Nearly six decades later, Barry Williams is still talking about the television family that became part of his life. And people are still hanging out with the Bradys. That is pretty remarkable when you think about it.
The Brady Bunch premiered in 1969 and only ran for five seasons, but somehow Mike, Carol, Alice and those six kids never really went away. Reruns introduced the family to generation after generation, and what started as a sitcom eventually became movies, specials, reunions and a permanent piece of television culture. The original series produced 117 episodes between 1969 and 1974.
For Barry Williams, who played Greg Brady, some of the most important memories have less to do with the jokes and more to do with the people who taught the young cast how to handle everything happening around them.
Barry Williams learned from the adults in the Brady house
While speaking at a recent Retro Con panel, Williams looked back at working with the late Florence Henderson, Ann B. Davis and Robert Reed.
They were not simply his television mother, housekeeper and father. They were experienced performers working alongside a group of kids who were suddenly appearing on one of the most recognizable family shows in America.
Williams remembers learning different things from each of them.
Henderson, he said, showed him how to deal with people in public. Her kindness, patience and graciousness made an impression on him while he was still young.
Davis, meanwhile, brought her own very specific comedy instincts to the set. She had already won two Emmys years before joining The Brady Bunch and knew exactly how seriously comedy needed to be treated.
And Reed approached acting as a craft. Williams remembers him mentoring the young performers and teaching them to be responsible, take the work seriously and not let television fame go to their heads.
Click on the media bar below to hear Barry Williams talk about what Florence Henderson, Ann B. Davis and Robert Reed taught him during The Brady Bunch.v
Barry Williams on why the Brady family stayed with viewers
The strange thing about The Brady Bunch is that it was not a giant ratings phenomenon during its original run. It never reached the Nielsen Top 10. Then syndication happened.
Children who were not even born when the show premiered suddenly knew Marcia, Greg, Jan, Peter, Cindy and Bobby. They knew Alice. They knew the staircase. They knew the backyard. They probably knew that theme song after hearing about three notes.
The show became bigger after it ended than it had been while it was actually making new episodes. That longevity eventually led to more television series, specials, movies and other projects built around the Brady name.
Yes, it could be corny, and that may be part of the reason it lasted
Nobody is going to argue that The Brady Bunch was gritty television. Problems usually got solved pretty quickly. Parents offered advice. Brothers and sisters fought, learned something and usually found their way back to each other before the credits rolled.
Sometimes it was incredibly corny. That is also part of the charm.
The Brady house represented a family that felt safe. People made mistakes, but somebody was usually there to listen. The kids could get jealous, selfish or completely ridiculous without ever having to wonder whether the family itself was going anywhere.
For some viewers, that probably looked like home. For others, it may have looked like the home they wished they had. The series offered something traditional and reassuring at a time when a lot of television was starting to reflect the social upheaval happening outside.
Its place in television history only keeps growing
What is especially interesting now is how many generations have their own relationship with The Brady Bunch.
Some watched it Friday nights on ABC. Some found it every afternoon in syndication. Others discovered the movies, reunion specials or A Very Brady Renovation and then went backward to see where all of this started.
And there will probably be another generation after them. That may be the real legacy of The Brady Bunch. It does not need to look like modern television. It never will. It just needs somebody to spend another half hour with that very familiar family.
The Brady Bunch is available on DVD, digital platforms such as Amazon and streaming on Paramount+ and Pluto TV.
You May Also Like:
