“The Brady Bunch” was one of many defining reveals of the ’70s, however had little in the best way of thriller — apart from what occurred to Fluffy the cat and why the enduring Brady home did not have any bogs, in fact. There may be one inscrutable matter that even sequence creator Sherwood Schwartz cannot clear up, nevertheless. Whereas the opening theme fills viewers in on many of the blended Brady household’s historical past, we do not get a phrase on both co-parents. An change between Mike (Robert Reed) and his son Bobby (Mike Lookinland) early within the 1969 premiere episode reveals that Bobby’s mother has died, however no particulars are given. As for Carol’s ex and the daddy of Marcia (Maureen McCormick), Jan (Eve Plumb), and Cindy (Susan Olsen), battle between Schwartz and his community bosses stored his true destiny a secret.
In keeping with Barry Williams (Greg), the community balked at Schwartz’s preliminary plan to match the widowed Mike with a divorced Carol (Florence Henderson). Divorce charges within the U.S. greater than doubled between 1960 and 1980, however the matter was nonetheless a delicate one when “The Brady Bunch” was in its infancy. Williams says that the thought of a divorced Carol made ABC executives nervous. On an episode of the podcast “The Actual Brady Bros” that he hosts with Lookinland and Christopher Knight, Williams stated that the “community felt {that a} divorcee created too many issues for the sequence.” Custody disputes and weekend hand-offs would have appeared horribly misplaced. Leaving Carol’s ex an invisible thriller meant there was no want to clarify why they divorced.
A non-canon parody movie addressed the thriller of Carol’s husband
Barry Williams added that in the long run, “Sherwood by no means modified it, however they agreed to disagree, and it was left unhandled, which is why you by no means see [Carol’s ex] in our pilot episode.” The present additionally averted mentioning Mike’s first spouse; a fast scene with Bobby is the one time his mother is referenced. Carol’s lacking partner is not addressed in any respect till the non-canon 1996 parody movie “A Very Brady Sequel.” Within the spot-on sendup, a person (Tim Matheson) involves the Brady home claiming to be Carol’s (Shelley Lengthy) long-lost husband, Roy Martin.
She mentions that he was presumed “misplaced at sea,” and the person of their home seems to be a rip-off artist. Florence Henderson determined to have a little bit of enjoyable with the subject of her first husband on a 2015 episode of “The HuffPost Present.” “I killed my husband,” she joked. “I used to be the unique black widow.” She added that “no person ever stated” what occurred to her first partner, however analyst Craig Pittman thinks Carol as a assassin is not too outrageous a thought.
Pittman outlined his personal daring principle in an article for Slate, explaining how Carol and Mike killed one another’s spouses in order that they might be collectively. He speculates that the 2 had agreed to “a crisscross killing.” “Divorce nonetheless carried a stigma. It will have ruined Mike professionally … How do you help six youngsters, two adults, and a housekeeper on one wage? You gather the insurance coverage on two useless spouses, that is how.” Whereas all of that is not more than foolish hypothesis a couple of purposefully omitted little bit of backstory, it’s a enjoyable option to re-contexualize probably the greatest {couples} in sitcom historical past.
