Cindy Brady actor Susan Olsen recently claimed on the “Walk Away Campaign” podcast (via Vanity Fair) that CBS killed a revival of “The Brady Bunch” due to her support of Donald Trump and her controversial stances on hot button issues like Covid vaccines and the LGBTQ+ community — but that’s not the whole story, insiders note. For one thing, the show was set up at CBS Studios and hadn’t even been pitched to networks or streamers yet. More importantly, sources note that it was scrapped due to hate speech by Olsen, including homophobic slurs that had previously gotten her fired from a radio gig.
The updated Brady project was considered two years ago, but it’s unclear whether even a script had been written. The project never got past those early stages when Olsen’s behavior stopped it from moving forward. The series would have picked up with the Brady Bunch children as adults. Olsen’s Cindy, the youngest Brady sibling, was going to be a libertarian podcaster, the actor revealed.
Popular on Variety
Related Stories
“I did have a phone call with my [TV] siblings and my agent,” Olsen said on the podcast. “Everybody was saying, ‘We’re sorry, but they just won’t budge. They just will not have you in this.’ I was like, ‘Wow, I’ve been canceled.’ A role that I’ve played for over 50 years, I can’t play it now because I’m too dangerous. I was like ‘Well, okay guys, good luck, I hope you can sell it.’”
CBS Studios declined comment. According to Olsen, she was in talks for a “Brady Bunch” revival for about a year. She was allegedly questioned during the show’s early development about her politics by the revival’s showrunner and the son of Sherwood Schwartz, who created the original “Brady Bunch.” The actor was previously fired from the “Two Chicks Talkin’ Politics” radio show in 2016 after she shared anti-LGBTQ views on social media; she reportedly later responded to a guest (who had criticized her on social media) by sending him a text message filled with slurs and hate speech.
Olsen starred as Cindy Brady for the entire run of “The Brady Bunch,” which aired from 1969 to 1974. She also appeared in the animated spinoff “The Brady Kids,” as well as 1976’s “The Brady Bunch Variety Hour,” the 1981 TV movie “The Brady Girls Get Married” and 1990’s “The Bradys.”
Per Vanity Fair’s recap of Olsen’s interview: “According to Olsen, the revival was going to thrust the Brady Bunch family into the modern era. One of Jan’s children was going to be trans, and one of the Bradys was going to have a Black spouse. This, perhaps unsurprisingly, did not sit right with Olsen. ‘To that I was like, come on, let’s not be so obvious. Let’s make this Black spouse somebody who has a really close relationship with another Brady, and that’s how this Brady met them. Give them a foundation so this isn’t a token position.'”
Olsen went on to say the “Brady Bunch” revival series is “dead in the water” now. Listen to the actor’s full interview on the “Walk Away Campaign” podcast here.
