I've Watched Every Episode Of The Brady Bunch - Here's How It Holds Up In 2026

Film and television often serve as history's most honest time capsules, with social sensibilities frozen in the amber of a final edit. This means that some of these shows or movies age terribly when viewed through a modern lens, but it can also lead to the assumption that being "a product of its time" is inherently negative. This was certainly my expectation when my wife and I decided to embark on a full series watch of "The Brady Bunch." A child of the '90s, I was introduced to the show on Nick at Nite, and obsessively watched the parody films "The Brady Bunch Movie" and "A Very Brady Sequel." This led me to seek out the many Brady spin-offs in my early teen years. I haven't been a teenager in decades, so I admittedly only remembered the major beats — "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia," Cousin Oliver, etc. — but the smaller moments have been lost to time and never committed to memory.

The story of a lovely lady and a man named Brady with three boys and three girls (and Alice!) coming together to form a family is typically remembered as the pinnacle of "Aw, Shucks" sitcoms and a bastion of white American "family values." And while it is accurate to criticize "The Brady Bunch" for never tackling difficult subject matter outside the everyday dramas of a white, suburban, blended family — I was blown away by how timeless or sincerely ahead of its time the overwhelming majority of episodes actually were. Is the dialogue on "The Brady Bunch" a little corny? Yes. Are many of the plots variations on previous episodes? Absolutely. Has "The Brady Bunch" aged terribly?

Shockingly, no. In actuality, there are multiple moments throughout the five seasons of the main series that would probably be viewed as "radical" even today.

"The Brady Bunch" ran from September 26, 1969, to March 8, 1974, so there are obviously moments that haven't aged well. As a viewer in 2026, however, I never found myself becoming desensitized to outdated language or behaviors, as I often do when revisiting older television shows. When these moments do pop up — like Mike and Carol Brady doing their best Charlie Chan impression — they are doubly distracting because of their rarity.

In "The Un-Underground Movie," Greg Brady (Barry Williams) is tasked with making a short film about the first Thanksgiving for a class project and casts his family as the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag tribe. When Peter (Christopher Knight) and Bobby (Mike Lookinland) are to "act" like the Wampanoag, they act out racist, "savage" caricatures as portrayed in Westerns. It's then that patriarch Mike Brady (Robert Reed) tells his sons to stop it, and informs them that Indigenous tribes only ever displayed violence because we stole their land. Mr. Brady delivering a land back message in 1970? Hell yeah, brother.

"Double Parked" is about the importance of protesting and the difficulties of fighting the good fight under the system of capitalism. The very next episode, "Alice's September Song," sees the family preventing Alice from falling for a romance scam before we ever had a word for it. "Big Little Man" is about teaching men to embrace themselves as short kings. A few episodes later, "The Power of the Press," Peter learns about the harm caused by unethical journalism. "Bobby's Hero" exposes the dangers of sanitizing history when Bobby idolizes the outlaw Jesse James.

But given the binary gender lines of the Brady Kids, the most prominent expression of its progressive beliefs is its incorporation of feminist ideals.

Considering the legendary status of the "Sure, Jan" meme from "A Very Brady Sequel, 'you'd be forgiven for thinking "The Brady Bunch" portrayed Marcia Brady (Maureen McCormick) as a shallow brat and Jan Brady (Eve Plumb) as a desperate loser, but that isn't really the case. While Marcia often gets caught up in superficial worries — like thinking her braces make her "ugly" or crushing on her handsome dentist — she frequently fights for women's equality. In several episodes, her rivalry with Greg boils down to him getting preferential treatment because he's a boy, and when her ego grows too big, like in "Juliet is the Sun," the show knocks her off her pedestal and reminds her of humility.

But of all the Brady kids, Jan Brady is the true icon. The ultimate "middle child," her episodes are the most emotionally complex, and Eve Plumb is arguably (definitively, in my opinion) the strongest young actor on the show. Jan isn't just fighting for equality as a girl, but as one overshadowed by ultra-popular Marcia and adorable Cindy (Susan Olsen). At the same time, the boys get storylines that challenge the "boys will be boys" trope, with Mike and Carol (Florence Henderson) offering thoughtful lessons on empathy and mindfulness. Alice (the incomparable Ann B. Davis) is a consistent delight, and it was pretty wild to see how subtly horny Mike and Carol are portrayed so soon after the end of The Hays Code.

I never anticipated developing a fixation on a TV show nearly as old as my parents in 2026, but I genuinely loved my time at 4222 Clinton Way. "The Brady Bunch" isn't perfect, but show me a family that is.

"The Brady Bunch" is available to stream on Paramount+ and Pluto TV.