| Everyone Can't Be George Washington | |
| Season 4, Episode # 12 Number (#84) in series (117 episodes) | |
| Network: | ABC-TV |
| TV series: | |
| Guest star(s) | Sara Seegar Barbara Bernstein Jimmy Bracken Sean Kelly Michael Barbera Cheryl Beth Jacobs |
| Production code: | 086 |
| Writer(s) | Sam Locke & Milton Pascal |
| Director | Richard Michaels |
| Original airdate | 22 December 1972 |
| Episode Guide | |
| Episode chronology | |
|---|---|
| « Previous "Greg's Triangle" |
Next » "Love and the Older Man" |
Everyone Can't Be George Washington is the twelfth episode of Season 4 of The Brady Bunch, and the 84th overall episode of the series. Written by Sam Locke and Milton Pascal and directed by Richard Michaels, it first aired 22 December 1972 on ABC.
Short Summary[]
When Peter is cast as Benedict Arnold, he can't take his classmates' teasing, so he schemes to get himself dismissed from the play.
Summary[]
Peter is trying out for the lead part of George Washington 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. Nevertheless, he vows to stick with it.
However, Peter's friends start dismissing Peter as a "traitor". To get them back on his side, Peter attempts to have the play rewritten to make Benedict Arnold the good guy, claiming that maybe all the sources that label him as a traitor made a mistake, but the director doesn't buy it, and Peter finds himself in hot water with his co-stars, resulting in a bloody nose after a fight with Freddie.
Peter attempts to be kicked out of the play. He tries forgetting his lines, but the director merely pastes them to a prop should he forget again. He feigns a limp from an ankle injury, but the director claims Benedict Arnold also had a limp from a gunshot wound. Peter is finally excused from the play when he feigns laryngitis. However, it's too late for the director to get another student to play Benedict Arnold, and the production can't go on. Mike convinces Peter that his dropping out of the play, has disappointed a lot of people, which is what the real Benedict Arnold did, and that many famous actors have been in similar situations to Peter's, receiving backlash for portraying dark characters, like dictators, criminals, and traitors. Carol is able to convince him that this role is indeed an honor, and reminds him that he has never before quit anything. Peter agrees to be in the play and is praised for his brilliant portrayal of Arnold.
Meanwhile, Jan gets the position of set designer, as she has the best qualification of any student: her father, the architect.
Guest Starring[]
- Sara Seegar as Miss Bailey
- Barbara Bernstein as Peggy
- Jimmy Bracken as Freddie
- Sean Kelly as Stuart
- Michael Barbera as Harvey
- Cheryl Beth Jacobs as Edith
Trivia[]
- When Peter comes home with a bloody nose, it is the first time blood is shown in The Brady Bunch.
- Several scenes echo those in Sherwood Schwartz' show Gilligan's Island:
- Peter getting a bloody nose at rehearsal recalls "Gilligan Goes Gung-Ho", where The Professor gets a bloody nose after rehearsing a murder scene with Ginger and Mary Ann.
- When Peter doesn't want to play Benedict Arnold, he fakes Laryngitis, as in "Angel on the Island", where Mrs. Howell fakes Laryngitis so Ginger can play Cleopatra.
- When Peter doesn't want to play Benedict Arnold, he twists his ankle, as in "A Nose by Any Other Name", where The Professor sprains his leg after the first aid course, but unlike The Professor, Peter was faking it.