Airing on ABC from 1972 to 1974, The Brady Kids featured Marcia, Jan, Cindy, Greg, Peter and Bobby hanging out in their tree house along with their magical mynah bird Marlon, their pet pandas Ping and Pong and their dog Mop Top. (Whither Tiger?) The show featured them getting in all sorts of magical adventures, and even sometimes encountering other characters who just so happened to also be licensed by the animation company, Filmation, that was responsible for the show. (Sadly however, the world was denied a Brady Kids/Star Trek: The Animated Series crossover). Weirdly enough, the show never featured Mike and Carol Brady or Alice, leading some viewers to speculate that the toon was set in a dark alternate reality where Marlon took on the guise of a dimwit and used his wizard powers to kill the elder Bradys and their maid before casting a mind control spell on the children to carry out his evil plans for world domination. But I digress.
The show is notable for featuring the voices of the actual children who starred on The Brady Bunch (at least initially) — Maureen McCormick, Eve Plumb (seen in last year’s Grease Live), Susan Olsen, Barry Williams, Christopher Knight, and Mike Lookinland. Running concurrently with The Brady Bunch and airing on Saturday mornings, the goofy-yet-enjoyable cartoon helped cement the reputation of the Bradys as pop culture iconoclasts. You can relive the series for yourself in The Brady Kids: The Complete Series DVD. Although it was the first spinoff of The Brady Bunch, it was hardly the last. The cheesy variety show The Brady Bunch Hour, The Brady Brides, and the drama The Bradys all eventually hit our airwaves. But these are posts for another time, as I’m still trying to comprehend the cartoon craziness that the first spinoff spawned.
This post originally ran on MovieFanFare last November.
<script type=”application/ld+json”> { “@context” : “http://schema.org”, “@type” : “Article”, “name” : “The Weird World Of “The Brady Kids” Cartoon”, “author” : { “@type” : “Person”, “name” : “Chris Cummins” }, “datePublished” : “2018-03-12”, “articleBody” : “Here’s the story…\n<P>Airing on ABC from 1972 to 1974, <EM><A href=\”http://www.moviesunlimited.com/the-brady-kids-the-complete-animated-series/032429238849\” onclick=\”_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http://www.moviesunlimited.com/the-brady-kids-the-complete-animated-series/032429238849', 'The Brady Kids']);\” target=\”_blank\” rel=\”noopener\”>The Brady Kids</A></EM> featured Marcia, Jan, Cindy, Greg, Peter and Bobby hanging out in their tree house along with their magical mynah bird Marlon, their pet pandas Ping and Pong and their dog Mop Top. (Whither Tiger?) The show featured them getting in all sorts of magical adventures, and even sometimes encountering other characters who just so happened to also be licensed by the animation company, Filmation, that was responsible for the show. (Sadly however, the world was denied a <EM>Brady Kids</EM>/<EM><A href=\”http://www.moviesunlimited.com/star-trek-the-animated-series/032429252197\” onclick=\”_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http://www.moviesunlimited.com/star-trek-the-animated-series/032429252197', 'Star Trek: The Animated Series']);\” target=\”_blank\” rel=\”noopener\”>Star Trek: The Animated Series</A></EM> crossover). Weirdly enough, the show never featured Mike and Carol Brady or Alice, leading some viewers to speculate that the toon was set in a dark alternate reality where Marlon took on the guise of a dimwit and used his wizard powers to kill the elder Bradys and their maid before casting a mind control spell on the children to carry out his evil plans for world domination. But I digress.</P>\n<P>The show is notable for featuring the voices of the actual children who starred on <EM><A href=\”http://www.moviesunlimited.com/search?q=the+brady+bunch&mod=AP\” onclick=\”_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http://www.moviesunlimited.com/search?q=the+brady+bunch&mod=AP', 'The Brady Bunch']);\” target=\”_blank\” rel=\”noopener\”>The Brady Bunch</A></EM> (at least initially) — <A href=\”http://www.moviesunlimited.com/search?q=maureen+mccormick&mod=AP\” onclick=\”_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http://www.moviesunlimited.com/search?q=maureen+mccormick&mod=AP', 'Maureen McCormick']);\” target=\”_blank\” rel=\”noopener\”>Maureen McCormick</A>, <A href=\”http://www.moviesunlimited.com/search?q=eve+plumb&mod=AP\” onclick=\”_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http://www.moviesunlimited.com/search?q=eve+plumb&mod=AP', 'Eve Plumb ']);\” target=\”_blank\” rel=\”noopener\”>Eve Plumb </A>(seen in last year’s <EM><A href=\”http://www.moviesunlimited.com/grease-live/032429240972\” onclick=\”_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http://www.moviesunlimited.com/grease-live/032429240972', 'Grease Live']);\” target=\”_blank\” rel=\”nofollow\”>Grease Live</A></EM>), <A href=\”http://www.moviesunlimited.com/search?q=susan+olsen&mod=AP\” onclick=\”_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http://www.moviesunlimited.com/search?q=susan+olsen&mod=AP', 'Susan Olsen']);\” target=\”_blank\” rel=\”noopener\”>Susan Olsen</A>, <A href=\”http://www.moviesunlimited.com/search?q=barry+williams&mod=AP\” onclick=\”_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http://www.moviesunlimited.com/search?q=barry+williams&mod=AP', 'Barry Williams']);\” target=\”_blank\” rel=\”noopener\”>Barry Williams</A>, <A href=\”http://www.moviesunlimited.com/search?q=christopher+knight&mod=AP\” onclick=\”_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http://www.moviesunlimited.com/search?q=christopher+knight&mod=AP', 'Christopher Knight']);\” target=\”_blank\” rel=\”noopener\”>Christopher Knight</A>, and <A href=\”http://www.moviesunlimited.com/search?q=mike+lookinland&mod=AP\” onclick=\”_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http://www.moviesunlimited.com/search?q=mike+lookinland&mod=AP', 'Mike Lookinland']);\” target=\”_blank\” rel=\”noopener\”>Mike Lookinland</A>. Running concurrently with <EM>The Brady Bunch</EM> and airing on Saturday mornings, the goofy-yet-enjoyable cartoon helped cement the reputation of the Bradys as pop culture iconoclasts. You can relive the series for yourself in <EM><A href=\”http://www.moviesunlimited.com/the-brady-kids-the-complete-animated-series/032429238849\” onclick=\”_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http://www.moviesunlimited.com/the-brady-kids-the-complete-animated-series/032429238849', 'The Brady Kids: The Complete Series']);\” target=\”_blank\” rel=\”noopener\”>The Brady Kids: The Complete Series</A></EM> DVD. Although it was the first spinoff of <EM>The Brady Bunch</EM>, it was hardly the last. The cheesy variety show <EM>The Brady Bunch Hour</EM>, <EM>The Brady Brides</EM>, and the drama <EM>The Bradys</EM> all eventually hit our airwaves. But these are posts for another time, as I’m still trying to comprehend the cartoon craziness that the first spinoff spawned”, “publisher” : { “@type” : “Organization”, “name” : “MovieFanFare” } } </script>