The Brady Bunch - General Discussion

[Blergh]

2 hours ago, Paul Q. said:

Probably for the same reason Reed couldn’t be open about his private life, a feminist message that “stuck” would have spooked the sponsors, the network, and many viewers, including some (moderate and Tory) women. A series that was subject to half season renewals like TBB could not afford to take risks.

They got upset with the idea of Mike actually trying to help  to cook breakfast!  What would the show have come to had Mike made it his mission to permanently cook breakfast while Marcia stayed in the Scouts?

[GHScorpiosRule]

I'm sorry, but those were the gender roles during that time. And this was a sitcom, not a documentary or even real life. If the show had remained or been one about a blended family and the sociological aspects of that as Robert Reed thought it would be, maybe they would have addressed those issues.

Marcia never intended to join the scouts. She did it to make a point. And she made it.

For me, this was a fun show, and one I could relate to most times. Such a watchable show and the kids were real kids and not precocious know it alls.

I like talking about Marcia's UGLY crying when she's removed as Juliet from the school play after turning into a diva; mocking Jan when she gets what she wants-privacy-only to wish she hadn't asked for it; REALLY MOCKING Bobby for turning into a snotty brat of a hall monitor and nearly "drowning" among the laundry detergent.

"Oh! My Nose!" Will NEVER NOT be funny.

No matter how many times I watch it, I will always ALWAYS want to punch Greg, Marcia, Peter, and Jan for the way they treated Alice. Bobby and Cindy just went with the flow.

I LOVE, LOVE all the episodes where the kids sing, and I find myself singing along with them!

And "Desi Arnaz, Junior!!!!" He was such a cutie patootie! And the following year, Eve Plumb would appear on his mom's show, Here's Lucy, as the girl who had a crush on Donny Osmond; but Donny thought it was Lucie Arnaz!

[legaleagle53]

On 1/11/2022 at 9:54 AM, Egg McMuffin said:

I never thought about it, but while Alice was concerned about Marcia and Jan getting fat on caramel fudge sundaes, but she had no problem with Peter eating a donut and didn’t substitute a fruit cup for him. A product of the times.

She overruled him in a different way. He ordered a chocolate donut, but she substituted a plain one because "chocolate makes you break out." And she only nagged Jan about putting her glasses on to read the menu.

[mmecorday]

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I LOVE, LOVE all the episodes where the kids sing, and I find myself singing along with them!

YES! My girlfriend mocks me because I have the "Adios, Johnny Bravo" episode memorized, but hey, a girl's gotta have a hobby and I was never good at needlepoint.

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I like talking about Marcia's UGLY crying when she's removed as Juliet from the school play after turning into a diva

Easily a top ten Marcia moment for me. I also love the way she laughs when the Westdale Boosters are brutally muddied by Peter's erupting volcano. That emerald green dress she wore in that scene was a winner, too.

 

[Snow Apple]

I also love the songs. Back in the day, I tape recorded the songs by holding up the recorder next to the TV. I wonder if the tape is still around somewhere?

[GHScorpiosRule]

"

Sha na na na na na na na na
Sha na na na na
Sha na na na na na na na na
Sha na na na na

Autumn turns to winter
And winter turns to spring
It doesn't go just for seasons you know
It goes for everything

The same is true for voices
When boys begin to grow
You gotta take a lesson from Mother Nature
And if you do you'll know

When it's time to change (when it's time to change)
Don't fight the tide, go along for the ride
Don't ya see
When it's time to change, you've got to rearrange
Who you are and what you're gonna be

Sha na na na na na na na na
Sha na na na na
Sha na na na na na na na na na
Sha na na na na

Day by day you're facing the changes you've been through
A little bit of living, a little bit of growing all adds up to you
Every boy's a man inside
A girl a woman too
And if you want to reach your destiny
Then here's what you can do"

 

 

[GHScorpiosRule]

 

 

[Blergh]

On 1/11/2022 at 3:51 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

 

And "Desi Arnaz, Junior!!!!" He was such a cutie patootie! And the following year, Eve Plumb would appear on his mom's show, Here's Lucy, as the girl who had a crush on Donny Osmond; but Donny thought it was Lucie Arnaz!

Ironically enough, Eve Plumb guested as Kim Carter's young cousin  Patricia Carter (Uncle Harry's bio niece) yet Donny (and Marie) would have more easily passed for relatives of  Kim&Craig/ Lucie and Desi, Jr. than Miss Plumb. Of course, Craig was already gone by the time Patricia visited so nothing about him resembling her older sister's onetime crush! 

 

[Egg McMuffin]

Marcia crying into the mirror after Carol dumps her from the play and sashays out of the room without looking back is truly a great moment. Any time Marcia gets hers - like when she gets fired from Haskell’s Ice Cream Hut in favor of Jan - is a great moment.

[smittykins]

On 1/13/2022 at 1:26 PM, Snow Apple said:

I also love the songs. Back in the day, I tape recorded the songs by holding up the recorder next to the TV. I wonder if the tape is still around somewhere?

I totally used to tape TV shows via audio recorder(never the BB, sadly).

[mmecorday]

Well, shoot! Barry Williams is going to be at a home and garden show in Northern Virginia tomorrow and I can't go! I met him once about 30 years ago and he wasn't very friendly in person. I'd like to see if he's mellowed with age. And to get my "good luck charm autographed.

[Katy M]

10 minutes ago, mmecorday said:

Well, shoot! Barry Williams is going to be at a home and garden show in Northern Virginia tomorrow and I can't go! I met him once about 30 years ago and he wasn't very friendly in person. I'd like to see if he's mellowed with age. And to get my "good luck charm autographed.

Are you insane?  You have to go put that thing back in a cave somewhere or something.

[eel21788]

16 minutes ago, mmecorday said:

Well, shoot! Barry Williams is going to be at a home and garden show in Northern Virginia tomorrow and I can't go! I met him once about 30 years ago and he wasn't very friendly in person. I'd like to see if he's mellowed with age. 

I met him a couple of times in the 1990s. He was always very nice to me, but I noticed he could get impatient easily with others at times, too.

[chediavolo]

This show is such comfort viewing. I watched it when it was on originally at a horrible time in my life & always wished my my family would end up all Brady like. Jeez , the clothes, whole 60’s 70’s stuff. That is one ugly mid century modern house! Been watching all thru the pandemic.  Never realized what a bad actress Maureen McCormick was. 

[Egg McMuffin]

Agreed on the comfort factor. But I thought all the kids were pretty good, natural actors. Some were better than others, of course. I thought that Eve Plumb handled the dramatic moments well, and Susan Olsen and Mike Lookinland were good little comic actors.

[mmecorday]

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That is one ugly mid century modern house!

The 80s redo in later incarnations of the series didn't do the house any favors, either. It looked like a Laura Ashley showroom.

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 minute ago, mmecorday said:

The 80s redo in later incarnations of the series didn't do the house any favors, either. It looked like a Laura Ashley showroom.

Agree! It was too…bright and too WHITE! I’ll take the funky 70s decor!😂😂😂

[Egg McMuffin]

Me too. I liked how the house was pretty much the same in “The Brady Girls Get Married.” The renovation for the later 80s movies and revival series was too extreme. Like there was suddenly a window behind the kitchen counter? What did it look into, Alice’s room?

[Egg McMuffin]

MeTV is pulling The Brady Bunch from its Sunday schedule in June. They’re having some weekly themed block with different shows varying from week to week. They’re billing it as part of the “Summer of ME” so hopefully the Bradys will be back in the fall. Or maybe it’ll move to some other diginet which runs it on weekdays. I’ve never understood why MeTV relegates it to Sundays.

[GHScorpiosRule]

5 minutes ago, Egg McMuffin said:

MeTV is pulling The Brady Bunch from its Sunday schedule in June. They’re having some weekly themed block with different shows varying from week to week. They’re billing it as part of the “Summer of ME” so hopefully the Bradys will be back in the fall. Or maybe it’ll move to some other diginet which runs it on weekdays. I’ve never understood why MeTV relegates it to Sundays.

Weird. They featured this show as part of the "Summer of ME" last year. I remember being peeved at the themes and not the episodes airing in order. This was such a great network up until three years ago. They keep pulling good shows--I Love Lucy, Original Hawaii 5-0, but keep stupid ass shows and play them in blocks where the former two could still be airing.

[Egg McMuffin]

Agreed. But compared to some of the other shows on ME (Perry Mason, Hogan’s Heroes, Green Acres, Bonanza, Gunsmoke), the Bradys are positively modern!

I don’t get MeTV’s strategy when it comes to CBS/Paramount comedies. They have the rights to the Bradys, Lucy, and Cheers - which have all been big hits in syndication. Yet Lucy and Cheers are shunted off to the the lesser-seen Decades networks. And MeTV sits on other popular CBS/Paramount shows like The Brady Bunch, Happy Days (also leaving ME) and Laverne & Shirley.

[mmecorday]

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MeTV is pulling The Brady Bunch from its Sunday schedule in June.

Well, this sucks! I might just have to start going back to church!

[Snow Apple]

TBB has been on Sundays forever and the only show I watch on Sundays on Me-TV. I used to watch Mama's Family but they pulled that too months ago. But hopefully they will add some good vintage shows.

BTW, did anyone else get the Me-TV Plus channel for a few months and then it disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared? 

[mmecorday]

There were two Jan episodes on this weekend. One was about the first time she screwed up Mike and Carol's anniversary gift and the other was about her auditioning to be a pom-pom girl.

So Jan needs glasses. She mistakes another girl's bike for hers and rides it home. She has trouble reading the blackboard at school because she sits in the back of the classroom. She can't read the note from her teacher to her parents about her poor grades. So Jan was basically blind. Also, she would have had to have been flying on that bike to completely destroy the portrait of her with her siblings. Jeez, put her in the Tour de France!

Throughout the series we observed Jan being terrible at a number of things -- acting, wig shopping, pretending to have a boyfriend, keeping up with amusement park souvenirs. But she was really bad at being a pom pom girl. That said, when I was little and watching this show, I really, really wanted those blue and yellow pom poms.

[Snow Apple]

The pom pom routines this show, not matter who it was, always make me laugh. They are so awkward and not like any real routines I've ever seen in middle/high school. The show always use the same music. 

I love the scenes anyway.

One two, tell me who are you? The Bears!

Three four, tell me who's gonna score? The Bears!

Five six tell me who's got the kicks? The Bears!

[GHScorpiosRule]

OMGEE! Robert Reed and Maureen McCormick reunited and played father and daughter in season one of Vega$!

With MeTV+, I can now rewatch this show and get my yummilicious Robert Urich fix-but so giddy at this reunion because I don’t remember Maureen ever talking about this reunion.

[chediavolo]

OMG! Just saw the Johnny Bravo episode for the first time. Unless I saw it originally & it’s been so long I can’t remember. What the hell was that? 🤣 Whoever wrote that must have been on drugs! I will never not unsee the worst white people dancing choreography ever🫣

Maureen McCormick’s “acting” seems to have to gotten worse. Cindy is way too old for pigtails.
This was hysterically bad🤣I may have to watch again.  

[Snow Apple]

Awwww. I love the Johnny Bravo episode. I love the songs. LOL at the "groupies" tearing off Greg's Johnny's costume. Greg's creepy look at Cindy during the first song.

One thing about shows of that era is that going to college right after high school is the end-all-be-all. It annoys me when a character have a chance to make good money in showbiz or sports or whatever, and they get talked out of it because....College!!!!!! They can go after earning money and won't have to worry about tuition.

[mmecorday]

Quote

Greg's creepy look at Cindy during the first song.

Yuck! I can picture that in my head! And "You've Got To Be In Love To Love A Love Song" is the worst song the kids ever performed. I'm glad this is the last episode that explored their musical talent, or lack there of, at least in this series.  

[GHScorpiosRule]

26 minutes ago, mmecorday said:

Yuck! I can picture that in my head! And "You've Got To Be In Love To Love A Love Song" is the worst song the kids ever performed. I'm glad this is the last episode that explored their musical talent, or lack there of, at least in this series.  

Yeah. Season three was when they had the BEST songs. Why they didn't stick with those, I will never understand!

Or was it Season 4?

[Egg McMuffin]

17 hours ago, mmecorday said:

Yuck! I can picture that in my head! And "You've Got To Be In Love To Love A Love Song" is the worst song the kids ever performed. I'm glad this is the last episode that explored their musical talent, or lack there of, at least in this series.  

LOL - 100% agreed. Too much Greg, for one thing. Barry Williams can carry a tune better than I can, but he does not have a great voice (though he thinks he does).

Season 3 is when they sang “Time to Change” and “We Can Make The World a Whole Lot Brighter.” Season 4 is when they sang “Sunshine Day” and “Keep on Movin.”

[mmecorday]

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That Shirley Temple episode would have worked in Season One, not Five.

Susan Olsen would agree with you 100%. I feel second hand embarrassment for her in this episode.

[Egg McMuffin]

LOL. I was watching an episode of “Valerie” on Antenna TV not long ago. Jodie Sweetin, later of “Full House,” played a new neighbor who developed an attachment to Jason Bateman’s character. And he said told her, “Sorry - I don’t really like little kids. No offense. I don’t even like that little girl on ‘Cosby’.” Heheheh.

[chediavolo]

6 hours ago, Egg McMuffin said:

LOL. I was watching an episode of “Valerie” on Antenna TV not long ago. Jodie Sweetin, later of “Full House,” played a new neighbor who developed an attachment to Jason Bateman’s character. And he said told her, “Sorry - I don’t really like little kids. No offense. I don’t even like that little girl on ‘Cosby’.” Heheheh.

Is Valerie streaming anywhere besides antenna TV do you know? I don’t have that

[Egg McMuffin]

I don’t think it is.

Here’s a link to the scene though.

[GHScorpiosRule]

This Sunday is The Brady Bunch’s turn for the block of episodes!

[GHScorpiosRule]

Looks like it’s been preempted due to Tony Dow’s passing, so Leave it To Beaver will be airing, and next week it will be The Flintstones.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I don't know if it's returning because, you know, first day of Fall is tomorrow, but the show is back this Sunday, and starts with the Pilot!

Sigh, we never did get the block for the "Summer of MeTV!" and I remember that Marcia getting pummeled with the football was one of them, that would have aired, if not for Tony Dow's sudden passing.

[ctlady]

On 5/16/2022 at 1:49 PM, Snow Apple said:

The pom pom routines this show, not matter who it was, always make me laugh. They are so awkward and not like any real routines I've ever seen in middle/high school. The show always use the same music. 

I love the scenes anyway.

One two, tell me who are you? The Bears!

Three four, tell me who's gonna score? The Bears!

Five six tell me who's got the kicks? The Bears!

And I would've voted for Pat Conway (a young Rita Wilson) too!

[mmecorday]

Quote

Sigh, we never did get the block for the "Summer of MeTV!" and I remember that Marcia getting pummeled with the football was one of them, that would have aired, if not for Tony Dow's sudden passing.

"The Subject Was Noses" airs at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time on MeTV this Sunday.

[GHScorpiosRule]

41 minutes ago, mmecorday said:

"The Subject Was Noses" airs at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time on MeTV this Sunday.

Oh, so it will be the block of episodes that was supposed to have aired back in July!

[mmecorday]

I was reading one of those listicles on BuzzFeed about TV shows that got really bad towards the end of their runs and The Brady Bunch was mentioned. I'm inclined to agree. "The Hair-Brained Scheme" turned out to be the series finale, though the cast didn't know it while they were filming it. Robert Reed found the whole premise so ridiculous he refused to be in it. Mike's absence is explained in the final scene when Carol says it's too bad that Greg's father had to miss his graduation because he was away on business. Wait, what? Since when does Mike go away on business without bringing along his entire family and his housekeeper?

[ctlady]

On 7/12/2022 at 6:35 AM, Egg McMuffin said:

Season 3 is when they sang “Time to Change” and “We Can Make The World a Whole Lot Brighter.” Season 4 is when they sang “Sunshine Day” and “Keep on Movin.”

We Can Make The World was soooooo syrupy cringy - just like the dance moves in Keep On Movin'

Then again, we've got, "Clowns never laughed before.....beanstalks never grew...."  I chuckled during the part in The Brady Bunch Movie when Greg pitched the song to a music producer (portrayed by Barry Williams) who basically laughed him out of the building

Best non-Brady song - "Girl".  Also loved how they rockified it in the movie.

[bluegirl147]

On 10/21/2022 at 3:04 PM, ctlady said:

Best non-Brady song - "Girl".  Also loved how they rockified it in the movie.

I agree.

[mmecorday]

Then in the fifth season, the gang sang "You've Got To Be In Love to Love A Love Song" and "Good Time Music." Both rated high on the cringe-ometer. I always wondered about the outfits the girls wore while performing the latter song. Were they skirts? Really long and wide pants?

[Egg McMuffin]

I’m pretty sure those were the same dresses worn years later by the sister wives on “Big Love”.

[BlancheDevoreaux]

On 10/21/2022 at 2:04 PM, ctlady said:

We Can Make The World was soooooo syrupy cringy - just like the dance moves in Keep On Movin'

Then again, we've got, "Clowns never laughed before.....beanstalks never grew...."  I chuckled during the part in The Brady Bunch Movie when Greg pitched the song to a music producer (portrayed by Barry Williams) who basically laughed him out of the building

Best non-Brady song - "Girl".  Also loved how they rockified it in the movie.

Good Time Music was also next-level cringe dance moves.

[TheLastKidPicked]

On 7/11/2022 at 7:47 AM, Snow Apple said:

One thing about shows of that era is that going to college right after high school is the end-all-be-all. It annoys me when a character have a chance to make good money in showbiz or sports or whatever, and they get talked out of it because....College!!!!!! They can go after earning money and won't have to worry about tuition.

Interesting point.  We're finding out a lot of things drilled into us from that time just don't hold up.

There's a little jab at this in the Brady Bunch Movie.  Carol is in the butcher shop and a woman asks if she's still eating red meat.

Carol replies that of course she is buying red meat as she needs to keep her family healthy!

Edited November 8, 2022 by TheLastKidPicked

[mmecorday]

Greg shouldn't have even entertained the notion of going to college. I mean, he was going to be a major league baseball playing pop star. Why was the prom entertainment committee even seeking Davy Jones when Greg was right there with his soulful songs about pollution and clowns? 🤡

[TheLastKidPicked]

2 hours ago, mmecorday said:

. I mean, Greg was going to be a major league baseball playing pop star.

The Greg playing baseball episode contains one of my favorite moments of the series.  Greg is talking to Mike, and at the end of the scene, he is supposed to say,  "Thanks, Dad!" and then move off his mark so Mike can walk by.

Barry Williams delivers the "Thanks Dad!" and then just stands there in the way.  Robert Reed places his hand on the small of Barry's back, gently reminding him to move off his mark.

A very nice moment that shows the genuine affection that Robert and the kids had for each other.

Edited November 9, 2022 by TheLastKidPicked