SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Emmy-winning actress Ann B. Davis, who played beloved housekeeper Alice Nelson in The Brady Bunch, has died. She died on June 1 at University Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. She suffered a head injury from a fall at her home on May 31 and never recovered. Ms. Davis was 88.

Davis first appeared on television as a musical judge in the 1953-54 season on ABC's Jukebox Jury. Her early television appearances included Matinee Theater and Lux Video Theatre. Davis's first starring role was as Charmaine "Schultzy" Schultz in the sitcom The Bob Cummings Show (also known as Love That Bob). The series ran for five seasons on NBC and CBS from 1955-1959. It also starred Bob Cummings, Rosemary DeCamp and Dwayne Hickman. Davis played the razor-tongued secretary, who had a crush on her boss. She was nominated four times for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for the role. She won Emmys in 1958 and 1959. On February 9, 1960, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Her second starring role was in the NBC sitcom The John Forsythe Show in 1965-66. She played Miss Wilson, a physical education teacher at a private girls' academy. Her television guest appearances in the 1960s included Wagon Train, The New Breed, McKeever and Colonel, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, The Pruitts of Southampton and Insight. She also appeared in commercials for the Ford Motor Company. Her other commercials over the years included Minute Rice, Shake 'n Bake and Swiffer.

Davis's best known role was as the devoted housekeeper Alice Nelson in The Brady Bunch, which aired on ABC from 1969-1974. Alice was known for her blue and white maid's uniform. She did it all for the Brady family. She was always there to clean the house, tell jokes and give advice to anybody who needed it. Davis reprised the role of Alice Nelson many times over the years. She appeared in The Brady Bunch Hour in 1976-1977. In 1981, she appeared in the TV movie The Brady Girls Get Married and the spin-off series The Brady Brides. She returned in the 1988 CBS TV movie A Very Brady Christmas. In 1989, she guest starred in a very funny episode of the NBC sitcom Day by Day, titled A Very Brady Episode. She appeared in four episodes of the 1990 CBS dramedy The Bradys. In 1991, she guest starred as Alice Nelson in an episode of Hi Honey, I'm Home. Her final appearance as Alice was in the 1994 film Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult. She appeared as a trucker named Schultzy in the 1995 film A Very Brady Movie. One of her final television appearances via tape was a Brady Bunch reunion on The Talk in February to celebrate Florence Henderson's 80th birthday.

The Archive of American Television conducted an interview with her on March 13, 2004. She is survived by her identical twin sister Harriet Norton. Ms. Davis was one of the best ever. She was a very talented and funny woman. Alice was very much the glue that held the Brady family together. There was no better housekeeper on television. Ann B. Davis seemed like an even nicer person with all her church and charity work. We thank her for the many laughs and memories she brought us over the years. Ms. Davis will be deeply missed.

Share your favorite memories on our Brady Bunch message board. View photos in our photo galleries.

INSP will air The Brady Bunch: A Tribute to Ann B. Davis on Thursday, June 5. They will show six Alice-themed episodes ("Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," "The Big Sprain," "Alice's September Song," "Sergeant Emma," "Goodbye, Alice, Hello," and "The Elopement") beginning at 5pm ET.

MeTV Adds Ann B. Davis Tribute for Sunday, June 8

NBC's canceled comedy Growing Up Fisher still has two episodes left to air and now NBC has announced when they will air. Originally the final episodes were scheduled for May 28, but that never happened. Instead, NBC opted to re-air the Last Comic Standing season premiere. Now Growing Up Fisher will air its final two episodes on Wednesday, June 11 from 8-9pm. On the first episode, when Joyce's (Jenna Elfman) free-spirited sister, Madi (guest star Erinn Hayes) comes to visit, Mel (J.K. Simmons) couldn't be happier since his separation from Joyce means Madi is no longer his problem. And on the series finale at 8:30pm, when the divorce papers arrive in the mail, Mel (J.K. Simmons) is determined to preserve for Henry (Eli Baker) and Katie (Ava Deluca-Verley) a sense of normalcy, and keeps their annual family trip on the books. NBC will follow the two episodes with an NBC News Special from 9-11pm titled The People Vs. O.J. Simpson: What The Jury Never Heard. Back to Growing Up Fisher, the series was not picked-up for a second season, so it is 13 episodes and done for Jenna Elfman.

Summer has now started with this past week being the first full week of the summer season. We will be back with our normal weekly ratings report with the first four nights numbers and analysis in the fall, but we still will have our regular how the sitcoms did all summer long! Here are our summer ratings:

Summer Week 1 (May 26-June 1) How the Sitcoms Did
(Sun comedies are previous week and Fri/Sat are prelim ratings)
Sorted by 18-49 Rtg
Title	Network	Time	Day	Total Viewers	18-49 Rtg	Notes
The Big Bang Theory	CBS	8:00PM	Thu	8,717,000	2.00	REPEAT
Mom	CBS	8:30PM	Thu	6,334,000	1.50	REPEAT
Two and a Half Men	CBS	9:00PM	Thu	6,170,000	1.50	REPEAT
Friends with Better Lives	CBS	8:30PM	Mon	5,314,000	1.41	canceled
Modern Family	ABC	9:00PM	Wed	4,476,000	1.36	REPEAT
Undateable	NBC	9:30PM	Thu	3,816,000	1.29
Undateable	NBC	9:00PM	Thu	3,841,000	1.27	PREMIERE
The Millers	CBS	9:30PM	Thu	4,998,000	1.20	REPEAT
The Goldbergs	ABC	9:30PM	Wed	3,901,000	1.17	REPEAT
The Goldbergs	ABC	8:30PM	Wed	4,136,000	1.13	REPEAT
The Middle	ABC	8:00PM	Wed	4,640,000	1.08	REPEAT
2 Broke Girls	CBS	8:00PM	Mon	4,691,000	1.03	REPEAT
Mike & Molly	CBS	9:00PM	Mon	5,016,000	1.00	REPEAT
Mom	CBS	9:30PM	Mon	4,917,000	0.95	REPEAT
Comedytime (R)	CBS	8:30PM	Sat	2,710,000	0.4	REPEAT
Comedytime (R)	CBS	8:00PM	Sat	2,470,000	0.3	REPEAT
Family Guy	Fox	8:30PM	Sun			preempted
The Simpsons	Fox	8:00PM	Sun			preempted
American Dad!	Fox	7:30PM	Sun			preempted
Bob's Burgers	Fox	7:00PM	Sun			preempted
Animation Domination	Fox	7:00PM	Sun			preempted
Animnation Domination	Fox	7:30PM	Sun			preempted
About a Boy	NBC	9:00PM	Tue			completed
The Mindy Project	Fox	9:30PM	Tue			completed
New Girl	Fox	9:00PM	Tue			completed
Last Man Standing	ABC	8:00PM	Fri			completed
Parks & Recreation	NBC	8:00PM	Thu			completed
Brooklyn Nine-Nine	Fox	9:30PM	Tue			completed
How I Met Your Mother	CBS	8:00PM	Mon			ended
Bad Teacher	CBS	9:30PM	Thu			canceled
Mixology	ABC	9:30PM	Wed			canceled
Suburgatory	ABC	8:30PM	Wed			canceled
Trophy Wife	ABC	9:30PM	Tue			canceled
Growing Up Fisher	NBC	9:30PM	Tue			canceled
Surviving Jack	Fox	9:30PM	Thu			canceled
Dads	Fox	8:00PM	Tue			canceled
Super Fun Night	ABC	9:30PM	Wed			canceled
Community	NBC	8:00PM	Thu			canceled
The Crazy Ones	CBS	9:30PM	Thu			canceled
The Neighbors	ABC	8:30PM	Fri			canceled
Raising Hope	Fox	9:30PM	Fri			canceled
Enlisted	Fox	9:00PM	Fri			canceled
Sean Saves the World	NBC	9:00PM	Thu			canceled
The Michael J. Fox Show	NBC	9:30PM	Thu			canceled
We Are Men	CBS	8:30PM	Mon			canceled
Welcome to the Family	NBC	8:30PM	Thu			canceled
Back in the Game	ABC	8:30PM	Wed			canceled

SOURCE: Nielsen Media Research