Another Brady Bunch Life Lesson

Soon I'll be providing details about the new, expanded edition of my book When Television Brought Us Together, which has an official publication date of September 1. For the uninitiated, the book is about the classic TV era and how the country has changed since then, as well as the lessons the shows from this era taught us about living our best life in the real world.

Every so often I see something that reminds me of how much our culture has changed since these shows first aired, and that happened again when I saw a Facebook post about the Brady Bunch episode “And Now a Word from Our Sponsor.” In this episode, as you may recall, the Brady family is grocery shopping when they are approached to appear in a commercial for Safe Detergent.

It’s not one of my favorite episodes – the character of Skip Farnum (Paul Winchell), the beatnik director who stalks the family in a parking lot before inviting them to appear in the commercial, is an exaggerated eccentric that disrupts what is usually a more reality-based sitcom. 

We are also led to believe that Carol has a friend like Myrna (pronounced “Meer-na”), a flaky theater vet who coaches them on how to read their lines, resulting in the commercial never getting shot.

It was not a favorite for Robert Reed, either. In Barry Williams’ book Growing Up Brady he shares a lengthy memo Reed wrote citing numerous criticisms of the story, the dialogue, character inconsistencies and other flaws: “Once again, ‘The Brady Bunch’ takes an inconsistent literary leap from semi-real situation comedy into thinly motivated farce bordering on slapstick.”

To his credit however when it was time to go to work, he played material he found wanting with the same stalwart professionalism he always brought to his role and to the show (at least until the series’ final episode – if you know, you know).

Getting back to that Facebook post: it didn’t echo any of Reed’s complaints, nor was it critical of having two such hyperbolic characters as Skip and Myrna in the same show. 

This is what was considered so ridiculous:

“Mike Brady is a clown, OK? The whole family gets scouted and receives a contract to do a commercial for a laundry detergent for good money…but he just told Carol that they can’t do it because they don’t actually use that brand of laundry detergent…he wouldn’t feel right???!!!!!!!!!!!??????”

Indeed, there is a scene in the show when Carol tells Mike they don’t use Safe Detergent. He responds, “How are we going to get in front of millions of people and lie?” Carol then asks if everyone who appears in commercials really uses the product or service they’re endorsing. Mike admits he doesn’t know – but he says they probably should.

I agree, and I was taken aback that someone would dismiss Mike as a clown for having an issue with telling a mass audience something is good, without knowing that to be true.

No, it’s not a crime like stealing a car, or a moral failing as serious as cheating on your spouse, but it’s still a poor reflection on one’s character. There was a time most people understood that. I hope they still do. But it’s hard to blame those who see nothing dishonest with that type of deception when doing so appears to be a national epidemic.

You’ve probably lost count at the number of organizations and people in authority that have issued statements later proven to be false – and that they knew were false at the time. Your list may be different than mine, but whether it begins with “I can end the war in Ukraine in five minutes” or “the vaccine poses no risk to pregnant women,” that only illustrates how no one group has a monopoly on integrity.

Saying something without knowing it to be true, as millions of people do on social media every day, is wrong. It violates one of the foundational principles closely associated with the Judeo-Christian tradition that are the only things that truly underwrite our freedom and dignity. And any time and any place we still get a reminder of that, even if it comes from a couple of lines of dialogue in a 50-year-old Brady Bunch episode, I hope the message sinks in.

A postscript: If any of this has inspired you to revisit “Now a Word from Our Sponsor” I’d suggest pairing it for a pleasant evening with the Partridge Family episode “Bedknobs and Drumsticks,” in which that family also agrees to do a TV commercial. Then finish off your classic TV theme night with Lucy Ricardo’s commercial for Vitameatavegamin. I’ll take that lineup over anything on Netflix.