You've probably heard the buzz this fall about HGTV renovating The Brady Bunch house in suburban Los Angeles – but here's a DVR alert for a Brady episode filmed mostly outside the house… in Greater Cincinnati.
MeTV repeats "The Cincinnati Kids" episode shot at Kings Island in 1973 at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13 (WLWT-TV Channel 5.2, WHIO-TV Channel 7.2; )
Here’s the story of a show called Brady: Stars Barry Williams, Maureen McCormick, Eve Plumb, Susan Olsen, Mike Lookinland, Christopher Knight, Florence Henderson, Ann B. Davis and Robert Reed were shown looking all over Kings Island for Mike Brady’s (Reed) architectural drawings for the park's expansion. (No, it wasn't a giga coaster.)
The "Cincinnati Kids" episode was filmed here Aug. 20-24, 1973, the second year the park was open. It aired Nov. 23, 1973 on ABC.
Today it's a fun romp through the past. As the kids search for a poster tube containing dad's missing sketches, viewers see many long-gone original rides, including the Swiss sky ride, the Wheel of Fortune and the canoes. Yes, you could paddle a canoe in a pond when the park first opened.
When Marcia (McCormick) and Jan (Plumb) find the plans on a canoe, Brady Bunch producers filmed the stars doing a relay race through the park to get the plans to their dad before his business meeting ends.
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The previous year, ABC's The Partridge Family with teen heartthrob David Cassidy shot an episode during Kings Island’s first year.
In the 1970s, Cincinnati's Taft Broadcasting owned and operated Kings Island and WKRC-TV (Channel 12), which was an ABC affiliate then. So bringing the ABC shows here gave national TV exposure to the new amusement park and adjacent Kings Island Inn.
HGTV's A Very Brady Renovation ends 9 p.m. Monday, Oct. 14, with the seventh episode, "Behind The Build: We're Gonna Keep On, Keep On Showing You More." The sixth episode, "Behind The Build: We Fern-ally Get To Show You" repeats at 8 p.m. Monday.
HGTV is planning a second season.
Just for fun, here's the Pop Up Video version of the episode.
