The Brady Bunch's iconic patriarch, Mike Brady, is one of television's most legendary fathers. The ABC show's unique approach to the sitcom format, including its catchy theme song, paved the way for many modern sitcoms of today. With a total of nine people between the two joint families and their live-in maid Alice, plus their occasional dog Tiger, Mike Brady failed to plan for such a packed house when designing their home. Interestingly, the overcrowded nature of the Brady family residence isn't where Mr. Brady truly fell short - it was the bathroom!

With the number of residents doubling upon Mike Brady's remarriage, it's no wonder the kids have to share rooms, and even a bathroom. The Jack-and-Jill style bathroom appeared in-between the kids' bedrooms and was shared by Greg, Peter, Bobby, Marsha, Jan and Cindy. However, despite being a full bath shared by the children, there was no toilet! Or at least the toilet was never shown. It may seem like a huge oversight on their father's part, but a good reason for the incomplete bathroom actually exists.

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TV Depictions of Toilets Were Considered Taboo in the 1960s

the-brady-bunch

When The Brady Bunch originally aired in 1969, it was still considered crude to show a toilet on TV. While it may seem arbitrary by today's standards, showing a toilet on the small screen was still a new concept, especially in 1957 when a toilet tank appeared for the first time in Leave it to Beaver. Around that same time, The Brady Bunch was considered a wholesome family show, and depicting a toilet on screen was still widely regarded as taboo. During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, one of the stars of the show, Christopher Knight, recalls that the show "couldn't have a toilet because a child shouldn't see one." Due to this fact, many scenes were filmed in the bathroom, but a toilet never appeared onscreen.

Of course, TV censorship of minute details was nothing new. After all, shows like I Love Lucy depicted married couples sleeping in separate beds in order to preserve decency. Given the popularity of The Brady Bunch among families and children, a toilet was similarly never shown in order to cater to the audiences the show was most popular with. At best, it wasn't until Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 thriller, Psycho that a toilet being flushed was explicitly depicted on the big screen for the first time in the United States. Since Psycho is a filmed that targets a much older audience, Hitchcock broke barriers by not only showing a toilet, but also allowing viewers to hear it flush.

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Psycho Broke the Toilet Taboo in 1960, But TV Censorship Prevailed

Toilet flushing scene in Hitchcock's Psycho

Despite Psycho being the first film to break the toilet taboo for cinema in the same decade The Brady Bunch started airing, Mike Brady still couldn't beat out American TV guidelines despite being an architect, in addition to his roles as a dedicated husband and father. As such, The Brady Bunch ran for five seasons and stuck with the notion that showing a toilet on screen was taboo throughout its entire run. This remained true, even after the show quickly became famous through its constant reruns, and is now one of TV's most iconic sitcoms.

While The Brady Bunch has created a lot of lovable and memorable plot lines during its time on the air, it will always stay true to its ideals as a family show. Thanks to the show's constant reruns and streaming on Paramount Plus, The Brady Bunch will continue to be remembered as an iconic show, even if some of its ideas appear a bit outdated compared to when the episodes originally aired.