Does anybody know where Bobby was during the episode when Carol and Cindy get their Tonsils out? And where was Marcia in the episode when Bobby is afraid to climb the treehouse, and gets a parrot and a trampoline.

Maybe they had heated disagreements with Sherwood Schwartz over the content of those episodes, in which case they would have been in the same place Mike went when he missed Greg's graduation.

I can just hear Carol now:

"Oh, that was a wonderful operation, Cindy! Too bad Bobby was out of town and had to miss it."

"Oh, what a wonderful parrot, Bobby! Too bad Marcia is out of town and has to miss it."

I think I heard somewhere that they were trying to save money and that they left out one of the kids during an episode. That there should be six where one kid is missing. I could be wrong, but I think I heard that somewhere

Mike missed 2 episodes, where Alice gets the cold-shoulder treatment, and, of course, you know, "Hair-Brained Scheme", but, one other episode, where he was only on briefly, was "DO-RE-MI", where Peter's voice changes, and Carol missed one episode, where Alice sprains her ankle

I heard somewhere that Fluffy disappeared from the show early on because she and Sherwood Schwartz had heated disagreements regarding the direction of the character. Schwartz wanted her mainly in the background with Tiger, but Fluffy saw herself as a major character who should have a greater role in the lives of the Bradys. She even began to write her own scripts, one of which featured Jan becoming allergic to her. After her departure, of course, this script was later adapted for Tiger.

LOL! That was great blackbiped! I'll bet that Fluffy thought the show was supposed to be about her!

[This message has been edited by MsLulu (edited 10-28-2001).]

Originally posted by blackbiped:
I heard somewhere that Fluffy disappeared from the show early on because she and Sherwood Schwartz had heated disagreements regarding the direction of the character. Schwartz wanted her mainly in the background with Tiger, but Fluffy saw herself as a major character who should have a greater role in the lives of the Bradys. She even began to write her own scripts, one of which featured Jan becoming allergic to her. After her departure, of course, this script was later adapted for Tiger.

Ha Ha Ha! Boy did I need a good laugh.

Originally posted by TV Guy:
I can just hear Carol now:

"Oh, that was a wonderful operation, Cindy! Too bad Bobby was out of town and had to miss it."

"Oh, what a wonderful parrot, Bobby! Too bad Marcia is out of town and has to miss it."

LOL! This is funny! Marcia was still refered to in the parrot episode. When Alice calls the troops for dinner she still call Marcia along with everyone else. Oh and for the episode that did not have Carol in it, you know when Alice sprains her ankle, Carol was in that episode but for about a minute and a half. I taped the ep from TBS years back.

I thought Marcia was just in the background, in the episode where Bobby is afraid of heights. In fact, wasn't Jan holding hands with Marcia, on the trampoline?

I can hear Carol in another episode;

"Too Bad Mike Was Out Of Town To See The Substitute Maid Named Kay"!

Originally posted by ThomasE:
... when Alice sprains her ankle, Carol was in that episode but for about a minute and a half. I taped the ep from TBS years back.


She was in a hotel room if I'm not mistaken.

I think she was at her Aunt's house taking care of her.

By the time the regular series starting filming (almost a year after the pilot was made), Florence had a commitment to do the movie "Song of Norway". She missed the filming of several episodes, so her scenes were shot later and edited in. I'm guessing this is one of those episodes. I bet if we looked closely, we might find another episode or two in the first season where Carol's part is very small (althought probably not as small as in this one).

re: the comment above...

"I thought Marcia was just in the background, in the episode where Bobby is afraid of heights. In fact, wasn't Jan holding hands with Marcia, on the trampoline?
"

Actually, if memory serves me correctly (no guarantees), I believe that Jan and Cindy held hands on the trampoline (since Cindy was so little at the time and Carol was worried)... CAROL: "Now, remember Jan, you're bigger than Cinday..."

That of course, is the famous scene in which Carol says "Hey, go get 'em Chris" as PETER begins to jump on the trampoline...and later in the same scene, Greg says to Jan, "why don't you give it a try, Eve?"...

Out of the years the show aired, it was quite remarkable that more actors, esp. when it involves 6 children, didn't miss even more episodes due to illness & what-not.
Oh, and I'd always thought Tiger ate Fluffy to hog the spotlight, lol.

Originally posted by corwayn2
Mike missed 2 episodes, where Alice gets the cold-shoulder treatment, and, of course, you know, "Hair-Brained Scheme", but, one other episode, where he was only on briefly, was "DO-RE-MI", where Peter's voice changes, and Carol missed one episode, where Alice sprains her ankle
Carol was seen talking on the phone to Mike in that episode. So she accuacly was in that episode.

We all know the reasons for Robert Reed's absence during "Hair-Brained Schme" As for him not in the script in "Goodbye Alice Hello" that is a mystery. Tam Spiva (Reed's friend) was a script editor for that episode and Reed had a great deal of influence over scripts beginning with the second season. Maybe it was decided that Robert Reed wasn't needed for the storyline for "Goodbye Alice Hello" and since Robert Reed was never crazy about being on the show in the first place, just said "OK, I'm out for this one."

My best guess is that Maureen got sick when "What Goes Up?" was being filmed, so the writers just took Marcia out of the storyline. Same story with Bobby's absence during the filming of "Coming Out Party." Somebody should contact Sherwood Schwartz for the answers to these questions!

Jack

The thing I don't understand is, if Robert Reed was such a stickler for accuracy on the show, why he didn't just go ahead and appear in "The Hair-Brained Scheme?"

Yeah,.... I KNOW he wasn't in it because of some feud,.... but there is NO WAY Mike Brady would have missed the first of his children's high school graduation for a mere business trip!

You would think that Mr. Reed would have just sucked up his pride and did the ep just to make it more more realistic. I mean, it WAS the last one after all!

Originally posted by Jack1000
As for him not in the script in "Goodbye Alice Hello" that is a mystery. Tam Spiva (Reed's friend) directed that episode and Reed had a great deal of influence over scripts beginning with the second season. Maybe it was decided that Robert Reed wasn't needed for the storyline for "Goodbye Alice Hello".

Mike not being present for Alice's departure is completely unnatural. I don't think the writers decided that they didn't need him here -- I think Reed missed either because they let him out to do his recurring role on "Mannix", or because he was sick, or because he refused for whatever reason. But my guess is that it wasn't the writers' decision to let him miss a fairly major Brady event.

Hi, i'm new and I know the right answer to this one, Chris Knight(peter brady) told me i talk to him sometimes, and he said that sherwood (the producer) cut at least one brady kid or cast member to save money.
Well bye,I really like it here.

There were also the following Brady kid absences from other 2nd season Brady eps:

Peter missing from The Tattletale
Jan missing from A Fistful of Reasons
Cindy missing from Call Me Irresponsible

I guess it was some kind of economic measure that ended before "Greg's" turn was up. I think the other kids were mentioned, even though they weren't seen. I know Cindy tattled on Peter for something, but he wasn't around to complain about it. I thought Marcia was also missing from Call Me Irresponsible, but she was in one scene that was cut out in syndication one time I saw the show. BTW, I think that ep, more than any other in the series, featured one of the kids (Greg) to the almost total exclusion of the others. Marcia had one scene w/ Greg in the boys' bedroom, and Jan and Bobby were in maybe just one or two scenes, helping Greg raise $ so he could give them rides in his car, but the rest of the show was mostly Greg.

Reduced roles are very obvious in Every boy does it once Cindy appears in the teaser and the tag but it missing from the rest of the episode, Marcia and Jan go off to the movies early on and are not seen again for the rest of the episode and while Greg and Peter were important in the second half, they are gone during the first half!

I think I heard somewhere that they were trying to save money and that they left out one of the kids during an episode. That there should be six where one kid is missing. I could be wrong, but I think I heard that somewhere

They were, but they stopped that policy before it got to be Greg's turn.

In the final episode, Carol should have said, "Get ready to go out for dinner, your father is out in the car waiting". That would have made more sense.

I heard somewhere that Fluffy disappeared from the show early on because she and Sherwood Schwartz had heated disagreements regarding the direction of the character. Schwartz wanted her mainly in the background with Tiger, but Fluffy saw herself as a major character who should have a greater role in the lives of the Bradys. She even began to write her own scripts, one of which featured Jan becoming allergic to her. After her departure, of course, this script was later adapted for Tiger.

In the commentary for the pilot Sherwood Schwartz gives a hint as to why fluffy wasn't in the series. He talked about how hard it was to get cats to follow directions.

I read in the book "Brady Brady Brady" by Sherwood Schwartz and Lloyd Schwartz that Paramount Studios decided they could save money by only having 5 out the 6 kids appear in any given episode. So the kids started to take turns missing episodes. This only lasted for a few episodes until Sherwood was able to convince Paramount to scrap the idea.

I read in the book "Brady Brady Brady" by Sherwood Schwartz and Lloyd Schwartz that Paramount Studios decided they could save money by only having 5 out the 6 kids appear in any given episode. So the kids started to take turns missing episodes. This only lasted for a few episodes until Sherwood was able to convince Paramount to scrap the idea.

That's exactly what happened. They stopped before it got to be Greg's turn.

Note that in Every boy does it once Cindy is in the teaser and the tag and is missing throughout the rest of the episode.

I can just hear Carol now:

"Oh, that was a wonderful operation, Cindy! Too bad Bobby was out of town and had to miss it."

"Oh, what a wonderful parrot, Bobby! Too bad Marcia is out of town and has to miss it."
LOL OMG that was good TV Guy