‘Brady Bunch Star’ Eve Plumb: Show Was ‘Really Not Popular or Considered Interesting’
Though it’s now considered one of the classic American sitcoms, when it originally aired, The Brady Bunch never made it into the top 30 most popular American TV shows — and according to Eve Plumb, who played middle daughter Jan Brady, the show was also “not considered relevant.”
In a 2023 interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, Plumb said of the show, “You have to remember, The Brady Bunch was really not popular or considered interesting at the time. It’s only after the fact that all of these themes and digging into it and discussing and figuring it out has happened. … [The series] was not considered relevant. It was considered saccharine, and the concurrent shows were like Mod Squad and other hard-hitting TV shows, so we were seen as filler. … It was considered very safe, and I think that was our lane and we stayed in it.”
Some of that later reconsideration of the show may have been due to Plumb’s work as Jan. In a recent episode of The Real Brady Bros, a podcast helmed by Barry Williams, who played Greg Brady, and Christopher Knight, who played Peter, Williams singled out Jan as the character who often had the most interesting storylines.
Williams said that “I think Jan had the most interesting storylines, because Jan had more depth. She was more troubled. She was a middle child in a classic kind of sense. … And she always seemed to have a lot of angst, which I think gave her some depth in the show. And you know, Marcia was kind of like the ultimate California beach girl, you know, cute and nice and popular. And Cindy, you know, she was kind of … eavesdropping, a tattletale, you know, not very bright through most seasons, character-wise. So Jan, I think, had really interesting kind of waters to navigate.”
Plumb did go on to tackle challenging roles after the Bunch had their final sunshine day. In 1976, she starred in the controversial made-for-TV movie, Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway, as well as its 1977 sequel, and a star-studded 1978 mini-series adaptation of Little Women — Plumb played Beth, alongside Susan Dey as Jo, and Meredith Baxter as Meg.
Plumb told Yahoo! Entertainment of landing the role of Dawn, “I think it was very fortunate that that came along for me, because it was the instant transition from Jan to adult, which is very difficult for a lot of child actors to make, because once you’re not cute anymore, nobody wants you. So, that was very fortunate for me, so that’s why I did it. It was a very quick, giant step.”
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