70s star makes candid remarks about being in the ‘whitest show on television’

A star of The Brady Bunch has said there were attempts to diversify the series despite it being viewed as ‘the whitest show on television’. Running for five seasons between 1969 and 1974, the American sitcom followed a blended family of two parents and their six kids. It starred Robert Reed as Mike Brady, a widowed architect with three sons who marries Carol Martin (Florence Henderson), who herself has three daughters.

His sons Greg, Peter and Bobby were played by Barry Williams, Christopher Knight and Mike Lookinland, while Marcia, Jan and Cindy were played by Maureen McCormick, Eve Plumb and Susan Olsen. Included as part of the family was their live-in housekeeper, Alice Nelson (Ann B. Davis). Although ratings were not available at the time of the show’s release, it picked up a loyal audience and has since been called ‘charming’, ‘heartwarming’ and ‘one of the most iconic shows that left its mark on TV history’.

Now, 51 years after the show ended, Williams, 70, has spoken about efforts to diversify the show, which featured an all-white cast, during its time on air. ‘I know that we’re the whitest show on television, but I do think that there were very deliberate attempts to try and integrate the show,’ he said on the latest episode of his podcast The Brady Bros. ‘There were a couple of episodes that specifically dealt with that, and we see this a lot, especially when there are crowds and then maybe there are two or three friends, we’ll see different ethnicities and et cetera.’.

His comments came during a discussion with his co-host Knight as they reflected on the Miss Popularity episode which aired in 1973. In it, a supporting character Shirley, a classmate of Jan’s was introduced and was played by Black actress Jere Fields. However, she only ever appeared once. ‘I thought this was nice because this is a young lady of colour, and this didn’t happen a lot,’ Williams said.

‘There was a lot of influence there by [producer] Lloyd [Schwartz] and [creator] Sherwood [Schwartz] of making sure everyone was represented…this is one of those cases, and she’s adorable, and it was fun to see.”. There was also another episode, Kelly’s Kids, which focused on family friends of the Brady’s who adopt three boys, one of whom is white, while the other two are Black and Asian.

Although there were plans for this family to be the centre of a spin-off series, it never went ahead. The success of The Brady Bunch saw it spark several spin-off series and TV reunion films however last year Olsen said plans for a revival in recent years was axed because of her ‘controversial’ views. The actress, 63, said plans fell apart due to her past remarks on Donald Trump (who she supports politically), Covid-19 vaccines and LGBTQI people.

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