Season 4, Episode 23: 23 March 1973 What could be more traumatic for six adolescent siblings than having to decide who gets to adopt the recently cleared attic as their own private bedroom? It was drama and turmoil with the odd lesson in humility thrown in for good measure to end the fourth season. Carol and Mike have independently told Marcia and Greg that they can use the attic as their bedroom, then need to have the inevitable conversation. They conclude that Greg should have the attic as he's older and will be leaving for college next year anyway, but Marcia's having none of it! There's lots of petulant stomping, slamming doors and teary sob-stories about lost opportunities to throw slumber parties and show off new pyjamas to girlfriends. Four seasons later and 16 year old Marcia proves she can still do torrents of tears just as well as she did when she got those braces back in Season One! Ever eager to live up to Dad's slightly 1950s view of all-American brotherly behaviour, after moving in Greg plays the bigger man and hands the attic over to Marcia. Cue the sub-plot: Bobby and Peter absolutely don't want Greg back in their bedroom, so they spend the evening repeatedly calling Marcia all the way down to the living room to take phone calls from friends who won't be on the other end by the time she finally gets to the phone. With such a masterful plan, how could they possibly fail? It only takes three fake calls before Marcia intercepts a genuine one from someone who'd supposedly hung up earlier. She eventually gets to the bottom of it and out-bigger mans Greg by not only staying calm, but also agreeing that Greg should indeed have the attic. Everything's changed back again and everyone's happy. ...except poor little Cindy. She's climbed up on to a stool to use Alice the housekeeper's kitchen chalkboard to help her work out when her turn in the above-stairs accommodations will come. "1974... 1975... oh it's terrible!", she whines. Having stopped at 1975, she completes the calculation without further reference to the blackboard, concluding that it will be "almost the year 2000" by the time she gets into the attic. How she arrived at a quarter of a century wait is anyone's guess! If she'd stuck with the chalkboard, she would've realised that - all else going to plan - she'd only be waiting until 1978. She also overlooks the fact that - all else going to plan - she'll have her existing bedroom all to herself for at least two years before then anyway. But since when did logic ever factor in a Brady plot? As an aside, the first time the whole 'attic as a bedroom for Greg' thing had come up was actually in Season Two's 'Our Son, The Man', when Mike had explained that Greg would need to be no more than 2½ feet tall for the attic to make a suitable bedroom. Must've been a mighty tricky renovation to raise the ceiling cavity of that house as much as they obviously did!
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