‘Brady Bunch’ Star Susan Olsen on Why the Cast Didn’t Get a Lot of Money from the Show

“The Brady Bunch” was canceled in 1974, but it is one of the most adored family sitcoms in the States even now. The chemistry between the actors was definitely the highlight of the show.

The sitcom followed the days of architect Mike Brady and his marriage to Caron Martin. Before tying the knot, each of them had three children from previous relationships: Mike had three sons, and Carol had three daughters.

"This is the way things were before 1973."

“The Brady Bunch,” a classic sitcom

In general, the episodes showed the daily struggles that the large and blended family went through, being the principal stars of the TV series the six children:

Greg, played by Barry Williams; Peter, played by Christopher Knight; Bobby, played by Mike Lookinland; Marcia, played by Maureen McCormick; Jan, played by Even Plumb; and Cindy, played by Susan Olsen.

Memories from the show

In May this year, all of them visited the “Today Show” to share some of their favorite memories while working on the sitcom, and their anecdotes filled fans’ hearts with joy!

Maureen revealed that singing “Together, Wherever We Go” next to her on-screen mother, Florence Henderson, was her all-time favorite thing from her time in the show.

Apart from that, the actress admitted that “just hanging out on the set” with the rest of the then-children at the time was a great experience. Barry, on the other hand, confessed that shooting the pilot was his best memory of the show.

The actor pointed out that going to Hawaii and Grand Canyon were also fun experiences. Eve agreed with Barry on that aspect as she said that all the trips that they took together were her favorite things from her time working on “The Brady Bunch.”

Finally, Susan and Mike stated that working with Florence was a one-of-a-kind experience because she “livened the place up” and would crack a joke even when they were behind schedule, or things were tense for whatever reason.

Speaking of Susan, Oprah Winfrey interviewed her in 2013 as part of her “Where Are They Now?” series on OWN, and the actress shared some details about her experience working on the show.

Susan’s thoughts on the show

Initially, Susan revealed that she was the first person cast for the entire project. Apart from that, she got the opportunity to work in two other shows, but she eventually chose to work on the “Brady Bunch” because it included other children for her to play with.

The actress confessed that she was relieved when the sitcom ended because she didn’t want to go through puberty in front of the nation. Susan also disclosed the reason for her to step out of the acting industry for years.

“I really didn’t want to work again until I was 18 because I really had hoped that, if I went away, I could come back and be a different person, and not be stuck playing Cindy Brady all my life.”

Although it looked like a good plan, it was hard for her to get auditions when she finally made it back to the business as people would still think of Cindy whenever she tried to get a part.

Explaining why she and the rest of the cast are not rich

After several hiccups in her career, Susan realized that she didn’t like acting “well enough to put up with this,” so her acting credits after the 90s are quite rare.

Another interesting aspect that the actress mentioned during the interview with Oprah was money. In fact, the absence of it.

Susan pointed out that most people assume that she and the rest of the cast of the show were rich “because it’s on all the time,” but the truth is entirely different. She explained:

“It wasn’t like we signed some bad deal. This is the way things were before 1973: people only got paid for reruns for the first 10 runs, and the first 10 runs were over with probably by 1979. So, we made no money since then.”

In recent times, Susan has been trying her luck in the entertainment industry again. The latest project she worked on was “A Very Brady Renovation.”

It is an HGTV show portraying “Property Brothers” Jonathan and Drew Scott, “Good Bones” Mina Starsiak and Karen E. Laine, and “Restored by the Fords” Leanne and Steve Ford renovating Studio City place that was used to shoot the 70s TV series.