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.

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 10 Favorite Episodes of “The Brady Bunch”

How’s this for crazy, four years ago I did a series of Brady articles and included my list of the worst episodes. Would you believe I never did my list of the best? That’s awful and needs to fixed.

I talked a couple weeks ago about how I adored He-Man growing up. Well that doesn’t even describe how much I loved The Brady Bunch. It was on every single day at dinner time and I adored it. Well, most of it. It was simple, it was sweet, and it didn’t talk down to kids. Ok it could be corny, though some people are a little to hard on that (something I discussed before).

This is one of those shows where, with a few exceptions, different people can have very different lists. It’s all about what appeals to you about the series. So here are my ten favorite episodes, in broadcast order. It was supposed to be five but became ten, anyone surprised?






“Tiger! Tiger!”

I needed one from Season One. Why did I pick this one? I don’t know, it’s better than most that season I guess. There is another Tiger episode involving Jan thinking she’s allergic, but that one is mostly filler. This one has some real heart in it when Tiger runs away. And I love how the family canvass the neighborhood to find him. It’s a well done moment, leading to the conclusion when we found why Tiger ran away. It’s stupid, but at least there’s a reason unlike other shows which don’t even give that. By the way I liked the episode where the kids get measles, but the sexism of the time hurt it foe me. A female doctor treating men? How could they know anything about men problems???? I know it made sense in 1968 but….please.

Sitcom Episode Face-Off:Brady Bunch vs Cosby Show

Hello my friends, welcome back as I take two episodes of different series with the same plot and see which did it better. So what happens when a sweet family shows tries to tackle a tough subject? Chances are it will be a bit lukewarm, but two episodes managed to do it well and remain memorable. Those episodes were from:

  


I am comparing “Where There’s Smoke” from The Brady Bunch’s second season to “Theo and the Joint” from The Cosby Show’s first season. They both basically tackled the same issue, except that it wasn’t plain old cigarette’s Theo got caught with. But we’ll dicuss that as we go. So which show tackled this better?



        

ROUND 1:BASIC PREMISE

On Brady, Greg gets caught smoking by Jan and Cindy. After promising he will never do it again, a pack of cigarettes falls out of his jacket pocket. On Cosby, Claire accidentally knocks over Theo’s book and a joint falls out. Is it really his?

WINNER-Peer pressure makes more sense than how Theo gets stuck with the joint (more on that coming). Brady Bunch wins makes more sense.

Sitcom Episode Face-off:Brady Bunch vs Fresh Prince

Hello my friends! Since my sitcom face-off’s have kind of dried up, I decided to come up with another idea. Rather than general comparisons between series, I will take two episodes of different shows with the same plot and see which did it better. Now obviously this would work better in a video show but I will try to be a detailed as I can and of course the episodes are available elsewhere to see for yourselves


You may remember back at Christmas I talked about how Family Matters had an episode with the same plot as a Growing Pains episode. That happens a lot in sitcoms, since there are only so many stories creators can come up with. However in that case the Family Matters episode sucked while Growing Pains did a decent job with the story. Of course that may be because the writer or writers were better or were less afraid to take a risk. Sometimes the writers know they are writing cliche so try to spin it another way, with varying degrees of a success.  Today I want to compare two very similar episodes of :




and  












So which episodes are we discussing today? I was reminded in my last article of the Davy Jones episode of the Brady Bunch “Getting Davy Jones”, and realized what a stunning similarity it had to the Fresh Prince episode “Twas the Night Before Christening” featuring Boyz II Men. It even followed the same structure! But who told the better story?


Before I even begin, yes the Fresh prince episode is a Christmas episode but I don’t feel like waiting until next December to do this. What I will do is break the story down and try to determine which series handled it better. In the end I will tally up the winner and determine the better episode. And of course, as always, this is just for fun and completely my opinion.

       

Totally Unnecessary Character Analyses:Was Carol Brady's First Marriage A Verbally Abusive One?

Want to start something new. A series of essay's exploring in depth a character or TV series. As some may know, I graduated with a degree in Psychology and so find that kind of stuff interesting. I am no expert, at all, but it's still a subject I enjoy discussing.

The Brady Bunch is one of my favorite TV shows ever! We all know the story, even if you hate the show. Single mother of three girls married to single father of three boys. The result? The perfect TV family! But are they really perfect? Well today I wanted to take a close look at one member of the family in particular. I briefly touched on this way back in a Sitcom Face-Off, but will explore the topic further. And the important thing to remember is this is all in fun of course.

Carol Brady was originally Carol Martin. We know what happened to Mike's wife, but what happened to Carol's husband? While no one can say for sure it's safe to assume he died. The only indication is the line in the pilot "A few years ago I thought it was the end of the world". But, what if he didn't? And why is he never talked about? I have always had one theory. That the guy was abusive to Carol. Now to be reasonable I am not saying she was battered and beaten up (god bless those who are and have to deal with that) but may have been the victim of a short tempered man who when he lost his temper really lost his temper! This was someone who did you not want to upset because if you did, he would flip out.

A Look at the Brady Bunch Reunions and Movies

So The Brady Bunch went off the air in 1974 after five season, to live forever in re-runs. You would think that would be the end, right?

Nope

The Brady Kids

I guess I can see how this seemed like a good idea. I mean the Brady Kids were a popular singing group with live tours and record albums. But whenever I watched this all it did was make me wish I were watching an episode of The Brady Bunch. I mean, where were the parents anyway? At least It's Punky Brewster still had Henry involved. And it is neat to have the voices of  the kids on the show. I just hate this cartoons that are spun off from sitcoms, but I already said enough about that. It was harmless though.

BRADY WEEK!-Five Brady Life or Death Moments

For a light and fluffy show like The Brady Bunch was, there was an awful lot of life or death moments! Seriously, there are several episodes where the drama is the fact that a character or characters may not live through the experience. Here are five examples of what I am talking about.

#5.A falling ladder just misses killing Peter

In the beginning of this episode, Peter just barely misses being killed when a ladder falls. Bobby pushes Peter out of the way just in time. The rest of the episode is about Peter expressing his gratitude, until Bobby gets carried away and takes advantage. Bobby ends up locked in the closet and rescued by Peter. While not the same, it's enough to make the boys even. This isn't the first time Peter had trouble like this, in an earlier episode he saves a girl from being crushed under a bookcase. He is called a hero, and it goes right to his head.

BRADY WEEK! Five Brady Curiosities

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.

BRADY WEEK!-Top 6 Worst Brady Bunch Episodes

This is tougher than it sounds. A lot of people would say "all of them" I am sure, but there were a lot of good episodes that were funny and told a decent story. But that doesn't mean there aren't a few that just didn't work for me.

#6.The Hair-Brained Scheme (Season 5)

This may strike everyone as an odd choice for the #6 slot. I mean, this was the final episode and so dumb Robert Reed was so angry about it he ended up being written out of it! But to be fair, if you accept the ludicrous plot the episode isn't the abosloute worst. In fact the worst thing is that Robert Reed is not in it, which makes no sense since the story is Greg's graduation and Mike would never miss that! In fact the episode right before it about Bobby thinking Sam was a spy was much more stupid. Don't get me wrong I get what happened and even respect Robert Reed for how he handled it, but his absence is what really hurts this episode. So yeah while it is bad, I can't say it's the worst ever.

#5.And Now a Word from our Sponsor (Season 3)

It seems like everytime a show does an episode where the characters appear on TV the characters have to turn into idiots. So, The Brady's are selected for a commercial and long story short, they learn from a horrible actress to overact and ruin the commercial. This was so stupid Robert Reed wrote a four page letter about it. Why is it stupid? Because the director does not rehearse with the family at all, and rather than just telling them to start again he loses his temper and fires them. Just dumb. To be fair the first half isn't all bad, as they test the detergent they will be selling. But when The Brady's take lessons from the actress it's all downhill. Even as amateurs they should know better. Even for a Brady episode it's just to silly. Maybe if they learned what "Motivating" meant.

Brady Week-Five Common Brady Misconceptions

I freaking love The Brady Bunch! The show went off the air a few months before I was born, and I literally grew up watching the re-runs on my local Boston station, WLVI. For awhile I watched them downstairs in my parents furnished basement, until the TV blew up. I was forced upstairs after that but still watched every day. Now as an adult the show brings back good memories of better times, and what's wrong with that? So all this week I am going to take a look at my favorite show. I will discuss what I love, what I hate, and things which just baffle me. and yes I will even be looking at the reunion specials which are very hit or miss.

My favorite era on the show was the second and third season. The first season was so melodramatic that I always hated those shows. Though there were some good episodes in there. The final season was, well, that dreaded final season. Again there was some good in there, but also a lot of bad. But I decided today to focus more on the good. I am aware that while this show is loved, it gets its fair share of hate. So I present five popular misconceptions about this show and I hope to dispell some of the myths that drive me nuts.

As always this is just my opinion, if you hate this show that's cool. But here are five things picked on about this series which I think are unfair.

Sitcom Face Off = The Brady Bunch vs. The Cosby Show

It's time once again for a sitcom face off, where I take two similar shows and compare them to see which is better. Today we have a real grudge match for you!

   vs 

For five years the Brady's charmed us on ABC. It left the air in 1974, and ten years later The Cosby Show debuted on NBC and literally revived the sitcom format. On the surface these two shows don't immediately seem like they have a lot in common. But actually they do. These were warm, loving family comedies with simple stories. They were also groundbreaking. Brady Bunch was an example of a successful blended family while Cosby was an example of a successful, upper class African American family. These were both almost unheard of when these respective shows premiered. So, which was better?