12 Worst Episodes of The Brady Bunch (reconsidered)

 

As I continue to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Brady Bunch, I have been revisiting the episodes. Thankfully they are available on Hulu. Well, most of them anyway. Why not all of them Hulu? Anyway, as I watched I went back to a “worst Brady episode” list I did awhile back. And realized it wasn’t great. For one thing, it was limited to six. Even worst, “Eenie, Meenie, Mommy, Daddy” was number 2. This is the episode where Cindy has to choose who to invite to her play, her mommy or daddy. While I think the premise is out there, and the solution preposterous, is it really a “bad” episode? No, not really. At the very least, there are much worst!  So I went thru the episodes and revised the list.

Here is my revised Worst Episodes of “The Brady Bunch”. Of course, in my opinion as always. These are in broadcast order, and I decided to leave off “Kelly’s Kids” since that was a backdoor pilot and it’s just not fair to include it here.

12.”Mike’s Horror-Scope” (Season 1)

The episode is an example of two huge problems. One is the dreck of season one. I don’t know what it was with the over somber tone of those early shows. Glad they lightened up a bit. The other problem is that this is the one time Mike gets the focus. This doesn’t work because this show is done from the child’s point of view. It’s why the stories are so light. So to have this episode where Mike meets a new client who monopolizes his time just feels out of place. The ending is kind of funny, but the kids are barely in it and the episode is a bore. Also while it’s never said flat out the insinuation that Carol is worried that another woman would cause Mike to cheat on her just feels out of place. I realize that they were still newlyweds at this time, but still.

Next Top 5 Dumbest (one time) Star Trek Characters!

It’s been about six years now when I discussed five one episode only characters on Star Trek that were, well, stupid. They were either stupid because they acted recklessly (or didn’t act at all) or because they were so full of themselves they didn’t see how foolish their plans were. Whether they be good or bad, we often get characters who just aggravate us. We don’t hate them, just roll our eyes at them. Of course, that article was only five characters and there are plenty more to pick on.

So here are five more characters who appear in just a single episode (or movie) of Star Trek that just drive me nuts!



Ensign Sonia Gomez (Q Who?)

I’m cheating a little with this because she technically appeared twice. In fact she was supposed to be a recurring character. Why wasn’t she? She’s freaking annoying! She worked in Engineering and was very anxious to do her job well. A little too anxious, as she never seemed to shut up. After spilling hot chocolate all over Picard, she stumbles through the rest of the episode with no real purpose. LaForge tries to tell her to slow down, but thankfully she didn’t last very long. In fact she was supposed to be a major love interest for Geordi, but people figured quite correctly and quickly that made no sense at all. I like to think he felt bad as he approved her inevitable transfer. Ironically, the episode is a great one.

Five Sitcom Actors Who Hated Their Shows

Generally speaking, people who work on a sitcom are happy to do so. Oh sure you have those bad days when tempers flare and arguments occur, but that happens in life. However, sometimes a star will be on a show and despite how popular the show, or they themselves, are they still resent the experience. Some leave as soon as they can, others suck it up and get through it. But either way, sometimes a show and an actor can mix badly. Here are five examples:






Chevy Chase on Community

While most of the people here you can easily say “Ok I understand why he took the role”, this is the one exception. Chase has complained about the series, fought with the cast, and called his involvement a huge mistake. So, he took the role because?? By Season 4 everyone had enough and Chase finally left the show.

A Look at TV Network Promo’s

I’ve talked about ways to promote new movies, posters and of course theatrical trailers, but what about TV shows? TV shows have an advantage to movies in that that when a series is a success it kinda sells itself. Word of mouth, or a good time slot, will bring people in. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t ads. I discussed way back when about how TV Guide would have awesome ads in their issues.

But another way to advertise a show is the classic promo. Promo’s are little ads for the shows which run during other shows and get you to watch. And while they are almost never memorable like a good movie trailer, there’s only so much you can do in fifteen-thirty seconds, if a good promo does it’s job correctly you want to tune in and see what's coming up next, in a dew days, or even the following fall season. So Lets take a look at some examples of network promo's trying to tell you that a certain show is on, changing time's, or is due in the fall!

It’s especially funny to look back at promo’s trying to sell a series that would not only be a hit, but be a massive hit. To see an old ad struggling to sell a series which today is loved and adored by millions is always kinda amusing.

Even when I was a kid, Star Trek was already an icon. And it still baffles me that the show had normal promo’s like any show. It just feels odd, didn’t they know that Star Trek was more than a simple TV show? But like any shows it had to advertise when it came and thanks to YouTube we can see some of these.This one is all kinds of laughable today. No mention of the well written stories, or the great characters. We just get Captain and Kirk and the Vulcanian Spock (thank god the term Vulcanian didn’t last) and apparently all the show is weird action on strange planets. Oh and color, of course.

This one is a favorite of mine. Get the feeling William Shatner did this under duress?

More Comic Book Covers I Just HATE!!

I’ve talked a lot about comic book covers, especially for DC. But with all the articles on covers I have done, there is only one that focused on horrible covers. And that list was limited to 10. Ten??? There are so many more horrible covers out there. So it’s time to go through a few more today.

 

 

 

Unlike the last list, rather than just do covers I personally did not like I am looking at some more universally hated covers.





Wonder Woman #88

This one seems to always pop when I search for bad comic book covers, and I kinda get it. It really isn’t the best rendition of either hero.

Top 10 Favorite Superman Designs

In April I discussed my favorite Batman designs, live action and/or animated. I didn’t do Superman because Superman has not had as many different designs. Except for crazy variations it’s pretty much the same. But just because he hasn’t had as many different designs as Batman doesn’t mean it’s not worth a look. With all the different performers, artists and animators after 80+ years we have a few choices out there for what we can consider the IDEAL version of the Man of Steel.

I’ve gone over the different looks but never put them in order, from lest favorite to most favorite. So let’s do it :So here are my favorite Superman designs, from movies, animated, and comic books. No variations or “Elseworld’s” designs.

#10.Superfriends

I led off the Batman article with this one, so figured I’d return the favor. While he has the look down it also looks a little, generic. In fact he and Aquaman almost look the same person! Just blonde instead of Dark hair.

The Brady Bunch 50th Anniversary:My Favorite Moments

So on September 26, 1969 a little show premiered on ABC called “The Brady Bunch”. And yes that is fifty years this year. Good lord, I am old. I’ve done about a dozen articles on this show so when while I wanted to acknowledge the 50th anniversary, the question was how? I discussed my favorite episodes and went on and one defending it from people who hate it. I’ve talked about how I grew up with in re-runs and even compared it to other shows and episodes. It would be easy to get into the backstage stuff or talk about where the cast is now, aside from HGTV, but let’s be honest that’s not fun. I want to celebrate the show.

 

Here are some classic and/or favorite Brady moments from the five years the series ran.



#12.Peter’s Volcano
When Marcia tries to get into a very snobby club, Peter interferes in a very unusual way.

Top 5 Star Trek Final Episodes

Two years ago I took the pilot episodes of Star Trek and ranked them, worst to best. But what about final episodes?

A series finale is very, very important. This is the creators last chance (in most cases anyway) to resolve any plot threads, give our characters resolution, and give the audience one last moment with characters they have grown love and adore. Some shows do it better than others, as I have gone over before. So where do the five Trek series rank in their final episodes? I’ve discussed them individually but how do they rank against each other? Let see, and as always this is just opinion.






#5.Turnabout Intruder (TOS)

Yeah not a hard choice, since this isn’t even a real final episode. It’s just the last episode made. And it’s not even very good! What a sad way to end, not enough they got cancelled abruptly but the episode is meh. I’ve discussed it at length elsewhere no need to go into much here.

Underrated Trek:Conundrum (TNG)

Welcome back to Underrated Trek,where I take a special look at Star Trek episodes that I love…which may not be the most popular or even liked by most. For me, all I had to do was read the TV Guide description to know I would love a certain episode. Today let’s discuss one such episode, simply known as:

This is a gimmick episode, the gimmick being amnesia, but just because it’s a gimmick doesn’t mean it can’t be good. So, is it?