The Brady Bunch TV series was full of mistakes that got right past kids watching it, even many adults. I’ve seen every Brady Bunch episode at least half a dozen times, and when I was a kid, never picked up on some of these mistakes. But they should be obvious to any reasonably intelligent adult and even teenager, though I wouldn’t be surprised if these Brady Bunch errors got past the majority of adults.
The house for six kids, which was designed by their architect father, has only one bathroom for the six kids.
What architect would design a house with only one bathroom for six kids? But there was only one bathroom that the Brady kids ever used: the one adjoining their bedrooms that could be entered from either bedroom. Though in real life, no architect would do this, it had to be for the show in order to support a lot of story lines.
Where’s Tiger?
Tiger was the Brady’s dog, which conveniently showed up only in a few story lines that involved the dog, such as Jan Brady’s allergy, Cindy’s missing doll, and the time Tiger knocked over the house of cards. But where was this dog in all the rest of the episodes? In real life, a dog is usually around the kids in a house full of kids. And when the kids are in bed, the dog lies near the adults who are reading in the living room. But Tiger was never there.
What does Carol Brady do all day?
The Brady’s had a full-time, live-in housekeeper, and Carol Brady did not have a job outside the home. What did she do all day? There were some scenes showing her helping housekeeper Alice unload groceries, and some scenes involving Carol returning from a shopping trip. But what, really, did she do all day when the kids were in school?
In at least one Brady Bunch movie, in which the kids are adults, Carol is a real estate agent. But in the Brady Bunch TV series, there is no mention whatsoever of any endeavors or outside work. But the show had to have a full-time, live-in housekeeper to support many story lines, and if Carol worked outside the home, it would have been a distraction.
Mike works full time, but whenever he’s home, he always seems to be working in his office.
Mike Brady is clearly a workaholic. Ever notice that in virtually every scene, in which one of the kids approaches Mike Brady to ask for advice, or confide in him about something, he is doing architect work in his office, at his drafting table? Isn’t eight hours at the company office enough? Though Mike Brady always took a break to listen to his kids, I always thought this guy really needs to cut back on the work hours. Or maybe he worked only part time at the company office?
Mike Brady is always seen doing his work facing the camera, meaning his back faces the entrance to his office.
In real life, when you enter a home office, the person’s workstation rarely has his back dead-facing the entrance. But in the Brady Bunch, you walk into Mike Brady’s office, and his back is facing you head-on. It had to be this way because, from a TV viewer standpoint, it worked best. With his back facing anyone who enters, you’d simultaneously see the face of the person entering, and Mike Brady’s reaction to what the person was saying.
Disparity in maturity level between 12-year-old Marsha and 12-year-old Cindy.
In the first season, Marsha was 12 years old. In the last season, Cindy was 12 years old. However, the disparity in maturity level was striking. 12-year-old Marsha, though prone to emotional outbursts, acted pretty much grownup in that she wasn’t silly, cutesy or little-girlie. But 12-year-old Cindy, though not prone to emotional outbursts, still had a little girl quality about her. She wasn’t allowed to show signs of growing up. You can easily picture 12-year-old Marsha baby-sitting a few very young kids, but one cannot imagine 12-year-old Cindy doing this. This really isn’t a mistake per se, but it’s an interesting thing to point out.
The house has a huge third floor attic that eventually becomes Greg’s bedroom, but viewing the house from the outside, where could the attic be?
The appearance of the house from the outside, which was shown before every single episode, as well as frequently in the middle of episodes, did not jive with the appearance of the house indoors.
For example, view the staircase from the living room, in relation to the front door. This reveals that all the upstairs bedrooms must be on the right side of the house. But view the house from the outside, and it’s clear that the upstairs bedrooms are on the left side. In fact, there seems to be no second-floor living area on the right side of the house. This is so obvious, I caught onto it when I was a kid.
It also seems, from the inside, that all the upstairs bedrooms are in the back half (right portion, of course) of the house. The staircase leads up to a hallway that goes only further back, implying that there’s nothing above the huge living room and dining area.
The attic, which is big enough to eventually become Greg’s bedroom, is on a third floor. According to those redundant outside shots of the house, that third floor simply does not exist. Also, the house’s only garage is the one in the backyard, that is frequently shown when Mike or Carol Brady pull up to it in a car. But in those outside shots of the house, the garage is in the front of the house. Plus, the backyard garage is detached. What architect would design such a house as was depicted from the inside, with a detached garage? But again, the detached nature was important for some story lines.
Greg’s a doctor while Cindy’s a college freshman?
In “A Very Brady Christmas,” in which the kids are grown, Greg Brady is a doctor. But Cindy’s a freshman in college. This doesn’t make sense unless Cindy delayed college by at least 10 years. In the Brady Bunch TV series, there is about a six-year age difference between Cindy and Greg. So if Cindy’s a freshman in college, Greg would be about 24. So how could he have been a doctor when Cindy was a college freshman?
Let’s say Greg completes college at age 22, then medical school at age 26, then does a four-year internship. This would make him age 30 as a first-year medical resident, in which he could have “Dr.” before his name. Yet in “A Very Brady Christmas,” Dr. Greg Brady has his own practice. By then, Cindy should be at least 28 years old!
