To Move or Not to Move - S1-E23
Plot hole: The "unexplained noises" (the strange moaning) heard by Carol and Alice could not be heard so loud and clear from the room they are standing in (like we hear in the show). Greg later admitted the noises were on a tape recorder, which he had to have operated, and since he wasn't in their room, the sound would be lower and from another room in the house. Definitely not like how it appeared to them in the show.
Suggested correction: Greg could have used an extension cord, left the tape recorder in one room and plugged it in to play when he wanted to. That's what I did to my younger sister to make her think a monster lived under her bed; she heard it "breathing" when she was alone in the room.
That partially makes sense. Greg could not control when to start the tape because he has to be in the room to hit play. So the only way this could possibly be correct is if he played the tape before Carol and Alice entered the room, and he recorded it with several minutes of dead air before the noises came on, and left it running the entire time.
Only problem with this theory is, Carol and Alice heard it from at least two different rooms in the house at different times. How could Greg have set up the recorder and played it in advance, before knowing what room they'd be in each time?
The Impractical Joker - S2-E13
Corrected entry: Alice calls the exterminator for them to come out to the house but never gives them an address.
Correction: Alice calls the Zap-It Exterminator Co, and says, "This is the Brady residence, you did a termite inspection for us a while back," then Alice ends the call with, "Yes, I'll be waiting." So the Zap-It exterminators already have their address on file from the termite inspection.
Despite Alice telling them 'it's the Brady residence', there could have been a dozen or so residents in the area last named Brady. So there'd be no way of knowing which one was actually calling, as doubtful they had caller ID or call tracer in 1970.
But it's entirely believable that this specific exterminator might only have worked for one Brady household, and therefore knows who's calling.
Question: In season 2, there were 5 episodes made without one of the kids appearing in the episode. (Marcia, Jan, Cindy, Peter, and Bobby were each absent one episode). What was the reason behind this?
Answer: Much trivia has been written about "The Brady Bunch, " including the various interrelationships and dynamics among the members of the cast. For example, much has been written about why Robert Reed's Mike Brady did not appear in a couple of episodes, including the series finale, due to rancorous creative and artistic differences with series creator, Sherwood Schwartz. However, in contrast, I have never run across any reasons given why a particular child did not appear in specific episodes - only that the episodes were missed. This suggests the causes were likely unexceptional, such as illness, injuries, vacations, or real-life family obligations.
Although those options ARE possible reasons, it just seems a bit ironic that this happened all in Season 2 ONLY and within a short amount of nearly consecutive episodes. Never happened during the other 5 years of the show at all.
Answer: According to Lloyd Schwartz, in the book he wrote with his dad, Paramount studios made the decision to remove one child from each episode to save money. Sherwood Schwartz eventually told the studio that this was a mistake because "viewers have their favorites." The practice was eventually stopped.
Other mistake: When the boys are playing football in the backyard, watch Greg's right foot - at one point he slips on the Astroturf lawn, causing it to wrinkle and exposing a seam on the "grass" lawn. (00:03:20)
Suggested correction: At no time in the show did they affirm the grass in the backyard is real. Many houses, particularly out west where the show takes place, have artificial grass as it's often easier than caring for real grass which tends to dry up easily out west or not grow at all in some areas. Even in A Very Brady Renovation they made sure to use artificial grass for the backyard.
The grass is supposed to be real. There are several episodes where they are mowing the lawn.
But the renovation show was in 2019. In the early 70s artificial grass was only starting to be adopted in sports stadiums. Not used in homes until many years later.
My Sister, Benedict Arnold - S3-E5
Question: In this episode Marcia dates Greg's rival Warren Mulany. I noticed in the credits the actor's name was Gary Rist, is he related to Robbie Rist who played Oliver?
Answer: Robbie Rist told me personally they are not related at all.
Chosen answer: Since Robbie Rist has no brothers, the answer would have to be no.
How about cousins with their fathers being brothers? I'd have to say... May be related? Yep.
Question: There's a scene in this episode I haven't seen in over 30 years (edited out in more recent years) where the 4 kids upstairs are arguing (boys vs girls) and the kids continuously stamp their feet on the floor and then Alice is shown downstairs watching her cake in the oven. Periodically with all the stomping from upstairs, the cake gets flatter until very flat the end of the scene. Question is does anyone remember this scene and why does the cake in the oven get flatter every time a kid stomps from upstairs?
Answer: I think I remember that episode - but, more importantly, my mother always told me (and my siblings) to stop jumping/ stomping, running in the kitchen, and opening the oven door when a cake was baking... because these could make the cake fall. I believed my mother... and I, as a child, also caused a few "fallen cakes" because I didn't quite always listen (right away, anyway). I'm sure Alice's fallen cake episode was exaggerated, but cakes really CAN fall from stomps and opening the oven door too soon. Usually, it has something to do with the baking powder and how the air bubbles change during the baking process. Doing something that might cause the oven and cake inside to move/shake can suddenly change the air bubbles inside the cake and cause a collapse. I don't know all factors that have to occur for a cake to fall (collapse in the middle), but I've seen fallen cakes during my adulthood and... well... caused at least a few myself. Regarding Alice's cake falling each time one of the Brady kids stomped upstairs, I'm not sure if a series of falls could occur. IF it is possible, I think there would have to be way too much baking powder in the batter or some other inaccurate combination of ingredients that alter the chemical process during baking.
Answer: Realistically, a cake would not deflate in that way. There are some desserts, like delicate, airy souffles, that can deflate during and after baking, and that must be served almost immediately from the oven. The scene, broadly played for humor, is merely meant to show the argument's growing intensity gauged against the rate of the deflating cake.
Answer: I haven't come across a scene like that, but maybe over time what you remember got mixed up with episodes of other shows, so this is just a suggested episode. "Try, Try Again." In the episode, Mike is preparing a gourmet meal for Saturday. Jan is practicing tap dancing in the kitchen and his soufflé that he had spent 3 days preparing is knocked to the floor. While it is true soufflés can "fall" (meaning deflate), it's because the cooking time was wrong (or opening the oven door too soon) or the structure of the egg whites is too weak. Noises don't make them collapse.
This was not from "Try, Try Again" (though I do remember that scene too). That was in a later season when the kids were older. The one I was talking about was during the first season when all the kids were young. I know the scene in question were the 4 youngest kids and the scene started by each the boys and girls arguing that Greg/Marcia (running for student body president) doesn't stand a chance against him/her to win (boys for Greg, girls for Marcia).
That's "Vote for Brady", s01e11. I watched it and for some reason Carol tells Mike to be careful, after he makes too much noise, indicating noise will ruin the cake. Alice does keep checking on the cake with the oven light every time the kids make too much noise. However, the cake is always fine, and in fact getting bigger. Then, realizing the cake is fine, Alice is relieved and leans against the counter, knocking over the cutting board. The cutting board crashes to the ground, which this time does cause the cake to flatten. It seems like an exaggerated prop, I've never see a cake rise like that, it looks like how a muffin might rise. Then it's somehow deflated, as if it was hollow, like a puffed pastry, or too raw. If it was too raw, it shouldn't flatten in the oven. But the look of the cake doesn't remind me of any puffed pasty, which is made from a dough, not a batter and the cake looks like a batter cake to me. So, it just deflates for irony or comedy of error reasons.
