My Essay on CNN Opinion: “Bell Bottoms and a Blended Family: ‘The Brady Bunch’ at 50”

Here’s the story…of that time I got to write about my favorite TV family!! The 50th anniversary of “The Brady Bunch” was last month and I’ve been wanting to write about it for months!! I had such a groovy time reminiscing about how the show has aged and its lasting cultural legacy!! And, I’m so glad that I got to write about the show for CNN Opinion, which, as you know, is my absolute favorite op-ed outlet…

I spent my formative years watching reruns of “The Brady Bunch” on TBS and I quickly fell in love with the show! It was a look back at a different time and, come on, those songs were so catchy, right?? And their dance moves? Flawless!!

Here’s an excerpt of the piece, in which I (finally!) publicly reveal my childhood crush on Greg Brady, who was my Casanova of Clinton Avenue…

For half a century, it’s been hard to escape the show’s influence. We’ve all found ourselves wrapped up in the Brady bubble at some point, even if we didn’t watch during the original run. I was born a full seven years after the show ended, long after the gang hung up their bell bottoms and stopped singing about sunshine days. And still, the show (and most importantly, the Bradys themselves) were such an integral part of my childhood.

In the end, I’m not sure the sort of charm and innocence we see on “The Brady Bunch” can ever be replicated. But maybe that’s a good thing. After all, it’s that very uniqueness that has helped the show remain such a cultural classic for so many years. We can enjoy and appreciate it as a sort of time capsule of the era, revisiting its lessons any time we want.

Yes, the Bradys have given us the ride of a lifetime. Bell bottoms and all.

You can read the full piece here and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to email me anytime at mellow1422@aol.com and let’s chat! And of course, feel free to share my essay on Facebook, Twitter or even your local refrigerator. If you share on Twitter, be sure to tag me @melissablake so I see your tweet and we can connect! I can’t wait to hear from you! Love you all… xoxo