Remember the episode where Jan runs for her school's "Most Popular Girl"? Has there ever been a more shallow contest? It's one thing to run for Student Body President, which admittedly is usually a popularity contest. But to come right out and have a "Most Popular" election? Weird.

It's hard to imagine any school sponsoring that type of contest, at least these days.

I agree - dumb contest.

I also don't know how Jan would have won it. I could understand Marcia winning that type of contest. Marcia was outgoing, had a nice smile and was involved in a lot of school activities and won awards.

On the other hand, Jan seemed kind of snippy, appeared to like being a loner, and failed at the extracurricular activities that she tried. And she's "Most Popular Girl"? :rolleyes:

Agreed, Vegas Girl. Just two or three episodes before "Miss Popularity", Jan was failing at all those activities and proclaimed herself a "born loser". Not exactly the stuff popularity is made of.

But every Brady kid had to have an episode where he/she got an inflated ego because of some award or acclaim, and then be brought harshly back down to earth. Marcia already had this type of episode with "Juliet is the Sun", so I guess it was Jan's turn, whether it made sense or not.

Other ego inflation/deflation episodes:

Greg: "The Dropout", in which he decides he's baseball's Next Big Thing after a compliment from Don Drysdale. Greg comes crashing down to earth when he blows a big game.

Peter: "The Hero", in which he saves a little girl from being crushed by a fall shelf and proceeds to bore everyone to death with his tales of heroism. Peter gets his comeuppance when no one shows up for a big party he throws in his own honor.

Bobby: "Law & Disorder", in which he becomes the school's safety monitor and decides that his authority should extend to the Brady home. Bobby's ego is deflated when he tries to hide his own infraction of the rules and winds up flooding the laundry room.

Cindy: "You Can't Win 'Em All", in which she gets a big head when she's chosen to be on a TV quiz show. Cindy learns her lesson when she freezes up on camera and doesn't answer a single question, appearing extremely foolish.

This was a very popular episode theme on "The Brady Bunch". I always enjoyed watching these episodes, because it was fun when the featured Brady kid had his overinflated ego punctured (as well as watching the other kids make nasty comments).

Good examples. :)

I've always thought it was a weird contest too, and wondered if any schools actually had such a thing.

All of the above listed Brady "ego" episodes were mentioned, along w/ their original airdates, on the 30-min "Mockumentary" that TV Land showed about TBB a few years ago. I don't remember the name of the show, but it was a fun look back at the series, using the style of Ken Burns' Baseball, but in 30 mins. instead of several hours.

It also seems stupid to me that Most Popular would be something like a political contest for which students would campaign, as though it were a student council office, w/ flyers, campaign promises, and other things like fortune cookies baked by Alice. This episode would've made more sense if it involved running for Class President instead of Most Popular.