Hello again readers, family and friends. Thank you for joining me today to review “Greg’s Triangle”. It is a fun episode that is not played for any drama or heavy moral lesson. It is just a tale of Greg being courted by a manipulative female with ulterior motives. The episode also questions the limits of family loyalty. This episode also features a guest star in a small part who would go on to much greater things. Let us begin reviewing “Greg’s Triangle”!
The episode begins on the campus of Westdale High. Greg is seen strolling about and stops for a drink of water. As he hydrates himself, an attractive female spies him and strokes her hair in preparation of meeting the man about campus. It is made known very early on that this young beauty, Jennifer Nichols, is a manipulative girl. She pretends to bump in Greg by happenstance and makes her move right away. Greg apologizes for their mild collision, but Jennifer is not sorry. She says she has been 
wanting to meet Greg and he shares that has been his desire too. The two chat it up right away and she starts laying it on thick. When she finds out Greg is a surfer, she says she should have known such based on his fine physique. Greg pitches some woo back when Jennifer says she should lift weights to stay in shape. Greg shares with Jennifer that her shape needs no improving. The pair make a date for a surfing lesson on Saturday. Jennifer writes her phone number on Greg’s hand. It is not a 555 number! I feel sorry for the poor souls across the country that actually had this phone number and got calls in the days after the episode aired in search of Jennifer. An interesting shot ends the scene. Greg holds up his hand with the phone number written on it and as he clinches his fist and lowers it, Jennifer is seen walking away. Such artsy shots were rare on The Brady Bunch.
At the Brady house, Marcia is practicing some cheers for an upcoming head cheerleader tryout. Here we learn that Greg is the chairman of the committee that will select the head cheerleader. We will discuss this committee more in detail later. Greg arrives home in a dreamlike state as he thinks about his new love interest. He ignores Bobby and Peter as he enters the house. Then he grabs a snack from the refrigerator and absent mindedly leaves his schoolbooks in it. The b-plot is introduced as he walks into the living room. Mike is practicing his golf putt. He mentions to Greg their plans to hit the links on Saturday. Greg informs him he must forgo their golf outing as he has made a date with Jennifer. Mike is very understanding as he understands the priorities of a teenage boy. Mike says he will find another partner. This puts the idea into Carol’s head that she should learn golf and be his partner in the future. Mike delivers a funny and true statement regarding the nature of golf. He says he has practiced years and years just to be terrible. While I am not a golfer myself, my limited experience with it has shown that skill in the game does not come easily.
Carol’s attempt at learning the sport comes with Alice’s assistance. The pair are in the backyard as Alice reads aloud to Carol how to hold the golf club. The detailed level of instruction Alice gives suggests this is a book on how to golf. However, the basic instruction of how to hold a club Alice is reading is in the middle of the book. It has always irked me on sitcoms how information being read and shared is almost always found slap in the middle of the book. I can imagine that the Bibles owned by Reverend Fordwick on the Waltons or Reverend Alden on Little House On The Prairie had Genesis in the middle of them when they preached on Adam and Eve. Carol’s following of Alice’s direction has her in a contorted golf stance. This book they are using has no visual to accompany the description? Carol needs to shop for another book.
The next scenes takes us to the seashore. Greg and Jennifer are taking a break from the surfing lesson and visiting a food truck. Jennifer admires Greg’s knowledge and confidence so much that she has him order for her. Or maybe Jennifer had no idea what a Kilarney Setter, a Cha-Cha Chihuahua or a Boston Bull was and just had Greg figure it out. Greg orders them both a Chihuahua. Friends, do any of you what any of these are in the world of food? A Google search failed to produce anything suggesting these are culinary creations. Perhaps they are something regional to southern California? The flattery continues as Jennifer praises Greg’s confidence, surfing ability and big strong arms. This girl lays it on thick. The man serving the food must hear it and not like it as she slams down the condiments and food when he has the order ready.
Greg arrives home and receives some ribbing from his brothers. He shares with Carol he just had the best day of his life. Despite having just spent hours together, Greg and his new gal are going to see a movie that night. Before doing so, he wants Mike and Carol to meet her. This may be the fastest moving Brady relationship since Harvey Klinger asked Marcia to go steady after meeting her the same day! Instead of faking an interest in bugs, Jennifer is working her way to Greg’s affections by faking an interest in him! Carol questions if Greg saw enough of Jennifer all ready that day. Greg informs Carol that the amount of time is no issue for him as a guy doesn’t get tired of looking at the Mona Lisa.
Jennifer arrives at the Brady home and commences to work her charms on Mike and Carol. She gushes with compliments about Mike’s good looks, Greg’s good looking brothers and Carol’s fine decorating tastes. When asked about what movie the kids are 
going to see, Greg answers they are going to see a great science fiction picture at the Coronet. Upon learning Jennifer has all ready seen the film, Greg suggests they go to see something else. The girl won’t hear of it as she desires to see the movie Greg wants to see. After the courting couple leave, Mike and Carol discuss Jennifer’s flattering ways. Mike immediately recognizes the attention Jennifer is paying his son as being a snow job. Carol says Jennifer could give lessons to Jack Frost! They both can see that Jennifer has some hidden agenda. We never see either parent discuss this with Greg. Perhaps they knew it would be useless as a teenager in love is the eternal optimist and believes no other truths than what he/she considers to be such. Sometimes this can even be said of adults!
The next scene begins in the family room where Marcia is practicing her own cheers. She lists the reasons for seeking to be head cheer leader include the honor the title holds and how it will give evidence that she has spirit while inspiring others. Just to set the rights of women back a few years, she adds it is also a way to meet football players. Greg enters and Marcia seeks his candid opinion about her skill. Greg will not comment as he is overseeing the judging committee that will pick the new head cheerleader. He will be fair and impartial no matter the contestant. Before we go further, were existing cheerleaders not being considered for the role of head cheerleader? Neither Marcia, nor Jennifer, mention currently being a cheerleader, only vying for the top spot. It would seem that if Marcia was all ready a cheerleader, she’d have had plenty of opportunity to meet football players all ready. Perhaps fraternization is forbidden amongst the cheerleaders and football players, unless one is the head cheerleader.
Greg’s fair and impartial proclamation is upended when he gets a phone call seconds later. It is Jennifer calling to share news of an amazing coincidence she has just learned about. She claims she was totally ignorant of the fact that Greg was head of the committee picking the new head cheerleader; this is the very position she plans to try out for! At this point, one would think that Greg would recuse himself from the committee. Good grief, Marcia’s trying out should have been justification enough for that. As a matter of fact, it should have been demanded/required that Greg step down when Marcia shared plans to tryout. Now, with the addition of Greg’s love interest in the mix, there should be no question. Find another person to sit on the judging panel! We still aren’t done discussing this committee. There will be more on that later. Check out the walls in Jennifer’s bed room. I’d have quite a headache after a few minutes in there.
At school, Greg’s impartiality is called into question again by Marcia. Jennifer greets him adorned in a blue outfit she plans to tryout in. She chose it as blue is Greg’s favorite color. She seeks Greg’s opinion and Greg says it looks great. Marcia overhears this and chides Greg for giving an opinion to Jennifer, but not watching her practice. If the contest were decided by what the girls’ wore, Marcia would have more of a complaint. She accuses Greg of having all ready decided on voting for Jennifer.
Carol’s attempts at learning golf do not see her game improving. Bobby and Cindy arrive home and Bobby attempts a putt. The most predictable of results occurs when his putt hits the mark on his first try. Feeling thoroughly defeated, Carol carelessly putts again and she too lands the shot. Her efforts do not go unnoticed by Mike as he arrives home and notices Carol’s blistered hand. She also brings to his attention a ruined five-iron. How she managed to bend the shaft of his golf club is not made known.
In the next scene, Greg briefly thinks his troubles are over. He springs up in his bed yelling, “I got it!” To make certain both his brothers are disturbed to the maximum, he turns on the light. He shares with them that since he is the chairman of the committee, he doesn’t have to vote. His problem of being fair and impartial is now solved. Peter and Bobby are none too happy at being disturbed and awoken for such news. They should have also questioned why it took Greg so long to realize this. As chairman of the committee, Greg should have known this from the start. The clock behind Greg shows he woke his brothers to share this at approximately 1:15 am.
The day of the tryouts has arrived. Greg and three committee members have just finished watching a unnamed fourth hopeful for head cheerleader. The next girl trying out, Pat Conway, gives a powerful and spirit filled audition. The committee tallies their scores when she completes her cheer. Ok, let us discuss this committee. First of all, why are male students picking the head cheerleader? Is this not something the cheerleading coach or maybe even fellow cheerleaders should be doing? The committee is made up only of teenage boys? Surely this committee was not formed for the sole purpose of picking the head cheerleader. Perhaps it was also in charge of picking up litter or pep rallies as well and was just selected for this role of cheerleader selection. Greg’s presence as a member not being required to vote in the initial round is an example of bureaucracy at its finest. Up until it is revealed he must cast a tie-breaking vote, his role was basically to sit there and read aloud the other committee members’ decisions.
Head cheerleader hopeful Pat Conway was played by Rita Wilson. This was her first on camera role, but certainly not her last. She has stayed busy in Hollywood. She appeared in such feature films as “Sleepless In Seattle” and “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”. Her television resume is too long to list here, but her most recent TV appearances were in 2017 on the series Girls. She has a 2018 film acting credit. She has also been married to Hollywood superstar Tom Hanks since 1988.
The manipulative Jennifer Nichols was played by Tannis G. Montgomery. Prior to this episode of The Brady Bunch, she had appeared on four other TV shows and in one feature film. It would be her only feature film gig per IMDB. After this episode she would go on to appear on other series like The Partridge Family, Room 222 and Happy Days. Her final IMDB acting credit was in a 1986 episode of MacGyver. A Google search gave no further information about her. She must have been a hot property in 1972 as the episode’s closing credits give her a title card all her own that lists a co-starring credit.
The tryouts continue with Marcia giving a fair performance. Jennifer’s audition is less than impressive. She barely projects her voice and looks at Greg through most of her cheer. When it is complete and the votes are tallied, a three way split has occurred amongst the judges; one has voted for Pat Conway, one for Marcia and one for Jennifer. That first girl whose name we never know must have been really bad if Jennifer’s tryout bested it. It is possible that Jennifer had been secretly dating another judge on the panel. With her level of manipulation, it would not be too surprising. With the vote split three ways, Greg must now cast the deciding vote.
Greg arrives home dejected and downtrodden. He cast the deciding vote for Pat Conway. He thought she was the best. Marcia comes home and is not angry at all as she felt Pat was the correct choice too. Greg is optimistic that Jennifer will feel the same way. He calls her and even remarks to Mike and Carol how she is crazy about him. A click as she hangs up the phone reveals he was played for the fool. Ever the naïve teenager, he only then considers that Jennifer was using him for leverage in her tryout. With this late coming awareness, Greg assures Mike he knows all about women. Greg’s misguided confidence made for a funny conclusion to the story.
The epilogue has Mike and Greg coming home from a Saturday morning round of golf. Greg says they have a regular date from now on. However, we quickly learn it isn’t fatherly bonding Greg is interested in, but the golf pro’s daughter. Maybe Greg learned the wrong lesson in dealing with Jennifer. He may now be seeking some discounted greens fees or free lessons with the golf-pro through courting his daughter. Of course we know the Brady kids are too noble for such.
Thank you for reviewing “Greg’s Triangle” with me. It is a fun episode with some entertaining teenage romance antics. Marcia will attract a beau as equally underhanded as Jennifer in a future episode. The only fault I found with the episode is the setup of picking the head cheerleader. One way it might have made more sense was if Marcia was head of the committee picking the head cheerleader and Jennifer sought an inside track by dating Greg. That would have made for a more complex show and what we got to enjoy was a more compressed version of the same. Your own thoughts on this episode are most welcome! Next week is another fun episode. “Everyone Can’t Be George Washington” is one that is enjoyed by many fans. See you then!
Here's The Story: Every Episode of The Brady Bunch Reviewed 
While remembering this episode, I thought there may have been a prominent guest star, besides Mrs. Tom Hanks; Jennifer Lawrence, perhaps. But, yeah, Tannis Montgomery may have had some prominence that was limited to a single year, as you pointed out.
Carol’s awkward golf stance recalls her awkward batting stance from a previous episode when she tried to learn baseball to teach the boys. I thought the instruction book was too thick or too ancient to provide good instruction. It would have been better if they used a more contemporary book, a paperback with (photos or) illustrations.
The names of items on the food truck sound like different hot dog combinations that are specific to the food truck, nothing you could find easily with research. Unless the truck provided a website.
“Head cheerleader” sounds like a captain designation like you would find in (other) sports teams. It sounds like something the coach would determine based on seniority or leadership potential. But maybe the coach decided that a neutral party would be the best group to make the choice. Some neutral party!
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Good thoughts on the food truck. If Burger King were a stand alone restaurant, only regular customers would know what a Whopper was.
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And Carol’s shoes?? Even an amateur golfer wouldn’t wear heels!!
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Another very good episode. Jennifer was manipulative for sure but man, I thought she looked hot in the beach scene.
Another missed opportunity to reference Benedict Arnold.
Additionally (and this proves that I watched The Brady Bunch too often), it was references in an episode during the first season that Carol was a golfer. In fact, she even owned her own set of clubs. That was in the episode where Marcia and Greg were both vying for school president.
You’d of thought that Carol learned her lesson that learning a sport from a book is not a great idea.
Tannis Montgomery and Maureen McCormick both played coniving girls on Happy Days. Tannis of course played Richie girlfriend in the Love American Style episode (she wanted to see his family’s tv) and also resurfaced on one the episodes in the series as the same girl. Maureen played the part of a girl who was trying to make her biker boyfriend jealous so she hooked up with Richie for a few minutes…Richie was forced to drag race her beau and even though he won the race, she snubbed him anyway and went to back to the biker guy.
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Yes..Good old Benedict Arnold could have been used. But we will get a ton of Benedict Arnold in the next episode!!!!
Great catch about Carol already a golfer..you beat me to that post!
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I never watched Happy Days but I’d like to see those episodes. Thanks for sharing!
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I was going to mention Carol should have already known how to golf too. Continuity was not a strong point for this show!
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Great review.
Here are my comments about BradyBunchReviewed comments
1.Never noticed the artsy shot with Greg’s hand and Jennifer in background. Thanks for pointing it out.
2.Middle of book comments – you are so right!
3. I have lived in Southern California all my life and have never encountered those hot dog names. Very likely just made up for the show by the prop dept
4. Your Mona Lisa/Jennifer picture is absolutely hilarious. You caught just the right Jennifer picture with her eyes in the perfect position to be the funniest Mona Lisa picture of all!
5. Excellent points about head cheerleader not even being a current cheerleader. I had never considered this before your comments.
And here are my comments
1. This episode is chock-full of continuity errors
a. Opening shot of Westdale High sign. Is it my imagination or is the far away shot of the sign shown as beige letters and when they do the close up they are much more brown color letters?
b. When Marcia is first seen practicing her cheers in the backyard in her blue blouse,when she stops her necklace is hanging out but the very next close up the necklace is tucked inside her blouse. When Greg arrives in the backyard the necklace is outside the blouse again. This has been posted across the internet.
c. Carol already knows how to play golf as Tripp points out
d. When Marcia confronts Greg at skew-el that he is playing favorites to Jennifer note how the sunlight on Marcia’s face appears and disappears depending on the camera angle
e. In the scene where Mike sees Carol’s hand blisters and she then shows him his bent club, we hear the sound of a door opening and closing right before Mike enters the kitchen. But Mike would have used the sliding screen door so they use the wrong sound. In the closing scene were Mike and Greg come back from their golf game the correct screen door sound is used. This has been posted on the internet.
f. When Greg calls Jennifer towards the end after he already voted for Pat he seems to only dial four numbers which the sound effects confirms. Additionally it’s easy to notice that the first digit he dials is not the 8 which is the first digit of Jennifer’s phone number. Instead it seems like he dials a 4 or 5.
2. None of the non character names used throughout the episode correlate with any names in the credits. Perhaps they were just made up names or they could have been inside jokes for other people associated with The Brady Bunch who don’t appear in the credits. Peter call Owen on chalkboard, Joe Nelson (although there is a different Nelson listed in the credits), Sam Murdoch.
3. The scene where Mike is putting into the glass. The three characters’ outfits in that scene are eye-popping: Carol Greg and Mike. One of the most colorful outfits scenes that I can remember in the Brady Bunch.
4. Mike is far too understanding when Greg cancels the Saurday golf game on Friday night. No lecture at all about responsibility and keeping one’s word and all that kind of stuff. And where did Mike get another partner so late?
5. Tiger’s Dog House scene in the scene where Carol is golfing in the backyard. We all know the story of that that the dog house is covering a burnt area on the AstroTurf. Carol leans the clubs with the Woods facing the dog house. Tiger+Woods = Tiger Woods.
6. Single most idiotic and cringeworthy line of this episode is when Jennifer asks if those are all their children and Mike says that he hopes so.
7. Immediately after Pat does her try out Greg says “Thanks Pat”. ‘T’hanks = T Hanks = Tom Hanks.
8. I call this the Peter Baloney episode. He first says it in the beginning when he and Bobby are arguing about football statistics. He later says it when he and Jan are arguing which way Greg has likely just voted.
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Marty, I think we should start an internet rumor that this episode is actually how Tiger Woods got his name!
lol “Peter Baloney”!
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Great catches on the continuity!
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Jennifer and Marcia share an outfit! The orange top with skirt, Marcia also wore with Davy Jones!
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#7 struck a chord with me!
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1) I also thought the shot of Greggie closing his hand as Jennifer walks away was stylish and memorable since first seeing this episode. The folks behind the camera sure earned their keep that day! And then…
2) Jennifer lays the flattery on so thick that if it wasn’t for Greggie’s ego, he could have easily gone in the opposite direction and become suspicious. Her call about the “amazing coincidence” could have been a wake-up one. “Ahh! No wonder.”
3) After her performance at the Brady home, I know of some real-life parents that would have said, “I like this girl; you should bring her around more often”. Not Mike and Carol! Episodes of The Brady Bunch are where I first heard the term “Snow Job”. As for the “great science fiction picture”, I wonder why the writers didn’t make up a name? There’s no real movie called “Jesse James on the Vengeance Trail” either.
4) Mike doesn’t have to worry about replacing his five-iron. In Season One’s “Vote For Brady”, Carol says she’s got her own set of golf clubs. And if she wants to learn how to play quickly, she should watch Ralph and Ed’s attempt on The Honeymooners. “Hello, Ball!”
5) While I’m no expert, it’s a wonder how Jennifer became a cheerleader at all with her awkwardness at the tryouts. Perhaps she looked better alongside others. I did like the shots of her and Marcia watching the other cheers, as if they know they’ve got their work cut out for them, and then Jennifer keeps looking at Greggie (or one of the other judges) like she’s got this, especially with the first vote being for her!
6) Unlike Marcia, we’re never shown Jennifer practicing cheers, but that leads to another possible lesson from the episode. Jennifer would rather take a short cut or scheme to reach her goal, instead of working hard to become a good cheerleader, like Pat, who wouldn’t need to resort to such tactics. She also could have hung up on Greggie even if she’d gotten the head spot like she wanted. Speaking of “Click”, I’m reminded of last season’s episode of the same name with cheerleader Linette. She was a real sweetheart who genuinely liked Greg, and was insulted by him when he thought she was no longer interest in him when he couldn’t play football.
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Thanks for commenting! Linette remains in my opinion the most attractive of all Greg’s love interests.
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A solid episode that shows the power of manipulation and moral responsibility. Jennifer Nichols was so manipulative and conniving! I wonder if she was a member of the snotty “Westdale Boosters” club that Marcia joined? You know, the club that only associates with “certain kinds of kids. You have to check with them on what you wear. You can only date boys who are in the top ten percent of their class, or lettermen on teams.” She would fit right in with this group!
Great point that Carol already knows how to play golf. Marcia even mentions Carol’s golf clubs that Carol says are “in the closet” in “Vote for Brady” when Greg and she run for Student Body President. She asks why Carol doesn’t play golf anymore. Carol says, “With six children, a husband, a house, and a dog, you ask me, how come?” Huge continuity hole there!
The food cart names of the hot dogs was strange, Greg said, “Two Chihuahuas, light on the mustard…” What is the name of the “P” word that Greg says? My recollection is that it is some type of pepper, but am not sure. I cannot remember the names of the food items on the food truck. However, it seems from the above comments that they are not referenced anywhere online. Syndication cuts out a lot of the scene with Greg and Jennifer at the food truck.
There’s a Brady Blooper at the food truck scene! Presumably, Greg orders two hot dogs, a double order of fries, and I recall two large drinks. I don’t recall seeing any drinks or fries on the counter when Greg gives the food truck vendor his money. Another issue, not really a blooper, but a continuity error. Greg would not say “Two large drinks.” He would have to give the name of the drinks and does not do that. Any food truck would have at least a few kinds of drinks.
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Jack – When Greg orders, I think he says “two orange drinks”…also, he wants the two dogs to be “heavy on the piccalilli”. Piccalilli is a particular kind of relish.
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I think the “P” just meant pickle relish.
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Lol at Jennifer being a Westdale Booster!
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Brady Bunch Reviewed: did you ever come across a Westdale, CA in your research?
Do you know if the school scenes (with plenty of extras) were filmed at an actual school?
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I left comments below suggesting that subtle hits were dropped in this episode about what actually happened on that date to the movies. (I’d guess in teen parlance, “movies” doesn’t mean “going to the movies” … I’m not that naive.) You can search my name and see my comments below on this review.
But in a nutshell: I just wish this episode had been direct and said that they had sex, showed a scene of them about to do it, and that it was part of Jennifer’s ultimate plan to achieve her goal of being head cheerleader, and that when Greg is dumped in the end, he is — to say the least — disappointed. (Because I get the feeling he really did like Jennifer.)
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Fantastic review, and fantastic comments from EVERYBODY. Great job Gang!
Re: this episode…it certainly is a fun episode, and I really do like the idea of creating a conflict like this in which Greg has to choose between his sister, his “girlfriend” (who’s just using him because of his position on the “committee”) and a third “contestant” who’s clearly the best of the three…only problem is, this ain’t how cheerleading works.
Cheerleading, in those days, was an extra curricular activity…today, it’s a competitive sport in itself complete with coaches. In those days, extra curricular activities had “Advisors”, as opposed to coaches. It may vary as to how the “Head Cheerleader” is chosen (might be the Advisor, might be by a vote of the other cheerleaders)…but no school is going to choose a head cheerleader based on a committee of three guys (with one extra guy in case of a tie lol). That’s just ridiculous. And at my school, the Cheerleaders had a Captain and perhaps a co-captain. She was never referred to as the Head Cheerleader. I still like the story’s general idea though
I spotted a continuity error that I don’t think I’ve ever heard referenced before. In the first scene, we see Jennifer writing her phone number on Greg’s right hand. She’s standing to Greg’s right as she writes. Greg has his hand out, palm facing up.
We see Jennifer writing in small numerals starting at Greg’s palm. She’s writing the numerals right side up from where she is standing. If Greg were to hold his hand up the way he did, the numerals would be upside down . Instead, when he holds his hand up, not only are the numerals right side up, but they’re much larger, and they’re in the middle of his hand instead of at his palm.
By the way, I wonder if it took multiple takes to get that shot of Jennifer walking away… “oh darn, didn’t quite get that, could you walk away again, Tannis? We need to get this just right! ”
(Director: OK, take 34, Jennifer walking away…and…ACTION!!)
Other comments:
1) Lol Greg slapping fives with that guy in the opening scene. That actually would happen sometimes in those days. Guys would slap fives as they passed in the hall. Happens a lot on game days.
2) As noted in the review and other comments, we’ve seen no evidence that Marcia is even a cheerleader (she never joined the “Cheerleader Club” in “Today I am a Freshman”!) and yet she’s trying to become the HEAD cheerleader by entering a “contest”? Come on, man! (We know from “My Sister Benedict Arnold” that Marcia tried to be a cheerleader at Fillmore Jr High but didn’t make the cut, while Kathy Lawrence, who was at the bottom of Marcia’s list, became the head cheerleader). And when Jan tried out to be a “pom pom girl”, Marcia suggested to Mike that she show Jan what she (Marica) did when SHE tried out for pom pom girl (incidentally Marcia, thanks so much for offering to show Jan what you did to NOT make the pom pom squad).
3) Lol mona lisa picture and the “Great Science Fiction picture” picture!! GREAT!
4) Haha great point about TV people always reading a book in the middle pages. This is along the same line of having someone open a New York City phone book (hundreds of pages long) to within a page or two of what they’re looking for
5) You’re right that Greg probably wouldn’t have believed Mike and Carol if they tried to tell him that Jennifer was up to something. Of course, if they did mention it, then Jennifer’s call about the “crazy coincidence” might have put Greg on notice. But in fairness to all, they had no idea what Jennifer was really up to and probably figured it was best to let Greg find out for himself..
6) Obviously, Greg should have either been kicked off the committee or recused himself.
7) LOL, “hey I got it I got it!! I’m the chairman, I won’t even have to vote” . Exactly, it took him long enough!
8) I think Mangler is correct that the dog names refer to either different size hot dogs or different combinations of toppings. The three names mentioned sound like different size dogs.
9) Jennifer was taking quite a chance to date Greg, when he only would have voted in case of a tie. If it wasn’t for the tie vote, her efforts would have been totally wasted
10) Greg putting his books and his cap in the fridge was a great touch.
11) It’s been noted that Carol had a set of golf clubs early on in the series. In this episode, she also claims to be very good at sports. But remember when she tried to teach the boys about baseball ? She kinda sucked at it. Although at other times, it appears that she’s a good skier…
12) Mike’s “It’s taken me years and years of practice just to be terrible” was a good line. In the Honeymooners episode referred to by Ernie, Ralph (Jackie Gleason) tried to secure a promotion by becoming friendly with his boss. Although Ralph doesn’t know how to play golf, his boss plays all the time, so Ralph claims to be a championship caliber player. His boss invites him to play and Ralph only has a couple of days until the match. Seeing how difficult golf is to play, Ralph says “I can’t learn to play golf in two days, it would take me at least a week”.
13) It’s obviously not possible to bend the club like that doing what Carol was doing, but Mike’s reaction was good (“My FIVE iron?!?!”)
14) So true about Greg waking up in the middle of the night with the solution to his problem (why do TV characters find it necessary to ALWAYS turn on the nightstand lamp when they wake up with an “idea”?). Then, Bobby and Peter wake up and Bobby says “we were fast asleep”. Who goes around saying that? What is this, a fairy tale? “Fast asleep”??
15) Jennifer was all out of breath before she was even halfway through her cheer at tryouts. Her shape might have looked great to Greg, but she’s obviously in no condition to lead a cheerleading squad.
16) In looking at the way the other “judges” handed their ballots to Greg, and assuming he read off the votes without mixing up the papers, it appears to me that:
1. The Black guy at the far left voted for Jennifer (even though she was easily the worst of the three that we saw)
2. The guy on the far right end (as we viewed the stage) voted for Marcia
3. The guy sitting to Greg’s right (our left) voted for Pat.
Boy, that’s some committee, isn’t it? Did ANY of them have any idea what they should be looking for? Well, I guess the one guy did, since he voted for Pat.
Re: Marty’s comment – Mike’s reaction to Greg breaking their golf date. It does seem that Mike was taking this as somewhat of a grudge match against that other guy and his “overgrown” son. It could be said that Mike’s initial “understanding” reaction was not quite realistic. But after that, once Mike found out that Greg left his schoolbooks in the refrigerator, he probably would have been OK with Greg doing what he did, even if he had been upset at first. That “overgrown son of his” line always cracks me up for some reason…maybe because we’re not used to hearing Mike Brady refer to someone else’s kid that way.
Great stuff everybody, this was a fun episode!
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9.). Maybe Jennifer was unaware the chairmanship was a non-voting position. Apparently it wasn’t well known as even Greg forgot.
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lol good point! If Greg didn’t realize it, how could we expect Jennifer to know?
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FYI. Tannis Montgemery is the sister of Belinda Montgomery who played Doogie Howser’s mom. Both are very beautiful women. No relation to Elizabeth Montgomery, however.
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Tannis Montgomery played quite the trouble-maker to have problems w/ both Greg Brady & Richie Cunningham. Tannis & Belinda Montgomery are both Canadian natives, as is their younger brother, Lee Harcourt Montgomery. He was a child actor who appeared in shows like MTM (where he played a bratty son of Mary’s date, and Mary felt bad she didn’t like the kid) and FAMILY TIES (where he appeared on an early episode where his character wanted to make his move on Mallory when she was underage). He also appeared in movies like Disney’s “$1M Duck”, “Pete & Tillie”, and “Burnt Offerings”. Lee was nominated for a “Golden Turkey Award” for Most Obnoxious Child Actor. He was nominated for his general obnoxiousness as a character, who according to the authors made the audience relieved when his characters in “Pete & Tillie” and “Burnt Offerings” were killed off. He lost this “award” to David “Dondi” Kory, who in 1961 starred in “Dondi”, a movie based on the comic strip of the same name.
Years ago in pre-Internet days (1980s or so) I purchased a Brady script from a company called Script City, which is still on the Net today but has a website now (https://www.scriptcity.com). When I look there now, I only see the script for THE BRADYS, “Start Your Engines”. This was before the first Brady book was published, so outside of a few episodes where the title was given in TV Guide (like “The Subject Was Noses”) I didn’t know episode titles. There were just 3 scripts available then, so I was sent a copy of the original script for “Greg’s Triangle”, which I had to read to know which plot it was. I don’t have this script handy now, but I remember 1 difference is the cheerleaders all had their own cheers made up, and Jennifer’s was a weak cheer where she was pretending to be a bear, Westdale’s mascot. I also seem to remember the “Jack Frost” line either being crossed out or written into the script by hand. Maybe I can find this script again when I eventually dig through things I have in storage. Rita Wilson appeared on NBC’s HOLLYWOOD GAME NIGHT last summer or summer before, and she, probably along with host Jane Lynch, performed the Westdale cheer in honor of her first tv job.
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Lee Montgomery also had a memorable one-shot role on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. He was Stevie, the super-snot son of one of Mary’s boyfriends (Mary couldn’t stand him while everyone else seemed to think he walked on water).
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Another comment…is it my imagination or, in the opening scene, is Jennifer wearing the EXACT same outfit Marcia was wearing when Davy Jones stopped by the house?
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You can find a pic with that outfit on Marcia here…
https://monkees.coolcherrycream.com/picturedb/characters/marcia-brady?album=77
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Sure looks like the same skirt!
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Great catch! looks like the same outfit right down to the belt!
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More thoughts:
1.) With Marcia competing in the cheerleading contest and Greg as Chairman, he should have been automatically DQ’d by the faculty committee in charge of the contest.
2.) A cheerleading coach and assistant coach faculty member, should have been the judges for the contest, not high school students. High school students would not know the specifics of what they are looking for in routines and execution of them.
3.) The judging should have resembled the adult teachers who evaluated the Pom-Pom Girl tryouts when Jan tries out for them.
4.) Greg should have known immediately that as chairperson, it was in the rules that he only had to vote in the event of a tie, not have that wake him up in the middle of the night. Good call by others noticing this obvious continuity problem.
5.) As chair of the judging committee, what were Greg’s responsibilities other than to break a tie vote? That is never explained.
What’s the difference between a Pom-Pom Girl and a Cheerleader?
Jack
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Jack, I think pom-pom girls and cheerleaders are the same thing, just with different names, depending on what part of the country you’re in. Obviously, pom-pom girls use pom-poms in the course of their cheering, but cheerleaders are the ones that (also) do stunts. The emphasis on competitive acrobatics did not take place until many years after the timeline of this show.
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My college had separate squads for cheerleaders, called yellleaders, since they included men, and pom-pom girls (women?), who were called songleaders. The songleaders just danced around & did no acrobatics. Back in the 1950s, as I found from old college yearbooks, the yellleaders were all men, and they were doing acrobatics back then also. 1 of the yellleaders at the time eventually became a professor in the PE department there.
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5.) the chairman has the dubious honor of reading the vote counts.
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Jack – I asked someone that question a number of years ago (difference between cheerleader and pom pom girl)… the terms can be used interchangeably (and it may be a regional thing as well) but technically, cheerleaders do more acrobatic and gymnastics stunts in the course of leading cheers, while pom poms are more along the lines of performing actual dance routines. At that time, I was told that the “Laker Girls” (the most famous “cheerleaders” in the country, other than the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders) are more along the lines of pom pom girls because their main way of entertaining the crowds was to perform the dance routines at half time and during some time outs. They don’t actually lead the crowd in cheering the Lakers on. So when I saw your question, I googled it and pretty much found the same info that i was told way back when. Pom poms do the fancy dance routines.
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Great thoughts and comments everyone! It’s great to have other Brady fans adding their comments and observations. I’d forgotten all about Carol owning a set of clubs in season one.
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Tannis Montgomery is the sister of Lee Montgomery. Lee had a few movies in his acting career, but his most famous role was the young son David “Davey” Roth in the 1976 sleeper horror classic, “Burt Offerings.” A VERY under-rated horror movie. There are horrifying scenes in that film of a grinning Chauffeur that drives a hearse that terrify people, (including me!) to this day!
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Talking about different outfits on the same day, did anyone notice that Carol had on a different outfit when Jennifer came over than she did when Greg told her she was coming over that night?
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In the scene in Jennifer’s room, it looks as if she is either wearing one shoe, or two different shoes.
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Great catch.
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At the beginning of the episode, when Greggi told Jennifer that her shape did not need I,proving, but by the tryouts, she was running out of breath. On the other hand, what if she outdid everyone else, and Greggi really thought that she was the best, and picked her. Would Marcia be as understanding as she was when it turned out the way it did? Also, when Greggi told Mike and Carol that he did not vote for Jennifer, and they assumed he voted for Marcia, did they think they were the only two in the contest? When Jennifer called Greggi and told him that she was trying out for head cheerleader, this was at least at the halfway point of the episode. It seemed as if she was not even thinking of running at the beginning, or was even aware that Greggi was on the committee to choose head cheerleader.
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This is the one episode I just wish they would have said it outright … that on that hot date, Greg and Jennifer went all the way.
All we get are, at best, subtle hints this might have happened (the two “going to the movies” … yeah, right!). But it just seemed Jennifer had that air about her. She wanted something, even though she was in no way qualified for the job and would go to whatever lengths she could to get it. Even at that age (I presume Jennifer is 17), knowing how to manipulate people, it is totally believable Jennifer is the type of person who would use sex and her sexual charms to get what she wants … and that Greg — a typically red-blooded BMOC-type — would, given he was so smitten by her, would fall hook, line and sinker for her.
The episode was good in and of itself, but I think to go this path in 1972 would have been quite daring, especially for a sitcom aimed at teenagers and where teenagers were the main characters. Unlike later shows like “90210” (which were criticized for glorifying teen sex), this episode could have — had the Schwartzes given the go-ahead — sent a different message. Such as: Yes, having sex as a teenager might appear glamorous and fun, but your initiation should be one that is truly meaningful, not just some lustful affair or to someone who has an ulterior motive, is using you for her own selfish goals, etc.
Of course, nobody knows whether Lloyd/Sherwood or anyone had that in mind when writing this episode’s script … the question I’m sure has never been posed to them and we’ve never heard about the thought process behind this episode anyway. All we have is the end result, and just some subtle hints — the foreplay at the beach, that this “movie” date was going to be a big one, Jennifer’s whole spiel when meeting Mike and Carol, and the folks’ concerns (Mike: “Whatever Jennifer wants, Jennifer gets”) — that something else happened on that date and that it didn’t involve Greg choosing which movie they’d see.
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Yes, Jennifer’s room was horrendous! I also thought it was strange these teen boys were choosing the head cheerleader. After each girl got up to cheer there was applause. It wasn’t coming from the girls or the boys. Then who? An unseen audience?
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I always thought, if Greg had to vote, Jennifer would have no way of knowing who did or didn’t vote for her. Sure she could ask but that’s no guarantee of truth. If it wasn’t for the tie vote, Greg’s vote wouldn’t have been public.
Also in a way, I hated the way the writers / director clearly went out of their way to make sure the actress portraying Pat was a much, and I mean much better cheerleader than either Marcia or Jennifer, thus making Greg seem legit, instead of perhaps just a wimpy cop out.
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Tannis Montgomery also played a girl on the “Partridge Family” who set up Lori. She gave Lori and envelope to give to a teacher, said envelope had the answers to a test, so Lori took the fall.
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1. Part of Jennifer’s “snow job” on Greggie’s parents was to pick up a picture of the family and ask “Are all these children yours?” Mike replied with a chuckle, “I certainly hope so!” This is an old joke that translates to: “I sure hope my wife didn’t cheat on me, and another man is really the biological father of the children I am raising.” No step-father or adoptive father would ever make this joke! This doesn’t apply to a blended family. Mike knows full well that he is not the biological father of Carol’s three daughters, and he is fine with that.
2. Before Greg and Marcia come home from the head cheerleader tryouts, Peter and Jan come down the stairs arguing about whether Greg would choose his sister or his girlfriend. Peter shouldn’t be having this argument, because Greg woke him up at 1:15 AM to announce that he would probably not have to make a choice at all! Unless Peter wrote off that conversation as an annoying dream. Or Peter realized that they were all 70s sitcom characters, which guarantees that any event that characters declare they are confident will never happen, will definitely happen before the episode ends.
3. The reason Greg had to turn on the light was because every comic-strip reader knows you need a light bulb over your head to signify an idea.
4. Totally agree that teenage boys should not be making this decision. If your sister or your girlfriend is one of the contestants, that should automatically require you to abstain. Even so, nobody knows which boy has had a lifelong crush on which girl, or considers one of the contestants “his type,” and thus could not be impartial. Jan’s school had it right: adult female teachers and staff as judges.
5. Since Tweety and Jack brought up Jan’s pom-pom girl tryouts in “Her Sister’s Shadow,” why did Jan choose that as an activity that Marcia had never done? Didn’t that episode air after “My Sister, Benedict Arnold” (pay a royalty to his estate, and/or take a drink, every time his name is mentioned on the show), in which Marcia hates Kathy because Kathy beat her out for head cheerleader? Those girls must have had a very deep conversation in the pizza parlor when Greg and Marcia went to apologize to Warren and Kathy, because in the very next episode, “The Personality Kid,” Kathy was sufficiently friendly with Marcia to help her in a ruse to build Peter’s confidence.
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Bonnie,
I especially like reason #2! 😂
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Here are ten things I liked about this episode:
1. Greg ends up voting for Pat Conway because he could never choose between his sister, Marcia and his girlfriend, Jennifer.
2. The episode ends with Greg going golfing with Mike.
3. Greg absently leaves his school books in the refrigerator while grabbing a snack.
4. “I think he’s invented a new subject, frozen geometry.” – Alice
5. Greg and Jennifer spend a day together at the beach!
6. All the family members have the same reaction when Jennifer calls Greg “Greggie.”
7. Marcia is a surprisingly better cheerleader than Jennifer.
8. The episode opens with Greg strutting gracefully to get a drink of water from the fountain.
9. “Greg, if you’re going surfing, how come you’re combing your hair?” – Peter
10. Bobby is really good at golf and does well on the first try.
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#7: Why would it surprise you that Marcia is a better cheerleader?
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Because Marcia wasn’t really the cheerleader type before this episode aired.
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gogetter – to your point: Marcia was more used to getting the cheers than giving them. 😉
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I also loved the scene where Marcia is fuming to Jan about Jennifer.
Marcia (in a mocking tone): “I wore blue ’cause it’s your favorite color, Greggy.”
Jan: “GREGGY???” (perfect “you gotta be kidding” reaction)
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I love when Jennifer is talking to Mike and Carol and laying the b.s. on thick, they give each other a little nudge and that look to each other that Bob and Florence did on a few occasions during the show. Their chemistry made the characters so believable. They were such an authentic husband and wife. Best sitcom spouses ever!
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I must say I love this episode, yes it’s silly but amusing and entertaining. And I must say I agree with the commenter that said, Pat was much better than either Jennifer or Marcia, which gave Greg a real problem. He had to “betray” (from their point of view) BOTH Marcia and Jennifer, to vote for the best cheerleader which clearly was Pat.
The continuity problem with Carol and golf could’ve easily have been solved with a throw-a-way line whereas Alice could’ve said, “Didn’t you used to play golf”? And Carol replying, “Yes, but I wasn’t any good, so I’m starting over from scratch,” and then the scene could’ve continued exactly.
I did like the way the menu at a hot dog stand was named after different kinds of dogs. I suppose they had a picture menu on the stand located off the camera’s angle.
A fun angle would’ve been to have shown Jennifer dating all of the judges at the same time and making mugs out of all of the boys, but we of course don’t go there.
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Do you know how hard it is to bend a five iron? What did Carol do? Hit it against a metal pole for about an hour? Or did the Hulk bend it for her?
Wouldn’t there be an adult faculty member on the committee? Wouldn’t the teacher in charge of Cheerleaders pick the head cheerleader… usually a senior member who was on the squad for a few years?
Even if Greg was totally fair and impartial, no one else complained (or even their parents)? How is my kid going to get a fair shake when Greg’s sister and girlfriend are up for consideration? Even if one of them were the best, Greg would be accused of biased even if he wasn’t. Why didn’t he recuse? What would have happened if Pat Conway wasn’t the best and either Marcia or Jennifer were? If he legitimately picked one of them, he would still be accused of being biased even if he wasn’t. Or did Greg go with Pat because he didn’t want to chose between his sister or his girlfirend.
I always felt bad for that fourth girl trying out. Although, Marica and Jennifer fell short to Pat Conway, at least, these to girls had the consolation that they were in contention at one vote apiece. The other girl had none and must have like the same loser Jan felt like when she missed the cut for pom-pon squad.
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Here are my thoughts on this episode:
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