Isn’t it weird to know how the main lead was written out from the show’s final episode? Well, it has happened in a very famous show during the 1970s “The Brady Bunch.” It shows it was a hugely successful sitcom that ran for five seasons from 1969 to 1974.
Show’s star Robert Reed
Robert Reed was a trained stage actor and had also been a co-star with, E.G. Marshall in a successful drama called “The Defenders.” When “The Brady Bunch” was winding down their fifth season, they had reasons to believe they would be returning for a sixth season. Robert Reed didn’t seem excited at all about doing the series, and like most actors, he needed work. It was often seen Reed getting tangled with producer Sherwood Schwartz over the insane and silly plots of the show. Schwartz was a genuinely nice man, but the reason for this type of scenario could also be because he had also been the producer of “Gilligan’s Island.”
It is apparent that the series ran during the turbulent late sixties and early seventies, so he didn’t care for dealing or giving time to “social issues” of the time. However, Reed wasn’t satisfied with the plot and hated the juvenile, ridiculous stories in the show, and would often send Schwartz memos telling him what went wrong in the episode and the improvements he could make.
All Reed wanted to be the series to behave more elements, including satire and farce and not just some silly sitcom. It is no surprise that Reed also got into arguments over the set of storylines the show contained.
Reed’s growing discontent continued, which made him more and more impatient. It was when Schwartz tried to appease him by letting him several direct episodes.
The revelation of Reed’s gender preference
It was during the show when Robert had to kiss his co-actor and “wife” Florence Henderson, this was the first time they had to kiss on-screen, and Reed was very uncomfortable for this sequence. He must have felt uneasy no matter how professional he was. In fact, according to Florence, she knew Reed’s “secret” from the first time the two kissed. This secret played a small part in Reed’s growing unhappiness towards the series. It was no doubt that Reed had a genuine affection for his fellow cast members.
Show’s last episode
Brady’s children seemed to have regarded him as a second father, as would be natural after five years of filming the show. It was trouble they faced before the last episode because it was very unsure whether Reed would come back for the display or not. So there were several possible scenarios discussed to end the season.
The final episode of Brady Bunch was filmed with an awkward plot showing Greg graduating from high school and his father nowhere to be seen, just a simple reference of “dad” a few times in the episode. But what viewers didn’t know that while the filming of the episode, Reed was present and standing a few feet off the camera. It was noticed that Reed was disgusted by the insane episode and stood to the side, making faces as the show was filmed.
“The Brady Bunch” was concluded after the final five-year run providing the rare instance of the main character getting written out of the last episode of the show he starred in.
Reed has been a strong character and will be remembered forever as being one of the best quality stars Hollywood has seen. Sadly in the year 1992, at the age of 59, he passed away due to bladder cancer and HIV.
