OK, boys and girls, here is the much awaited answer to that burning question:What happened to Mike and Carol's previous spouses?
Let's start with Mike, as his situation is more clear cut. In the pilot episode, (The Honeymoon) there is a scene where Bobby is putting away a picture of his mother in deference to his new mom's feelings. The advice/lecture that Mike gives Bobby leads us to believe that his first wife has died.
Now, on to Carol. The series creator, Sherwood Schwartz, had intended that Carol be divorced. This was a typical scenerio in the 60's, when the idea was conceived. (40% of all households contained children from previous marriages. Obviously, not all of these households were the result of widowed parents; It was more likely the result of the climbing divorce rate. Despite this, network execs worried that it would be too controversial and refused to proceed unless Mr. Schwartz changed the divorce premise. Eventually, he compromised by leaving out all mention of her first husband other than a brief reference in the pilot episode, when Carol says, "A few years ago...I thought it was the end of the world.."
And we bought it. I never thought about their previous spouses when I watched it as a kid. It took a generation before anyone started thinking, "Hey, wait a minute...." Mike adopted Carol's daughters from the beginning and Marcia nominated him for Father of the Year so it kinda makes you wonder what Carol's ex could have done to be so shut out of their lives. Speaking of lives. I really should return to mine.
Now, on to Carol. The series creator, Sherwood Schwartz, had intended that Carol be divorced. This was a typical scenerio in the 60's, when the idea was conceived. (40% of all households contained children from previous marriages. Obviously, not all of these households were the result of widowed parents; It was more likely the result of the climbing divorce rate. Despite this, network execs worried that it would be too controversial and refused to proceed unless Mr. Schwartz changed the divorce premise. Eventually, he compromised by leaving out all mention of her first husband other than a brief reference in the pilot episode, when Carol says, "A few years ago...I thought it was the end of the world.."
And we bought it. I never thought about their previous spouses when I watched it as a kid. It took a generation before anyone started thinking, "Hey, wait a minute...." Mike adopted Carol's daughters from the beginning and Marcia nominated him for Father of the Year so it kinda makes you wonder what Carol's ex could have done to be so shut out of their lives. Speaking of lives. I really should return to mine.
But before you do, take this quiz to test your Brady acumen. http://www.quizland.com/brady-bunch.mv
Just one more thing. In the above photo, Marcia should have a caption bubble saying, "Get your filthy hand off my knee, Florence." While Carol is defending herself with, "Barry asked me out, Maureen. What was I sopposed to do?" And another thing. Our very own Jan takes issue at not being included in the cookie poll. She makes an extremely memorable and much requested chocolate chip cookie...but it's always Marsha, Marsha, Marshmallow shaggy dogs snickerdoodled with poorly drawn pineapple oatmeal cookies....
