Today
I wanted to talk about things on the series that bug me. Either they're
episodes which while not bad have a plot so unfocused that I can't help
but complain about it or a character that is just confounding.It's
nitpicking time!
#5."Sergeant Emma"
In
this episode, Alice goes on vacation and asks her aunt to help out
while she is gone. Ok, first of all...Why? Carol can't take charge for a
week? We have seen Alice have days off before and the family kept
running. The story is that Emma used to be a drill seargent, and that's
how she treats the family! She wakes them up at 6 am to do exercises,
has a chow line at dinner, among other things. Now to be fair, the
script tries to make it clear why Mike and Carol do not say something.
Simply, because she is Alice's aunt. I NEVER BOUGHT THAT! It's their
house and they have more than the right to ask Emma to calm the heck
down, it's not Fort Dix! Then of course when the family is planning a welcome home party
for Alice, Emma turns it into a going away party for her. Yeah, sure
they will really miss her. The worst part is the end, we see Alice
trying to do what Emma did, getting the family up for exercises, only
this time the family blows her off. So we don't want to upset Emma but
we can do it to Alice? One thing I will credit this episode for is
showing Anne B Davis is one heck of a talent, since she plays Emma and
Alice and they are two VERY different people.
#4. Cindy.
Not
an episode, I am talking about the character. Poor Susan Olsen, it
can't have been easy to play one of the dumbest charcters ever. I feel
safe in saying that because she has said it herself. In one episode
Carol brings up some lunch, peanute butter and jelly. Cindy proceeds to
ask why she always gets those kind of sandwiches. Carol explains it's
because she loves them. To which Cindy says "Oh yeah, I keep
forgetting!". How do you forget your favorite food? Let's see, there was
having stage fright on national TV, just staring at the red light on
the camera. Um Cindy, what were you practicing for during the whole
episode? Whenever the creators wanted a plan to be spoiled they usually
had Cindy be the big blabbermouth even if it was incredibly forced. She
was a tattletale, and told people things any normal person, child or
adult, should no not to repeat out of context. And of course the
horrible Shirley Temple episode! Even if you don't have any idea who
Shirley Temple was it should be obvious when watching that episode that
the character was to old to be singing "The Goodship Lillipop" . Cindy,
why didn't you listen to Marcia when she CLEARLY STATED IT WAS ALL A
JOKE...OR ASK YOUR PARENTS FIRST?? I mean, wouldn't they TELL YOU if
they were sending a talent scout over to see you perform? First class
dumb!
#3."Career Fever"
Lots
of stupid in this one. The main story is that Mike mistakenly thinks
that Greg wants to be an architect. Of course Greg is unable to tell his
father the truth. So he decides to make horrible sketches so Mike will
tell Greg that he has no talent. Uh, Greg, WHAT FATHER WOULD EVER SAY
THAT TO THEIR KID ESPECIALLY IF THE KID IS EXCITED ABOUT SOMETHING?? Of
course Mike is not honest with Greg and tells him the sketches are fine.
Uh, Mike good to be supportive but you need to be a little more honest
than that. The dumbest part is the B Plot. Peter and Jan have been
researching medical books because they decided to become a doctor and
nurse. Peter reads about a horrible, fatal disease, and thinks he has it
because he has one or two symptoms! Way to be a hypochondriac Peter,
maybe next time check with a real doctor before working on that eulogy?
This episode is not bad but it really relies on the characters acting
like idiots.
#2.Was Greg Stoned??
First,
this episode called "Law and Disorder" is about Bobby accepting a job
as safety monitor. First, why do all the kids hate him? That seems
unfair. But when Bob accepts the role he goes power crazy writing up the
other kids in the family for a report for his parents. A report that as
soon as he hands he will undoubtedly be reprimanded for. Really Bobby?
And then he floods the laundry room trying to cover his tracks after
ruining his dress clothes. Nice. But besides that, something about this
episode never felt right to me, and then years later I found out I was
more right than I thought. The start of the episode has Greg fixing a
Bike when Mike pulls up with a boat on the car. If you watch this scene
closely, you notice that Barry Williams seems kind of, off. Like he was
stoned or something. Why? Because he was! Barry Williams has admitted
that he wasn't expecting to shoot that day and was puffing away when
called into the set. And man, it shows! Don't believe me then check the
link below, and you bet he judge.
http://youtu.be/764MzeWYn8k
#1.Tiger
Ah, the story of Tiger. Let's talk about this lovable canine. For some reason when the show
was first created they thought that six kids and a maid just wasn't
enough wimzy. So they also threw in a cat and a dog. Fluffy quickly
vanished but Tiger stayed around and was even the focus on a few
episodes. But as the series went on Tiger started to appear less and
less. Apparently the original Tiger met an unfortunate end, and the
replacement wasn't much of an actor. So the canine was gradually fazed
out. The really strange part? Tiger disappeared but the doghouse
remained for the rest of the series! Why? What good was it? Susan Olsen
was once quoted as explaining that some of the astro turf under the dog
house was burned so they just left it there. Ok, I guess that makes
sense but what is the in series explanation? All the doghouse does is
remind us that Tiger is gone, and wonder just what happened to him. It
would have been nice if they had established that, but this was a
simpler time and things like continuity was never given much thought.
And there you have the story of the Brady dog. By the way, I never liked
the dog he just felt like a distraction more than anything, and never
miss him once he disapears from the series. Though to be fair, the
episode where he runs away and the episode where Jan is allergic are two
are my favorite episodes in Season 1.
For
such a silly show, the Brady's did have their fair share of odd things
happen. Tomorrow I will take a look at some moments on the show which are just plain dark!
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