6 TV Shows Actors Wanted To Fail
5. Serious Actor Robert Reed Wanted Nothing To Do With The Brady Bunch He Was Forced Into
As with any career, sometimes actors find themselves in a situation where they have no choice but to take a gig in order to ensure the cash keeps on flowing into their bank accounts. From there, they can ultimately pursue the sort of roles they really want to become known for.
However, unfortunately for a certain Robert Reed, said gig just so happened to go by the name of The Brady Bunch and its success showed very few signs of slowing down on the back of its arrival in 1969.
In Reeds' mind, having to spew out sitcom gags and appear on TV at all was "beneath him", according to Brady Bunch creator Sherwood Schwartz. Reed had spent two years studying Shakespeare in England and only ended up appearing on The Brady Bunch after a deal to work with Paramount on the TV adaptation of Barefoot in the Park fell through and the studio offered him the part of Mike Brady instead.
Reed had just moved to Los Angeles and was jobless. And though he didn't think the idea would ever make it, he accepted a part on a show that Schwartz would claim "he didn’t want to do in the first place, and it became more and more difficult for him."
In the end, after five seasons of service and performing in a show that he felt was in some ways "beneath his abilities", according to Greg Brady actor Barry Williams, Reed was no-doubt pleased to hear of the excruciating experience being brought to an end after being cancelled in 1974.
He definitely never wanted to be a part of this Brady Bunch in the first place, and now he didn't need to be.