Question for baby boomers between 1955-1965

[hyphenate]

(approximately).

I'm sure many of you (like myself) watched The Brady Bunch a fair amount? I was just thinking about that group of reprobates, and realized that I hated Marcia. She was my age, but there was something about her that I didn't like. She was such a whiney little bitch, I guess. She was like a porcelain doll that was fragile and a complete pain in the ass.

Actually, the more I think about it, that describes all the siblings! Not one of them related to my lower class upbringing--they were all snotty little bastards from the upper middle class who really never had a problem that couldn't be fixed. Perfect little robots who would eventually turn into proper GOP soldiers with nothing to redeem themselves.

WDYT?

[BOSSHOG]

1. I'm crushed that I'm outside your window

I was born in 54. Yeah, the Brady Bunch did not live in my neighborhood and the boys would not have fared well with the crowd I ran with through the 6th grade. And I never dated anything like a Brady Girl - guess I was just lucky.

[hyphenate]

5. The "window" is only approximate!

I was trying to remember the years they were on, and trying to think how old people would have been in order to watch the show without feeling out of place. I don't think there are too many 30 year olds who would have been watching, nor 7 year olds who would care. ;)

[skygazer]

2. Well, no one I knew had a live-in housekeeper for starters

No, I didn't care for or relate to the Bradys bit I can't think of any sitcom family I related to up until the Simpsons came on the air.

[hyphenate]

8. There were a couple I could

relate to, but they were mostly out of my purview as well! I guess poverty and sitcoms don't really complement one another for the most part, huh?

[KenHodson]

3. Dude. It was a sit-com

And don't forget, they did have pain. Each of them lost one par...
Oops sorry I forgot what I was responding to.

Dude. It was a sit-com.

[hyphenate]

6. When you're a certain age

What it's classified as doesn't mean anything!

Pain.......hah! High concept? Jeez--nowadays, the show wouldn't even merit a pilot, nevermind a long TV run. I guess most of us were a lot more innocent then, huh?

However, you're right--it was a sitcom, and as far from the reality most of us lived with!

[sweetheart]

7. it was brainwashing

Selling the perfect romantic relationship is out there, even for divorcees,
that a patriarchal family with a stay at home mother exists! ha! what a fabrication,
and a draftsman earning enough to pay a house keeper... so many myths and more,
packaged in to a dialectic for people to learn social values and expectations of american life.

Monkey see, monkey do... most americans wish they could live like the brady bunch, its the design of it
to implant this perpetual consumption to achieve an impossible. Look at the generation of misogynist
wankers the show helped train!.. it worked! :-)

[hyphenate]

11. Yes, lots of shows

used to try to indroctrinate the generation into accepting their place in society.

I believe, however, that Robert Reed's character was actually an architect as opposed to a draftsman, so they would definitely never have to worry about money. Very different from those of us who lived on spaghetti 4 days of the week or more because it was cheap and there were more mouths to feed.

[Xipe Totec]

9. LOL!

thanks!

[EFerrari]

4. Once my mom and my little bro were watching The Crazy Bunch

when I slammed into the house after a date went south.

My brother asked, "Why can't we be like them?"

Mom said, "Because that's not reality. *That* (meaning me slamming the front door and cursing all the way to my room) is reality."

I love my mom.

lol

[hyphenate]

12. Sounds a lot like our family

as well, except for a few years difference. I was the oldest and usually didn't go out too much, preferring watching TV, reading and writing as my main activities. I never actually went out on a date until I was about 17.

[EFerrari]

14. I was out there at a much younger age as my single mom was having

terrible trouble with booze and I just needed to be with people. Not that I was ready for it or anything.

But, no matter her problems, Mom could always call bs at exactly the right time.

She's been sober now for 30 years and still is a great bs caller. :)

[hyphenate]

18. That's fantastic!

My mom doesn't drink anymore like she did in the 60s and 70s. One day, she just stopped, and that was good. Alcoholism runs in the family, though, and my sister is an example of someone who won't give it all up so easily. She's been a lot more sober for awhile now, though, taking care of my mom, but it's definitely a hard addiction to deal with. On a show like BB, they were all "social drinkers" with the alkies being relegated to dramatic shows, or for pure, over-the-top comic relief (like Red Skelton). "No one" ever drank to excess on a regular TV show!

[EFerrari]

23. They (the community) gave up on my mom many times.

I remember being 11 and signing papers for the paramedics that came and picked her up. WTF? My principal was called to my house and she came with two other staffers and when they left, they just smiled and nodded and sort of punched me in the arm -- and scooted out the door. My little brother was 4 at the time and all I knew how to cook was franks n beans. My poor brother!

Mom got sober when my first son was born. I don't know why or how she did. But ever since, she has been a great joy to us all. Except when she gets on our case about our drinking. Well, she's right. Because of our DNA, we have to be mindful.

But, I'll never forget that all the AA folks in our town gave up on her but she never gave up on herself. And the years following that decision she made and walked through were some awesome, productive, wonderful years.

No one had a "problem" on teevee. Remember Dean Martin? He didn't have a problem, he had an act. lol

[Left Is Write]

48. Dean Martin's act really was an act.

[Dean Martin]

77. Why, thank you!

I couldn't resist. Yes Martin did drink, but he never really drank to the state of drunkiness until after his son died.

[Left Is Write]

83. In the liner notes of one of my CDs, he's quoted as saying the "bourbon"

in his glass was often apple juice - and he hated apple juice!

[Dean Martin]

84. and bourbon or whiskey is what Jackie Gleason was drinking on his show

...instead of coffee.

[Beer Snob-50]

10. generally their lives were nothing like normal people

what with it being fictional tv and all.

however, i gotta say, i would have loved to have had sex with maricia brady if i had the chance!!

[hyphenate]

13. Back then

I went for older guys. From 10 and on, I preferred Napoleon Solo, Alexander Mundy, Kelly Robinson, James West and Lee Crane to guys in my own age range. :)

[Beer Snob-50]

17. well marcia was one of the few of my age

generally i went for older ones myself (batgirl, catwomen, emma peel, you get the drift)

[hyphenate]

19. Seems like we watched the same

kinds of shows with the one difference being I was looking for guys and you were going for the girls....

[Beer Snob-50]

20. I look like James West

and if you look like Catwomen.......:evilgrin:

[hyphenate]

56. I'm afraid not....

but then, I'll be over 50 this year!

[Art_from_Ark]

27. Yeah, Emma Peel, Batgirl, Cat Woman... mmm

Don't forget Jeannie and 99.
Mmmmm.

[Left Is Write]

42. Mundy and West....*sigh*

I'm with you.

[hyphenate]

57. They really had hero types on TV

back then. I dare say there aren't many around on TV nowadays. There are a few, but perhaps we remember the ones from the 60s because in a way they were larger than life. Now, they're a little too human, and a little too into themselves.....the archetype heroes of yesteryear disappeared some time in the 70s, I think.

[Dervill Crow]

43. Aahhh, Alexander Mundy.

I saw Robert Wagner on a commercial for some Old People's product, and realized he's old and looks it. But since I was 13 when I was in love with him, I guess that's allowed.

However, what was the deal with Artemis T. Gordon being named after a Goddess? Strange.

[hyphenate]

59. Yeah, he has that

gobbledy look now (floppy jowls!) I guess he's happy, though, he's not acting very much, so he probably doesn't have to keep up on his looks.

As far as Artie is concerned, I believe it was spelled "Artemus" and I understand it was somewhat popular in the 19th century, just like my grandfather's name, Archibald, would have been more acceptable back in the end of the 19th century.

[Dervill Crow]

64. I hope he IS happy. He strikes me as being a genuinely nice person.

And thanks for clarifying Artemis/Artemus. I always liked that character and actor (although I can't think of his name right now) much better than James West or Robert Conrad.

I am so happy google came along just in time for my presenile dementia. My brain used to be a treasure trove of information that now seems inaccessible.

[trashcanistanista]

65. I loved

Ilya Kuryakin! Man from U.N.C.L.E. and wanted to be Mrs. Peel when I grew up.

[EFerrari]

15. deleted with DU rules in mind.

:)

[idgiehkt]

16. Christopher Knight, is that you?

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia...

he (Peter) said she was "a little snot".

edit: I definitely related to the Jan Brady character more. I loved the Lunachicks song "I am Jan Brady" where they say "I got my plaid bell-bottoms/I ain't no trash."

[Connonym]

44. I'm a total Jan myself

I haven't watched BB recently but to my recollection the only thing vaguely realistic was that being a middle child SUCKS.

[idgiehkt]

58. yep

Jan was the only character on that show that had real emotions. Plus Eve Plumb was beautiful.

[Dervill Crow]

67. With four kids, I have two middle children.

They were definitely the most challenging. :toast: A salute to all middle children who survived their childhood.

Slainte!

[Oeditpus Rex]

21. If they'd lived in my neighborhood

we woulda kicked their striped, polyester Brady asses. :P




Well, except Cindy. She turned out hawt.

[fortyfeetunder]

22. Never watched the show.

I couldn't relate to it..Not one iota...

[Art_from_Ark]

26. I couldn't relate to it either

but for some reason we watched it faithfully. I can't remember one single episode, though.

[hyphenate]

74. There are few that I can even

bring to mind, but for some reason I always thought that Alice and Sam the butcher made a good couple--see? I can remember the hired help, but not the storylines of the main characters.

Marcia was just too much a symbol of a white, middle-classed family, who didn't even know what "dysfunction" meant, nevermind suffered it. The one motto our family had was a single word: "deal." That's what got us through our youth, and still manages to keep us alive nowadays!

[MichiganVote]

24. I didn't think anyone actually watched that show, it was so dumb

[hyphenate]

76. Oh, it was popular enough

And yet I don't think it was a result of sterling plots or high-minded writing. Any show that makes its living off photogenic people with no real lives will succeed as long as there are vapid, brainless morons in the world to watch them!

[Art_from_Ark]

81. It wasn't just "vapid, brainless morons" who were watching it, though

Thinking about it a little more, the show's popularity might have had something to do with the vicarious effect. For a family with a monthly income of, say, $500 in those days, there might have been a certain appeal to see what it might be like to have enough money to not only afford a big-ass house with at least 2 full bathrooms, but to have a housekeeper as well (who would do all the chores so the parent(s) wouldn't always be nagging the kids about doing the dishes, washing the floors, vacuuming the rugs, etc., etc.).

[Ramsey]

25. OT nitpick

But 1965ers are not Boomers, they are Gen Xers.

[hyphenate]

78. Ah--my mistake!

As a boomer myself, I don't keep up with the titles of generations that follow my own. :P

[GenDem]

28. At 10, I bought into it hook, line, and sinker.

and so did all of my friends. We all wanted to be Marcia - pretty and popular. I was most intrigued by the bathroom that hooked up between the boys and girls bedrooms.

My question today is -- what did Carol Brady do all day? Alice did all the cooking and cleaning. :shrug:

[Uncle Joe]

53. She was busy researching the benefits of using Wesson Oil

and hooking up with Oedipus, err I mean Greg off the set for a date.

[hyphenate]

79. Probably a lot of what other

middle classed mommies did at the time, and probably still do behind closed doors: become drug users and alcoholics, sleeping all day with nothing else to do. (Not that I'm actually sure about that, but I must consider it as a possibility!)

[Omphaloskepsis]

29. I can't think of a SITCOM family that was poor...

I'm sure you guys can. DYNOMITE. That is about it. Maybe Punky Brewster. A sitcom about food boxes is a non-starter.

[Lars39]

33. Sanford and Son.

Roseanne

[Dervill Crow]

46. I didn't get it that the Sanfords were poor.

I thought owning a junk store would be the coolest business in the world. Strangely enough, when my dad retired he and my mom supplemented his retirement by reselling treasures they found at garage sales and my dad's handcrafted items (bird houses, planters, doghouses, etc) at the local flea markets. It would amuse them to see how many people are now doing that on eBay. Livin' the dream.

[Left Is Write]

39. The Conners.

[Dervill Crow]

45. That was a few years later, though.

I didn't care for Rosanne (sp?) Barr based on her crass standup shtick and never watched the show. I was extremely insulted when a co-worker told me my family reminded him of the Conners, I guess based on the fact we had one blue-eyed blonde daughter, one dark-eyed brunette daughter, and at least one (actually we had two) absolutely adorable little boys. I took his remark to mean that I was an overweight mouthy broad with brown hair in a bob.

I didn't watch the Brady Bunch when I was a kid, either. They were all insipid, and the girls at my school who dressed like them were bitches. I was one of the girls in a leather fringed jacket and jeans. I was a freshman in 1969, the year Portland Public Schools decided girls no longer had to wear dresses that reached their knees.

[hyphenate]

55. Oh miserable dress codes

At least in my day as well. I remember the principal told me once I couldn't wear a tank top. This was about 1972 or so, at an all-girls prep school. I'd hate to see what the old bat would think of the student dress code nowadays!

[Nevernose]

86. Were the Arnez's (I Love Lucy) rich?

No, they weren't poor, but they weren't rich, either.

I get what you're saying, but we don't exactly watch sitcoms to illuminate or remind us of bone-crushing hardship or postmodern realism, do we? It's escapism in it's purist form.

[begin_within]

30. Then you'll probably get a laugh out of this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdjQPRE5hXc

[hyphenate]

32. Thanks for the laugh

I had to end it before it was over, though, because it was even annoying just to see the characters again!

[begin_within]

36. The best part was the end where Carol keeps telling Jan to shut up

[Skittles]

31. I missed the TBB debut because my dad was stationed in England

but when I finally did see it I thought it was the most ridiculous piece of tripe I had ever seen - I still do. It was the dad that I found the most unrealstic - I guess I never knew any fathers who did not truly YELL every so often LOL

[Left Is Write]

40. My dad's not a yeller.

But he could give you a look!

[Skittles]

50. ooh I got THE LOOK too

that was almost more lethal than actual yelling :o

[CBHagman]

34. Ann B. Davis rocked!

[av8rdave]

35. She was the best of "the bunch"

[ironflange]

37. I hit puberty just in time to get a mad crush on Jan

Bad news, that poor kid. Zero self-esteem, living in Marcia's shadow, probably bipolar. Jan would have been in and out of therapy for her entire life.

[City Lights]

38. Greg got on my nerves more than Marcia.

Can't stand him. But Cindy was the worst of the lot. Whiny little brat.

[Left Is Write]

41. "On the good ship Lollipop, it's a sweet trip to a candy shop..."

[Crazy Dave]

47. The Bradys were definitely republican

With the exception being Alice who probably wasn't provided any health care.

As far as the actor Robert Reed who played the dad I have a lot of respect for him as far as a person. If the TV movie I saw once about the show was accurate, he was openly gay which back in the 60's and early 70's a lot of male actors kept hidden and he was very protective of the young, child actors and actresses who played the children and was always looking out for them. He raised all kinds of hell if he thought they were getting screwed by the network with their contracts and he made sure they weren't exploited or sucked into bad deals by the Hollywood parasites.

Too bad Hugh Beaumont (Ward Cleaver) wasn't as supportive to "The Beaver".

[DawgHouse]

82. I'm pretty sure Greg, aka Johnny Bravo was a liberal,

:hi:

[gardenista]

49. I thought the youngest boy wasn't so bad

Reminded me of my lil bro

[The Traveler]

51. Never could watch that show

:puke:

But the Addams Family was cool.

[Dervill Crow]

66. Morticia Addams was my role model.

I married a guy with the body habitus of Ted Cassidy, and I picked a religious denomination because the pastor of my local Lutheran church had a voice identical to John Astin. I could close my eyes and picture Gomez Addams deliver the sermon each week. It was trippy.

I'm still married to Lurch (33 years), but the religion thing was short-lived. :rofl:

[hyphenate]

80. Yeah

at least the Addams Family had a certain "style" which made them cool. I do think I might have found more in common with them than with the BB. I did much prefer the Addams family to the Munsters--in a lot of ways, the Addams family was a lot more "out there" than the Munsters, because they dared to be different, while the Munsters were still trying to fit in with normal people.

The Brady bunch would be classified as straight fantasy nowadays if it were on the air. No one could tolerate that kind of family if they purported to be real.

[NC_Nurse]

52. I watched it.

I longed for normalcy - or what seemed like it might be...:shrug:

Their problems seemed so TEMPORARY and SOLVABLE....unlike my family's.

[Floogeldy]

54. I only watched it to lust after Marcia.

;)

[SPKrazy]

60. ...

;)

yup

[treestar]

61. I was about Jan and Peter's age

I thought Marcia was a snot, too!

It always cracked me up how Alice would have all their lunches packed, and how they sat down to breakfast, at a set table!

And how they always had cookies and milk after school, and were always dressed up perfectly and their hair was always perfect.

[supernova]

62. I don't remember watching TBB

to tell you the truth. I don't have any warm, fuzzy memories of watching them with my family the way we did, say The Ed Sullivan Show.

They where OK, but I think at the time I liked My Three Sons better. And I was into Bewitched too.

[Left Is Write]

63. Here's the thing about the Brady Bunch.

Here we have two people (widowed? I believe they were both widowed), each with three children. They get married and blend those two families almost seamlessly. There appears to be no resentment at the "replacement" parents, no resentment at suddenly having three new siblings to have to share things with, and none of the kids becomes a teenager who acts out in inappropriate ways (unless you count Jan's black wig).

That's just crazy. If my father passed away and my mother got remarried, I don't think I'd have jumped right in and started calling him Dad by the second episode.

[CBHagman]

68. Actually, the shows did imply there was tension.

There were rivalries, turf wars, periods of adjustment.

[Left Is Write]

69. The only turf wars I remember are the ones that would have taken place between any siblings...

They didn't appear to have any of the normal problems associated with being a stepfamily.

[catzies]

70. I HATED the Brady Bunch because I was in a stepfamily which was rare then

And we all hated each others' guts.

[driver8]

71. Oh, I LOVED Marcia!

She was smokin'!

"F-F-F-I-L...L-L-L-M-O...O-O-O-R-E..FILMORE JUNIOR HIGH!!!!

Yep...she was a total fox.

[spacelady]

72. You know it and I can name the Brady Bunch plot within one minute.

I was weaned on those lily livers.

[murielm99]

73. Remember the guy on Cops

who would not come down from the roof to be arrested until the cops sang the Brady Bunch theme song for him, and named all the kids?

:rofl:

[Dean Martin]

75. I could never relate to it

I didn't have anything in common with the Bradys.

[KitchenWitch]

85. Me neither

One because I was an only child. Two because my family had a healthy share of dysfunction.