Couple Errors in "To Move or Not to Move"

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

Hey, I'm watching The Brady Bunch and I haven't made a habit of noting mistakes, but I can't help saying something. In a couple of Season 1 episodes, most notably "To Move or Not to Move," it's mentioned that the Bradys have never lived anywhere else but the house at 4222 Clinton Way. In the pilot, Mike and the boys very obviously lived in another house. Also in "To Move or Not to Move," Bobby turned off the TV and a couple of minutes later it was on again with no one turning it on, and Alice turned it off. Maybe the house was haunted after all!

[BestTVever]

Yes the pilot was definitely a different house. But when the series was picked up its pretended that it was the original house. I will have to check for the TV thing next time that episode is on. It seems like it was more fodder to convince everyone the house was haunted. In the end not everything is explained. Who was making the man moaning sound?
The inconsistency I am most fascinated with is after the first season its assumed and pretended that the brothers and sisters are not related and its a blended family. They never refer to each other as a step brother or step sister. When Greg is practicing his guitar upstairs the dad comes home and the Carol is downstairs. They both comment how good Greg is playing guitar. Then Carol says something like "talent comes from my side of the family." In another episode Jan is seeking Peter's help with something rather than helping another girl and Jan says "Peter, blood is thicker than water."

To be fair, very few pilots have consistencies of the series. For example the Golden Girls house is arranged differently in the pilot. In the pilot Blanche's room is where the porch is and then the series put her room on the other side of the house. The pilot also had a gay chef and housekeeper that disappears and is never mentioned again. The entire premise of the pilot was a blended family. In season 1 most of it is boys vs girls which sort of reminds everyone its a blended family. But soon that is gone.

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

Originally Posted by BestTVever

Yes the pilot was definitely a different house. But when the series was picked up its pretended that it was the original house. I will have to check for the TV thing next time that episode is on. It seems like it was more fodder to convince everyone the house was haunted. In the end not everything is explained. Who was making the man moaning sound?
The inconsistency I am most fascinated with is after the first season its assumed and pretended that the brothers and sisters are not related and its a blended family. They never refer to each other as a step brother or step sister. When Greg is practicing his guitar upstairs the dad comes home and the Carol is downstairs. They both comment how good Greg is playing guitar. Then Carol says something like "talent comes from my side of the family." In another episode Jan is seeking Peter's help with something rather than helping another girl and Jan says "Peter, blood is thicker than water."

To be fair, very few pilots have consistencies of the series. For example the Golden Girls house is arranged differently in the pilot. In the pilot Blanche's room is where the porch is and then the series put her room on the other side of the house. The pilot also had a gay chef and housekeeper that disappears and is never mentioned again. The entire premise of the pilot was a blended family. In season 1 most of it is boys vs girls which sort of reminds everyone its a blended family. But soon that is gone.

As far as the moaning and other strange sounds, Greg admitted to making them with the tape recorder, but that scene may have been cut in the version you saw. Beware of watching on Pluto, which both lists episodes out of order and butchers them.

You have some good points about the blended family thing. As far as the kids using "Mom/Dad/brother/sister" I don't have a problem with it as it is plainly stated that each parent adopted the other's children. It would have helped if there had been an actual scene with a judge as in the movie Yours, Mine, and Ours. I have reason to believe such a scene was planned or even filmed as I have seen pictures of the kids standing outside a courtroom or judge's door. Can anyone who is more expert on the series confirm this? Was such a scene filmed and just never used, possibly to avoid similarities to this movie, the makers of which were grumbling about the series, or just due to time constraints?

I believe the only time "step" words were used was in "Every Boy Does It Once," in which Carol tells Bobby that the only steps in this house were those which would take him up to his room. When Carol says Marcia seems to feel she is Dracula's daughter and Mike says, "That makes me Dracula," I think that is fair enough as he has legally adopted Marcia. As far as actual blood relationships or heredity being claimed by the adoptive siblings or parents, that gets a little weird. Also in the episode where Greg gets the attic and Marcia cries about being born late, it might be appropriate for her to point out that she was the oldest before Greg came on the scene, but it's not mentioned. Once in awhile in the first season they mention they haven't been a family for long but after that it pretty much disappears. Perhaps they intended to show that the family adjusted to the blending. It also helped that the families were similar to begin with. There were no wildly different rules or parenting styles to contend with.

[Dude111]

Lots of interesting things about it!

[BestTVever]

Originally Posted by Cori aka ChrisSCrush

As far as the moaning and other strange sounds, Greg admitted to making them with the tape recorder, but that scene may have been cut in the version you saw. Beware of watching on Pluto, which both lists episodes out of order and butchers them.

You have some good points about the blended family thing. As far as the kids using "Mom/Dad/brother/sister" I don't have a problem with it as it is plainly stated that each parent adopted the other's children. It would have helped if there had been an actual scene with a judge as in the movie Yours, Mine, and Ours. I have reason to believe such a scene was planned or even filmed as I have seen pictures of the kids standing outside a courtroom or judge's door. Can anyone who is more expert on the series confirm this? Was such a scene filmed and just never used, possibly to avoid similarities to this movie, the makers of which were grumbling about the series, or just due to time constraints?

I believe the only time "step" words were used was in "Every Boy Does It Once," in which Carol tells Bobby that the only steps in this house were those which would take him up to his room. When Carol says Marcia seems to feel she is Dracula's daughter and Mike says, "That makes me Dracula," I think that is fair enough as he has legally adopted Marcia. As far as actual blood relationships or heredity being claimed by the adoptive siblings or parents, that gets a little weird. Also in the episode where Greg gets the attic and Marcia cries about being born late, it might be appropriate for her to point out that she was the oldest before Greg came on the scene, but it's not mentioned. Once in awhile in the first season they mention they haven't been a family for long but after that it pretty much disappears. Perhaps they intended to show that the family adjusted to the blending. It also helped that the families were similar to begin with. There were no wildly different rules or parenting styles to contend with.

I know that Greg admitted to using his tape recorder. But clearly it was not Greg LOL
Also would Alice and Carol not hear or know it was an tape recorder coming from the room and not echoing through the house like it sounded.
The TV going off and on is like the spooky moan. They are used to try and convince the viewer the house is really haunted. Then in the end we find out its the kids and all of it is not really explained. Just some logical explanations

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

Originally Posted by BestTVever

I know that Greg admitted to using his tape recorder. But clearly it was not Greg LOL
Also would Alice and Carol not hear or know it was an tape recorder coming from the room and not echoing through the house like it sounded.
The TV going off and on is like the spooky moan. They are used to try and convince the viewer the house is really haunted. Then in the end we find out its the kids and all of it is not really explained. Just some logical explanations

Tape recorders on The Brady Bunch did things they wouldn't in real life. Like in a later episode where the girls played a ghost prank on the boys, they hid a tape recorder in a trunk, but how did they press "play" to make it talk when they were nowhere near? Correct me if I missed something in that one.

[BestTVever]

Originally Posted by Cori aka ChrisSCrush

Tape recorders on The Brady Bunch did things they wouldn't in real life. Like in a later episode where the girls played a ghost prank on the boys, they hid a tape recorder in a trunk, but how did they press "play" to make it talk when they were nowhere near? Correct me if I missed something in that one.

Marcia says they ran the cord out the window down to the girls room. I assume the tape recorder was already on and only had to plug it in. But how did the boys not see the extension cord out from the trunk, on the floor, and out the window?


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