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Every New Kid They Tried Adding to ‘The Brady Bunch’
Cousin Oliver was just the beginning.
1969 marked the end of a decade of political turmoil, civil unrest, and cultural change, all capped off by the Moon landing, the Vietnam War, and Woodstock. In the year’s wake, the Hippie generation rebelled by embracing music, marijuana, and making love. But on the other end of the cultural spectrum, ’69 also saw the premiere of one of the most wholesome, straightlaced TV shows ever created: The Brady Bunch.
As with many family sitcoms, the child actors playing the half-dozen Brady children — Greg, Marcia, Jan, Peter, Bobby, and Cindy — grew up before viewers’ eyes. But lest the series lose its saccharine schmaltz and family-friendly appeal as the kids became teenagers, the producers opted to bring in fresh faces to keep the show young. The most well-known, of course, is the infamous Cousin Oliver, but he wasn’t the only attempt made by the producers to up the show’s cute quotient.
As we look back fondly on the sitcom 50 years later, here’s a list of every so-called “adorable” kid tacked onto The Brady Bunch.
Cousin Oliver
Carol reveals to the Bradys that her eight-year-old nephew is coming to live with the family as her brother Jack and his wife are going on an archaeological expedition to South America. With the…
