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The Brady Bunch Season 4 Episodes
Season 4 Episode Guide
23 Episodes 1972 - 1973
Episode 1
Hawaii Bound
Fri, Sep 22, 197226 mins
Everyone in the family is excited when Mike tells them that his company is sending him to Honolulu for a business trip, and he is able to bring them all along all expenses paid. Their vacation starts off well as they take in the many sights of Oahu. But things start to change when the boys accompany Mike to the construction site. There, Bobby finds a small tiki idol, which he decides he will keep as a good luck charm. What Bobby is unaware of is that one of the construction workers, old Mr. Hanalei, a traditional native islander, earlier saw the idol, and recognized it as a native taboo idol of evil to anyone who touches it. Beyond the luck Bobby and Cindy have in meeting island entertainer Don Ho while the idol is in Bobby's possession, near catastrophes end up occurring to whoever is in the possession of the idol, although no one in the family sees it as a bad luck charm, but still the exact opposite. But that bad luck may prove serious for the latest in the family to have it in his possession.
Episode 2
Pass the Tabu
Fri, Sep 29, 197226 mins
With the idol around his neck for good luck, Greg suffers a near tragic surfing crash. Bobby surmises that it could have been worse if Greg wasn't wearing the idol. Next, Jan, with the idol in her possession, unknowingly has a close encounter with a tarantula. It is then that David, seeing the idol for the first time, tells the boys that island superstition deems the idol to be a source of bad luck, news which the boys pass along to the rest of the family. Peter, who doesn't believe in the bad luck, takes the idol, upon which bad luck befalls him. Although David doesn't believe in the superstition, he points to the boys to old Mr. Hanalei, a construction worker who does believe in the superstition. He tells the boys that to rid themselves of the bad luck, they need to return the idol to the ancient burial site of the island kings, to which he himself has never been. The boys head off on their mission, telling only the girls of their plans and vowing them to secrecy. What the boys don't know is that an unknown sinister element is also at the burial site.
Episode 3
The Tiki Caves
Fri, Oct 6, 197226 mins
As instructed by old Mr. Hanalei, Greg, Peter and Bobby go to the ancient burial caves to return what they believe is the bad luck tiki idol to appease the Hawaiian gods. The boys are in for a bit more potential bad luck as they are unaware that they are being shadowed by a mysterious and solitary man, who will resort to anything to get rid of the boys so that they can't or won't report what they've seen in the caves. Meanwhile the girls, who know what the boys are up to, have to decide what to do when the boys are gone longer than they should have been. Once Mike and Carol find out what's happened, they have to find out where the caves are hopefully to find a safe Greg, Peter and Bobby.
Episode 4
Today, I Am a Freshman
Fri, Oct 13, 197226 mins
It's the first day of the new school year, and many of the kids aren't looking forward to going back. It's an especially bad day for Marcia, who is scared of her first day in high school. She's afraid she'll be a nobody being a freshman, especially as she'll be attending a different school than most of her friends. On Mike's urging, Greg offers to be her guide through her initial days at Westdale High. Greg's job is not made any easier by Marcia's preconceived notions about the way she should act as a high schooler. Marcia ultimately takes her parent's advice of meeting new friends by partaking in a school club. But Marcia goes one or two or three steps further by joining every club, even if she has no interest in the club activity or the people associated with the club itself. She's particularly interested in what seem to be the most popular or exclusive clubs such as the Westdale Boosters, which only takes in three freshmen per year. Peter's science project may unwittingly help Marcia find her way in what she really wants to do.
Episode 5
Cyrano de Brady
Fri, Oct 20, 197226 mins
Peter falls head over heels in love with Jan's new classmate and friend, Kerry Hathaway. It takes all of Peter's efforts just for Kerry to remember which Brady brother he is. And once she does remember who he is, Peter is completely tongue tied around her. Everything he tries to woo her results in disaster. Not knowing the words to use, Peter asks Greg if he would consider being his Cyrano de Bergerac by standing behind the bushes at Kerry's house feeding Peter with the words he should say to Kerry. The words do impress Kerry, but she ends up falling for the one who thought of the words - Greg - as she sees him behind the bushes. To get Kerry with Peter, Greg concocts a plan for Jan to tell Kerry what a cad he is while extolling Peter's virtues. When that plan doesn't work, Greg, without telling Peter, moves to Plan B: he tries to show Kerry that he's a cad, which requires an in disguise Marcia to play Greg's jilted ex. With so many lies involved, can this latest plan get the end result they want or will the lies fall apart?
Episode 6
Fright Night
Fri, Oct 27, 197226 mins
Jan and Cindy are awaken in the middle of the night, scared by mysterious sounds that seem to be emanating from the attic and the vision of what looks like a ghostly apparition outside their window. Investigating, Mike and Carol discover the window in the attic open, the noise from the wind causing a creaking rocking chair to rock, and that there is nothing in the trees outside. What they are initially unaware of is that the cause of all this commotion was the boys - Peter masquerading as the apparition - who wanted to scare the girls. Ultimately Marcia believes the boys were responsible for everything, and she leads her sisters in getting back at the boys with a little of their own medicine. All this pranksterism may get out of hand, especially with a comment added by Alice. Meanwhile, Carol is sculpting a bust of Mike's head for her art class' competition.
Episode 7
The Show Must Go On??
Fri, Nov 3, 197226 mins
It's time for Westdale High's annual Family Night Frolics, a fundraising revue styled show where student/parent pairs perform. Marcia is scared to tell Carol that she volunteered the two of them to sing a duet for the show. Carol doesn't want to do it, despite being a good singer, as she is scared to perform to a paying audience of her mother peers, but she is guilted into it in part by Mike, who feels that every parent should do his or her part. He regrets doing so when he hears that Greg has promised the show organizer, Mrs. Tuttle, that the two of them would also perform. Mike, who feels he has no performing arts skills, is no less comforted when Mrs. Tuttle wants him to do a dramatic reading of a specific Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem accompanied by Greg on the guitar, as the performing arts value of the poem is as much fun as watching paint dry. Mike has to figure out a way to salvage his and Greg's performance and thus their pride or risk the audience asking for their money back, that is if the audience stays awake during the reading. Meanwhile, the rest of the family goes to extreme lengths to sell tickets for the show. And Alice feels like Sam going to a bowling practice instead of taking her to the show is a relationship breaker. A pair of blond angels may use their magic to help in the Sam/Alice relationship situation.
Episode 8
Jan, the Only Child
Fri, Nov 10, 197226 mins
Jan feels that her siblings don't treat her with respect, almost like she is invisible, that she has to line up after all five of her siblings have finished using something first, or that she has no privacy to be able to do what she really wants to do. She makes a rash comment that she wished she was an only child. After thinking about it, she admits that she truly does wish it was true. She even doesn't want to attend the upcoming charity hoedown as a member of the family, where the eight were going to be a square for the square dancing. Her parents won't force her to go, and they also want Jan's brothers and sisters to treat her a little more kindly as she works through what they hope is just a phase. After that tactic ends up being a miserable failure, the other five kids decide to give Jan exactly what she wants: the feeling of being an only child. Meanwhile, Carol and Alice embark on a competition of the homemade strawberry preserves for the charity hoedown, each using a secret family recipe.
Episode 9
Career Fever
Fri, Nov 17, 197226 mins
Mike is excited to read in Greg's class composition that he wants to become an architect, just like his good old dad. What Mike is unaware of is that Greg only wrote that because he didn't and doesn't know what he wants to be when he grows up. Greg doesn't have the heart to tell his father that he really doesn't want to be an architect, so he devises a plan that he hopes will make his father dissuade him from entering the profession. His plan doesn't have quite the reaction from Mike that Greg had hoped. The plan and the reaction are the result of both sides not wanting to hurt the feelings of the other. Meanwhile, Peter, Jan, Bobby and Cindy, spurred on by Greg's class assignment, have come up with their chosen professions as doctor, nurse, astronaut and model respectively. Peter decides to do a self diagnosis and doesn't like what he finds. And Bobby and Cindy reconsider based on what they can or cannot eat.
Episode 10
Goodbye, Alice, Hello
Fri, Nov 24, 197226 mins
An incident involving Peter, Greg, and a Frisbee inside the house leads to an antique lamp in Mike's den being broken. Alice is aware that the boys broke the lamp--which they try to repair--and they ask Alice to keep their secret from their parents, and she agrees. But when Carol discovers that the lamp has been broken, Alice is caught between this vow and the fact that she has never lied to Carol, so she feels that she must tell Carol the truth. Subsequently, Carol asks Alice a seemingly-innocent question about who used the record player and left it running all night, and Alice names Marcia. The boys and Marcia get punished for their deeds and feel that Alice has betrayed them, and all six give her the cold shoulder. Now feeling unloved and unwanted, the heartbroken Alice immediately quits, not even saying goodbye to the kids. When Alice's friend Kay takes her place, the kids discover that Kay has a less-emotional approach to being a live-in housekeeper, and when they have enough of that, they must figure out how to get their beloved Alice back.
Episode 11
Greg's Triangle
Fri, Dec 8, 197226 mins
Jennifer Nichols, a student at Westdale High, is forthright in her pursuit of Greg, who quickly falls under her seductive charms. Jennifer and "Greggy,"as she calls him, have a surfing date on the weekend. He is so preoccupied by thoughts of Jennifer that Greg forgets about a previous doubles golfing engagement that day with Mike and another father-son duo, leaving Mike to scramble for a last minute replacement. Mike's wannabe alternate for Greg isn't quite who he was expecting or hoping. After Mike and Carol meet Jennifer, they can tell that behind her sweet demeanor, she's after something from Greg. Meanwhile, Marcia is practicing hard for the upcoming head cheerleader tryout. Although Greg is chair of the selection committee, Marcia doesn't want to take for granted that she'll get chosen just because of her personal relationship to Greg. Although Greg may not be able to see it, what Jennifer wants is too to be chosen head cheerleader. Greg vows to Marcia that he will be fair and impartial in his judging, although Marcia doesn't believe Greg will be with his girlfriend also in the contest. Can Greg be fair and impartial, and will both his sister and his girlfriend respect his decision?
Episode 12
Everyone Can't Be George Washington
Fri, Dec 22, 197226 mins
Peter is trying out for the part of George Washington, the lead, in the school's play on the American Revolution. Peter is dismayed that he instead gets the secondary but much more demanding role of the adversary, Benedict Arnold. Peter really wanted the heroic lead, and as such contemplates dropping out of the production. Carol is able to convince him that getting this role is indeed an honor, and that he has never quit anything before. But will he feel the same way when his friends start ribbing him for playing the part of a traitor? Meanwhile, Jan gets the position of set designer, as she has the best qualification of any student: her father, the architect.
Episode 13
Love and the Older Man
Fri, Jan 5, 197326 mins
Marcia is walking around in a daze following her visit to the dentist. It's because she's in love, namely with their regular dentist's new associate, Dr. Stanley Vogel. Marcia gets the idea that she could become Mrs. Dr. Vogel from Jan, who reads in one of her teen magazines that women who marry men ten to twelve years older are in more stable relationships. What she doesn't know is that he is already married with a child. Marcia's thoughts about Dr. Vogel make her lose sight of more appropriate males her own age that are interested in her. Complications ensue when a request Dr. Vogel makes for her to babysit is misinterpreted as a date. Meanwhile, Peter and Bobby are building a go-cart with Greg's help.
Episode 14
Law and Disorder
Fri, Jan 12, 197326 mins
Bobby is losing all his friends. The reason?: in his new role as safety monitor at school, he has to snitch on his friends if they break the rules. He didn't even want the job, but since no one volunteered, the teacher chose him. As such, his parents convince him that he should be the best safety monitor that he can be. So he decides to report every single violation he sees, big or small, and even if it involves a family member. In that vein, Bobby self-appoints himself as safety monitor at home, writing a report to his parents on every rule broken around the house, even if the offender has a good reason for breaking the rule. This act extends the bad feelings toward Bobby from his siblings as well. Bobby learns the hard way that there are good reasons for the breaking the rules. Meanwhile, Mike buys a small run down sailboat that he figures just needs some tender love care to make seaworthy.
Episode 15
Greg Gets Grounded
Fri, Jan 19, 197325 mins
After doing Bobby a favor of driving him to the pet store to buy a frog for the frog jumping contest which has a $25 first prize, Greg is rewarded for his efforts by getting grounded - no use of the car for one week - as Bobby tells his parents of Greg almost getting into a car accident purely out of his own carelessness. Greg is annoyed enough about Bobby blabbing on him and being grounded in and of itself, but he is more depressed about the repercussions on his dating life, as there is no way he can now pick up the concert tickets for his already promised date with Rachel. Greg thinks he's found a loophole in the grounding as he drives a friend's car to pick up the tickets instead. Caught in this action, Greg is further grounded, which means that he will now miss his date with Rachel altogether. Feeling he is being cheated while still doing whatever he can to keep his date, Greg enters into a negotiation with his parents as to his punishment. Based on Greg's argument, Mike believes that there may be a better way for Greg to learn that what he did was wrong through another method. Meanwhile, Peter, when learning about the frog jumping contest, believes that a wild and free frog from Burke's Pond will do better than Bobby's $2 frog. Only the results of contest will tell for sure.
Episode 16
Amateur Nite
Fri, Jan 26, 197326 mins
Taking them six months to save enough money, the kids have purchased a silver platter for their parent's wedding anniversary. Wanting the gift to be even more special, Jan, without telling her siblings, gets the platter engraved. However, she misinterprets the cost of the engraving which is not 85¢ as she believes, but rather 85¢ per letter for a grand total of $56, money which she and her siblings don't have. So they have to figure out a way to raise the money within the week. After the kids exhaust other options such as selling personal items and even trying to take out a loan from a bank, Jan has an idea that could net them $100: perform on the Pete Sterne Amateur Hour, the first prize being that $100. But they have to pass the audition and win the contest, neither of which are guarantees, and all without their parents or Alice finding out what they're up to.
Episode 17
Bobby's Hero
Fri, Feb 2, 197326 mins
Mr. Hillary, the principal at the elementary school, requests a meeting with Mike and Carol, who suspect that what Mr. Hillary wants to discuss is some bad news concerning one of the kids. Indeed, Mr. Hillary's concern is a composition Bobby wrote on his hero: Jesse James, the outlaw. In addition, Bobby, pretending to be Jesse James, brought a cap gun to school. After Mike and Carol speak to Bobby about the issue, Bobby says that he believes he will grow out of his fascination with Jesse James, but his actions say otherwise. In trying to make Bobby see why Jesse James is not a historical figure to be emulated, Mike and Carol come to understand why Bobby would idolize someone like Jesse James. After doing some reading on Jesse James, Mike believes that Bobby having a chat with biographer Jethroe Collins might have the result he and Carol are hoping.
Episode 18
The Subject Was Noses
Fri, Feb 9, 197326 mins
Marcia is in seventh heaven when the school's star football player, Doug Simpson, asks her out for a date for this Saturday. After she accepts, she remembers that she already has a date for Saturday night with a nice but somewhat plain boy named Charley, who adores her. As she would rather go out with Doug, she uses the advice given to her by Greg. He says that to get out of a date, she should use the non-committal statement, "something suddenly came up," which is what she tells a dejected but understanding Charley. She's happy that she managed not to hurt Charley and keep her date with Doug, but she still feels terrible doing it. A few days before the date, Marcia gets hit in the face by an errant football, badly injuring her nose. Marcia tries to avoid Doug before Saturday, but if she does see him, she hopes he will be understanding of her less than perfect looks and that she won't hear the words "something suddenly came up" from him. Meanwhile, Mike and Carol can't agree on which wallpaper to use for their bedroom.
Episode 19
How to Succeed in Business?
Fri, Feb 23, 197326 mins
An elated Peter has just been offered his first job, working for Mr. Martinelli at the bike shop on weekends. As it's his first job, Mike advises him to be prompt, hard working and loyal. Peter ends up selling his parents on the idea of getting bikes for themselves, and he is a diligent worker. However, he is not a "business" oriented worker, as he is slow in getting the jobs done, and does maintenance that doesn't need to be done nor was requested. And Peter doesn't pick up on Mr. Martinelli's hints to get the job done quicker. As such, Mr. Martinelli has no choice but to fire him. Mr. Martinelli tells Peter that he'd like to have a chat with him at the end of the working day. Peter interprets the want for a chat as a probable promotion, which he tells Carol and Alice. So when the news is the exact opposite, Peter is crushed. But when the family throws him a surprise "congratulations on the promotion" party, Peter has to decide how to give them the news while saving face. This may be difficult in light of the family's want to frequent the store more and more because of Peter.
Episode 20
The Great Earring Caper
Fri, Mar 2, 197326 mins
Carol lends Marcia her favorite earrings, which are family heirlooms. Although she is told explicitly not to touch them, Cindy can't help but try them on when Marcia isn't around. When called by her mother, Cindy hides the earrings in a towel on the bathroom counter. When finished dealing with her mother, Cindy returns to the bathroom to find the earrings are gone. The one person Cindy confides in is Peter, who is learning how to be a detective akin to Sherlock Holmes and who she thinks can help her locate the earrings without anyone else finding out what they're doing. Can they find the earrings before anyone finds out Cindy lost them? Meanwhile, Mike is letting Carol decide what costumes to wear for a costume party they attend every year. Mike isn't as easy going about Carol's suggestions as he initially lets on he would be.
Episode 21
You're Never Too Old
Fri, Mar 9, 197326 mins
Carol's Kentucky grandmother, Connie Hutchins, who is young in spirit and body and who has a modern sensibility, decides at the last minute to make a visit. It is bad timing if only because Mike and Carol have previous engagements, leaving Grandma largely with the kids. But Marcia and Jan in particular think they have a better way for their great-grandmother to spend their time while in town. As Great-grandma has never remarried, the girls think that they have the perfect person with who she should meet and fall in love with: their great-grandfather, retired judge Henry Brady. Although their meeting starts off cordially enough, Great-grandma and Great-grandpa quickly have a falling out, largely because they are diametrically opposites: Great-grandpa is conservative and a traditionalist, who believes that spouting Latin is a good time. Despite facing this setback, Marcia and Jan are determined to prove that opposites truly do attract.
Episode 22
You Can't Win 'Em All
Fri, Mar 16, 197326 mins
Bobby and Cindy have been chosen to take the test for their respective grades to see which four students will represent Clinton Grammar School at the upcoming "Question the Kids" television quiz show. Humble Cindy asks for help studying from everyone in her family as she believes only hard work will yield positive results. Right before the exam, Cindy, despite her constant studying, states that she can only do her best and hopes that is enough to be chosen. Bobby, however, gets an extreme case of swelled head, he who believes he's a cinch to be chosen. As such he forgoes studying. Cindy's hard work pays off as she is indeed chosen, but Bobby, to use his own words, gets "wiped out" by the exam and doesn't make the final four. These results lead to the swelled head getting transferred to Cindy, who believes that she is now a celebrity. Her swelled head does affect her performance on the quiz show, but not quite in the same manner that it previously affected Bobby. Meanwhile, Mike and Carol are planning on holding a small barbecue for a few friends. That planned dinner constantly gets changed, from the ever growing invitation list, to the meal to the date.
Episode 23
A Room at the Top
Fri, Mar 23, 197326 mins
To get a little more privacy which he doesn't seem to be able to find at the house and gain a little more freedom, Greg wants to move out of the house and into his college friend Hank's apartment. Despite understanding Greg's wants, Mike disallows Greg's request. But after the family starts cleaning up the attic, Greg, as an alternative, wants to use it as his own bedroom. That idea Mike does approve. Unknown to them, Marcia also has the same idea of using the attic as her own bedroom, which gets Carol's approval. When Greg and Marcia both find out about the other wanting the attic, neither intends on giving it up to the other. When Mike and Carol find out about the issue, both parents side with Greg because he's the oldest, which nonetheless doesn't sit well with a brooding and angry Marcia. Is there another alternative? Whatever happens seems to affect Peter, Jan, Bobby and Cindy equally as much as Greg and Marcia, some of who try to take matters into their own hands.
