Bypass paywall: https://archive.is/TGhgE
Although Olsen says CBS was reluctant to cast her in the first place, she also claims that talks had continued for about a year when she had a phone call with the revival’s showrunner, its producer, and the son of Sherwood Schwartz, who created the original Brady Bunch. On the podcast, Olsen referred to the exchange with the three execs as “the Inquisition,” and said they asked her questions about her political views. Olsen said that the trio had “drank every drop of the Kool-Aid” and maintained that “by now, we know that the vaccine was not safe or effective.” (VF has reached out to a representative for Lloyd Schwartz for comment.) A source close to the project says that the issue with casting Olsen was not due to her support for Donald Trump, but rather her “controversial comments and hate speech, which she has noted she still stands by.”
According to Olsen, the revival was going to thrust the Brady 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,” said Olsen. “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.”
This isn’t the first time Olsen has allegedly lost a gig due to her conservative views. Olsen was fired from LA Talk Radio’s Two Chicks Talkin’ Politics after using anti-LGBTQ language in 2016.
I don’t know if you can’t actually flesh out six families backstories if it’s a multi-season show (especially if it’s written well and not just six boring ass nuclear families.) Just not… you know, an idiotic “oh he’s friends with X from work.”
Modern Family did that mostly fine with multiple arcs, I think, although my fucked up head canon is that’s the sequel to Married With Children (even if it really doesn’t make sense, haha). In the Brady’s case, I’d make one of the characters awkwardly racist-- let’s say, Cindy, and have a laugh at her expense. Wait, actually that’s starting to sound like It’s Always Sunny so probably not!
I’m probably not a TV writer for a reason.