What Seasons of The Brady Bunch were the best of the series and why? This might be interesting for responses. If the show does come out on DVD, it might tell us for those on limited budgets, what seasons they would buy:

I have this information in a poll as well:

SEASON 1 (FALL 1969-SPRING 1970)

SEASON 2 (FALL 1970-SPRING 1971)

SEASON 3 (FALL 1971-SPRING 1972)

SEASON 4 (FALL 1972-SPRING 1973)

SEASON 5 (FALL 1973-SPRING 1974)

(You may select more than one "Best Season" in my poll)

I would select Seasons 3 and 4. They would be my choices if I bought any seasons on DVD. (Price is a big factor, and we'll see about packaging and other quality factors if and when the DVD's are released) I think Season 1 is the worst because it still had a little too much "slapstick elements." (The Honeymoon episode is almost unwatchable because of the Tiger/Fluffy chase sequence) I like "Sorry, Right Number", "Is There a Doctor in the House", and "Vote For Brady" from this season, but that's about it.

Season 2 is better because we have Robert Reed starting to influence the scripts. "The Dropout" episode is one of the best of the series.

Season 3 is great! "Her Sister's Shadow" is my favorite episode of The Brady Bunch. This is a stand-out season. Great scripts, writing and story lines. This is where Robert Reed's friend, Tam Spiva becomes a regular script editor on the series

Season 4 is just as good if not better than Season 3. "Bobby's Hero" for me is not only tied with "Her Sister's Shadow" as the greatest Brady Bunch episode of all time for writing and content. It is also an episode that deals with very powerful content ahead of it's time. Lot's of Robert Reed and Tam Spiva script direction here and it shows tremendously here!

Season 5: Not the worst, or as bad as Season 1. But not very enjoyable either. (The less seen of Cousin Oliver...the better.) I think that if they get to Season 5 on DVD, this will be the lowest seller.)

So for me, if I had to pick two seasons that are the best. I go with Season 3 and 4 of the series. Season 2 if resonably priced. No to Seasons 1 and 5

Everyone else vote for your favorites!

Jack

Season 1 is far different in tone from the other seasons. Carol is much more the 50s-type housewife, and the kids are smart-alecky and a bit more artificial (the kids were much more realisticin the later years). That said, I still rank season 1 ahead of season 5, partly because there are some cute episodes like the pay phone one, and partly because the latter half of season 5 is so terrible -- Sherwood thought it would be cancelled midseason and scrambled for scripts when it was unexpectedly renewed. Too bad, because the first half of season 5 has some gems ("Adios, Johnny Bravo", "Miss Popularity", "Marcia Gets Creamed"., "Peter and the Wolf"). I agree that seasons 3 and 4 are best, and certainly the most consistent.

"Peter and the Wolf"). I agree that seasons 3 and 4 are best, and certainly the most consistent.

Oh yea!!! "Peter and The Wolf is a GEM!!!" You know what else is funny for me about Season 5? I do like "Getting Greg's Goat." I'm surprised that Robert Reed directed that one because of the comic element of it. What do you guys think of "Out of this World?" (The UFO one?) Sherwood says ("At least according to Barry's book, which is full of inconsistencies) that the actors who played The Kuplutions were sometimes used as extras in a scene although I have never scene an episode where you can see them!

Jack

PS: Some may hate me for this, but I didn't care for "Adios Johnny Bravo." It just seemed very artifical that Greg Brady would go into any kind of signing career. This was near the end of the series and the kids were trying to get Sherwood to get them to sing in some episodes. And when did Cindy become this philisophical intellect all of a sudden in that episode? Remember Greg says, "I'm gonna be a big star!" and Cindy says, "But a very small person." Yea right! No 11 or 12 year old kid would say that! Cindy could barley talk in complete sentences and now she can come up with a line like that?!! LOL!

Now, I'm not picking on Cindy! LOL! I just think the episode is strained and artifical in terms of the writing. I wonder what Robert Reed thought of this episode? The other two over-rated episodes are from earlier seasons. For me they are, "Getting Davey Jones" (which I think people are sick of because it's played so much) and "The Personality Kid."

Jack

"Getting Greg's Goat" is fine, and I'm guessing Reed didn't have too much of a problem with it, since it was grounded in reality despite the slapstick aspect. After all, mascot-stealing does happen. Reed's problem with "The Hair-Brained Scheme" was that kids really don't go door-to-door selling hair tonic, so the initial premise was ridiculous.

"Out of this World", however, is terrible, and is obviously one of the scripts they threw together at the last minute when the show was unexpectedly picked up for the remainder of the fifth season.

Originally posted by TV Guy
"Getting Greg's Goat" is fine, and I'm guessing Reed didn't have too much of a problem with it, since it was grounded in reality despite the slapstick aspect. After all, mascot-stealing does happen. Reed's problem with "The Hair-Brained Scheme" was that kids really don't go door-to-door selling hair tonic, so the initial premise was ridiculous.

"Out of this World", however, is terrible, and is obviously one of the scripts they threw together at the last minute when the show was unexpectedly picked up for the remainder of the fifth season.

I love "Getting Greg's Goat". It's silliness reminds me a bit of the farce from shows like I Dream of Jeannie and Three's Company, which while not critical hits can still be hysterical a lot of the time.

Has anyone else noticed the bad sound in the last few episodes, most noticeable in "Out of This World" but also noticeable in "The Hustler" (the pool-playing scenes at night) and even "Two Petes in a Pod"? The sound is really hollow, as though it was recorded outside at a drive-in theater. I wonder why the sound was so bad and why it hasn't been fixed over all these years.

Originally posted by Jack1000
I think Season 1 is the worst because it still had a little too much "slapstick elements." (The Honeymoon episode is almost unwatchable because of the Tiger/Fluffy chase sequence) I like "Sorry, Right Number", "Is There a Doctor in the House", and "Vote For Brady" from this season, but that's about it.
Jack

Jack...I'm surprised you didn't care much for the first season. I voted it my favorite, as it contains the two best episodes of the entire series (in my opinion). (1) Father of the Year, and (2) The Voice Of Christmas.

Plus, I've always felt The Peppermint Trolley Company's version of "The Brady Bunch" theme the superior one.

I always liked Peter & The Wolf and Getting Greg's Goat.

Also, the one where Peter has a twin and the one where he's recording conversations.

Originally posted by TV Guy
Reed's problem with "The Hair-Brained Scheme" was that kids really don't go door-to-door selling hair tonic, so the initial premise was ridiculous.

I thought Robert Reed's problem with the episode was the fact that hair tonic turned Greg's hair orange.

"Out of this World", however, is terrible, and is obviously one of the scripts they threw together at the last minute when the show was unexpectedly picked up for the remainder of the fifth season.

I kind of liked that one. Spacey themes were appropriate for the 1960s and 1970s IMHO. I thought the story about a fake UFO was hilarious! :lol:

Originally posted by James
Originally posted by TV Guy
[B]Reed's problem with "The Hair-Brained Scheme" was that kids really don't go door-to-door selling hair tonic, so the initial premise was ridiculous.

I thought Robert Reed's problem with the episode was the fact that hair tonic turned Greg's hair orange.



According to The Brady Bunch Book, his main beef was with the concept of kids selling hair tonic. Everything else was just made even more ridiculous because the storyline wasn't grounded in reality.

Originally posted by TV Guy
According to The Brady Bunch Book, his main beef was with the concept of kids selling hair tonic. Everything else was just made even more ridiculous because the storyline wasn't grounded in reality.

That's strange. I remember Bobby went around selling magazine subscriptions in Episode #46, "The Winner" (where he wanted desperately to win a trophy), and I don't ever recall Mike having any problems with that. I seem to recall some other comedies, namely Perfect Strangers and Family Matters (on the same network as TBB, to boot), had episodes where the characters went door to door to sell tonic, or even shampoo.

That's strange. I remember Bobby went around selling magazine subscriptions in Episode #46, "The Winner" (where he wanted desperately to win a trophy), and I don't ever recall Mike having any problems with that. I seem to recall some other comedies, namely Perfect Strangers and Family Matters (on the same network as TBB, to boot), had episodes where the characters went door to door to sell tonic, or even shampoo.

When I was in elementary school, about the time of season 5, one of the companies that came to our school tried to get us to sell light bulbs!

Does anyone really think that is any less rediculous than hair tonic?

The storyline might have worked better if Bobby was selling maybe candy bars? And Greg would have bought one and got a bad rash on his face? We will never know.

As for seasons, I think season 2 is the weakest.

I think the middle seasons (2, 3, 4) were the best. Season 5 was the worst. There was no energy, and everyone just seemed to be phoning it in. That was also the season Oliver showed up. Need I say more?? :lol:

Season 5 was the worst. There was no energy, and everyone just seemed to be phoning it in.

While I have asked it before, I'll ask it again, probably because of the newcomers to the boards. How wasn't there energy in Season 5? I thought the actors were acting like they had been in previous seasons.

While I have asked it before, I'll ask it again, probably because of the newcomers to the boards. How wasn't there energy in Season 5? I thought the actors were acting like they had been in previous seasons.

The cast just seemed bored to me, and I just think the show had run its course by that time. Of course, that's how I see it, but others may see it differently.

That's strange. I remember Bobby went around selling magazine subscriptions in Episode #46, "The Winner" (where he wanted desperately to win a trophy), and I don't ever recall Mike having any problems with that. I seem to recall some other comedies, namely Perfect Strangers and Family Matters (on the same network as TBB, to boot), had episodes where the characters went door to door to sell tonic, or even shampoo.

I realize that this post is from 2004.

Sometime in the last year or so, somewhere on these boards, someone came up with a web site showing the text of actual letters that Robert Reed wrote to Sherwood, which explained Reed's problems with certain episodes.

The thing Reed complained about in "The Hair Brained Scheme" was that he thought that no kid would sell something as ambiguous as "hair tonic", and he thought that the very idea of "hair tonic" was something out of the "Our Gang" days (i.e the 20s or 30s).

I personally ever went door to door selling things as a kid (in the late 1960s and 1970s.... I made my "fortune" mowing lawns along with baby sitting... mowing lawns was where the real big bucks were :lol: ), but I remember very well some of the ads that appeared in our comic books of the time. Besides all the crazy gadgets being marketed to us kids (such as "Sea Monkeys" and "X-Ray Glasses") , there were ads aimed at kids to sell things door to door, such as flower seeds.

It would be interesting to see some of those old comic books today, to see what else they were marketing to kids with an entrepreneurial spirit. I don't remember ads for hair tonic, but I could be wrong.

Reed's letter is actually kind of interesting. It's one thing when you hear him say he didn't really like the show, but it's another when you find out why... he talked about different styles of comedy (e.g. fantasy, slapstick, farce, parody, satire, etc) and then proceeded to explain what made each style different, and why there were certain combinations of style that you can't combine into one TV episode. The Brady Bunch, he said, often combined different styles of comedy in ways that just don't work. (He explained it a lot better than i just did, but I sort of got the gist of it).

I think the first three seasons were the best, the kids were still cute.

The cast just seemed bored to me [in Season 5], and I just think the show had run its course by that time. Of course, that's how I see it, but others may see it differently.

Season 5 is known for the Kings Island amusement park episode ("The Cincinnati Kids") and the UFO episode ("Out Of This World"). I fail to see how the cast would be bored with those. Given those episodes, there was plenty of potential for a Season 6!

It would be interesting to see some of those old comic books today, to see what else they were marketing to kids with an entrepreneurial spirit. I don't remember ads for hair tonic, but I could be wrong.

I collect comics, so I can try to answer. There were ads for Wildroot, etc. especially in the 1950s, but none of those involved getting kids involved in selling.

As far as what kids were given the opportunity to sell as entrepreneurs, mainly the following:

Greeting cards -- especially in the early 1960s
Seeds -- 1960s and '70s, dominant ads on back covers
Grit (newspaper) -- also well into the 1970s

Most other products were simply advertised for sale with a small mail-order coupon to be filled out, or just ordinary advertising for toys, record clubs, candy/foods, shoes, you name it.

I would rank Season 5 as the worst of the series (even though it's still okay) for a number of reasons.

1. Susan Olson said S5 was "the year the scripts almost got good," but by then it didn't matter. The kids were clearly outgrowing the show, and Schwartz had little interest in updating it--especially not on the girls' side.

2. Some of the performances did seem phoned-in after a while. Robert Reed was sick of the show, and vice versa. Eve Plumb's lack of enthusiasm was palpable. (But who can blame her, given how bad Try, Try Again and Miss Popularity were?)

3. Cousin Oliver. No explanation needed here. He might as well have made his debut by jumping over a shark on water skis during a Brady beach party.

4. Aside from the remarriage gimmick--which was soon phased out of the actual scripts--The Brady Bunch was anachronistic, even in 1969. By the time of Watergate it must have looked downright silly.

5. Robert Reed's new hairstyle was killing us all.


As for the best season, I would have to say Three. It had a great variety of ideas. For every poorly conceived episode (The Personality Kid, Jan's Aunt Jenny), there were five that came off perfectly. The year bombarded us with classics like Juliet is the Sun, The Not-So-Rose-Colored Glasses, The Teeter-Totter Caper, The Wheeler Dealer, My Sister Benedict Arnold and more.

I would rank Season 5 as the worst of the series (even though it's still okay) for a number of reasons.

1. Susan Olson said S5 was "the year the scripts almost got good," but by then it didn't matter. The kids were clearly outgrowing the show, and Schwartz had little interest in updating it--especially not on the girls' side.

2. Some of the performances did seem phoned-in after a while. Robert Reed was sick of the show, and vice versa. Eve Plumb's lack of enthusiasm was palpable. (But who can blame her, given how bad Try, Try Again and Miss Popularity were?)

3. Cousin Oliver. No explanation needed here. He might as well have made his debut by jumping over a shark on water skis during a Brady beach party.

4. Aside from the remarriage gimmick--which was soon phased out of the actual scripts--The Brady Bunch was anachronistic, even in 1969. By the time of Watergate it must have looked downright silly.

5. Robert Reed's new hairstyle was killing us all.


As for the best season, I would have to say Three. It had a great variety of ideas. For every poorly conceived episode (The Personality Kid, Jan's Aunt Jenny), there were five that came off perfectly. The year bombarded us with classics like Juliet is the Sun, The Not-So-Rose-Colored Glasses, The Teeter-Totter Caper, The Wheeler Dealer, My Sister Benedict Arnold and more.


Why was "Jan's Aunt Jenny" poorly conceived?

I would say season three and four were the best. There are some episodes in season 5 I like, but like other people here I could have done without Oliver.

2. ... Eve Plumb's lack of enthusiasm was palpable. (But who can blame her, given how bad Try, Try Again and Miss Popularity were?)

Just what was wrong with those episodes, Novus? I'm not criticizing you; I'm curious since, for example, "Try Try Again" was another story of Jan the loser, as if it were an offshoot of the "Marcia Marcia Marcia!" episode. Just my opinion!

Why was "Jan's Aunt Jenny" poorly conceived?
I thought the premise was pretty silly, with Jan bursting into tears at the thought that she might look like her aunt someday. Same thing as in "The Not-So-Ugly Duckling," where they put too much emphasis on Jan's looks. Aunt Jenny herself was a funny character (it was Imogene Coca, after all), but I still wasn't crazy about that episode.

Just what was wrong with those episodes, Novus? I'm not criticizing you; I'm curious since, for example, "Try Try Again" was another story of Jan the loser, as if it were an offshoot of the "Marcia Marcia Marcia!" episode. Just my opinion!
Exactly, it bugged me that the middle kids were so often portrayed as goofballs or losers. :p But "Miss Popularity" was especially off because it seemed so antithetical to Jan's character. I couldn't imagine her ever being in the running for "most popular girl," lying to her friends and family over it, or even caring about such an award in the first place. It was like they cared more about teaching lessons than giving her a consistent character, even when they were five years into the show. I have to wonder if Eve was tired of her role for some of the same reasons.

These are just my opinions, of course. ;)

Jan was often a bit of a tomboy but in the final season she seemed to blossom and dress more as a young woman. Although not brilliant I thought the episodes mentioned above were Ok.

Just what was wrong with those episodes, Novus? I'm not criticizing you; I'm curious since, for example, "Try Try Again" was another story of Jan the loser, as if it were an offshoot of the "Marcia Marcia Marcia!" episode. Just my opinion!

I think it's a bit funny that ABC would air the last two TBB "Jan" episodes of the series back-to-back. I don't think they were produced in that order. Years ago TV Land aired a half-hour TBB documentary in the style of Ken Burns' baseball, and it mentioned each kid's turn at getting an oversized ego, w/ its episode title & original airdate, and Jan's turn, "Miss Popularity", aired last of all of them.

"Try Try Again" seems strange to me because, by then, Eve Plumb was so beautiful that I couldn't figure why she thought she was "no talent" or would care. Not that beautiful people can't be insecure too, but the low self-image didn't seem to fit w/ her appearance then. That script would've worked better, IMO, in an earlier season.

Nick-at-Nite's "Pop-Up Brady" for the last episode ("The Hair-Brained Scheme") mentioned that Eve Plumb only had 4 lines in that episode and by then didn't care. She was ready to be done w/ the series, as I'm sure most of the rest of the cast was. It would be interesting to see how the script looked w/ Mike's lines left in. Sherwood Schwartz was quoted as saying that he gave Mike's lines to the kids, but "Pop-Up Brady" said something about how Mike would've given Bobby the speech about quitting that Carol did. Also what about Carol's last line "Too bad your father was out of town & had to miss [Greg's graduation]." A man who'd moved his schedule & vacations around to see Cindy on a quiz show & Jan give her "Miss Popularity" speech had to miss Greg's graduation? For a final bit of weirdness, the last dialogue in the tag has to do w/ who'll get Greg's attic bedroom, Marcia or Peter. I thought they'd spent a whole episode at the end of the previous season addressing that question. The episode did have one good laugh line for me though: Greg's funny squeal when Peter started laughing at Greg's orange hair.

...Exactly, it bugged me that the middle kids were so often portrayed as goofballs or losers. :p But "Miss Popularity" was especially off because it seemed so antithetical to Jan's character. I couldn't imagine her ever being in the running for "most popular girl," lying to her friends and family over it, or even caring about such an award in the first place. It was like they cared more about teaching lessons than giving her a consistent character, even when they were five years into the show. I have to wonder if Eve was tired of her role for some of the same reasons.

These are just my opinions, of course. ;)

Good points... although in Jan's school, you never know. Jan blossomed into a gorgeous young lady in the last season.... and remember, just a couple of years earlier, that same school nominated Molly Weber for Senior Night Hostess, and even though that was originally done as a joke, everyone in school was very impressed when Molly made herself over (with Marcia's help).

I know that if 5th-season Jan showed up at my school after a summer off, she'd definitely be one of the more popular girls in the class.

But you're right about that episode being totally out of character for Jan.

All of the seasons are great, but I think season 4 stood out, because they seemed to really hit their stride and they seemed to be enjoying themselves/each other the most. Good bye Alice, Hello, and Jan the only Child seemed to entail a deeper story line and these episodes were a bit different from earlier seasons.

I would rank Season 5 as the worst of the series (even though it's still okay) for a number of reasons.

1. Susan Olson said S5 was "the year the scripts almost got good," but by then it didn't matter. The kids were clearly outgrowing the show, and Schwartz had little interest in updating it--especially not on the girls' side.

2. Some of the performances did seem phoned-in after a while. Robert Reed was sick of the show, and vice versa. Eve Plumb's lack of enthusiasm was palpable. (But who can blame her, given how bad Try, Try Again and Miss Popularity were?)

3. Cousin Oliver. No explanation needed here. He might as well have made his debut by jumping over a shark on water skis during a Brady beach party.

4. Aside from the remarriage gimmick--which was soon phased out of the actual scripts--The Brady Bunch was anachronistic, even in 1969. By the time of Watergate it must have looked downright silly.

5. Robert Reed's new hairstyle was killing us all.


As for the best season, I would have to say Three. It had a great variety of ideas. For every poorly conceived episode (The Personality Kid, Jan's Aunt Jenny), there were five that came off perfectly. The year bombarded us with classics like Juliet is the Sun, The Not-So-Rose-Colored Glasses, The Teeter-Totter Caper, The Wheeler Dealer, My Sister Benedict Arnold and more.

I didn't think I wanted to vote on this, but you bring up some good points with season 5. I'll add another reason its the worst season:

6. The way they tried to keep Cindy as a little girl. She looked so awkward. She was too old for "curls", and that Shirley Temple episode....geez...poor Susan Olsen. (They might have had to keep her hair in some sort of curls , because of the opening lyrics, though:lol: )

All of the seasons are great, but I think season 4 stood out, because they seemed to really hit their stride and they seemed to be enjoying themselves/each other the most. Good bye Alice, Hello, and Jan the only Child seemed to entail a deeper story line and these episodes were a bit different from earlier seasons.
I agree. 4 isn't my favorite, but on a few occasions they did shoot for some deeper themes. I think they could have done that more successfully if the show's dynamics had been allowed to change a little--like, if more of that stuff had carried over into future episodes. But aside from the vacation stories, which were three-parters, they seemed to start out with a clean slate every time. This approach wasn't always a bad thing, but I thought it really held the cast back from what they were capable of doing.

In "Jan, the Only Child," we saw Jan reject all of her siblings and pretend to be an only child, which was a very original theme for the Brady Bunch. But the episode had to end the same way it began, so ultimately they brushed off the whole thing as a phase she was going through. It just didn't feel right to me. Maybe I'm over-analyzing the show, but things like this do matter to me at the end of the day.


6. The way they tried to keep Cindy as a little girl. She looked so awkward. She was too old for "curls", and that Shirley Temple episode....geez...poor Susan Olsen. (They might have had to keep her hair in some sort of curls , because of the opening lyrics, though )
I know...I felt bad for her. At least Jan was allowed to act her age for the most part. I thought it was a nice coup for Susan that she was finally able to wear her hair straight later in the season.

The weird part is, I thought "The Snooperstar" was really funny and one of the better Season 5 episodes. Somehow, Susan performed well despite the humiliation. But it would have been a lot more convincing in Season 1 or 2.

Season 1 is far different in tone from the other seasons. Carol is much more the 50s-type housewife, and the kids are smart-alecky and a bit more artificial (the kids were much more realisticin the later years). That said, I still rank season 1 ahead of season 5, partly because there are some cute episodes like the pay phone one, and partly because the latter half of season 5 is so terrible -- Sherwood thought it would be cancelled midseason and scrambled for scripts when it was unexpectedly renewed. Too bad, because the first half of season 5 has some gems ("Adios, Johnny Bravo", "Miss Popularity", "Marcia Gets Creamed"., "Peter and the Wolf"). I agree that seasons 3 and 4 are best, and certainly the most consistent.
And in season 1, just about every episode dealt with adjusting to this new blended family. By the beginning of season 2, it was as if they were always together, the boys and girls were always brothers and sisters, Mike was always the girls' father, and Carol was always the boys' mother.