The Brady Bunch is an American television sitcom starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis, which revolves around a large blended family. The show originally aired from September 26, 1969, to March 8, 1974, on ABC and was subsequently syndicated internationally.

Overview

Origins

In 1965, following the success of his TV series Gilligan's Island, Sherwood Schwartz conceived the idea for The Brady Bunch after reading an article in the Los Angeles Times that said "40% of marriages the [[United States]] had a child or children from [1] previous marriage." He instantly set to work on a pilot script, called Yours and Mine, and passed it around the "big three" television networks of the era. ABC, CBS and NBC all loved the script, but each network wanted changes to it before they would commit to filming it. Schwartz felt that his script was perfect, and although he had the interest of all three networks in America, he decided to shelve it.Biography Channel Documentary titled "The Brady Bunch", retrieved on June 16, 2008.

Despite the similarities between the series and the 1968 theatrical release Yours, Mine and Ours starring Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball, the original script for The Brady Bunch predated the script for the film. However, the success of the film was a factor in ABC's decision to order episodes for the series.