When it came to picking the stars of “The Brady Bunch,” a lot of thought went into who ended up on the screen.
Some of the stars of the show were Maureen McCormick, Susan Olsen, Barry Williams, Christopher Knight, and Mike Lookinland. While the cast seemed to work seamlessly together, it certainly wasn’t effortless.
Finding ‘The Brady Bunch’ Kids
According to IMDb, there were 464 boys and girls interviewed by the show’s creator Sherwood Schwartz to eventually find the six best Brady kids. He would place toys on the tables in front of the child. If they ignored the toys, then Sherwood considered them focused enough to be on TV.
Sherwood then took a lot of inspiration from the actors behind the characters. For example, Eve Plumb and Maureen McCormick would often fight in real-life, so this was shown on the screen. Barry William was always playing music both on the show and in real life as well.
Sherwood allowed the children of “The Brady Bunch” to really have the spotlight.
The show was on for five seasons from 1969 to 1974. A spin-off started in 1972 that ran for a year called “The Brady Kids.” It was an animated series that had the voices of the original kids.
In an interview with Emmy TV Legends, Sherwood Schwartz said that he cast the kids first. He said he wanted the boys to look like the father and the girls to look like the mother, but he didn’t know what the parents looked like yet. Therefore he cast 12 kids originally. This meant three blonde girls, three blonde boys, three dark-haired boys, and three dark-haired girls.
The Six Brady Kids Reunite
The six kids were close during their time filming the show. While some had their issues and others were even romantically involved, they spent over five years of their childhoods together.
Recently, the cast got to reunite for an HGTV show. It’s called “A Very Brady Renovation.” The premise of the show is that the now-grown kids and HGTV designers completed a renovation of the house seen in “The Brady Bunch.”
They were able to recreate that iconic ’60s and ’70s decor look the show was so famous for.
According to TV Insider, the house that represented the outside shots from the show was purchased in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley. The network bought the property in 2018 for $3.5 million. Then cast members teamed up with designers to complete each room of the house.
“We divided and conquered to get this project done in only six months. We custom-printed the wallpaper and the fabrics for the bedrooms and tried to get the colors right. I’m a graphic artist, so it was up my alley,” Drew Scott said.
The future of the house is unclear. There was a six-night-stay giveaway at one point for one lucky fan. It could also now be used for a revival in the future.
