Times May Change But People Don’t Change

Brady Bunch Lesson: Marcia and Bug Enthusiast, Harvey

“Going, Going… Steady” is the title of Brady Bunch episode 5, Season 2.

Marcia, thirteen, believes that the way to a young man’s heart is to show interest in what interests him. Harvey’s interest is bugs. Harvey marvels at Marcia’s bug knowledge and is indeed interested.

As Marcia and Harvey start to hang out a bit, Harvey’s worldview also seeps into Marcia’s way of thinking and she tries out a few “Harvey” theories on her Mom. Carol, the Brady Bunch matriarch, is not so keen on Harvey’s theories of life. Harvey posits that a girl of thirteen today is like a woman of twenty back when their parents were teenagers. Likewise, a boy of fourteen is like a man of twenty-two back in the day.

Marcia dutifully recites this specific theory to Carol when caught at her Mom’s makeup table helping herself to false eyelashes. Carol’s reply to Marcia are words of wisdom that have stayed with me for 35 years.