Hello again friends, family and readers. I hope all the readers from the USA had a great Thanksgiving! I really appreciate your joining me this week to review “The Power Of The Press”. I had forgotten what a good episode this was. The ones focusing on Peter tended to be the ones I found most entertaining. This episode’s main plot takes the story beyond the walls of the Brady home and gives us a memorable guest star. Let’s get started reviewing “The Power Of The Press”!
Like so many episodes before it, this one starts with one of the kids arriving home from school with exciting news. Last week when Bobby ran inside, it was noticed the curtains passed through the glass. This week, I noticed they outright disappear! As Peter enters the house, we see the curtains, but when he is inside closing the door they have vanished! This may have happened many times before, but wasn’t noticed by me until now. Once inside, Peter shares the exciting news with Carol and Alice that he was picked, from a lot of guys who applied, to be the new reporter for the school’s newspaper. He will be penning a column titled “The Whole Truth” under the moniker Scoop Brady.
The power of the press is felt quickly among the members of the Brady family as Peter commandeers everyone’s pencils, erasers and carbon paper. Carol shares with Mike that Peter will now be using his “old brown hat”. I can’t see that Mike would have much use for it as we have never seen him wearing a fedora. Also, that thing doesn’t even fit Peter’s child sized head; surely it was way too small for Mike’s noggin too.
The episode’s most questionable parenting decision comes in the next scene. Peter is working on his column in the family room when Bobby and Cindy enter wanting to watch TV. Peter tells them he is now to be called “Scoop” instead of Peter. Bobby gives a funny reply of, “More like stoop”. Peter doesn’t want the youngest Bradys in the family room watching TV while he tries to work. An argument erupts and Mike comes to intervene. Peter argues he must work near the phone in case a hot story comes in. Mike should have replied, “If there is any late breaking news impacting the Junior High school, one of us will call you to the phone” or better yet, “Peter, this is a junior high school newspaper, not the Los Angeles Times. It will be printed once a week at best. Take your work upstairs.” Instead Mike sends Cindy and Bobby upstairs and says when a member of the family finds something important to him or her, the other family members must make sacrifices. A good reply from Bobby here would have been, “Why not let him use your den dad?”
The next scene begins with Marcia and Jan having a puppet show rehearsal. They will be “ribbing” the teachers a bit on Jamboree Night by having the puppets portray them. Let’s hope that only a very small crowd is planned for the event as these puppets are too small 
to be viewed from any distance. Perhaps Jan and Marcia were going to mingle among the crowd and perform with the puppets. Peter enters and is suffering from writer’s block. Peter says he hasn’t finished his article yet and upon seeing the blank sheet of paper Jan says he hasn’t started it either. This was a funny line. In this scene, I noticed Jan’s glasses have lenses. This was not the case in previous episodes. A known Hollywood filming device is to have bespectacled characters wear frames without lenses to prevent reflection. This was done on previous episodes of The Brady Bunch, but not here. Also readers, this is the last reference that I will make acknowledging Jan wearing her glasses. Had it not been for the lenses, I would have skipped even this one.
The previous scene had Marcia and Jan giving Peter suggestions for the topic of his article. He took them to heart and has finished his piece. Alice and Greg are giving it a once over and are not impressed with Peter’s work. After gently saying it is dull, Alice suggests Peter appeal to the vanity of those he wrote about by really talking up their efforts. Greg makes a very good point as shares that Peter did not name a single student in his article and that kids like seeing their names in the paper. Peter mentioned at the beginning of the episode that he beat out some classmates for this position with the school paper. If he has such trouble finding a topic and then struggles to write an interesting article, one must ponder what criteria were used to pick him as the new reporter. Was it based on English grades alone (proper use of punctuation, sentence structure, etc)?
Once again, the same establishing shot of the school used so many times before is used to introduce the next scene. It is a bit shorter this time and might even be framed differently. Just like the mentioning of Jan’s glasses, this too will be the last time I point out this establishing shot being reused. The producers of this show sure got their money’s worth out of the location shot they filmed back in season one.
The power of the press’s potential to corrupt a body is made known in the hallways of Fillmore Junior High School. It all starts when Peter is approached by a girl named Iris. The nice things he said about her in his article resulted in her being picked to be yell leader (maybe yellier?). I could not quite make out what she was saying. One student’s 
opinion got her the job? I Googled yell leader and yellier; yell leader seems to be a role limited to Texas A&M University and yellier produced no results. Readers, if any of you know what position Peter’s flattering words gained Iris, please let us know. So grateful is she that she is taking Peter to the malt shop after school. Harvey is the next student to grease Peter’s palm. Peter wrote about what a great dancer Harvey is and is given a box of candy bars. The girls are beating down his door with the knowledge of his dancing prowess. Did Fillmore Junior High have a dance team or a dance recital that Harvey was part of? Or did Harvey just own the floor at some school dance? 1972 was a different (and better) time as if a boy at my middle school was hailed a great dancer, he’d have just been laughed at and not had the ladies flocking to him. Next, Diane approaches Peter in the hallway. His writing about her singing got her a solo at the next performance. She shares with him she will soon be having a super party and he is at the top of the guest list.
During these scenes, the above poster is seen on the school bulletin board. Was this to warn students and teachers that students were hiding knives in common items brought to school? I Googled the term and found nothing about any school clubs, old sayings or even PSAs about “daggers in disguise”. If any reader can share more about this, please do so.
The kids corrupting Peter were played by Jennifer Reilly, Bobby Riha and Angela Satterwhite. This was Jennifer Reilly’s second and final appearance onscreen per IMDB. This one came some six years after her previous one. A Google search produced no further information. Bobby Riha’s film career was limited mostly to television. He was a regular on The Debbie Reynolds show and appeared on other hit shows such as Green Acres and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. His final appearance was in 1976 on an episode of Quincy M.F. Today he works as a freelance photojournalist. His photography website makes no mention of his past acting. This episode was one of two appearances on The Brady Bunch for Angela Satterwhite. She had previously appeared twice on Room 222 and IMDB gives her final acting appearance on a 1974 episode of That’s My Momma. Google offered no additional information about her.
The next scene has Peter calling a friend in search of his next story. As Mike enters the kitchen, Peter quickly switches gears and gives the ruse of calling his friend with a question about schoolwork. Peter fake questions the definition of osmosis. Mike and Peter briefly discuss the upcoming final exams. Peter looks up the meaning of osmosis after Mike walks away. Here it is obvious that the power of the press has seen Peter neglecting his studies.
Knowing his own dire straits, Peter seeks the assistance of Greg and Marcia in studying for Mr. Price’s science exam. Mr. Price has the reputation of being a challenging and somewhat aloof teacher. While he knows science well, his ability to teach it can be off putting to the students. Marcia and Greg suggest rhymes that help in remembering definitions. The scene ends with Marcia holding the Mr. Price puppet and stops in a freeze frame on the doll’s head.
The scene then transfers to a freeze frame of Mr. Price himself. The writers wrote this guy to be one who marches to his own beat, but is no fool or absent minded professor. He does have the curious trait of speaking with his head angled down and looking up at Peter. Peter asks if he is finished grading the exams. He replies he has not and adds “As is my customary procedure, I grade the papers alphabetically, I’m presently up to L.” For me it was just s strange and labored line; why would he explain all that to Peter? I guess it was to setup the humorous line that follows as Peter laments that Mr. Price being at L means his paper was graded. Mr. Price commends Peter on his keen analytical deduction and how it was better than those he made on the exam. Mr. Price states his 
disappointment in Peter as Peter learns he got a D on his exam. I wonder if teachers like Mr. Price still teach in public schools today. There was a time when a teacher was respected and listened to simply because he/she was the teacher. While I am sure this is still true in many schools, I know that in many it is not. Today, teachers must master communication with students as it seems the burden is on him/her to hold the student’s attention (and no longer the student’s to pay attention). They must administer classroom discipline in an effort to have the students adhere to manners and standards not taught at home. They must also stay on top of government testing standards. All this must be done while still teaching the subject. I have immense respect for those in the teaching profession.
Peter arrives home and for the second time this episode deceives a parent. Carol inquires about his grade for the science final. He tells the truth in that all the papers are not yet graded, but is untruthful in inferring that his was among those not yet grading. To the teenage mind, I can see how this might not be viewed as dishonest or deceptive (despite it being so). He tells Carol he is sure he didn’t get an A and she replies she will settle for an A-minus. I suppose it is nice that Carol has high expectations for the kids, but at the same time, this teacher was known to be tough, so she might be setting the bar kind of high, even if Peter had studied diligently. He had only a B in the first half of the semester.
Upstairs, Peter shoos Bobby and Cindy away with a candy bar from the box of them given to him by Harvey. After Peter explains their origin, he realizes the power of the press sometimes motivates people to give things to others. He gets the foolish idea that flattering remarks in the school newspaper about the stuffy and all business Mr. Price might see him give Peter a better grade. He queries Greg for some flattering adjectives for his “special column” dedicated to Mr. Price.
Over in the girls’ room, Marcia and Jan are practicing the puppet show. Jan says she can still see Marcia’s lips move when she talks. It appears the performance has morphed from a puppet show to a ventriloquist act. Greg interrupts the practice to share Peter’s column with Marcia and Jan. They all get a good laugh at Peter’s comparing Mr. Price to Washington and Lincoln. Mike enters and asks if based on the laughter, they have an Art Buchwald in the family. I had to look the name up, but he was a known humorist with a newspaper column at one time. The kids share with Mike what a dull teacher Mr. Price is. Greg says while he isn’t a bad teacher, he has problems getting through to the kids.
In the next scene, Carol finds Peter’s exam. She and Mike discuss Peter’s bad grade and Mike realizes Peter’s flattering words came to be after he received the bad grade. This leads to the episode’s “talking to”. Mike shares with Peter that the power of the press brings with it a responsibility to be truthful. It is a good talk between the two and a good lesson for the episode. Peter questions what he should do next and Mike replies, “I’m sure you will think of something.” This was a well written and well acted scene that concludes with Mike knowing Peter got the message and knows to do the right thing.
Peter pays a visit to Mr. Price the next day. He shares with him the column that is coming out and how he didn’t mean Mr. Price was the greatest teacher, just fantastic. Mr. Price replies with only a suspicious look. Peter tries to amend his flattery to just the description of terrific. Again, Mr. Price’s look indicates he calls malarkey on Peter’s comments. It was a funny and well acted scene. Mr. Price makes Peter aware that he has all ready seen the column. It is a nice scene where when the honesty finally comes forth, Mr. Price is grateful to know how the students receive his teaching. Peter explains a bit further that he often talks over the students’ heads and this results in part of the detachment. Mr. Price says both he and Peter have learned something from the experience. I wish there could be more conversations like this between adults and young people. It was a really well done scene. It ends with a humorous note as Peter is assured he will receive the grade he deserves and Peter replies, “I was afraid of that.”
Mr. Price was played by Milton Parsons. His acting career spanned five decades. IMDB lists many uncredited roles for him. For those for which he was credited, he often played the part of a butler, clerk or one employed in the end-of-life industry. No recurring television role could be found for him despite his long career. His final on camera appearance was in a 1977 TV movie. Milton Parsons died in 1980.
Peter approaches Mike in the den and tells him that he went to Mr. Price and talked to him about the article. Peter has resolved that he will from now on be an honest and truthful reporter who does not accept gifts from friends and readers. Peter says he feels much better about the situation and Mike says he does too. In a funny line, Peter asks if he could maintain those good feelings until his science grade comes out.
The epilogue begins with Mike signing all the kids’ report cards. There were 12 As, 29 Bs and 7 Cs. What follows is Mike smooching on Carol and her grading his kisses. On his third attempt, he gets an A and they continue making out as the camera does a freeze frame. This is the only time I recall seeing this used in the epilogue. It was also another nice dose of the Robert Reed/Florence Henderson chemistry that worked so well.
Thank you for reviewing “The Power Of The Press” with me. It is a fun and solid episode with a decent story. It also took us beyond the walls of the Brady home for a large part of the episode and those episodes always tended to be more interesting. Next week we will review “Sergeant Emma”. I remember the plot well enough, but very little about the episode itself. Your thoughts and comments are most welcome! Have a great weekend!
Here's The Story: Every Episode of The Brady Bunch Reviewed 
Peter: “Next Year’s Gonna be so nice. I won’t have to worry about Mr. Price!”
This episode is another great one and really shows the positive impact on The Brady Bunch when it focused on more serious themes, such as in this case honesty and integrity. Milton Parson’s was brilliant as Mr. Price! I wish that more Brady Bunch episodes could have been written about the kids concerning problems at school and establishing effective communication with their teachers. I also know at least two instances where people have defined primate exactly as Greg tells him what it is and they remembered it for their own biology courses! “A Primate has the size and shape of a monkey, a man, or any old ape!” How many of you had a teacher like Mr. Price?
As a member of The Brady Bunch IMDB board, I thought of an idea. We had someone freeze the DVD of this episode on the science test, and blow up the questions to make them readable. We all thought they were HARD! Interestingly enough, the exam, like most test shown on TV is only one page long. It would have been more realistic to have maybe a four or five page exam so that it looks like a final exam and not a quiz. It is possible that their were other parts to the final that may have been essay questions written on another sheet, where students would enter their answers into a blue book. If there were more multiple-choice questions, a scan-tron sheet could have been used. If the exam only had for example 30 questions, there would be very little margin for error, as most schools before college never graded on a curve. In this example, your grade goes down very quickly with only missing a few questions. I can see how Mr. Price had maybe too much knowledge and insight to be teaching an eighth grade science course. This is a strict, and very by-the-book teacher! You wonder if Mr. Price was able to communicate with his students better after talking to Peter, and Peter explaining his frustration? Or was Mr. Price so set in his ways of teacher for many years that he could not bring his knowledge down so that eighth-graders could understand?
I think Milton Parsons was in some horror movies, but he will ALWAYS be Mr. Price to me. One of the most memorable sitcom roles in classic TV history of all time!
Jack
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts Jack! I hadn’t considered the brevity of the final exam. It looked to be a test where words were matched to their definition. That seems surprisingly easy for a teacher of Mr. Price’s reputation! Mr. Price tells Peter they both learned something from the experience, so perhaps he did communicate better with students thereafter. I myself never had a teacher like Mr. Price until college.
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I have lived my entire life in the same area where Art Buchwald lived. I had a few experiences with him, particularly at sporting events. He once sat behind me at a baseball game.
Another time I was at a hockey game and was walking quickly through the concourse of the arena, looking in a different direction. I smacked into some dude with white hair and big eye glasses who proceeded to belligerently told me to not be an idiot while walking. I barked back that he should also look where he is going as there are a lot of people around. I was informed about 10 seconds later by someone who witnessed the hostile exchange who he was.
Art Buchwald also wrote a screenplay called It’s a Crude Crude World which was about a rich African young man who comes to America looking for a wife. He planned to have Eddie Murphy play the main role. That never happened but Eddie Murphy’s eventual hit, Coming To America, resulting in an ugly legal battle of plagiarism between Buchwald and Murphy and the studios.
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Thanks for sharing that!
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1) I never noticed the curtains disappearing in the opening scene. I’ve always looked for them to go through the glass, but never noticed that they are totally gone when viewed from the inside of the home. And in all of the Brady discussion boards/forums I’ve ever seen, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone point that out. Great catch!
2) After fantasizing about winning a Pulitzer prize, Pete says there’s one thing he needs to do first…learn how to type.
Wait a minute, you got a job as the lead reporter for the school paper, and you don’t know how to type?? Well, I guess that makes sense in a way…this is the same school that cast Harold as “Romeo” (Juliet is the Sun)
3) It was kind of funny the way they played out Peter’s stealing everyone’s supplies… first Marcia, then Greg then Mike. Then Carol says to Mike “don’t go looking for your hat”… hey Carol, did you mean the hat he’s never worn?
4) Lol I don’t know when Mike would have ever had use for the hat. That was more 1950s (and earlier) than even the late 60s. I’m not sure if I’m correct on this, but I’ve always assumed those hats were worn more in the big cities like New York, and were worn because of cold weather. My dad did have a hat when he worked in New York City, I’m not sure how often he actually wore it. And you’re right, that thing would have never fit Mike as an adult. One has to believe that Robert Reed would have noticed that and said something.
5) I totally agree, Mike’s kicking Bobby and Cindy out of the family room so Peter can be near the phone was definitely one of the worst parenting decisions yet. It would have been a perfect time to explain to Peter that being a “reporter” doesn’t give him special privileges…but no, he buys Peter’s ridiculous “logic” about having to be near the phone in case a story comes in. Cindy had at least as good an argument that the family room was next to the kitchen in case the kids wanted a snack. Gee Mike, why not run a phone extension to the boys’ room? Peter does sleep up there, doesn’t he? We wouldn’t want him to be away from the phone would we? Better yet, should he sleep in the family room? You never know from where or at what time, day or night, a scoop could come in. I think a phone in the bathroom would have helped too…suppose Peter was brushing his teeth and he got a call? I mean, I can understand Peter’s enthusiasm for his reporting job, but Mike’s going along with it to the extent he did was just crazy.
6) Lol at your Bobby comment “why not let him use your den, Dad?” Perfect!
7) I don’t know why Marcia and Jan felt the need to hide behind a living room couch when they were rehearsing their little puppet show. Nobody was watching them rehearse. And as you pointed out, it was apparently going to be a ventriloquist act, since Marcia later complained about how difficult it was to talk without moving your mouth. Of course, it’s a Jr. High Jamboree night, I doubt anyone would have expected professional quality ventriloquism. And I don’t think I really buy these kids being able to make puppets of that quality. Maybe there were toy stores that sold hand puppets and they tried to find ones that most resembled the teachers they were “ribbing”. Either that or the Jr. High “Art Department” made the puppets (same dept that made the Davy Jones banner)
8) Good catch on Jan’s lenses!
9) Greg’s idea about getting kids’ names into the articles was definitely spot on. Especially in that day and age, when newspapers were the only game in town. It was cool to see your name in the paper, whether it was for sports, theater or something that happened at school. Personally, I didn’t care about the school paper as much, but getting your name in the local paper was a big deal.
10) When Alice tells Peter to appeal to kids’ “Vanity” Peter doesn’t know what “vanity” is…so Alice explains that it’s what makes women with size 12 feet wear size 8 shoes… that’s a pretty sorry explanation, and it would have meant absolutely nothing to Peter at that time. What would his next article be? “What sweet young thing has size twelve feet but wears size eight shoes?”
11) I thought I heard “Yell Leader” too… heck if I know what that is though.
12) The only “boxes” of candy bars I ever saw as a kid where the kind of bars the kids had to sell to raise money for something. No kid I knew ever had a box of candy bars just lying around, let alone to give to a friend simply for putting your name in a Jr. High “newspaper”.
13) How is it that apparently none of the girls in the school were aware of what a great dancer Harvey was until Peter’s article came out? I know the scene made it obvious that he’s not much of a dancer, but the girls at the school would surely have known that he was nothing to write home about, and that the article was a fraud.
14) “Diane” gets a solo on Jamboree Night because of Peter’s article? There are only two possibilities to her having a solo…either 1) she had to audition and was picked, or (2) they let everybody do whatever they want; if you want to solo, feel free. So how could Peter’s column have anything to do with it? It was cute when she told Pete that he’s the first person on her guest list for her next party, and she gives him a friendly little “punch” in the shoulder.
15) When Peter switches his phone conversation to schoolwork upon Mike’s entering the kitchen, Mike says he’s been worried that Peter has been neglecting his studies. If this is true Mike, why haven’t you brought it up before? Clearly, Peter had not been studying, so if Mike (and/or Carol) had noticed this, he should have said something much earlier. Wonder why Peter didn’t have any “progress reports” sent home, he clearly was not keeping up with his studies. Mike and Carol should have known that they would need to keep an eye on Peter since everyone could see how much time he was putting into his reporting.
16) “A vertebrate has a back that straight”. Problem here is, “invertebrate” also rhymes with “straight”. As a matter of fact, so does “Primate”.
Here are some more rhymes..
A primate has a back that’s straight.
An invertebrate has the size and shape of a monkey, a man, or any old ape!
Yikes! Sometimes their stupid rhymes can be far more confusing than just learning the material!
17) Mr. Price couldn’t have been that bad of a teacher, it seems obvious that enough kids got through his class over the years without all of them failing…but you’re right, he seemed to be teaching things that were beyond Jr. High level, even for those days.
18) Peter asks Mr. Price if getting a “D” on a final exam will have a big effect on his grade for the semester… Mr. Price should have said “I’ll give you two guesses Peter, and the first one doesn’t count”.
19) Alice was pretty funny with the “French” puppet she was playing with (in the girls’ room when Marcia and Jan walked in on her). I wonder if she was actually speaking French words… sure sounded like it
20) When Greg reads Peter’s article, he asks Peter “Do you mean Mr. Price, the science teacher?”. No Greg, he meant Mr. Price, the District Attorney… of course he meant the science teacher!
21) Greg explains to Mike that Mr. Price doesn’t communicate well with the kids, one reason being that he tells jokes in Latin… Somehow, Mr. Price doesn’t strike me as being a joke-telling kind of teacher, Latin or otherwise.
22) Mike tells Carol that Peter’s article about Mr. Price made him sound like a “cross between Albert Einstein and Albert Schweizer”. I’ll bet that not a single kid watching the Brady Bunch at the time had any idea who Albert Schweizer was. (But I’ll bet Aunt Jenny knows him!)
23) Peter puts the graded science test in his jacket pocket… come on Peter, how dumb can you get? Of course it’s gonna be found. Makes you wonder if Peter ever watched TV…if he did, he’d know you can’t hide a bad test in a jacket pocket.
24) When Peter didn’t know why Mr. Price already had a copy of the article, Mr. Price explained that an editor has to verify factual data in an article before it’s printed… if that’s true, how’d the editor verify what a great dancer Harvey was? Or what a great singer Diane was? And why would the editor even bother Mr Price with such a ridiculous article anyway, instead of asking Peter why the heck he wrote it in the first place? If I was the editor, instead of going to Mr. Price, I’d ask Peter “OK Pete, what’s up? Why’d you write this?”
25) Interesting info about Art Buchwald from Tripp… I knew the name Art Buchwald, i think his columns were printed in the NY Post that my Dad would bring home in the evenings… I didn’t get into political humor and satire until much later, so I’m sure I wouldn’t have read his columns at the time… he was around for a long time, and was later criticized for staying on too long (a lot of people thought he wasn’t funny anymore, kind of like Andy Rooney).
I do like this episode because it makes Peter own up to being a real stinker. And it does have some good humor in it as well… I think the BB really hit its stride in seasons 3 and 4. Great review, as always!
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Thanks Tweety! Your remarks about Peter’s phone access had me laughing out loud. Your comments were full of other laughs too. As always, thanks for your insight!
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Diane says because of Peter’s article, she was asked to sing solo. To me this means the person in charge of talent (in this school it would be three student girls) didn’t know about Diane and because of this asked Diane to sing.
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I enjoyed the review, as well as Tweety’s comments about it. Thank you for your comments about teachers, every one of which is quite true.
I think that the material covered on the exam is perfectly appropriate for an eighth grade class. We tend to forget when we learned which things and when.
The fedora was indeed out of date by that time, generally speaking, but one still saw middle-aged and older men wear heavy fedoras in cold weather. Lighter fedoras were in style from the twenties through the sixties, for men of all ages, in warmer weather, and heavier fedoras were donned in the winter. But men of a certain age continued to wear heavier fedoras in cold weather in the seventies—think of the Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart Shows for examples. What Mike Brady would be doing with one at that time and place is a mystery indeed.
I would also have liked more interactions with teachers. But I do look forward to Cousin Emma, one of my very favorite episodes!
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Thanks for the fashion history! I wished people still dressed up like they used to.
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A Brady Blooper! (And DVD Restoration thoughts.)
Most syndicated prints take out the scene of Alice with the puppets and Cindy and Bobby downstairs watching TV when he is working on his article and they are all yelling at each other. The blooper is when Peter offers some of his candy bars to Bobby and Cindy. Bobby’s shirt changes colors, in what looks like a back up negative print, where the original had been removed long ago. Than, Bobby’s shirt goes back to its original color.
When Paramount did the Brady Bunch DVD’s they could not find the original prints for some scenes that had been cut long ago for syndication, so they had to use back up negatives for some entire scenes to restore the episodes to their original lengths. With very few exceptions, such as one line missing from “Pass The Taboo” and the fill in squares gone from “Love and the Older Man” they appeared to have succeeded. When you see a noted color graininess in a Brady Bunch print on the DVD or on METV, which is now using DVD prints, that is a back up print of a scene.
Look for several noted restored scenes with the noted color changes in the following Brady Bunch episodes:
1.) Father of the Year
2.) The Personality Kid
3.) The Show Must Go On?
4.) Snow White and the Seven Brady’s
5.) The Cincinnati Kids. (Probably the most edited in syndication. If you haven’t seen the restored version, you haven’t seen this episode.)
Jack
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Great trivia! Thanks for sharing!
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In the early seasons of the series, I’ve always gotten a kick out of hearing the adults correct the children’s grammar. Before receiving his poor score, Peter says, “That sounds like I didn’t do so good.” Mr. Price replies, “You didn’t do so WELL, either.” Still LOL!
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Ernie, haha, I still say that to my students, when they say that they didn’t do good. And I always think of Mr. Price when I say it.
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Let’s do some math.
12 A’s…29 B’s…7 C’s. This totals to 48 grades. Across 6 kids is average of 8 grades/subjects each assuming one grade per each subject. No way – kids just don’t have that many classes/subjects…do they? This is based on my background only..does anybody disagree? Also we assume that Peter has one of the 7 C’s for science.
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I thought about that too. Bobby and Cindy might still be getting a grade for penmanship, conduct and music class at their grade level. That would be 7 grades. 8 for the other kids does seem excessive.
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When I was in middle school—or, as it is called in New York City, intermediate school—I had eight class grades: five major subjects (math, language arts, science, social studies, foreign language-mine was Italian) and three minor subjects: Drama, gym, and printing shop). Because I had several drama classes per week, it was actually counted as a major subject for my GPA, as was the case for kids who specialized in band, orchestra, chorus, art, creative writing, etc. So I never thought of that as an excessive number of grades for six kids, if the elective and other courses were included.
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Sounds like a heavy load for middle school. A beneficial one, but a lot of coursework.
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I went to a Catholic High School up here in suburban Vancouver which covered Grades 8-12. My high school years ran from 1995-2000.
We had 8 subjects per year with 5 classes a day when I was in eighth, ninth and tenth grade. We had Math, Social Studies, Physical Education, Science, English, French, Religion and one chosen elective with your choices being: Choir, Band, Art, Home Economics or Typing. At the time religious private schools in the Province Of British Columbia received minimal funding from the provincial government which is why we didn’t have a wider selection of electives such as wood shop or metal shop. Career & Personal Planning was also taught one period per week.
When I got to Grades 11-12 we still had 8 subjects although they changed the daily class load to 4 classes a day. We also had a much wider range of classes to choose from. We were required to have a Science class (chemistry, physics or science & technology) and a math class too. English, of course, was mandatory until Grade 12 as was Religion class.
If you received a failing grade in Grade 12 Religion class my school would NOT issue you a graduation diploma even if you received a passing grade in every other subject and had enough credits to graduate. However, the provincial government would still issue you one as long as you had a passing grade in English and the necessary amount of credits.
I will say though that Religion class was so easy that if you failed you were either not trying or you were dumber than Cindy Brady!
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Hey All,
Look closely at the exam paper numbers. What do you see printed there regarding the pencil marks, because I can’t make out what they are? The most logical would have been Peter’s answers via Multiple Choice A, B, C, D. But if that were the case, we would have those answers on a scan-tron sheet. (Fill in the circles.) Or they would be written by Peter on the left-hand side. The producers did a masterful job with the exam questions but as stated before:
1.) They should have added more sheets of paper to make it look like a science final.
2.) New observation: They should have had Peter’s multiple-choice answers to the left of the numbers.
Jack
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I noticed that too Jack. I was thinking what kind of test is this – I can’t even tell what Peter’s answers were. Thanks for confirming.
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My own observations,
While I had papers, quizzes and tests, getting into more “serious” learning (i,e actual homework and studying from fourth grade onward,) we had regular tests, assignments, papers, and quizzes, but I did not have Final Exams per say until high school. At that time, our school district was K-6, which was Elementary School, 7-9 was called Junior High and 10-12 was High School.
Today, our district is K-5 for Elementary School, 6-8 is now called “Middle School” and 9-12 is High School. We had final exams, but when I went to school. In high school final exams could not be counted for more than 20% of the final grade.
In college, we always had final exams, along with usually two mid terms, at least two- four medium to large papers and a lot of classes had discussion sections taught be T.A’s or teaching assistant. These were small group sections that meant once a week to review the most important points taught in lectures by the professors, and what was critical to know in assigned readings and any special research projects. A year in school up to and including high school was 36 weeks. Some middle school classes were semester classes so you only had half the time. In junior high we had small 9-week courses in Art, Music, Industrial Arts, and Home Ec. (Now generally called Consumer Living.) You took each unit throughout the four quarters of the year.
In college though, everything was semester-based and classes were done in about fifteen weeks. Much more to learn in less time, but most professors curved grades. Up to that point for me in school, grades were never curved.
Jack
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Wasn’t Marcia made editor of the school newspaper in the Marcia Marcia Marcia episode? She could have at least helped Peter in some way. There appears to be no continuity between these two episodes.
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I’ve wondered about that, too. Weird that it is forgotten here, but remembered in Marcia’s freshman day episode in season 4. Her being editor is mentioned when she looks over her shelf of awards and among them is one for editing the school paper.
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This was a good episode and I agree with most of you with the contents.
I know we will never know but when I see Mike and Carol kiss in bed, I wonder if Bob knew that Florence suspected that he was gay. Florence mentioned in her book she knew how to uh… make Bob not as nervous when they do kissing scenes and that she had suspected he was gay.
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I love the puppet. My own family has a decades-old ventriloquist’s dummy.
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Peter wanted to make his newspaper column, for school.
He didn’t do so good on the test, so he got a bad grade.
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Actually, I’ve just gone back and scrutinized three previous episodes — Dough Re Mi, Jan’s Aunt Jenny, and The Big Bet — and have found scenes in each where there are noticeable reflections in the lenses of Jan’s glasses. I believe “The Not-So-Rose-Colored Glasses” is the only episode where the frames alone were used.
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Here are 5 things I liked about this episode:
1. The fact that Peter wrote a column about Mr. Price.
2. “He’s the kind of guy, Dad, who tells the class jokes in Latin, and all semester only one kid laughed and he was Italian.” – Greg
3. Alice and Greg giving Peter tips on how to write articles.
4. The epilogue involves Mike improving his kisses to Carol.
5. Greg and Marcia try to help Peter study for his science exam.
Here are 5 things I disliked about this episode:
6. Mr. Price is a very dull teacher.
7. Peter spends more time being “Scoop Brady” than focusing on his academics.
8. Peter wearing Dad’s old fedora. Firstly, why would he need a fedora if he’s gonna be a news reporter? Secondly, the fedora doesn’t fit him!
9. Peter thinking that flattering Mr. Price will convince him to change Peter’s grade from a D to an A.
10. I have no problem with Jan wearing her glasses during this episode, but her glasses have lenses, hence we can see the reflections!
This is definitely one of my favorite “Peter” episodes of the Brady Bunch! The moral of the story is that it’s great to partake in extracurricular activities, but make sure you also focus on your academics!
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Back in high school, D meant we just passed (65-69). What was Peter worried about? When Greg got a F in math, how did that differ from a D? And when Peter wound up with a c, that’s bc he gotta B 1st semester so it evened out.
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I brought home a D once. Yes,I passed but I was in plenty of trouble. My parents didn’t tolerate crappy grades. They knew I could do better. In my defense, algebra was kicking my butt.
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Greg failed ONE test and that wasn’t a final. A final, as Mr Price noted, counts for a big part of the final grade.
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Peter really is a party animal. His dad says “all the parties you’ve been invited to”.
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Oscar Madison also wore a fedora around 1970. They were pretty dead after 1960 though.
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It seems a recurring theme with Peter based episodes. He unwittingly gets rewarded for something he’s done, at first is humble, but then when given an inch, he takes a mile. Just like when he saved the girl in the store. He starts off innocently enough but then it takes him over. Also did anyone notice Greg sitting a bit close to his ” sister” on the bed in the girls room? It almost looked like he had his arm around her.
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I agree that Mike SHOULD have said to Peter about this being a relatively insignificant little junior high newspaper, BUT the ‘BRADY BUNCH’ was probably much too idealistic a sitcom for such a comment to be made.
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Regarding all the comments pertaining to Mike’s hat – I found it interesting that when Cindy saw Peter wearing the hat she immediately knew the owner by questioning “Why are you wearing Dad’s old hat”? I would have thought she would have laughed and said “Where did you get that hat??”.
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Robert Reed was born in 1932 that puts him 40 at the time this episode aired. But since Mike just had his high school reunion, it probably was his 20th so Mike Brady must be 2 years younger than Robert Reed.
Hats went out of style after Kennedy was elected president. He was inaugurated IN 1961. If Greg is 16 and Mike is 38, that means he had Greg when he was 22, which would be right after Mike finished college, or in 1956. That means Mike would’ve worn a hat, as was the style from 1956 – 1961 roughly.
Of course one may ask, why wasn’t it thrown out in the Aunt Jenny episode where they were cleaning out the junk
The test did indeed look like one where you had definitions for answers on one side and lists of items on the other and you would have to match up the terms. That would appear to be somewhat easy if you were paying attention at all, because you can eliminate a lot of them and it becomes a matter of luck when you get down to one or two choices.
Couldn’t the children just watch the TV in the living room? There are a lot of episodes where it is on in there. If one assumes there was one set and the TV was one of those that was on a stand that could be moved from room to room, why not then move it to the living room?
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How did the Mr. Price article even go to print? Wouldn’t there be an adult editor/teacher to decide what goes to print? Wouldn’t the editor see through Peter’s ploy? Peter just gets to write anything he wants and it goes to print without anyone sucrinty or anyone else looking it over?
Wouldn’t the editor tell Peter his article is dull instead of his family and suggest naming students in the article?
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I don’t think Peter’s article actually made it to print. The copy Mr Price viewed was in fact a draft to be proofed before going to press.
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I liked this episode a lot! I agree with you that the episodes focusing on Peter were indeed the most entertaining! In this episode, Peter was chosen to write for his junior high school’s newspaper! While having extracurricular activities is beneficial, will Peter manage to keep his grades up? Here are my thoughts!
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Meghan,
Thanks for the casts’ backgrounds in your observation #2. I never knew any of this, previously.
I’ve never read the phrase “tongue language” (used in your last comment) before. It must be a derivation of a “native tongue.”
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