topic Re: Was Carol Brady Divorced???!! in Community Chat

Was Carol Brady Divorced???!!

Poodlepet2 — Tue, 30 May 2017 16:53:17 GMT

Shocker-absolute shocker....I was wasting time reading "Weird News" on The Huffington Post and I saw this article about "40 horrible shocking things you didn't know about The Brady Bunch".....

We always thought she was a widow....those poor fatherless girls....but maybe that was all a ruse.

If Carol Brady was divorced, who divorced who? Why?

.....I was sad to hear about what really happened to Tiger....and Fluffy....

Poodlepet2

Re: Was Carol Brady Divorced???!!

Desertdi — Tue, 30 May 2017 16:55:51 GMT

I know plenty of divorced mothers. I don't find it shocking at all.......(!)

Re: Was Carol Brady Divorced???!!

Lipstickdiva — Tue, 30 May 2017 16:58:13 GMT

I thought she was widowed. I remember them talking about it when she got married to Mike and I swear I remember them briefly mentioning the death of her husband but I think I might be wrong. I don't know. I just remember that her last name was Martin when she and Mike got married. LOL

Re: Was Carol Brady Divorced???!!

VanSleepy — Tue, 30 May 2017 17:01:55 GMT

@Lipstickdiva wrote:
I thought she was widowed. I remember them talking about it when she got married to Mike and I swear I remember them briefly mentioning the death of her husband but I think I might be wrong. I don't know. I just remember that her last name was Martin when she and Mike got married. LOL

LOL and Alice's last name was Nelson. I'm still waiting for that to come up at trivia night.

In the BB movies didn't the father come back? Tim Matheson played the guy I'm thinking of.

Re: Was Carol Brady Divorced???!!

VanSleepy — Tue, 30 May 2017 17:05:01 GMT

Oops I just looked it up. He played a con artist pretending to be Carol's long-lost husband lol

Re: Was Carol Brady Divorced???!!

Pearlee — Tue, 30 May 2017 17:07:52 GMT

Divorce was much less common when the Brady Bunch was on that it is today. My shocker for the series was finding out that in real life Robert Reed was gay. I had a crush on him when he played a handsome young lawyer in The Defenders.

He and his "father," E.G. Marshall, played lawyers, Preston and Preston. It was even far less common than divorce for actors who were gay back then to be "out."

Re: Was Carol Brady Divorced???!!

Poodlepet2 — Tue, 30 May 2017 17:32:22 GMT

@Pearlee, you hit the nail on the head! This article suggested that she was possibly divorced ( I do remember her having a sad discussion with her kids about remembering their dad)-but divorce was major back then....

Another thing the article pointed out is that it was a little racy showing Mike and Carol in the same bed.....

.....well, here's another shocker...the actress who played Cindy raised pot with her ex-hubby -insisting she never smoked.....and, she used to make out with Bobby in Tiger's dog house-when they were nine years old!!!!!!

Shocking

Poodlepet2

Re: Was Carol Brady Divorced???!!

goldensrbest — Tue, 30 May 2017 17:47:06 GMT

Do you know this was not real life?

Re: Was Carol Brady Divorced???!!

Irshgrl31201 — Tue, 30 May 2017 17:49:01 GMT

@Lipstickdiva wrote:
I thought she was widowed. I remember them talking about it when she got married to Mike and I swear I remember them briefly mentioning the death of her husband but I think I might be wrong. I don't know. I just remember that her last name was Martin when she and Mike got married. LOL

I thought she was too @Lipstickdiva.

Re: Was Carol Brady Divorced???!!

Pook — Tue, 30 May 2017 18:25:59 GMT

I always thought it was rather in poor taste to change the girl's last name to Brady and a slap in the face to her deceased husband's family. I can't imagine in real life ever doing that. But then again the whole premise of the show was the brady bunch!

Re: Was Carol Brady Divorced???!!

sidsmom — Tue, 30 May 2017 18:31:56 GMT

(source: Wiki)

In 1966, following the success of his TV series Gilligan's Island, Sherwood Schwartz conceived the idea for The Brady Bunch after reading in The Los Angeles Times that "30% of marriages [in the United States] have a child or children from a previous marriage." He set to work on a pilot script for a series tentatively titled Mine and Yours.

Schwartz then developed the script to include three children for each parent. While Mike Brady is depicted as being a widower, Schwartz originally wanted the character of Carol Brady to have been a divorcée, but the network objected to this. A compromise was reached whereby Carol's marital status (whether she was divorced or widowed) was never directly revealed.

Re: Was Carol Brady Divorced???!!

meallen616 — Tue, 30 May 2017 18:41:38 GMT

We learn in the first episode that Mike's wife passed away. However, the absence of Carol's first husband remains a mystery. Sherwood Schwartz, the creator of the show, wanted her to be divorced. The network wanted her to be a widow, thought being divorced was too risque for the times.

Re: Was Carol Brady Divorced???!!

Poodlepet2 — Tue, 30 May 2017 18:47:07 GMT

@sidsmom, yes! I had never known that until now!

What a fun idea: IF Carol did divorce, why? Just sayin', all she ever did was plan menus, sit on the sofa doing needlepoint-I mean what????

If she was divorced, how did she meet Mike?

....I still want to know what went on between Sam and Alice....

Poodlepet2

Re: Was Carol Brady Divorced???!!

sidsmom — Tue, 30 May 2017 18:50:09 GMT

@Poodlepet2

I'm like everyone else...I thought she was a widow.

If the writers didn't reveal & the series didn't reveal,

not quite sure how anyone can surmise she was divorced...?

But yeah, there was sumthin goin on w/ Sam & Alice...!

Re: Was Carol Brady Divorced???!!

Poodlepet2 — Tue, 30 May 2017 18:52:28 GMT

@goldensrbest, it's a slow day....I gotta stir up the pot here!

We both love dogs-in real life, the poor dog playing Tiger succumbed by being hit by a car: that could have been a great moment in tv history by having Mike-with Carol by his side of course- to have lectured the kids about responsibility and pets!

Poodlepet2

Re: Was Carol Brady Divorced???!!

Roni18 — Tue, 30 May 2017 18:56:05 GMT

Carol seemed to have it made. She didn't work and had Alice to do most of the work around the house!

Re: Was Carol Brady Divorced???!!

beckyb1012 — Tue, 30 May 2017 19:13:51 GMT

From the first episode at the wedding you learn they are widowed. She tells Mike that just "two years ago she thought her world was over," and he as a scene telling Bobby he can put his deceased Mom's photo back on his nightstand. Carol will not mind. I bet the first episode can be goolged and watched for fun.

Of course could be over could also mean left high and dry, but I never took it that way.

Re: Was Carol Brady Divorced???!!

missy1 — Tue, 30 May 2017 19:24:39 GMT

Brady Bunch is one of my favorite shows! Go read: Growing Up Brady (by Barry Williams)

Re: Was Carol Brady Divorced???!!

Mothertrucker — Tue, 30 May 2017 19:49:51 GMT

why in the world would the girls change their last name to "Brady" if their father were alive? That is why I thought she was a widow...

Re: Was Carol Brady Divorced???!!

Bri36 — Tue, 30 May 2017 20:02:01 GMT

I just always assumed she was a widow

At least Mike and Carol shared the same bed. Always laughed when married couples had twin beds. Lol