“Brady Bunch ”Producer Says Show Was 'Originally Going to Be About the Parents,' Then the Kids Became the Stars
- - - "Brady Bunch "Producer Says Show Was 'Originally Going to Be About the Parents,' Then the Kids Became the Stars
Virginia ChamleeJune 28, 2025 at 3:24 AM
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The Brady Bunch kids in 1970
While The Brady Bunch was about one big happy family, it didn't necessarily start out that way. In fact, one of the show's producers said it was originally meant to be more "about the parents."
On a 2022 episode of The Real Brady Bros. podcast — a rerun of which aired this week — Lloyd Schwartz, who worked as a producer and writer on the show, said it "evolved" over time.
"We began the show with a family unit, and then it evolved," said Schwartz, 79, whose father, Sherwood Schwartz, created the series.
He continued: "It was originally supposed to be about the parents, and the kids were there — six kids were there — and then we realized that the kids couldn't [not] affect the parents. They could only have, you know, they were involved in their own lives, and the parents could be there to help them. And so that's how our show evolved, but it was originally going to be about the parents. But that's why in the second year we changed the song, 'so that's how we became the Brady Bunch.' "
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Lloyd J. Schwartz in 2021
As Schwartz noted, the now-iconic theme song to the show was tweaked slightly from its pilot episode, when the vocals were recorded by professional singers, and included the line, "That's the way they became the Brady Bunch."
Subsequent seasons of the show featured a theme song sung by the Brady kids, with the slightly altered lyrics of, "That's the way we became the Brady Bunch."
Actor and podcast host Christopher Knight, 67, who played middle son Peter Brady, added that the emphasis on the kids is what made The Brady Bunch so unique for its time.
"A lot of times the shows are kind of one-sided," Knight said on the podcast. "It's from the parents' point of view and the children are irritants, or it's from the the kids' point of view and the parents are, you know, idiots, or played for for the comic purpose. I think the reason that our show works, and it works for kids growing up, is because it's respectful to them. In fact, it's also respectful to the parents."
Co-host and costar Barry Williams, 70, who played eldest sibling Greg Brady, added that he was grateful the show evolved, as it allowed both him and the other younger actors to fully explore their roles.
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"I'm glad I took that turn," Williams said. "It was great fun. I loved having episodes that were around what my predicament was because there'd be more scenes, there was more meat, there were more layers, there was a chance for an arc, some growth, emotion, you know, all kind of the things that brought me in to the acting world, which would have been sacrificed if it was just always being thrown back to mom and dad."
He continued: "And I think that that carried through for all of the characters. But it also made it more interesting because the kids are relatable, and they're the ones that are learning."
on People
Source: AOL Entertainment
