47 years ago tonight, The Brady Bunch Variety Hour (a Sid and Marty Krofft Production) debuted on ABC. Descriptions of that first episode usually go something like this…

The Bradys return to television with their very own variety show and realize that their father Mike Brady (Robert Reed) is "stinking up the act." Starring Florence Henderson, Barry Williams, Chris Knight, Maureen McCormick, Mike Lookinland, Susan Olsen and Geri Reischel as "Fake Jan." Also seen on that first episode were Guest Stars: Donny and Marie Osmond, Tony Randall, Ann B. Davis, along with the Krofftetts and Water Follies.

That first episode aired as a special but the ratings were so impressive that more episodes were hurriedly produced. Eight more aired under the name The Brady Bunch Hour but not every week. It shared its time slot with The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries and as the weeks went on, both shows lost viewer share. Fred Silverman at ABC finally decided The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries would do better if it appeared every week and they pulled the plug on The Brady Bunch Hour.

A lot of people loved The Brady Bunch Hour and the reason I know that is that every now and then at a convention or somewhere, someone tells me that under the mistaken impression that I was on its writing staff. Apparently, it said that in some articles and/or on some websites but the last episode aired in May of 1977 and I didn't go to work for the Kroffts until March of 1978. I did however then work with a lot of the same folks both in front of and behind the camera. (In the opening number of the first episode, one of the Krofftetts — that's what they called the synchronized swimmers/dancers — is dropped from the rafters into the pool. That was my wonderful friend Susan Buckner.)

You can see that opening number and all of the first episode below. Bruce Vilanch, who was a writer on the show, writes about that experience in his new book, It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time: The Worst TV Shows in History and Other Things I Wrote. I'm working on a book that kinda picks up where Bruce's book leaves off.