The Brady Bunch Kids Nearly Faced Disaster While Filming A Classic Episode

If you were the star of a beloved network sitcom with a huge ensemble back in the 20th century, then chances were good that you also had to operate as a walking advertisement for something the network in question had a stake in. Does anyone else remember those special episodes of 1990s ABC sitcoms like Family Matters" and "Full House" where all the characters went to Disney World? I sure do. It wasn't exactly a new concept, of course, as "The Brady Bunch" had already devoted an entire episode in its fifth and final season to the Cincinnati theme park Kings Island in 1973. Since the '70s sitcom was produced by Paramount Studios, which was a shareholder in the Ohio-based Taft Broadcasting, the company thought it would be a great idea to promote the relatively new tourist destination using one of TV's biggest families.

In the episode in question, titled "The Cincinnati Kids," the Brady clan's architect patriarch, Mike Brady (Robert Reed), tells the family he's taking them all along with him to the amusement park, where he's set to submit some sketches to its overseers. "The Partridge Family" had visited the park a year earlier, but the "Brady Bunch" episode is more fondly remembered. In a video on the Kings Island YouTube channel, Barry Williams, who played the older brother Greg, reminisces about the show's cast riding the Racer. Apparently, Reed didn't care much for roller coasters, and the camera test he requested vindicated him:

"They mounted our camera in front to face us, and he said, 'I think you ought to run that thing around the track once 'cause it looks like it's too high.' So, they said, 'Okay,' and they did.They ran it empty, and it came back without a camera. Guess it was too high."

The original run of "The Brady Bunch" only lasted for 11 more episodes before it was canceled (not counting its various spin-offs), but I'm just spitballing here when I say that it probably would've been really bad if one of ABC's television families was crushed to death. What makes Reed's averse reaction even funnier is that the episode ends with Mike being the one to suggest everyone get on the roller coaster, only to cut to footage where he's nowhere to be seen. 

"The Cincinnati Kids" may have been popular for putting Kings Island in the national spotlight, but it's pretty lackluster as far as sitcom theme park ads go. The central conflict falls upon Mike accidentally losing his sketches before his big meeting, which sends the kids scrambling around the park to find them. It's resolved rather quickly (via a torch passing sprint set to the William Tell Overture), allowing more time for everyone to have a mini vacation on Paramount's dime. Indeed, a lot of the episode is just the Bradys getting on a bunch of rides and talking about how great the place is — and, to the cast's credit, it looks real fun. There aren't even that many jokes about the show's characters going on certain rides; it's really all about watching them have a good time.

What I find most impressive is that the episode was clearly shot when the park was bustling with people. The set-ups for many of the episode's shots are the "Brady Bunch" actors walking around, but I can't imagine the amount of crowd work to make sure none of the tourists caused filming delays.

Every season of "The Brady Bunch" is currently streaming on Paramount+.