It’s either the adored family dog, Tiger, or his doghouse that stays. Well, apparently, producers chose the doghouse. Tiger was tragically killed off the show in a car accident. While producers never introduced another dog to replace him, they chose to keep his doghouse in the backyard of the Brady’s house.
Perhaps to commemorate the life of Tiger? Not exactly… the doghouse was meant to cover up a spot on the Astroturf where a studio light had fallen and burned the ground.
Cousin Oliver
The show’s ratings were declining and ABC was desperate for Sherwood Schwartz to save the show. So, they recommended (or rather, demanded) that Schwartz introduce a new young character in hopes that he’d be the savior of the show and prevent the show from plummeting all together. So, the four-eyed blonde cousin Oliver was introduced during the last season to save the show.
The term “Cousin Oliver” has since stuck in Hollywood and it’s used to describe a character that is introduced to salvage a dying show. Unfortunately, cousin Oliver had no honorable moments and he didn’t impact the series at all. Fans felt that the character was unnecessary, but clearly, the producers didn’t have a choice at that point.
No Farting!
It has been joked about that the Bradys didn’t have digestive systems because a toilet is never seen in the show, although the bathroom is frequently shown. While the Bradys were a very wholesome and pure family, of course they needed to go #2 sometimes, just like the rest of us less than perfect families. Despite this, no scenes depict a toilet. Apparently, ABC didn’t want a toilet filmed in the show.
Showing a John would have been a violation of regulations. We are talking about the early 70s after all, when censorship was much different than it is now. On a side note, the eight-member family shared one bathroom. So, maybe they didn’t have digestive systems after all, if that was the case…
Boss Lady
Carol Brady was the matriarch of the Brady bunch and the one to keep the family running and things flowing smoothly. She was, what you would nowadays refer to as a “boss lady”. Despite this, she was the only character not to have an episode named after her or based on her character.
This seems ironic, considering that Carol was such a central component to the show. Well, Florence Henderson didn’t seem so bitter about this, as she happily reprised her role many times following the end of 'The Brady Bunch', and are we ever glad that she did!
Big Changes for Paramount
Prior to creating 'The Brady Bunch', the famous Paramount Studios was strictly a movie studio. After creating the iconic American TV series, the studio completely changed its direction, thus impacting in a major way the entire television industry.
Bonus fact: Sherwood Schwartz is also the brains behind Gilligan’s Island for CBS.