The Brady Bunch: Will the Real Jan Brady Please Stand Up?

The Brady Bunch: Will the Real Jan Brady Please Stand Up?
ABC
January 15, 1971
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Al Schwartz's third and Bill Freedman's fourth Brady script is still another everyone remembers, the one where Jan buys a black wig and becomes "the new Jan Brady."  This is the kind of thing, following not too long after the George Glass debacle, that would later fuel the psycho-Jan humor of the movies, but I like how Jan is the Brady who's least comfortable with her place in the family.  Even after Alice gave her the locket, it's still not easy for her being the middle girl.  By the way, she is definitely twelve.  I'd always thought the girls were three years apart, as were the boys, but maybe Jan is only two years younger than Marcia, and Peter is only two years younger than Greg.  Or maybe continuity is as bad here as on most other sitcoms of the time.  This is another episode where Peter is a supportive brother, although I could've done without the subplot of the homely girl chasing after him.


Karen Foulkes, who plays Margie Rimple, would have a similar role later, as Muriel.  I don't think I have Pamelyn Ferdin in any of my other TV shows, but she did a lot of memorable voicework, including as Fern in Charlotte's Web.  And, yes, 28-year-old Marcia Wallace makes her debut, as the Saleswoman.