Kings Island.... old school

[FOF/Z 4-ever]

To see trivia for the Brady Bunch, cick here.

[coastergirl]

I just watched the episode and I did not hear them mention the name of the park. They said the plans were for an amusement park in Cincinnati Ohio, but didn’t say Kings Island. They did show the Kings Island name on the front of the log ride, but that was the only reference to Kings Island that I saw.

They did show names of Monster, Wheel of Fortune and they showed Red Racer on the front of the coaster.

[Captain Nemo]

I would like to see this episode... I've never seen it but it would be cool to see KI.

[Jasper]

I have seen it before but i cant remember it very well.

[jzarley]

It's been a long time since I've seen it, but I thought they mentioned Kings Island at the very beginning of the episode (before the credits even). When Carol is telling all the kids that Daddy Brady called and said the had a really big surprise for them all when he got home. He gets home and tells them they're "all going to Kings Island Amusement Park." Then they all scream, jump around, and it cuts to the credits.

Again, been a long time since I've seen it, but that sticks in my mind for some reason.

Did anyone ever see the Partridge Family episode at KI? I've heard about it, but never saw it...

[Vortex]

I have this on DVD already from my DVD recorder from Nick at Night. Wow the park has changed alot over the years some good and some bad. You think that Paramount would sell the video or DVD at the park they could make alot of money marketing it. If anyone does has some old film of KI it would be nice to see we could have a PKIC movie nite.

[Gordon Bombay]

^You are correct sir, and they hated the Kings Island inn.......there were spiders in the bathtub

[DonaldMacRonald]

According to the unofficial guidebook to PKI, the KI inn has a copy of the episode at the front desk for anyone who wishes to watch it. Also if you cant tell by watching the episode that its Kings Island, then you cant be a true KI Junky.

[Outdoor Man]

did anyone end up spotting it on Limewire?

[TOPGUN1993]

I want to know why the family was dining at the beer gardens? wasn't that supposed to be a family show?

The tables they ate at are now at the FestHaus.

[Captain Nemo]

Why does Marsha always get to be in the front row of the car????

Marsha-Marsha-Marsha!!!

[Shaggy]

I'll help clear up some confusion and hopefully answer some questions about the Brady episode.

The Episode was shot in the summer of 1973. It is episode #106 of the Brady Bunch entitled “The Cincinnati Kids.†It originally aired during the 5th season (1973-74) on Friday November 23, 1973. Now pay close attention to those dates and you’ll realize something extremely ironic… which I’ll notate below with an *.

It was filmed during the second year of operation for King's Island. The Partridge Family had filmed there the year prior, with KI using the Partridge Family theme song to help promote its 1972 grand opening (C’mon Get Happy!) Other than knowing filming/airing dates, visual confirmations of it being KI’s 2nd season during the Brady filming can be seen by viewers. "The Flying Dutchman" ride was in operation, as well as the “Bayern Curve.†Those attractions were added in 1973 along with Kenton's Keelboat Canal (Not shown) and the International Restaurant. (Not shown.)

It's widely known among Brady fans that the cast was actually very excited to travel and film at the park. Barry Williams even devoted a chapter in his book "Growing up Brady" to the experience. However, once they arrived, the cast was soured by an onslaught of disgruntled/pushy fans, bad accommodations and eventual banning of ride access. The filming took a week, and towards the end of the shoot, the park had nearly decided to close for the day because of the overwhelming amount of disruption the filming was causing. In addition, cast members were spooked by bad experiences at their Hotel with leering fans, peeping toms and bad rooms. (The Kings Island Inn was the only hotel nearby at the time of filming, so it was easy for fans to know where the cast was staying.)

Now, the Partridge Episode was filmed primarily at the Kings Island Inn, so that required only about a 2 half days of filming in the park. However, the Brady Episode prominently featured the park and rides. Because of this, 95% of filming occurred inside King’s Island during actual operating hours. Well, Kings Island marketers got the wise idea to promote it via local media prior to the shoot. This publicity caused an overwhelming amount of guests to show up just to "See the Bradys" and created record attendance days. Unfortunately, the marketing backfired when many guests left angry and complained of interruptions to normal operation at the park. (Remember, The Racer was the only "big" coaster there, and filming on it closed the ride for well over a day!) Imagine going to KI, and not being able to ride ANY big rollercoaster! (The Bavarian Beetle and Scooby Doo coasters were also at the park at this time... but were hardly satisfying to guests.)

The episode was developed because Paramount Studios was a shareholder in Taft Properties. And of course most know that Taft owned and operated KI at that time. The shows (Brady and Partridge) were produced by Paramount Studios. Both the park and the studios saw it as a way of promoting the park as a sideline investment. (*As eluded to above, the episode did not air until November, thus promoting the park was really in vain… the park had already closed for the season by the time of the airing.) Ironically, the Hannah Barbera characters were featured in both shows (Mostly the Banana Splits) although HB was its own entity that fell under Taft Broadcasting, yet had no real tie-in to Paramount Pictures. The show's Producers also decided it was a good idea to film there, since sitcoms were finding that "outside/real world" episodes increased ratings and viewership. Fans of the shows loved seeing the Bradys in real places and lived vicariously through them. As a result, the Grand Canyon and Hawaii episodes (which preceded the KI episode in prior seasons) were among favorites of fans of the show.

Now, it's true that Robert Reed never rode The Racer. He did not like coasters (or much of anything in general... he was a sour and difficult man...) and claimed amusement attractions made him sick. Thus he is not seen in the coaster footage. Ironically, he was given a line at the end of the episode stating that he thought they should all “ride the rollercoaster again.†Of course he says this nearly being drowned out by the Scooby Doo coaster roaring in the background. LOL

Speaking of The Racer… the rumor states that the “falling camera incident†occurred when the camera mount hit an overhead beam. Well, it’s true that the camera did fall off, and it's lucky that the cast was not riding at the time. (Well, depending upon whether you like the Bradys or not… LOL) However, the problem with this theory is The Racer has never had any low lying overhead beams on it! The only time the coaster traverses under any beams is at the finale when it passes by the lift/first drop structure and enters the final brake run (In those days, The Racer had one more bunny hop before the brake run.) The fact is, the camera mount was not secured firmly and the camera dislodged from the mount and fell off the train and to the side due to vibrations.

Robert Reed claimed that before they sent it around the first time he took it upon himself to "walk the tracks." He claimed that is was during his own exploration that he noticed there was an obvious overhead obstruction that the camera would hit. This, IMO, is a load of exaggerated crap. Even in those early days, no non-maintenance person would have been allowed to "walk the tracks," let alone a beloved television actor. It's also a slap to those that oversaw the park hinting that they obviously were not aware of the possible obstructions of their own coaster. Finally, for someone that didn't ride coasters, why did Mr. Reed feel the need to be present for filming on the rides? Obviously, it was for his own attention getting/trouble causing purposes. None the less, the scene was shot, no one was hurt, and the final result can be seen on film... backwards.

Yes, that's right... what footage of The Racer that you see on the show (from the rider’s perspective) is a reversed image (mirror) of the actual ride. This is a flaw that the show's editors didn't catch. Actually, show editors were not present at the park for filming, so when they edited the footage into the scene, they didn't realize they were inserting the footage upside down. Thus they created the mirror image.

The "running the plans to the office" scenes obviously do not make sense to those familiar with the layout of the park. However, the pattern the Brady’s make running the “plans†had little to do with continuity, but a lot to do with the filming schedule.

For instance, on certain days, the schedule called for certain actors to be called to certain spots at certain times of the day. I.E. Maureen McCormick and Eve Plumb would be called to be filmed at the Antique Cars, say at 3pm on Wednesday. When that time arrived, not only were the actors filmed riding, but also filmed searching the cars for the “plans,†and also filmed running by the attraction with the “plans†in hand. Etc. etc. etc. The crew would then move to another area or attraction and film all subsequent scenes with subsequent actors in that designated area. The result was the show’s Director collected a random, hodge-podge, mis-match of footage that featured the various characters running past the various rides in the park.

Again, the show’s editors aren’t involved with actual shooting and thus didn't go to the park. So when editing, little concern was given to accurately reflecting the park's flow. The untrained eye doesn't even catch it. The trained eye realizes that each grouping of actors run by the various attractions several times and in a random pattern.

Another thing that becomes obvious when viewing the episode closely are the variations in the time of day that the scenes were shot. The entire episode is supposed to occur over the course of a day at the park. Well, there’s no consistency with the change in light as the show’s factual time passes. So there are significant changes to the daylight as the show goes on.

Pay attention next time and you'll realize that the scenes in Coney Mall were mostly shot late in the day and early in the morning. This was most likely due to the section being the most popular part of the park with the best and biggest rides. So they needed to film without obstructing operation too severely. Example?... The scene with Jan and Marsha exiting the Tumble Bug (When they realize they lost the Yogi Poster) was obviously filmed late in the day. The sun is setting to the West and shining right at them. Heck, the kid exiting behind them even squints because the sun is directly in his eyes. The scene with Bobby and Cindy eating popcorn at a bench on Coney Mall was also filmed late in the day as there is very little sunlight at all. By contrast, the scenes with Greg and Peter on Coney Mall were obviously filmed in the morning as the sun is bright, and overhead.

From what I understand, the final days of shooting concentrated on the front of the park. Weather became bad as the week progressed, and in the scene where Carol arrives at the office in with the “plans,†it is actually raining. Although raining, next time notice how neither of the cast members gets wet…. Hmmmmm….?) Similarly, it was overcast when they "viewer's perspective" footage was filmed on Racer.

The name of the park was never mentioned verbally on Air. At the episode's start, Mike mentions that he is taking the family to Cincinnati because his firm has plans for a new area for a big amusement park there. (“Cincinnati?†Well, that’s the Brady’s response… and rightfully so, because the park is actually 20 miles outside Cincinnati… so Dad lied. LOL)

However, the name of the park was shown, briefly, when footage shows the park for the first time. Outside the main entrance, you see a King's Island Inn bus pull up with signage on its side, as well as topiary shrubbery trimmed to say "Kings Island." The name is briefly visible on the front of a flume boat, but very briefly. The only other time the park name is featured is at the end, during the show’s credits. Part of this obvious desire to not prominently advertise the park came from the shows producers and network censors. In that day, they frowned upon blatant product endorsement during shows. (My how the times have changed!) But the Producers likely frowned as well, because they didn't get compensated by Taft/KI and felt no need to give more credit to the park than necessary.

Current airings of the episode are always missing scenes/footage. When "The Brady Bunch" first aired, episodes featured nearly 27 minutes of show time and around 3 minutes of commercial time. On today's TV, half hour shows consist of 22-23 minutes of show and 7-8 minutes of commercial time. Thus many older shows are trimmed of excess footage when they go to syndication. Heck, even the Pop-Up Video version of the show is missing footage.

Among the scenes that often get cut from this episode is:

- Alice speaking French and then pointing out the Eiffel Tower.

- Carol and Alice riding the Flying Carpet Slides in Coney Mall

- Carol and Alice riding the Wheel of Fortune

- The verbal exchange that Carol and Mike have with the Lost and Found attendee

- Marsha and Jan paddling the canoes

- Bobby and Cindy eating various sweets.

However, scenes/footage deleted depends on what network is airing it. For instance, if you see the episode on Nick at Nite, it may show some scenes/footage that an airing on TV Land or VH1 does not. The good news is the DVD collection will likely feature the episode in its entirety.

Speaking of the Pop-Up version.... did you know that Jeffrey Siebert was the one who sent factoids to the VH1 folks compiling the show? VH1 is of course, owned by Viacom, that owns Paramount Studios (Brady Bunch Producers) and Viacom also owns Paramount Parks (King's Island owners.) So you could say that a bit of nepotism was involved. ;-)

Here's an interesting tid-bit that someone alluded to in an earlier post...

Why was Marcia Always sitting in front of Jan or closer to the camera while on the rides? Well, simply because she was the most popular girl cast member. Who was the most popular boy? No, not Greg! It was Peter. Thus in final seasons, Peter and Marcia got good airtime, and scenes were written to feature them. During this season, Maureen McCormick and Chris Knight (Marcia and Peter) even released a record album much to their teen fan's delight.

I mentioned Greg... well; I had the pleasure of meeting Barry Williams (Greg) some time back and had an exchange with him about the park. He thrived at talking about his memories of Kings Island and really lit up about it (obviously because he gets tired of the same old Brady questions.) Sadly, neither he nor any of the other Brady cast members have been back to the park since the filming. It’s not out of anger or protest, rather they just have not had the opportunity. Barry recalls the park fondly, and does hope to revisit it sometime. He is a coaster lover and actually still rides them and visits parks as he travels.

Finally, here's some fun and interesting things to pay attention to when watching the episode:

-In those days, Coney Mall ended where the High Striker game is currently located. Halley's Comet was positioned there and can be seen in the episode. The park expanded Coney Mall just a few seasons following this episode.

-The board room featured in the episode is an actual boardroom at the park. However contrary to popular belief, it is not the one in the International Restaurant facility. It is in the administrative building and its decor remains in tact today just as shown in the Brady Episode.

- The Enchanted Voyage can be seen although HB Land was not used in any of the filming. If you look closely as Marcia and Jan are running with the plans, you can see the giant TV Set Facade in the background.

- Of course the Football Toss game is still present at the park, but notice the difference in the size of the hole. The hole you must toss through today is only about 2/3 the size of the one in the episode. In other words, they made it harder for guests to win.

- As Greg and Peter run down International Street, pay attention to the front of the shops. The midway was much more narrow then with "yards" and street-scaping in front of the shops. The park later removed the landscaped areas to help de-congest the walking path and eliminate the amount of "accident" guests were having. (Guests would often not pay attention and trip or fall over protruding curbs this resulted in twisted ankles and broken legs… and lawsuits.)

- The Gingko Trees that lined Coney Mall (that were uprooted and moved from Cincinnati's Coney Island) were still being meticulously trimmed in their cylindrical shape then. The park has since lost many of the trees and the landscapers ultimately stopped shaping the trees in order to save the few remaining.

- The music in the episode included Carousel Band organ music. And yes, it was recorded from the KI Carousel. Depending on the day, and what reel they have in, you can still occasionally hear the song used in the Brady episode playing on the PKI Carousel.

Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did typing it. I could go on and one pin-pointing other fun facts, but frankly my fingers are tired of typing. LOL

Shaggy

[Face/OffJZ]

how long did it take u to type that??? lol

[Gordon Bombay]

Shaggy, thats the best darn post on this whole message board ever! Great job, compiling all that information, i really enjoyed reading that, plese share any more random facts you have ! Great Job! Only one grammar error too!

[Outdoor Man]

WOW shaggy, you need a hobby.

just kidding. enjoyed reading it.

can this episode be downloaded anywhere?

[jzarley]

If you've ever heard any interviews with Sherwood Schwartz, he says that Robert Reed was a real pain in the a** to deal with... (So, it doesn't suprise me he was a jerk about The Racer...)

RE: the curbs on International Street...I also remember hearing that they were removed not only for safety reasons, but to make the street more wheelchair accessable.

Great post, BTW!

[Outdoor Man]

oddly enough Robert Reed actually did hate the show and didn't care for many of the directors/producers.... and they didn't really care for him either. Sherwood Schwartz contemplated killing off the character (in a family series) for season 7 before the show was canceled. But oddly enough; Reed was back on (enthusiastically) for all Brady reunion shows and the God-forsaken variety shows.

kinda funny how life played itself out.

[coastergirl]

How did you find so much information on this??? You must be a really big fan of the Brady Bunch and PKI. Wow, I am going to have to go back and watch this episode again so I can look for everything that you pointed out!!

[WooferBearATL]

Actually, you're going to find that most of the trees in Coney and all of the trees on International Street were replaced when each of those sections were remodled.

The curbs were a pain on International Street. They went away when International Street was remodled.

[Buckeye-Beast]

Two other bits of trivia from the pop-up episode: The episode cost $228,000 to film, and Kings Island paid half. Also they refer to the actor playing the manager by name (Mr. Remmington), that was actually the managers name at the time.

[BoddaH1994]

-The board room featured in the episode is an actual boardroom at the park. However contrary to popular belief, it is not the one in the International Restaurant facility. It is in the administrative building and its decor remains in tact today just as shown in the Brady Episode.

You're right about that, but I'm pretty sure that the brightly colored chairs that were in the episode are now in the board room behind the carousel room in the IR, so that's where people get confused... would have fooled me.

[Outdoor Man]

had to pull this thread out of the archives. Season 5 featuring the Kings Island episode comes out Tuesday, March 7.... wonder if there will be special features?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CCBCH...&v=glance&n=130

i don't think that link will work. but check amazon.com for brady bunch season 5

[Gordon Bombay]

A friend of mine taped it off the tv and put it on dvd for me, its amazing how much the park has changed and how poor the production values of that episode are, wasnt it filmed in just one weekend? Its good for a laugh though and I dont think most people notice all the blunders.

[Outdoor Man]

if you were to watch the scenes where they were trying to get the blue prints to their dad, assuming they were running a straight line to the location, KI should have been the length of the state of ohio.

[Thrill_Biscuit]

Funnier still is how giddy 'Peter' is about making $5 to cover for the bear-costume guy at the end. "I'll do anything for $5!" What'll $5 get you at PKI these days?

[deidre1976]

Funnier still is how giddy 'Peter' is about making $5 to cover for the bear-costume guy at the end. "I'll do anything for $5!" What'll $5 get you at PKI these days?

A pretzel and a cup of cheese

[Skylab]

Mmm... cup of cheese...

[Buckeye-Beast]

And Yes, they did mention Kings Island by name.  They mentioned the name when they were telling the family they were going on a trip.  They also said located in Cincinnati, Ohio.

I just watched it again, and they never mention KI by name, but they do show Kings Island on the front of the log flume. ----(sorry I didn't realize how old the post was when I was reading it)

[deidre1976]

And Yes, they did mention Kings Island by name.  They mentioned the name when they were telling the family they were going on a trip.  They also said located in Cincinnati, Ohio.

I just watched it again, and they never mention KI by name, but they do show Kings Island on the front of the log flume. ----(sorry I didn't realize how old the post was when I was reading it)

We are still talkin about it , did you watch it on President's day?

[Jasper]

I walked into my living room anmd just happened to turn on the Tv and the info said the cincinatti kids or something like that and i watched it and it was a very neat show. I would love to have that episode. It is amazing how much the park has developed and that when they ran they could run anywhere they wanted to.