SHAPSHOT
A Very Brady Renovation is coming to the network, and it’s not just any old home renovation show. After the actual house used for exterior shots on The Brady Bunch went up for sale in early 2018, HGTV managed to outbid Lance Bass for the house and got the actual remaining Brady siblings back together for a show about restoring the home to its former glory and also making the inside look like the set of the house actually did on the show. (synopsis (c) E! News)
If you ever took a close look at The Brady Bunch house, and I’ll be honest I didn’t as a kid and haven’t as an adult, you will notice that while the inside of the residence is largely two-story, the ranch-style facade shows a house that is most definitely not.
If you’ve noticed that, you’re not alone.
Susan Olson, who played Cindy, definitely picked up on the discrepancy as a nine-year-old, grilling producers about why the outside did not match the inside.
Soon, thanks to HGTV’s A Very Brady Renovation, the great yawning chasm between inside and out will be (mostly) resolved as the inside of the ranch-style exterior finally matches the much-loved, very groovy ’70s interior.
Not that it’s been an easy undertaking as Senior Vice President Loren Ruch told journalists.
With the six surviving cast members onboard – Barry Williams (Greg), Maureen McCormick (Marcia), Christopher Knight (Peter), Eve Plumb (Jan), Mike Lookinland (Bobby), and Susan Olsen (Cindy) – the biggest challeng was how to make the inside layout fit into a house with very finite limitations.
“When we started to dive into doing the show, we studied — I’m not kidding — almost every frame of every episode that had ever existed. So if there was a room that ever appeared in a single episode, we would make sure it was covered here,” Ruch said.
“However, there was a very big problem. The real house HGTV had purchased was a ranch, while the Brady family home we saw on TV was a split-level. The very first episode of A Very Brady Renovation covers how the contractors and designers dealt with this: by stealthily adding an addition to the back that would not ruin the appearance of exterior’s famous facade. This addition would offer enough space for the children’s rooms, the kitchen, and Alice’s bedroom. Because of quirks of the existing house’s layout, Greg’s attic and the master bedroom would be located on the first floor. Everyone involved was confident, though, that superfans would appreciate the attention to detail in each room enough to overlook the inconsistencies in the layout.” (Decider)
It’s apparently worked which means that starting 9 September on HGTV, we will once again be deep inside The Brady Bunch house, as past and present rather happily collide.
Just be careful where you throw that microphone will ya?