Top 6 Worst Brady Bunch Episodes

[jehobden]

Originally Posted by retroTVfan4ever

That is interesting. The story I've been told is: Sherwood Schwartz wanted Robert Reed for the role of Mike Brady, Reed accepted, and after production started on the episodes, he began complaining about the scripts.

I read what I added here in "Brady, Brady, Brady", which Sherwood & Lloyd Schwartz had published in 2010. It is likely still available in used bookstores and at Amazon. It seems that Paramount wanted RR as Mike Brady and pushed for him due to the contract. Sherwood actually wanted Gene Hackman for Mike Brady, but he was still too "unknown" at the time. I smile thinking of Gene Hackman on the receiving end of that wedding cake.

[Jack1000]

With regard the above early comment about 'Bobby's Hero" (The Jessie James Episode) being the worst. I could not disagree more. LOVE that episode and it's powerful theme! It stands the test of time as not only an important message, but the horror today with kids and guns.

Burt and Mike were incredible in this episode! They did the "Dream Sequence" with no rehearsal for Bobby. Lloyd wanted REAL HORROR to show on Mike's face, so he took Mike aside and filled his head with all kids of horror stories like his family being shot and killed, deliberately getting him all upset and nervous! (It was shot on the first take, If I recall correctly.) When you see Bobby screaming, "No Jessie Stop!!!" Mike was REALLY believing what Lloyd told him.

Than after the scene, Lloyd told Mike why he did that for effect. Fantastic episode!

Jack

[Mark Mallard]

The WORST 6 Episodes of The Brady Bunch:

6. "The Show Must Go On"- never enjoyed this one; Carol and Marcia's "wherever we go, whatever we do" song is pathetic, as is Mike's "humorous" poetry reading. Just an awful episode that does nothing to help the show's unfair reputation of being some corny Partridge Family contemporary

5. "You're Never Too Old"- Robert Reed and Florence Henderson over exaggerate their grandparent roles to the extreme- and man, it is annoying. Very annoying.

4. "The Hero"- This has always been a weird episode, in my opinion. Something about it feels off, and frankly, kind of creepy. Some of the shots and some of the dialogue just feel scarily out of place here. Also, Peter never seemed like the kind of kid to get a swelled head. I'd expect that from Bobby, Marcia, or Jan, but never Peter.

3. "The Possible Dream"- BORING. And really, would they go all over town searching high and low for Marcia's diary? No- as many times as they mention the struggles of having six kids, you'd think by that very reasoning they'd say "nope, sorry, don't have time to look for it". And does it really matter if someone finds it? So she has a crush on Desi Arnez Jr.? How is that embarrassing, since he's a celebrity, and probably all the other girls in her class do as well? It's not like she wrote down the name of a boy in her class and left her diary in the teacher's room! Just a dumb, improbable, faulty plot.

2. "Bobby's Hero"- Similar to "The Hero", this one feels very oddly out of place, as if it's not a Brady episode. What's with all the depressing undertones in this episode? It's unbearable to watch due to its ability to put you in such a gloomy mood. Bobby's line at the end about "never seeing another gun again" is just way out of left field and unnecessary. The episode isn't about pro guns vs. no guns- it's about who kids take stock in for a role model. That final line really ruined the entire point of the episode. The only real treat here is seeing The Bradys pray at the supper table for the ONLY time in the entire series- that's worth watching it for!

1. "Love and the Older Man"- I'm sure it's perfectly normal for a teenage girl to fall in love with her slightly older male dentist, but do they really believe they have a chance being with them? This feels more like a Marcia parody episode than a legitimate Brady episode.

[Mark Mallard]

An honorable mention for a #7 would be the Season 2 episode "The Drummer Boy". Ughh....what an atrocious episode. I can sum up the pitifulness of this shameful episode in one quote from none other than Carol Brady: "Hooray for the Brady singers!"

[Jack1000]

Originally Posted by Mark Mallard

The WORST 6 Episodes of The Brady Bunch:

6. "The Show Must Go On"- never enjoyed this one; Carol and Marcia's "wherever we go, whatever we do" song is pathetic, as is Mike's "humorous" poetry reading. Just an awful episode that does nothing to help the show's unfair reputation of being some corny Partridge Family contemporary

5. "You're Never Too Old"- Robert Reed and Florence Henderson over exaggerate their grandparent roles to the extreme- and man, it is annoying. Very annoying.

4. "The Hero"- This has always been a weird episode, in my opinion. Something about it feels off, and frankly, kind of creepy. Some of the shots and some of the dialogue just feel scarily out of place here. Also, Peter never seemed like the kind of kid to get a swelled head. I'd expect that from Bobby, Marcia, or Jan, but never Peter.

3. "The Possible Dream"- BORING. And really, would they go all over town searching high and low for Marcia's diary? No- as many times as they mention the struggles of having six kids, you'd think by that very reasoning they'd say "nope, sorry, don't have time to look for it". And does it really matter if someone finds it? So she has a crush on Desi Arnez Jr.? How is that embarrassing, since he's a celebrity, and probably all the other girls in her class do as well? It's not like she wrote down the name of a boy in her class and left her diary in the teacher's room! Just a dumb, improbable, faulty plot.

2. "Bobby's Hero"- Similar to "The Hero", this one feels very oddly out of place, as if it's not a Brady episode. What's with all the depressing undertones in this episode? It's unbearable to watch due to its ability to put you in such a gloomy mood. Bobby's line at the end about "never seeing another gun again" is just way out of left field and unnecessary. The episode isn't about pro guns vs. no guns- it's about who kids take stock in for a role model. That final line really ruined the entire point of the episode. The only real treat here is seeing The Bradys pray at the supper table for the ONLY time in the entire series- that's worth watching it for!

1. "Love and the Older Man"- I'm sure it's perfectly normal for a teenage girl to fall in love with her slightly older male dentist, but do they really believe they have a chance being with them? This feels more like a Marcia parody episode than a legitimate Brady episode.

Disagree on 6 and 2. Big time. But TOTALLY agree on 1, 3, and 5. Sort of disagree on "The Hero" which I think is above average. I think it's funny that the girl's mother offers Peter to buy whatever he wants at the toy store, than he buys almost everything! Than, when Mike and Carol try to give him a lesson in what generosity means by saying he can keep one toy, ("You didn't have to accept everything, Peter") Peter says, "There were some things I didn't take!" LOL!

Jack

[Jack1000]

Originally Posted by Mark Mallard

An honorable mention for a #7 would be the Season 2 episode "The Drummer Boy". Ughh....what an atrocious episode. I can sum up the pitifulness of this shameful episode in one quote from none other than Carol Brady: "Hooray for the Brady singers!"

Oh no!!!! Love the Drummer Boy!!!!!

OK the Brady singing sucks in this episode! But I LMFAO with Bobby and his drum set and than his bugle! The lines the kids and Alice have in relation to Bobby's playing are GEMS!!!!

Jack

[Mark Mallard]

Originally Posted by Jack1000

Disagree on 6 and 2. Big time. But TOTALLY agree on 1, 3, and 5. Sort of disagree on "The Hero" which I think is above average. I think it's funny that the girl's mother offers Peter to buy whatever he wants at the toy store, than he buys almost everything! Than, when Mike and Carol try to give him a lesson in what generosity means by saying he can keep one toy, ("You didn't have to accept everything, Peter") Peter says, "There were some things I didn't take!" LOL!

Jack

For me, "The Hero" is just an odd episode in both style and direction- it doesn't have that Brady feel; of course, it is only the first season, but Peter seems out of character here. It's just never been a favorite of mine. As for my #2 and #6 picks, I can respect your liking for them, but in my opinion, they're not very entertaining or enjoyable episodes.

[Mark Mallard]

Originally Posted by Jack1000

Oh no!!!! Love the Drummer Boy!!!!!

OK the Brady singing sucks in this episode! But I LMFAO with Bobby and his drum set and than his bugle! The lines the kids and Alice have in relation to Bobby's playing are GEMS!!!!

Jack

Bobby wailing on the drums like Keith Moon or John Bonham is definitely hilarious, I will admit to that! It's that part of the episode that I actually enjoy. What gets me about this episode is the inability to distinguish the main plot of the episode- is it Bobby's drumming or Peter getting made fun of for being a "canary"? Both seem to get equal screen time.

[IllinoisTVFan]

I don't know if this is fair to say or not, but generally to me the worst were the Cousin Oliver episodes. I don't know if it was him or just the show getting old but I try to avoid those. Two especially bad are Two Peas in a Pod where Peter meets a look a like and the Snooperstar where Cindy drives up like Shirley Temple, though she is too old (and according to something I read this was written years earlier when it may have worked).

[Jack1000]

Originally Posted by IllinoisTVFan

I don't know if this is fair to say or not, but generally to me the worst were the Cousin Oliver episodes. I don't know if it was him or just the show getting old but I try to avoid those. Two especially bad are Two Peas in a Pod where Peter meets a look a like and the Snooperstar where Cindy drives up like Shirley Temple, though she is too old (and according to something I read this was written years earlier when it may have worked).

Agreed,

Oliver NEVER fit into the show very well. Cindy as Shirley Temple MIGHT have worked better maybe Season 2 or so, but Susan was getting too old for that storyline to be believable. Got to do a Robert Reed here-that whole plot is not realistic at all.

"Two Petes in a Pod," where Chris plays both roles and "Sergent Emma," where Ann plays herself and her cousin, I don't care for those episodes either. Does anyone know how they filmed any scenes where the "doubles" had to be together?

Jack

[Tweety]

Originally Posted by sixfingers

You might think this is unrealistic, but according to Sherwood Schwartz, this was based on an actual experience where he heard a kid talking about how he could only invite one of his parents to a school play and he was agonizing over which one to invite.

The solution is a bit contrived, I'll grant you that and I always did wonder why families of other kids weren't at the special performance.

Re: Eenie, Meenie, Mommy, Daddy... that's interesting, I didn't know that it was based on something Sherwood had read about in real life.

To me, what was really bad about that show was that neither Mike nor Carol nor Alice acted the way a parent/adult would act in those circumstances.

Cindy tells Carol that the play probably won't be any good, and that she doesn't even have to go if she doesn't want to...and then tells the same thing to Mike.

Yet, neither Mike nor Carol even thought to ask Cindy why she would even say such a thing. And it was ridiculous that Alice wouldn't let Mike or Carol at least know what was going on, even if she promised Cindy she wouldn't tell. That was way too much to leave up to Cindy. And even Greg was old enough to know that Cindy was very worried about what to do, and he should have looked out for her and let Mike or Carol know what was going on.

[Mark Mallard]

Originally Posted by IllinoisTVFan

I don't know if this is fair to say or not, but generally to me the worst were the Cousin Oliver episodes. I don't know if it was him or just the show getting old but I try to avoid those. Two especially bad are Two Peas in a Pod where Peter meets a look a like and the Snooperstar where Cindy drives up like Shirley Temple, though she is too old (and according to something I read this was written years earlier when it may have worked).

Despite its unrealistic nature, I really enjoy "Two Petes in a Pod"- it's one of my favorite episodes, actually! You're definitely right about "The Snooperstar" though; what a lame excuse for an episode.

[Natalie1969]

In Eenie Meeny Mommy Daddy they should have had 2 showings say on Friday and Saturday night and then had a certain number of tickets available for each night. Each child's parents could be allowed to request 2 tickets for Friday, 2 for Saturday, or 1 for each night. This way each child could have both parents or if in a single parent household a parent and a sibling or grandparent. Maybe someone could have made a tape so one of Cindy's parents could have watched it later. A boy at Sherwood Schwartz's daughter's school had this issue which is the inspiration for this episode.

[Anna Karenina]

Either Career Fever or the insanely boring saving Woodland Park one...Mr. Phillips freaking out at Mike was the only highlight...

[magellan333]

Agree wholeheartedly with these choices. I would also add the one where Bobby is a pool hustler. That one just bores me.