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‘The Brady Bunch’: Mike Lookinland Explained How HGTV Reunion Show Has Changed His Life

Back in 2019, “The Brady Bunch” star Mike Lookinland showed up on an HGTV show and reunited with some of his costars from the ABC sitcom.

Lookinland, who played Bobby Brady on there for five seasons, talked with the Deseret News about “A Very Brady Renovation.”

“I’m almost 59 years old,” Lookinland said. “People have seen me now because of this HGTV show, and we were on ‘Rachael Ray’ the other morning and we were on ‘Colbert.’ Now that people have seen me now, it’ll tip the ratio of people that recognize me.

“But that’s OK; it’s always been a good thing,” Lookinland said. “Nobody ever approaches me without a smile and something friendly to say when it comes to the Brady connection. Everybody thinks of it in a good light.”

‘The Brady Bunch’ Star Found HGTV, Show Became A Good Fit

After “The Brady Bunch” was canceled, Lookinland pretty much left Hollywood in the rear-view mirror. These days, he makes specialty concrete in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“I think that’s why the HGTV thing and that whole Brady thing from decades ago has been such a good fit together,” he said. “HGTV shows are mostly all good feelings. … On ‘The Brady Bunch’ we had fights, but they are all happily resolved in 22 minutes.

“There are never any negative feelings that come with being recognized and interacting with people who are either fans or just somebody on the street,” Lookinland said. “And it’s because of the product we made. People look at it as such a nice thing from their childhood, and then they show their children, who show their children.”

“The Brady Bunch” has become an international phenomenon thanks to syndicated reruns. From the United States to Australia, people have grown up watching the Brady family and their antics.

Sherwood Schwartz, who created “Gilligan’s Island,” also created “The Brady Bunch.” Robert Reed starred as Mike Brady and Florence Henderson played his wife, Carol.

Show Creator Schwartz Used Family As Resource For Ideas

Where would Schwartz come up with all the ideas for the show? Well, one source happened to be really close to him. It was his daughter, Hope Juber.

She talked about it in an interview for “The Brady Bunch Exposed” documentary.

“Things would happen at school and I would come home and share the day’s news and then it would end up as a storyline on an episode,” Juber said.

That helped “The Brady Bunch” creator stay connected to the lives of younger people.

“Mike Brady would come in and say ‘pumpkin’ and talk like that and I remember like three weeks before my dad doing that … thinking ‘I don’t want my life out there. This is my life’ … and that was kind of surreal,” Juber said.