Eve Plumb, who played Jan Brady on The Brady Bunch, is speaking out this week to reveal why people “looked down” on the beloved sitcom for many years.
Brady Bunch Cast ‘Never Felt Like Big Stars’
Plumb, 68, explained in a new interview that she and her fellow cast-mates didn’t realize that The Brady Bunch was such a success until they took their talents on the road. Indeed, according to her, the cast of The Brady Bunch didn’t feel like stars until far later than fans would think.
“Well, we really never felt like big stars,” Plumb said. “It never really hit the big ratings. It was never really well thought of in the critiques. Everybody sort of looked down on it as fluff and not serious fare.”
That all changed when Plumb and her Brady Bunch siblings — who were played by Barry Williams, Maureen McCormick, Christopher Knight, Mike Lookinland, and Susan Olsen — started singing and performing for the public. It was only then that they learned just how famous they. had become.
The child stars released their debut album, Merry Christmas From the Brady Bunch, in 1970. However, it wasn’t until the 1972 release of their second studio album, Meet the Brady Bunch, that their music really took off.
Plumb, whose new memoir Happiness Included: Jan Brady and Beyond hit stores in April, said that they realized they “were very popular once we started making albums, and we would go out and sign records at a department store on the weekends, and we would get a huge crowd.”
“That was when we realized that, yes, it was very popular,” she continued. “But no one at the time, no adult would admit to actually watching The Brady Bunch.”
Jan Brady Resonates With Fans
Plumb played middle daughter Jan Brady on The Brady Bunch from 1969 until 1974. In another recent interview, she said that she is grateful that people still see themselves in Jan, who was perpetually overlooked in her family.
“It’s such an amazing thing, and it’s like an honor to have people feel this way about Jan,” Plumb told CBS Mornings. “It’s so great, and I really appreciate it.”
“At the time, we were sort of insular. We were making our shows. We didn’t have social media,” she added. “So we were just trying to make the best show we could and I feel it was great that they really included these storylines, that children have emotions, children have hard times. And to have people like that is really wonderful.”
Brady Bunch Cast Doesn’t ‘Make Residuals’
Though The Brady Bunch went off the air over half a century ago, reruns of it have been playing on television ever since. Despite this, the cast hasn’t made any money in residuals, according to Plumb.
“If I had a dime for every rerun episode, I’d pay off the national deficit. I don’t,” Plumb wrote in her book.
Plumb doubled down on this in another recent interview, saying, “We don’t make residuals.”
What?!
Plumb said this as she talked about the biggest misconceptions fans have since The Brady Bunch ended over fifty years ago. These misconceptions include her character’s iconic like “Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!,” which Plumb says wasn’t actually famous until it was spoofed on Saturday Night Live!
“It’s a challenge because it’s so repetitive,” Plumb lamented. “I have to explain every time that it wasn’t popular before the Saturday Night Live! skit did it. That we don’t make residuals, that I didn’t hate The Brady Bunch.”
“It’s like it, no matter how many times I say it, people still have assumptions,” she continued. “So, I just say it again and again. Try to be my best smiley person. And I think doesn’t do any good because they don’t know that it’s my 5,000th time hearing that.”
The cast of The Brady Bunch may have been “looked down” upon in their day. Now, however, they are considered iconic, and each of them will never be forgotten. While they may not be making money in residuals, they are still making all of us laugh as we relive old episodes of their hilarious classic series again and again.
God bless you, Eve Plumb!