The Cincinnati Kids

Often wondered why producer Sherwood Schwartz took the Bradys out to Kings Island Theme Park in Ohio? It turns out the park opened about a year and a half earlier, still relatively new, a big boost for the venue. Makes sense. Lots of us kids back then were hoping for Vegas! -- and wouldn't that have been a BLAST. Still this is fun.

I agree with the last reviewer, also a neat time capsule of the 70s, Check out the clothes and all the colors!

Mike has drawn up some new blueprints for the park, and gets to take Carol, Alice and the kids with him to Ohio to make his presentation. They get put into the wrong cannister -- and it's a free for all to see who can find them so Mike can make his deadline. Yes, no question Alice or Anne B. Davis is the champ runner in this one, and really taking the laps. You'll also catch some of the tourists who obviously spot the actors here, which is fun. And the kids know they're being watched!

Biggest gag; director Leslie H. Martinson plays businessman Mr. Remington. We finally get to see this famous director, the dean of cop shows and sitcoms. Producer Lloyd Schwartz plays the bear!

Also a side story about Greg hooking up, or trying to hook up, with a park employee called Marge (played by Hilary Thompson). Hilary usually turned up in cop shows, and in some very dramatic roles. She may have been recommended by Martinson for the part here.

No, not Vegas. We wish, but I give it 9 stars for those Friday night memories only on ABC!

SEASON 5 EPISODE 11 remastered Paramount did box set. Cool color box cover for all us fans. Final season set.

The Bradys run a relay race, but they all arrive at roughly the same time! Marge leaves her booth without a replacement! Some random kids from Southern California are allowed to handle the park's animal outfits! Alice is walking around on a ride looking for plans when the mischievous operator begins operations without securing her! Truly one of the most glorious and absurd episodes of the lot.

Fascinating to compare the geography of the park then to now. Maybe 1/4 of the structures in the episode still exist. Racer coaster, International Street, and log flume ride are still around. Eiffel Tower is used in filming the early park shots, but its hulking structure is conspicuously absent from view.

Needless to say, a bona fide classic.

Most episodes of The Brady Bunch are pretty believable. The predicaments the kids and sometimes the adults get into bring back those "Oh no, how'm I gonna get outta this?!" memories we all have. But a responsible person such as Mike Brady losing important plans at an amusement park? Then there's only 30 minutes to search the whole park for them, and the family members happen to keep running into each other to set up the Pony Express relay run scenes? Cute but kinda lame.

I gotta say though that Ann B. Davis had a good set of wheels. She was around 47 when this episode came out in 1973 when running and other exercise programs weren't too popular with people her age. But she puts in a good sprint, even leaping over a couple low chain barriers. Bravo Alice!

The premise of this episode might be suspect but it's a great way to view mid-'70s America. The crowd scenes makes me laugh looking at the striped shirts, plaid shorts and black socks. We were reeling from Vietnam, Watergate and the energy crises. It's nice to see Americans persevere.

In one scene Peter & Greg are 'enjoying' and attraction. It is a robotic 'animatronics'. The robots consisted of heads that opened their mouths by moving the tops of their heads on a hinge - the opposite of how a human does - and they either sang of made musical notes or did both. I went to King's Island the following summer and found them REALLY annoying. At that time they were next to a pavilion/gazebo and you could just walk away. In 1992, I went again and these annoying thingys still existed, but at that time they were located next to the line for a ride. A long line. I think it was the Beast roller coaster. Anyone know what they were? were called? have a pic?