What Seasons Were The Best/Worst of the Series?

[Jack1000]

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

[TV Guy]

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.

[Jack1000]

"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

[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.

[jehobden]

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.

[falc04]

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.

[Vegas Girl]

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.

[James]

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!

[TV Guy]

Originally posted by James
[B]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.

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.

[James]

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.

[sixfingers]

Originally Posted by James

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?

[Jude The Obscure]

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.

[catlover79]

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??

[James]

Originally Posted by catlover79

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.

[catlover79]

Originally Posted by James

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.