Brady, Brady, Brady: The Complete Story of The Brady Bunch as Told by the Father/Son Team who Really Know [Hardcover]

Sherwood Schwartz (Author), Lloyd J. Schwartz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 2010

The Brady Bunch is one of the most beloved series to ever grace American television screens. Whether you’ve been a devoted fan since its inception in the late 1960s, or are a more recent Brady buff thanks to its steady airing in syndication, there is an undeniable shared delight that comes from the simple-natured, humor-filled world of that picture-perfect family.

Now, for the first time, the show’s famous creator, writer, and producer Sherwood Schwartz and his son, writer and producer Lloyd Schwartz, share with their loyal audience the complete first-hand behind-the-scenes story of The Brady Bunch. From how the show was developed, pitched, greenlighted, cast, produced, and embraced, to ultimately how it changed the TV and cultural landscape of America—this book really has it all.

Sherwood and Lloyd Schwartz carefully and nostalgically recall all the details—great, small, funny, frustrating, and everything in between—that came with the show. Taking an exclusive tour of everything Brady, you’ll marvel at the stories, take pleasure in more than 50 rare photographs, and transport yourself into the show you love with the insider details you never knew.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Kirkus Reviews, July 2010
Here’s the story...of a unique father-and-son creative team who masterminded the conception, construction and casting of everything Brady.

Inspired by the statistics in a 1966 Los Angeles Times article about the prevalence of marriages that incorporate children from previous relationships, Sherwood Schwartz, a humor writer in the Army during World War II, hatched the idea for a half-hour situation comedy about the “gentle blend of two families into one.” Based on his success with Gilligan’s Island, he confidently pitched the pilot titled “Yours & Mine” to three adamant networks, then waited several years until The Brady Bunch finally aired in September 1969. The grueling casting process took months to gel, but eventually the Brady family took shape, headlined by handsome, Shakespearean-trained Robert Reed, affable, multitalented Florence Henderson (who narrowly beat out Joyce Bulifant), and Emmy Award–winning actress Ann B. Davis. Schwartz notes that the cast worked well together except for nitpicky, unmanageable curmudgeon Reed, who “thought television was beneath him” and antagonistically second-guessed lines and scenes throughout the life of the series. Schwartz’s homespun narration, filled with personal quips, clever “tangents” on Hollywood politics and an homage to the post-production’s unsung heroes soon yields to his son Lloyd, who takes the helm for the remaining two-thirds of the book. In examining the series’ episodes, its five-year run, little-known insider information on cast and crew and life after Brady, Schwartz creates a breezy, nostalgic behind-the-scenes report from a producer’s perspective. Revelations are mild by modern standards, but both narrations compliment and respect each other. Both authors brand the book as an authentic interpretation of the machinations behind the success, and the complications, of The Brady Bunch and how the franchise amazingly continues to be reinvented.

Diehard fans and classic-TV buffs will rally around this collaborative, pleasingly retro tell-all.

 

BradyWorld.com, August 2010

“The average reader will enjoy Brady, Brady, Brady for the tabloid-like stories regarding off-screen romances, drug problems among the cast, on-set fighting, and other scandals that have taken place over the last 40+ years. The loyal, dedicated Brady Bunch fan will enjoy the book for all that as well as getting answers to some of those long-time unanswered questions—such as in what city did the Bradys reside?

 

Overall, Sherwood and Lloyd Schwartz provide their readers with a very good summary of the highs and lows in the history of The Brady Bunch. New things are brought to light, and the book provides additional detail about many of the things fans already know.”

 

Gael Fashingbauer Cooper,  TODAYshow.com, 8/29/10

Here's the story ... of that famous family. There have been many books written about "The Brady Bunch," but now creator Sherwood Schwartz and his son, Lloyd, took their turn with "Brady, Brady, Brady." You'd think there wasn't much left to be said about the group who somehow formed a family, but the Schwartzes pull out some juicy tidbits that will resound with fans. They're blunt about the problems with star Robert Reed, who was no fan of the scripts, and random trivia bits too. Lloyd was the one who tossed the football at Marcia's nose — no one else could throw it straight — and the football itself was Nerf.

About the Author

Sherwood Schwartz is the creator of The Brady Bunch. He is an Emmy-award winning writer and producer, and has written and produced more than 700 TV shows. In 1963, Sherwood created, wrote, and produced Gilligan’s Island, before creating The Brady Bunch in 1969. Schwartz lives in Los Angeles, California.

Lloyd J. Schwartz was the associate producer and director of The Brady Bunch. After The Brady Bunch, Lloyd served as a writer/producer of various television shows, including Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, What’s Happening!!, and Three’s Company. He also wrote and produced the stage musical A Very Brady Musical, which debuted in Los Angeles in 2008. Schwartz lives in Los Angeles, California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Running Press (August 31, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762439629
• ISBN-13: 978-0762439621
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #619,868 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Like Father, Not Like Son, August 30, 2010

By 

Abby R "Abby R" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brady, Brady, Brady: The Complete Story of The Brady Bunch as Told by the Father/Son Team who Really Know (Hardcover)

Brady, Brady, Brady: The Complete Story of The Brady Bunch as Told by the Father/Son Team who Really Know, by Sherwood Schwartz and Lloyd J. Schwartz.

Overall, the book was a fun, quick read - it only took me about one night to complete. I've read almost every book on the Brady Bunch and was less than impressed with this one. The book is set up like this: The first half, which really ends up being the first third, is written by Sherwood Schwartz and then the other half, which ends up being the last two thirds is written by his son Lloyd Schwartz. Sherwood Schwartz is professional, talented, and humble and his third of the book comes off that way. His ancedotes about writing the pilot, getting rejected by major networks, casting, production, Robert Reed, etc. are all interesting and fun to read. While most of his stories won't be new to Brady fans (i.e. Robert Reed being difficult, dyeing Mike Lookinland's hair brown) they are at least easy to read, fun, and a reminder of why we love the show so much.

However, while Sherwood's third is professional and humble, Lloyd's Schwartz's portion of the book is everything but. Lloyd comes off as egotistical, arrogant, unprofessional, and untalented. Basically, he seems to spend more time proving to the reader that every memorable line, moment, backstage anecdote, and plot development associated with the series was his idea and less time telling us interesting new stories about the production of the show. He takes credit for everything - including helping Maureen (Marcia) off cocaine. The book advertises as the real in depth look at the show, but apprently that means listening to Lloyd pontificate about he was the youngest asoociate producer to work in television etc. etc. It all ends up being more of a testimonial to himself than the beloved show he worked on. Also, his thoughts on Robert Reed are awful. While I'm sure he was a difficult person to deal with Sherwood at least comments on Reed in a professional manor by exposing his flaws but also pointing out his talents. Lloyd speaks of Reed as if he's a piece of dirt under his finger nail and it comes off as disgusting and unprofessional.

The last part of Lloyd's section covers all the reunion and spinoffs including the motion pictures and the stage musical. These are so brief they're hardly worth a read - with a page or less on each production he barely skims the surface telling us brady fanatics no new information.

I recommend the book with an asterisk. Only because I enjoyed Sherwood's section and also found some of the anecdotes in Lloyd's amusing. But if you're a real Brady fanactic it won't offer up much new information. Except maybe that Lloyd Schwartz has an enormous head. Having said that, most Brady fanactis (like myself) are completeist when it comes to the show and will go ahead and buy the book anyway. But if you're a semi-brady fan do yourself a favor and pick up "Growing Up Brady" by Barry Williams, Maureen McCormick's newer biography, or one of the many fan-written books on the show. They are much more interesting reads all around.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes Brady FANS know better..., December 30, 2010

By 

T. Shane Couch - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Brady, Brady, Brady: The Complete Story of The Brady Bunch as Told by the Father/Son Team who Really Know (Hardcover)

This is going to be fun. Just finished the Schwartz's book. As a Brady fan, a fast read, some new insights gained, but I would like to challenge Lloyd Schwartz's memory a bit, maybe a lot. Lloyd writes, "Other books have been written about the Brady Bunch, ironically some by 'experts' who weren't there and had no real inside knowledge (though they claim to know the truth). Even Barry Williams (Greg Brady)..." And thus Lloyd seems to set himself up as the authority. He even told Barry Williams, "Just because you wrote it down and its on paper doesn't mean it's the truth," (p.113). How true. Here's where the fun begins. Lloyd may be the authority on the production side of things, but his memory is a little faulty when it comes to episodes. He tells a story of the show where Mike and Carol switch places for the day, Mike taking the girls and helping Marcia in the kitchen and Carol playing ball with the boys in the backyard. He says they put Florence henderson in one of her typical blouses for the scene in the backyard and she told Lloyd that it wasn't right, she should be wearing one of her husbands old shirts. So Lloyd took his short sleeve button up shirt off and stood there bare-chested as Florence donned his shirt and did the scene. Every die hard Brady fan knows that Florence was not wearing a button up short sleeve shirt in that scene, but comes running out in a long sleeve dark green sweatshirt. (I believe Lloyd's shirt was in the episode where the girls are building their own clubhouse).

Another discrepancy is when Lloyd recalls the episode where Jan is allergic to Tiger and they have to give him away. He claimed because the original Tiger was hit by a car, they had to use the "last minute" Tiger for the goodbye scene in the boys' bedroom, but the dog wouldn't stay put, so they nailed his collar to the ground so he wouldn't move. Again, true fans know that in that scene, the boys actually give Tiger a bone to chew on while they say their goodbye's and there is no evidence of the dog's collar being nailed to the floor. He's chomping away in the whole scene and the dialogue even lends to that.

In mentioning real people's names that were incorporated into scripts, he says the name "Hank Coleman" was mentioned in an episode and was a guy who had a crush on Marcia or Jan. Actually, it goes down like this: The girls are playing Truth or Dare at the slumber party and Paula asks Ruthie if she's ever been kissed by Hank Coleman, "Truth or dare?"

In the infamous "Oh, my nose!" episode, Lloyd says Greg and Peter were throwing the football around when Marcia got hit in the nose with the ball. It was actually Peter and Bobby, not Greg.

And then he mentions the episode where Greg and Peter divide up their room by running a piece of tape across the middle of the room. Again, that was Peter and Bobby.

So, you're right, Mr Schwartz, just because it's written down and in a book doesn't mean it's true (wink wink). This is all so trivial, I know, but when it comes to Brady trivia, you gotta leave it to the fans!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, but nothing really to write home about..., November 29, 2010

By 

A. Hensley "Fight On Trojans" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Brady, Brady, Brady: The Complete Story of The Brady Bunch as Told by the Father/Son Team who Really Know (Hardcover)

While there are some very interesting little tidbits here and there, overall, this book is VERY light on information and reads VERY quickly. I was reading along, and before I knew it, I was almost done with the book. There really isn't much to this book, there are wide spaces between the lines, and lots of the chapters are very short (making for many, MANY half-full pages, when the chapter ends before the bottom of the page.) The anecdotes sound like they're going to be interesting (how did Peter learn to do the Bogart impersonation) but when its explained, its quick and not all that interesting. Not very in-depth, nor do they spend much time explaining things, the things all of us Brady-philes are waiting to hear!

As other reviewers have stated, there are also LOTS of "clapping himself on the back" from Lloyd Schwartz. The first part of the book is very nice (albeit simple, see above) from Sherwood Schwartz. Once it shifts to the Lloyd Schwartz part, there really is a lot of self-congratulations about what an incredible talent LLOYD SCHWARTZ is, and what a jerk Robert Reed was. Something tells me there are two sides to the Lloyd Schwartz/Bob Reed debate. I think this was a case of two egos colliding, to be honest. :)

Regardless its a nice read, very quick, and has some nice insight...but really, when its billed as the "Complete Story" as told by those who 'REALLY know'...I expected a LOT more.