<P> Schwartz shopped the series to the "big three" television networks of the era . ABC, CBS, and NBC all liked the script, but each network wanted changes before they would commit to filming, so Schwartz shelved the project . Although similarities exist between the series and two 1968 theatrical release films, United Artists' Yours, Mine and Ours (starring Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball) and CBS's With Six You Get Eggroll (starring Brian Keith and Doris Day), the original script for The Brady Bunch predated the scripts for both of these films . Nonetheless, the outstanding success of the United Artists film (the 11th - highest - grossing film of 1968) was a factor in ABC's decision to order episodes for the series . </P> <P> After receiving a commitment for 13 weeks of television shows from ABC in 1968, Schwartz hired film and television director John Rich to direct the pilot, cast the six children from 264 interviews during that summer, and hired the actors to play the mother role, the father role, and the housekeeper role . As the sets were built on Paramount Television stage 5, adjacent to the stage where H.R. Pufnstuf was filmed by Sid and Marty Krofft, who later produced The Brady Bunch Hour, the production crew prepared the back yard of a home in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, as the exterior location for the chaotic backyard wedding scene . Filming of the pilot began on Friday, October 4, 1968, and lasted eight days . </P> <P> Mike Brady (Robert Reed), a widowed architect with three sons, Greg (Barry Williams), Peter (Christopher Knight), and Bobby (Mike Lookinland), marries Carol Martin (Florence Henderson), who herself has three daughters: Marcia (Maureen McCormick), Jan (Eve Plumb), and Cindy (Susan Olsen). The wife and daughters take the Brady surname . Included in the blended family are Mike's live - in housekeeper, Alice Nelson (Ann B. Davis), and the boys' dog, Tiger . (In the pilot episode, the girls also have a pet: a cat named Fluffy . Fluffy never appeared in any episodes following the pilot .) The setting is a large, suburban, two - story house designed by Mike, in a Los Angeles suburb . </P> <P> In the first season, awkward adjustments, accommodations, gender rivalries, and resentments inherent in blended families dominate the stories . In an early episode, Carol tells Bobby that the only "steps" in their household lead to the second floor (in other words, that the family contains no "stepchildren", only "children"). Thereafter, the episodes focus on typical preteen and teenaged adjustments such as sibling rivalry, puppy love, self - image, character building, and responsibility . Noticeably absent was any political commentary, especially regarding the Vietnam War, which was being waged at its largest extent during the height of the series . </P>

Where did the brady bunch live in california