Growing up as a kid in the 1970s, I loved watching The Brady Bunch in daily syndicated reruns.
My parents split up when i was young. About 5-6 years old. Mother retained custody of us kids. After the split, she turned into this psychotic, abusive monster. As a result, I turned towards watching LOTS of tv as a way to provide myself with escape and comfort from my misery.
Out of the many, many tv shows i watched in daily syndicated reruns, the Brady Bunch was (and still is) my number one favorite tv show. The Brady Bunch tv show more than just entertained me. It helped me to preserve what few shreds of sanity I had as well as provided me with much needed happiness, laughter, and joy in an otherwise joyless existence.
More than once my mother said to my face, “I wish you were never born.” Can anyone see Carol Brady saying THAT to any of her 6 kids? Much less multiple times?
The Brady family i saw on tv is the family i wished i had. Nice, normal, loving, no abuse, etc. My desire to belong to the Brady Bunch family was so intense, that on more than one occasion, while I slept, I actually dreamed that I was a Brady family member. They are easily the fondest, most happiest dreams I ever had in my lifetime.
Dont get me wrong. I had no illusions. I was well aware that the Brady Bunch wasnt a real life family. Just a bunch of actors playing a part and real life wasn’t exactly like that (speaking as an abused child, I think I already knew that better than most).
But at the same time i just knew that the fictional Brady family was much more closer to how a family was supposed to act and behave. And the fictional Brady family was much, much more closer to happy, loving, and normal than my real life family, home, and circumstances.
How horrible it is to hear that from a parent. I hope life has gotten better for you since then.
He was 15 completing puberty, I was a 10 year old, the victim of his rage.
How many had Dads that said, "I brought you into this world, I can take you out, and make another one that looks just like you".
As a straight teenage boy I never actually watched the show until my own daughters wrestled control of the TV, but I know exactly what you mean.
I find gentle movies, TV shows, and videos to be quite therapeutic during times of stress. Watching men capture and rescue seals from entanglement in various cords and lines is the latest.
In fact, I very naively penned a letter to Reuben Kincaid, Manager of the Partridge Family, volunteering to join the band as a drummer, stating that I could learn to "drum better than Chris."
So for a few weeks, I fantasized about the Partridge Family bus pulling up to my house and whisking me away. But that illusion was shattered when "Mr. Kincaid's" response came, n the form of an invitation to join The Partridge Family Fan Club, along with a 8x10 glossy of Keith Partridge!
How's that for a slap in the face. I handed the Keith Partridge glossy to my sister and became a little more cynical and wise to the ways of the world around me.
Getting back to the Brady Bunch, I believe their "jump the shark" moment came when Mike Brady's architecture firm sent him on a business trip to Hawaii and told him he could take the whole family with him, including even Alice the housekeeper!
C'mon, even to a child, that scenario was just not plausible.
As for Partridge Family, I don't remember a jump the shark moment for them. That was just a solid show all around and it was cancelled way too soon. Danny Partridge was my role model. The music on that show was great too, I don't care what the others say. Songs like "Point Me In The Direction Of Albuquerque", "Echo Valley 2-6809" and "Summer Days" are pure 1970s sunshine pop classics.