (Henderson), a feisty, free-spirited woman, and Greg’s grandfather, retired judge Hank Brady (Reed). Marcia and Jan play matchmaker for their great-grandparents, and they elope in Las Vegas, which turns Mike and Carol into cousins, thrice-removed, or something of its ilk. Eww.
‘The Brady Bunch’ Lived Well Beyond the Original Show
All hail the groovy Bradyverse.
‘The Brady Bunch’ Kids Have Kids of Their Own
The Brady Brides, which arose from the TV movieThe Brady Girls Get Married, was the first to extend the Brady tree, with the family gathering together for the double wedding of Marcia and Jan. Jan marries Philip Covington III (Ron Kuhlman), an uptight, conservative college professor (notGeorge Glass, sadly). Marcia marries Philip’s odd couple antithesis, the slovenly toy company sales associate Wally Logan (Jerry Houser).That series follows the misadventures of the couples as they navigate living together in a shared home. Not the original Brady home, which somehow had room for a housekeeper, six kids, a large master bedroom and a home office, but if you want that one,it was up for saleas recently as 2023.
A Very Brady Christmassees Mike and Carol use the money from their savings account to fly the entire family home for Christmas, a family that has grown since the last time we saw them. Greg… sorry,Dr.Greg Brady is married to Nora Brady (Caryn Richman), and they have a son, Kevin (Zachary Bostrom). Peter is engaged to Valerie (Carol Huston), while Marcia and Wally have two children, Jessica (Jaclyn Bernstein) and Mickey (G.W. Lee).The Bradys, a failed attempt in 1990 to revamp the family within the dramedy genre, introduced new members to the Brady family tree. Bobby, left paralyzed after a race car accident, is married to Tracy (Martha Quinn), Cindy, a radio host, is seeing her station manager, Gary (Ken Michelman), who has two children of his own, and Patty (Valerie Ick) is the adopted daughter of Jan and Philip, from Korea. Greg and Nora are still married, but Peter separated from his fiancée (see one fan’s assessmenthere).
Let’s Not Forget the Additional Bradys
We would be remiss if we didn’t mention the “Bonus Bradys,“the characters that have long been associated with the family, and it would be an outright sin not to mention America’s favorite live-in housekeeper, Alice (Ann B. Davis). She has been with the family since day one, offering sage advice, cleaning, cooking pork chops and apple sauce, and hilarious comic relief. InThe Brady Girls Get Married, it’s revealed that she married long-time beau Sam (Allan Melvin), who left her for another woman, but came crawling back, dressed as Santa, inA Very Brady Christmas, asking for a second chance (she gave it to him… itisa Brady Christmas, after all).The Brady Kidscartoon introduces a new dog, Mop Top (Larry Storch), (different from their first dog, Tiger,who tragically died in real life) twin panda cubs Ping and Pong (Jane Webb), and Marlon (Storch), a smart, talking, red mynah bird who just happens to also be a wizard.
Then there’s the infamous black sheep of the Brady family tree: cousin Oliver (Robbie Rist), the son of Carol’s brother Jack and his wife Pauline. His appearance on the show was memorable, but not in a good way.Oliver is ground zero for the very real TV trope, the “Cousin Oliver Syndrome,” which is when TV series introduce a child character into a well-established castsimply to extend the life of the series and “shake things up.” He’s never mentioned again, he isn’t invited to Marcia and Jan’s double-wedding, and isn’t flown in for Christmas. Long story short, we have no idea about his situation after the series ends. Maybe he married fellow syndromee Stephanie Mills (Danielle Brisebois) fromAll in the Family. Archie Bunker (Carroll O’Connor) on the same family tree as Mike and Carol Brady? Now a series withthatfamily tree would be something.
The Brady Bunchis available to watch on Prime Video in the U.S.
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