Wonder Woman Made Her TV Debut In The Weirdest Animated Sitcom Spin-Off

Wonder Woman, aka Diana Prince, hasn't gotten the respect she deserves. She may be the most recognizable female superhero in all of DC Comics, but we didn't get a live-action, studio-produced "Wonder Woman" feature film until 2017. Considering her first appearance in a comic book was in 1941, waiting over 75 years to let her lead a film is pretty damn embarrassing. Wonder Woman does, fortunately, have a decorated history on television, particularly in animation. However, unlike Superman, Superboy, Batman, and Aquaman, who all got solo animated shows in the 1960s and '70s, Wonder Woman has never gotten a show all her own — even to this day.

But that doesn't mean attempts to give Diana Prince her own series weren't made. More recently, producer Butch Lukic proposed an animated Wonder Woman TV series set during World War II, but it was rejected due to the development of the first live-action "Wonder Woman" film (which itself takes place during World War I). However, many of his concepts were incorporated into the Lukic-produced DC Animated Universe movie "Justice Society: World War II," so her story did live on.

But Wonder Woman's first appearance not just in animation, but on television as a whole, came from an unlikely source. Indeed, she was a guest star on the animated spin-off of one of the most beloved TV sitcoms of all time: "The Brady Bunch." I wish I were joking, but alas, dear reader, I am being very serious. The first TV appearance of The First Lady of DC Comics, and arguably the most recognizable female superhero of all time, was a one-off episode of an animated show that the average Joe doesn't even know existed.

Like Sherwood Schwartz's other massively successful sitcom, "Gilligan's Island," the longevity of "The Brady Bunch" was extended through a collection of animated spin-offs. The longest-running of them all was "The Brady Kids," a Saturday Morning Cartoon about the adventures of Marcia, Greg, Jan, Peter, Cindy, Bobby (voiced by the original "Brady Bunch" cast until season 2), and their weird animal sidekicks that reused animation from "The Archie Show." The show debuted in 1972, running at the same time that the live-action series was debuting new episodes in primetime.

Given the animation medium, the cartoon had much more in common with something like "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" than "The Brady Bunch." This left room for the cartoon to feature out-of-this-world storylines and bring in celebrity cameos like The Lone Ranger and Superman. As such, it was also used as a basis for other animated backdoor pilots from Filmation Studios (which held the rights to animated versions of Tarzan, "Ghostbusters," and DC Comics), including one for a standalone "Wonder Woman" series.

Wonder Woman's first animated broadcast appearance was as a guest in the "Brady Kids" episode "It's All Greek to Me". There, the Brady kids meet Wonder Woman, and together, they find themselves accidentally transported back to the time of the Ancient Olympic Games. This appearance even predates the made-for-TV movie "Wonder Woman," which starred Cathy Lee Crosby and marked Wonder Woman's first live-action television appearance.

Sadly, the "Wonder Woman" animated series did not take off. But in a fascinating bit of fate, when "The Brady Kids" ended after two seasons, it was replaced on the Saturday Morning Cartoon lineup by "Super Friends," the animated DC series centered on Superman, Batman, Aquaman, the Wonder Twins, and, you guessed it, Wonder Woman.

The connections between Wonder Woman and "The Brady Bunch" didn't end with animation. The Brady family dog, Tiger, was played in later seasons by a well-known animal actor (also named Tiger) who's best known for playing Blood in the cult film "A Boy and His Dog." In the live-action "The New Adventures of Wonder Woman" television series starring Lynda Carter (who once got in trouble for a helicopter stunt on the show), Tiger makes an appearance as a dog (also named Tiger) in the season 2 episode "The Girl from Ilandia." But earlier that season, Wonder Woman crossed paths with a much bigger Brady star.

In season 2, episode 6, "The Pied Piper," Wonder Woman must defeat a villainous rock star/flutist named Hamlin Rule (played by, I'm dead serious, Martin Mull), who hypnotizes his female fans to rob his concerts' venues for him. One of those fans is a young woman named Elena, the daughter of Diana Prince's boss, and played by Jan Brady herself, Eve Plumb. Her appearance on the show brings the Brady/Wonder Woman connection full circle, as Jan is the first character to meet Wonder Woman on "The Brady Kids."

Of all the Brady kids, Plumb went off to have the most exciting career as an actor (and had the best storylines of all the Brady kids), but her serving as the connective tissue between one of TV's most famous families and the Amazing Amazon is certainly noteworthy. It's a fun bit of superhero lore to know where Wonder Woman got her start on television, even if it's a bit frustrating that it came in the form of a backdoor pilot that was never picked up.