The Brady Kids is an American animated television series and a spin-off based on the ABC live-action sitcom The Brady Bunch, produced by Filmation in association with Paramount Television. It aired on ABC from September 9, 1972, to October 6, 1973, and also spun off another Filmation series, Mission: Magic!, starring Rick Springfield.
The original show's six children (Barry Williams, Maureen McCormick, Christopher Knight, Eve Plumb, Mike Lookinland and Susan Olsen) voiced their animated counterparts in the first season. As the series' title implies, the parents and Alice the housekeeper characters were omitted from the show. At the end of the first season, Filmation asked the kids to continue on their existing contracts for another five episodes in a second season. The kids' original answer was no, prodded on by their agent Harvey Shotz. Filmation threatened both to sue the children over breach of contract, and to continue the show without their voices. Lookinland, Plumb, and Olsen agreed to the extended Filmation contract, while Williams, Knight, and McCormick did not. Williams' and McCormick's voices were replaced by the children of producer Lou Schiemer (Lane and Erika Scheimer, respectively), while Knight's voice was replaced by David E. Smith.
The animated series also added some animal characters. Marlon (voiced by Larry Storch) was an intelligent, red, talking mynah bird and also a wizard who used his magic to help the kids out of jams. Marlon was also notable for his method of flight: he spun his tail feathers like a helicopter rotor rather than using his wings, which were instead used as hands, often for grand gestures as he cast spells.
The Bradys' dog from the live-action series, Tiger, was replaced by a dog named Mop Top (also voiced by Storch). There were also twin giant panda cubs, Ping and Pong (voiced by Jane Webb), named after the game ping-pong. The pandas only spoke in a Chinese-like gibberish.
There were three human characters created for this show: Chuck White (Storch) was a boastful, self-absorbed teenager (about Greg's age) who was not above cheating to get whatever he wanted, Fleetwood (Storch) was his easygoing sidekick and rounding out this trio was Babs (voiced by Webb), a cute redhead who was smitten with Greg. The three of them went to the same school as the Bradys, and Chuck was sometimes central to the plot as an antagonist.
Cast[]
| Image | Character | Actor |
|---|---|---|
|
Greg Brady | Barry Williams |
| Lane Scheimer | ||
|
Peter Brady | Christopher Knight |
| David E. Smith | ||
|
Bobby Brady | Mike Lookinland |
|
Marcia Brady | Maureen McCormick |
| Erika Scheimer | ||
|
Jan Brady | Eve Plumb |
|
Cindy Brady | Susan Olsen |
|
Marlon | Larry Storch |
|
Mop Top | Larry Storch |
|
Ping | Jane Webb |