Sid and Marty Krofft produced nine, hour-long Brady Bunch specials for ABC. The Brady Bunch Variety Hour made its debut on November 28, 1976 and eight additional specials appeared through May of ’77 bearing the shortened title, The Brady Bunch Hour.

These Brady Bunch specials are a wonder to behold and difficult to sit through – and yet…I love them. They’re so incredibly of the era and over-the-top. The kitsch factor is off-the-charts. The set had a built-in swimming pool where the Krofttette Dancers performed. A swimming pool, I tell ya! The Brady costumes were colorful and wild, the comedy painful and a wealth of 70s TV superstars, such as; Tony Randall, Lee Majors and Farrah Fawcett made guest appearances. Rip Taylor was a series regular.

Actress Susan Olsen (aka Cindy Brady), wrote a book about the much-maligned and rarely-seen specials entitled Love to Love You Bradys: the bizarre story of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour (*link now defunct). On the web site promoting the book I found these fantastic Brady photos. Enjoy them below and I’ll leave you with this quote, also from Olsen’s book site:

“The book Bad TV, by Craig Nelson, named ‘The Brady Bunch Hour’ the worst variety show in the history of television, and in 2002 TV Guide declared it the 4th Worst Show of All-time.”

Brady Bunch Variety Hour Photo Gallery:

The Brady Bunch Variety Hour Wiki, IMDb

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