MovieChat Forums > The Goldbergs (2013) Discussion > How big was "The Brady Bunch" in reruns ...

How big was "The Brady Bunch" in reruns during the '80s?

posted 8 years ago by TMC-4
22 replies | jump to latest

I thought about this after Adam and Erica were talking about the "George Glass" (Jan's imaginary boyfriend) episode. The Brady Bunch during its original network run, from what I've read, was never a huge ratings success. It never cracked the top 30 (bare in mind that there were still, only three major networks in 1969-1974) during its five year run on ABC. I'm guessing that The Brady Bunch was like Star Trek in that it became even more successful and iconic in syndication.

[–] speedy1383 8 years ago

Syndication was a big part of its long term success. TBS aired it all the time in the 80s. I remember I watched quite a few shows in syndication in the 80s. Leave it to Beaver. My Three Sons. Gilligan's Island. Gomer Pyle. Bewitched.

[–] FangsMcWolf 8 years ago

TMC-4 (Thu Oct 6 2016 00:04:49)
I thought about this after Adam and Erica were talking about the "George Glass" (Jan's imaginary boyfriend) episode. The Brady Bunch during its original network run, from what I've read, was never a huge ratings success. It never cracked the top 30 (bare in mind that there were still, only three major networks in 1969-1974) during its five year run on ABC. I'm guessing that The Brady Bunch was like Star Trek in that it became even more successful and iconic in syndication.

Even before cable became popular, it was shown in reruns. During the 1980's, you could catch a lot of the more popular/iconic shows on networks like TBS, TNT, and USA. In the mid to late 1980's, Nick-At-Nite was introduced and you could catch some older shows on there (not including The Brady Bunch, at least not initially if it ever got added). Heck, even before cable became a common thing, shows (like speedy1383 mentioned) were available in reruns. Shows like "The Andy Griffith Show," "Gilligan's Island," and "Leave It To Beaver" to name a few. This was just in the 1970's.

Considering that The Goldbergs tends to mesh a few years together as though they were happening at the same time, it would only take the show being on at any point during the 1980's (in reruns of course) and it would make sense to include it.

[–] giamatt02 8 years ago

Definitely big, if I remember correctly.

I was only 2 when the original run ended, but I can remember it being on our local UHF station in Philly from 5 to 6 and then again on TBS once I got cable at 4:30 (or 4:35, if you remember those TBS start times back then). I can definitely remember coming home from school and watching it every single day!

[–] SeinfeldFriend 8 years ago

That's when I watched it. I actually had a chuckle about that when I saw it on The Goldberg's. It was a good 80's throwback

[–] KinksRock 8 years ago

It was on CONSTANTLY in reruns. You couldn't help but be familiar with it unless you avoided TV altogether. That's why, during the 80s, there were lots of reunion shows, including variety specials featuring the Brady "family". Really bad stuff!

Jaan Pehechan Ho

[–] billymac72 8 years ago

Huge. I think everyone in the 80s generation grew up watching the Bradys.

I find this so interesting because in a lot of ways, I find our historical frame of reference is a lot wider than the current generation because of all the old programming we all watched in reruns.

For instance, most of us watched stuff like Tom & Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, Popeye, The Three Stooges, Our Gang/The Little Rascals, etc. That stuff was pretty much all made in the 30s, 40s and 50s....way before our times. Ironically, even though kids today have everything at their fingertips, their knowledge of the past and perspective of it is shockingly narrow these days.

[–] speedy1383 8 years ago

Saturdays I always watched The Little Rascals and Stooges back to back.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (22250229) 7 years ago

For instance, most of us watched stuff like Tom & Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, Popeye, The Three Stooges, Our Gang/The Little Rascals, etc. That stuff was pretty much all made in the 30s, 40s and 50s....way before our times

Good point. As a kid Nickelodeon used to show that old Lassie TV show from the '50s. I grew up watching it, along with whatever else was current. Strangely enough, even though the show is in black and white, it never occurred to me it was "old." It just wasn't even a factor in my mind. That's one of the cool things when you're a kid, I guess. You just kinda take everything at face value and don't over think anything.

And to the OP: Brady Bunch was HUGE in the '80s. Ever see Adventures in Babysitting (1987)? There's even a scene where it can be seen and heard playing in one of the bus station scenes.

You got the wrong guy, mang. I don't come off no banana boat.

[–] TheRealTTH 7 years ago

The Brady Bunch must have still been big in the 1990s since I was born in 1987 and my resident memory has recorded every episode of the show. I think TBS, WGN, and Nickelodeon all played it at some time.

I can still remember all the words to that theme song and the one for Gilligan's Island. Now that show is really old and I still seemed to watch it somewhere.

The 1980's was the begginning of the cable generation where people had a multitude of channels to watch. Most of those channels only ran old shows.

[–] gctattoo2 8 years ago

The date of my birth (March 8th, 1974) was the last time a first-run episode of The Brady Bunch aired. So obviously I didn't catch it during its initial run. And only my two eldest siblings (out of four) would've remembered its initial run. But there were so many reruns of it during the 80's that all of us would astonish our mother by knowing exactly which episode it was just by the music and who was walking through the family room sliding door. It was on all the time. And that was without any cable/satellite in the house.

[–] shuglife 8 years ago

It was huge. My family watched probably an hour of it every day before dinner and after my cartoons went off the air, between 84-86 ish.

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