The Brady Bunch: 10 Best Episodes Ever

3. Ghost Town USA / Grand Canyon Or Bust / The Brady Braves

Season 3, Episodes 1 - 3: 17 September - 1 October 1971 The Grand Canyon Trilogy kicked off Season Three in style. It was the third time the Bradys went on a camping trip, but the first time they did it as a three-part adventure. In Part 1, Ghost Town USA, the world's smallest caravan is hooked up to the giant brown station wagon, which the entire family - and Alice the housekeeper - piles into and they hit the road bound for the Grand Canyon. Along the way they stop at a spooky old ghost town for the night. Enter special guest star Jim Bacchus as old-timer gold prospector Zachariah Brown. In a plot that lent a great deal to the following season's opener, Brown fears they've come to steal his gold, so he orchestrates a plan to get all nine of them into an old jail cell so he can lock them in and steal their car. For the episodes cliffhanger, Carol pines and worries about Mike and Peter as they wander off into the dusty sunset in search of the car / the highway / help, leaving the rest of them to fend for themselves overnight in the spooky rundown town. In Part 2, Grand Canyon Or Bust, it doesn't take long for Mike and Peter to make it back into town, an enormous cloud of dust engulfing the miniature caravan as they screech to a halt. Conveniently the dodgy old prospector had already decided to come back so instead of having to walk twelve miles they only had to go about 200 metres. In typical Brady style, they've brought the car-thieving gold digger back home - no name-calling, no police involvement and everyone parts company on friendly terms, as only Bradys can. They drop anchor on the caravan in the Grand Canyon National Park, then head out for a spot of site-seeing, which includes the series' most stunning location footage shot around the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Then it's down to the canyon floor by mule to reach the spot where they're camping overnight. Bobby and Cindy head off for some exploring and when they see a native Indian boy over some rocks, they follow him to find out where he goes. Unseen for some hours and with the sun setting over the canyon, the whole family's out in search of Bobby and Cindy. For the episode's uncharacteristically dramatic cliffhanger, the camera pans back as they're perched on some rocks in the middle of nowhere, blood-hungry coyotes howling, poisonous scorpions scuttling about all over the place, Cindy crying and Bobby unconvincing in his reassurances. In Part 3, The Brady Braves, the native Indian boy Jimmy helps the stricken kids get back to the family. Mike, in turn, comes to the aid of Jimmy, who wants to be an astronaut when he grows up but runs away from his own family in the belief that his grandfather Chief Eagle Cloud wouldn't approve. As is generally the case in these Brady plots, the whole thing's a misunderstanding and Chief Eagle Cloud wouldn't be more eager to embrace and encourage his grandson's ambitions. Awwwwww. Obviously the Bradys are invited to a special ceremony to thank them their help and to install them as honourary members of the tribe, with each having bestowed upon them their own traditional Indian titles. Back in the giant station wagon they all climb, cranking up the road trip sing-a-long and heading for home.