Maureen McCormick on Love Boat 1980

Danny Dates A Rabbi's Daughter

In order to impress a girl,  Danny Partridge lies and tells her he is Jewish. He arrives at a Purim festival, where he meets her father, who is the local rabbi. 

Can you imagine this story EVER happening on The Brady Bunch? They would never use the word Jewish, let alone a Brady Boy wear a yarmulke.  The Bradys lived in an odd, vague, generic world. Real life seldom entered their orbit. While they occasionally ventured out, it was a family comedy, where everything was handled in the family, and usually indoors. Even their backyard was indoors. When The Bradys went to square dance at a hoedown, we only saw them coming home from it.  We saw the Purim Festival that Danny attended. This kept the family inside the confines of their home set (and was also cheaper to film). They truly were the last of the old style 50s sitcoms.  While The Partridges lived in San Pueblo, Ca., My Three Sons was set in Bryant Park, and Family Affair was set in New York City.  The Bradys lived in an unnamed, non specified American town, that was clearly southern California.  Everyone knew it but them.  The Andersons on Father Knows Best, lived in a place called Springfield.  Beaver lived in Mayfield. Those locations were vague, and unclear, but they had a name. The Bradys town had no name. I don't know why this was their style, or who dictated it.  It's style matches Sherwood Schwartz earlier TV work. Perhaps this lack of specificity created an inoffensiveness that kept so many people loyal for all these decades.

Other Things A Brady Would Never Do

Robbie Douglas meets a Chinese girl whose culture and language is an obstacle. 1964

Laurie Partridge at a make-out spot with a date. 1971

Chris and Tracy Partridge read one of Rueben's magazines. 1972

Bill Davis confronts a bully's father...

where they end up throwing punches at each other. 1967

                                      

Random TV Guide Covers

Hazel 1962

Our Miss Brooks 1955 

Florence Henderson The Today Show 1960

Jo de Winter (“Dear Libby”) Frasier 1994

rand

Cutting Corners

This scene in Mike's Den in "The  Power Of The Press" was clearly done in a hurry.  Rather than reset the camera and lights for the reverse angle for Chris Knight's close-up, the actors themselves just changed position. The same curtain and window are behind both of them. So many factors could have contributed to this decision. Also, when working with children they can only work a certain number of  hours a day, so this would save a lot of time, and money. 

When watching film and TV, there is a suspension of disbelief takes over, and this can go unnoticed, but if you look, it's pretty silly.  In the Chris Knight shot, there is no window on that side of the room, and I'm not sure why they didn't take Mike's desk out of the frame.

Brady fans know exactly what this room looks like, but here is a shot, from the same episode, of that side of the room.